A short but sweet post answering a frequently asked question: how can I post a postcard in Cartagena?

In all my travels Cartagena has to be the most difficult placesI have ever encountered for posting a humble postcard. There's no real post offices so to speak of and the ones that do exist are hard to find and have the most inconsistent and inconvenient opening hours.

So the best option for most travellers (in my opinion) is to go to this SPECIFIC souvenir shop located on the corner of Calle Roman and Calle el Cochero del Gobernador. It's right near the Plaza of the Proclamacion and the Cathedral. 

Here you can: 
1. buy postcards
2. buy international stamp for postcards
3. post your postcard in a 4/72 mailbox

Will it be slow? Hell yes.
Will it arrive? Hmm.. I'd say 6/10 likelihood 
Is it cheap? International postage stamp is 10,000 pesos and this souvenir shop charges an extra 2,000 pesos to buy it through them. 
Is the souvenir shop listed on any map making it easy to share? No. But honestly it is easy to find. Follow Calle Roman until it intersects with Calle Cochera del Gobernador. Or even easier, go to Plaza de la Proclamacion and look for the nearest souvenir shop. 
Is it worth it? That's for you to be the judge. For some it will be a cute act of faith and the fact you can do all 3 steps in the one location that is easy to find with convenient opening hours is worth the 2,000 pesos markup.

After affixing your newly purchased international stamp you can insert your postcard in the blue post box located at the entry to the souvenir shop and is labelled 4/72 (apparently the name of the apparently non-existant Cartagena/Colombian postal service)

Wishing you the best of luck! And long live snail mail and cute traditions!

Thank you to all you wonderful people asking about how Cartagena is coping in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. Whether that's because you travelled here, have friends or family here, feel a connection to here, plan to one day live here, are just generally a compassionate person, whatever the reason, thank you for keeping Cartagena and her people in your heart. It is for you that I'm writing my impressions on how things are going down. This is in no way an exhaustive summary and I am most definitely not a scientist, but maybe it will give an overall idea. 

Colombia confirmed their first case on 6 March (a 19 year old returning from travels in Milan, Italy), and after 8 more cases across the country, declared a health emergency on March 12; suspending all public events and denying entry of cruise-ships. Land borders were closed from March 16, and international arrivals of non-residents were restricted, whilst returning residents were required to complete 14 days of isolation. International flights were suspended and airports closed from March 23 onwards.

In Cartagena, tourists and ex-pats jumped on whatever outbound flights they could get. Hotels were vacated. Initially restaurants and bars could open at 30% capacity, and then with the tighter measures that started from March 20, were closed completely. In the first round of quarantine, everyone (other than essential workers) was required to stay home, with the exception that one household member could leave only to get groceries or medical supplies. Or to walk your dog (this has been the ultimate salvation for me and my adopted dog Maddie). Complete, city-wide curfews were (and continue) in place from 4pm until 6am. The wearing of masks in public is compulsory.  As the quarantine restrictions extended, week after week,  Cartagena's government sought to further curb the amount of people leaving their homes by introducing "pico y cédula". This means that individuals are only permitted to leave the house to buy groceries and medical supplies 1-2 times per week (it has varied depending upon the week) in  accordance with the allotted day which corresponds with the final digit of their ID number. The days and numbers have been  announced the Sunday before the following fornight. Some of the  weeks have also further split up the allotted days by gender, in addition to ID numbers.  Fines are issued for non-compliance. 

This is all to say, Cartagena moved relatively rapidly and comprehensively to shut down the city.  Whilst there may be some complaints about how compliant people have been with this lockdown, I think it can generally be said that the actions have probably minimised the impact of the threat to health (or at least bought more time for the region's  dramatically underprepared health system).

