Love in the Time of Festival

While on the Caribbean coast I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera. While the city remains unnamed throughout the novel, it does not take much time in Cartagena de Indias to figure out the novel clearly transpires in one of South America's most important cities. The old port city which once housed the Viceroys of Nueva Granada, fell into almost ruin at the turn of the 20th century when cholera almost whipped out the largely African populations of the city. Today, Cartagena stands as an access port to South America; as sail boat leaving Cartagena is the only option for continued travel to Panama. The city itself is a hot one. With temperatures around 90 degrees during the afternoon and a continual 100 percent humidity, Cartagena is for made for siestas and fiestas. The Cartagena independence celebration started the day I arrived. In between getting sprayed with soap, booming salsa music, and fireworks, Cartagena's soul showed.

Near Cartagena is a mud volcano where one can go to a very natural spa named Volcan de Lodo El Totumo. I had to go take a dip in its muddy depths. Well... it was muddy, but I found the whole messy process a lot of fun.