Santa Marta, Columbia

Hello Friends,

  Today Jer is doing the blogging.  You may have noticed that Helen has been doing all the posting on this blog.  I have been busy posting on a blog we are doing for just our grand daughters.  Since we are blogging for two little girlies, it tends to be a bit silly.  Thus, the blog address is top secret :).

  Today we are in Santa Marta, our first stop in Columbia.  Tomorrow we are in Cartagena, and the next day we transit the Panama Canal.  Our ship docked very near the Santa Marta downtown area.

  We took a very short ride on a shuttle to the port gate and then walked into town.  There is a nice walkway along the water from which we had a nice view of our ship.  

  We walked all around the downtown area.  A couple times we found ourselves on streets where we didn't feel comfortable with the surroundings, but overall, we felt very safe here.  The city is very busy, lots of people on the sidewalks and lots of traffic and noise.  We really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the town.  It was quite warm, the temperatures are starting to go up as we cruise farther south.

  One of the main attractions in the town is the beautiful Santa Marta Cathedral.

  Another attraction is this monument to Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America.  He died in 1830, but he still lives large in the hearts of South America’s people.

 

  When Helen and I decided to do this blog, we said we would not include many pictures of ourselves.  But today I must share one of me.  I’m doing what I do best, drinking beer.  But I want you to notice the “genuine” red Ray Ban sunglasses that I bought here for $5.  When I cleaned them the first time, the Ray Ban lettering came off the lenses.  What’s up with that?!

  Some of you are asking for more food pictures, so here are a few.  Last night we ate in the ship’s Japanese restaurant, Silk Road.

  The food was fantastic, maybe the best meal we have had so far on the ship.  We started with sushi and sashimi, and it was great!

  Next we had shrimp tempura. so good!

  Seafood ceviche was next.

  Then a warm mushroom salad.

  Finally we finished with lobster stir fry.

  Do you think we had enough to eat?  At least we skipped dessert.  This was a fabulous meal!

  So that is all from Santa Marta.  Tomorrow in Cartagena we have an all day tour, and Helen will be posting about that.  Bye for now.

BigJer and Helen