But in a country with almost no institutional safety net (for example, no unemployment support), the  economic implications have already been  devastating and we can only expect they will get worse and worse. Cartagena is almost entirely dependent upon the tourism and hospitality sector. It seems unlikely that bars, restaurants, hotels, airports, borders etc will open before September (and maybe not even then). And in the meantime, super high rent, utility bills, salaries for staff etc etc are still being paid by drowning business owners who have not had any income since March 16. Desperate pleas among the hospitality/tourism industry for government assistance in negotiating rent and bill freezes or subsidies went unanswered. Each day more and more businesses close for good and staff are made redundant. Iconic fine dining restaurants Don Juan and Maria have already closed and their interiors gutted. Our beloved social enterprise vegetarian brunch place Cafe Stepping Stone also regrettably have been forced to close and the Aussie founders are booked on humanitarian flights back to their homeland. The government’s response has mostly been to advise businesses to "reinvent" themselves and move to domicilio (delivery) and servicing the local market. There have definitely been some businesses that have had success with this transition, but for others it just isn't practical, especially when rents and prices have been set based on tourists, not locals who are accustomed to cooking all their meals at home (or having their live-in maids do so). Also it's hard to see how this could  work for the empty hotels, the un-chartered boats, the empty taxis, the un-visited tourist sites, the cancelled weddings and events, the tour guides and so on. I'm friends with many owners of such businesses and it is so heartbreaking to see the dreams they  have fought so hard for, come crashing and, even more painful, learning of the burden many of them carry for their  staff - knowing that when they stop paying wages, when  there is literally no more money to do so, there is no other financial protection or  support  whatsoever.  

This also does not mention the huge population of workers whose "employment" does not exist formally on paper. The people who sell hats or pearls to tourists, that try to get you to enter the  particular bar or emerald store that pays them a commission, the women who give massages on beaches or the men who sell you an umbrella to sit under, the  palenqueras  selling fruits and traditional desserts, the arepa stand, the dancers who perform for tips in plazas, even those bloody freelance rappers, the list is never-ending.. no tourists, no-one allowed in public means no money.. for months. These are usually not people with savings. These are people who live day to day. They have been  left dependent upon sporadically and unequally delivered food handouts for survival. When people suggest it is only a matter of time before this poverty and desperation lead to instability and insecurity crime-wise, it doesn't seem inaccurate.

I'm writing this May 27 and outside of the tourism and hospitality sector, other industries are gradually opening up. Construction, refineries, manufacturing etc For everyone  else, "house arrest"  has so  far been mandated all the way through until  June, and given many experts do not  believe Colombia has hit its peak outbreak-wise, it would not be  surprising if the quarantine measures extend well beyond this date. 

WANT TO HELP?

There are many organisations and foundations and  individuals working tirelessly to support those in need.

In Cartagena, I trust Domino Volunteers who have  a network of trusted community leaders purchasing groceries and life necessities, showing receipts and distributing  where there is need. They are running the fundraising mostly via  their instagram page which is  www.instagram.com/dominovolunteers you can  email them  to find out how to help at [email protected]  you can also use that email address to make a payment directly into their paypal  account. Their website for  more general information  is dominovolunteers.com

Another amazing initiative organised by Domino  Volunteers is to donate your  time (just 1 hour a week) to helping support the tourism and hospitality sector with English classes and practice.  
The idea is to use this time without work  in the most beneficial way possible and  hopefully improve English levels for when tourism eventually re-opens. Can you help? Send a message to  [email protected] send a whatsapp message to +57  316 464 5382

In Bogotá , funds are being raised for families living in vulnerable conditions in the neighbourhoods of  Ramirez and Egipto. These families usually work as "recyclers" picking up scraps, glass bottles, cans, metals, plastics etc and scraping by a day-to-day  living. They call themselves Los Piratas de Ramirez. Due to COVID restrictions the "pirates" have not been able to earn any  money and they have no savings nor support from the State. You can learn more and support  via their crowdfunding at www.vaki.co/1585110190050


GIFT VOUCHERS
You may also want  to help by  pre-purchasing  gift-vouchers for your  favourite restaurants, hairdressers, bars, cooking schools etc to help keep them afloat go to www.yanospillamos.com and choose which restaurant/s you would like  to support. The  Cartagena restaurants on this site are Carmen, Celele and Lilapomarossa. 
Or over at www.deestasalimos.co you can buy vouchers for food and drink at El Baron

​You can also score a 20-25% discount if you pre-purchase Blue Apple beach club day passes and overnight stays here. 

