Christmas Day in Cartegena

Merry Christmas.  Feliz Navidad.   My spell check let the second one go so it is probably right.  We have arrived in the South American port of Cartegena for Christmas day.  Just to fill in a couple of holes from last night.  

We went to the Christmas singalong in the lounge at 5:15, dressed for the evening.  Not a total shock, but we were the only people dressed up at that point.  We long ago decided that we create our own enjoyment on cruises and it makes no difference to us what other people do or think about us.  I am pretty sure I was the only guy in tails all night (I own the tails for performing—why not use them) and Jen got numerous comments on her fabulous Christmas gown.  We may have been a little over the top for this ship, but when else do you get to go all out.  We were disappointed to discover that the sing along was all secular songs.  It was kind of funny because it was pretty clear that band and the song leaders (the mixed nationality show cast) had not spent a lot of time figuring out the plan, and even more interesting was the fact that the song leaders did not know the songs very well.  It sounded like one of the four singers was pretty sure on most of the music, but exactly where some of the melodies went in the middle of the songs remains a mystery to this day. We left the lounge after the sing along and headed to dinner with numerous reactions as we walked the length of the ship.  Jen had Christmas goose for the first time ever (kind of like a strong dark meat turkey taste—we share food sometimes) and I had the prime rib.  Portions remain pretty large.  If you stick to their standard four- course meal you will be sufficiently stuffed, sort of like the goose.  Desserts have been spectacular.  We went to the show after dinner.  It was one of the original “Lettermen,” Mark Preston.  For those of you who don’t know of the Lettermen look them up.  He still has a great voice and is a consummate professional entertainer.  This took us to about 10:15 pm so a trip back to the room to change into more church service type clothing helped us stay awake for the 11:00 ecumenical Christmas Eve service.  When we returned to our stateroom we found more presents from the cruise company than we typically exchange in an entire Christmas.  Apparently by booking the world cruise we moved from not being a member of the “Oceania Club,” this cruise line’s loyalty program, to the fourth level of the program.  This magical transformation did not happen until after we were on board.  We knew we were getting some light jackets (we did not know when), but we also got special pins, baseball caps, a backpack, and a lovely silver candy tray.  Unexpected Christmas.  We made our way to the ecumenical gathering and found It was a service with Christmas hymns and Christmas Gospel readings.  It was a perfect way to end Christmas Eve although several of the traditional carols were sung to melodies we’ve never heard them sung to before.  Our hosts were British.  Do you suppose the Brits sing these words to different tunes than we do? 

The boat landed this morning in Cartegena a little before 7:00.  An announcement was made that the boat had been cleared at about 7:20. We headed down to the gangway and walked onto the pier.  The boat tours always meet in the lounge but we were not on a boat tour today.  Is it possible we were the first passengers off the ship at 7:30?  We sure didn’t see anyone else on the pier.  We walked past the multiple busses and found ourselves relatively alone.  Far, far away was a single person waving a sign which we could not read.  As we closed in we discovered it said Jerry Henry.  Ports look relatively the same and the boat is not changing for 190 some days so I will quit with the port pics in the near future, but the first picture is of our boat in the harbor of Cartegena.  We were escorted through the cruise shopping area, past a large number of parrots making a huge ruckus (they are loud) and to a waiting car and tour guide.  It turned out that we had our own private car, driver and tour guide for the four-hour guided tour of Cartegena.  It was Christmas day.  Our first stop was at the top of the highest hill in town which holds a monastery which was formerly a convent.  They were holding Christmas mass in the very ornate sanctuary (altar covered in 22k yellow gold) while we looked around the museum, enjoyed the view, and learned from our guide Benny about Columbia’s history.  The biggest thing we heard in this part of the tour is that life in Cartegena has been improving over the course of the last 15 years (sort of ignoring the Covid blip).  Higher employment, much higher schooling rate, much less violence.  Do not believe the US government’s take on travel to Cartegena.  Cartegena likes baseball more than soccer.  And people in Cartegena don’t like people from the US...they love them.

We visited the fort which dominates old town.  It was built in the 1500's.  The statue in the picture is of a guy with one arm, one leg, and one eye.  Our guide said he didn't have a lot to lose.  Streets in the old town are quite narrow and difficult to navigate but because it was early Christmas day the streets were virtually empty of cars and walkers.  We zipped around unimpeded by traffic.  Looking up from the narrow streets one sees many balconies, most overflowing with flowering bougainvilleas and other flowering plants.  Several of the streets were dressed up for Christmas with plastic colored flags like those at the end of a competitive swim pool and one had colored umbrellas hanging.  This seems like a very tropical environment type of decoration.  We were informed by our guide that there is voodoo and witchcraft going on in some sections of the city, and one of the pictures I included shows a white building with red roof with triangular tiles sticking out at the corners.  These triangles are to ward off evil spirits and keep them from entering the residence. 

Bennie our guide seems to be known by everyone.  He was greeted often while we were walking with him.  We visited another church, Catholic of course with 95% of the population being Catholic.  There was a service going on here too.  Beyond being an old church, this one has an organ that has only been played twice in its history, both times by sitting popes. 

Emeralds are one of the famed exports of Colombia, and Christmas does not deter the sellers.  We were taken to a small private store to look.  We are not particularly enamored with emeralds.  The first earing and necklace set we were shown was $10,000.  No thank you.  Colombia is also the world's largest exporter of flowers.  After seeing the flower arrangements in some of the boutique hotels as we drove by I believe it.  Many of the hotels and residences, schools and businesses have lovely open courtyards in the center of the buildings.  Shaded with growing plants they make a nice quiet place to relax.

We drove to the new section of the city which is about 40 years in the making.  Sparkling white high-rise hotels and apartments.  Pretty sterile compared to the old city.  We returned to the ship after about four hours.  When we entered our room we were surprised to find a whole new set of presents, two more hats, two more backpacks.  I mean, how many backpacks do we need?  The presents on Christmas Eve the previous night were for ATW (around the world) guests.  The Christmas day gifts were for the loyalty club members.  I must admit that since this is our first trip on Oceania I don’t feel particularly loyal at this point. 

Our ship left a little early today.  A first.  We were playing bridge so didn’t rally notice.  Dinner was again a dress up affair for us.  We shared our dinner with a couple who are also ATW travelers, our first shared dinner.  Nice conversation.  We finished Christmas day with the show for the day, Broadway show tunes.  A very different Christmas.

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