Still onBlue Apple, and this beach club and boutique hotel have to win the prize for the most creative fundraising. In a bid  to continue to raise money for their staff and cover operational costs, they have created a couple of outside-the-box revenue streams that are deserving of attention.

Firstly,  they are hiring out their donkeys and goats and other adorable family members to sit in on your zoom meetings and make them that much better. Yes, that's a thing. Check out more here: https://www.blueapplebeach.com/zoom

Secondly they have gathered all their talented staff who are exchanging Tips for tips.. make  a donation (really anything is super appreciated) then watch any number of videos created by Blue Apple team members to learn tips like how to make a signature cocktail, how to get a great arm workout, or (and this one is so adorable) learn some basic sign-language. This is the link here: https://www.blueapplebeach.com/tips





Photo: El Bistro, doors closed, hopefully not forever. 

Wow. So evidently I've been really slack about writing blog posts. Opening up this page I see my last post was almost 2 years ago. Oops. In my defense, I've still been updating all other sections of the website, and making facebook and instagram posts which had kind of taken over the role of blogging for me. Plus you know, days packed with working and giving tours. But then I started to get questions along the lines of "are you still operating?" or "can we buy your domain?" and also COVID-19 happened (more of that here) and I found myself with absolutely no tours or emails or excuses. So in the spirit of doing everything better, I have committed to return to weekly blogposts from here on out. If you'd like a post about anything in particular, please send an email to [email protected] and let me know. Or you could write in the comments below and I'll try to be better about checking them (facepalm emoji, embarrassed monkey emoji). Ok! Here's to me being productive! Whoop!

Have plans to have a relaxing day at the beach while you're in Cartagena? Whether you're thinking just to pop down to Bocagrande, trip up to La Boquilla or drive over to Playa Blanca, unfortunately there can be an ugly barrage of attention you may receive from vendors looking to extract the most amount of moolah possible from everybody who sets foot on their sands. 

It is sad, and these vendors are definitely detroying their own livelihoods with their agressive, short-sighted approach, with tourists and locals opting more and more to avoid the public beaches and go to private island locations.

Now, it is definitely possible to still enjoy the beach.. you just have to go with your eyes open and prepared to negotiate all prices upfront. Or just say no gracias a lot. Above is a list of set prices agreed to by the local Cartagena council. Screenshot them so you have them as a reference point. There's also a number you can call if things get heated.

Above all, don't accept anything until you've set the price first. No trial massage. No sample oyster. 

​Now go forth, ready to avoid the beach bullying. Once they know you're clued up, they will probably leave you alone. Wish it wasn't like this but you know, sometimes life's a beach.

UPDATE: Jan wrote in comments said he couldn't read the prices in the images. So I'll write them out here now:
A double tent with 4 chairs - 30,000 pesos
Umbrella with 2 chairs - 20,000 pesos
Single tent with 2 chairs - 15,000 pesos
Sun chair - 12,000 pesos
Plastic table - 4,000 pesos
Plastic chair- 4,000 pesos
Complete massage - 50,000 pesos
Head of hair braids - 50,000 pesos
Individual braids - 20,000 pesos
Oysters - 5,000 pesos (we have definitely heard of people getting sick from eating them FYI)
Beer - 3,500-4,000 pesos

And for best beaches please check out this section of the website.

We're sorry. We really are very sorry. Just when you think there's nothing else to pay for your day on the water, we regretfully inform you that there is also a pesky marine tax that is levied per persona. Currently it's a whopping 16,500 pesos pp.  Well, it's getting worse. We've just found out, the marine tax is being increased to 18,000 pesos starting January 1, 2019. SORRY! To avoid this, you can consider taxing a taxi or shuttle bus to Playa Blanca instead. Or going across to the close beaches of Bomba and Namaste at Tierra Bomba.