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Over the years, we have come to realize, depending on the nature of a city, some places are better enjoyed without the structure of an itinerary. Cartagena, behind the walls, is just that kind of place, a walking city beckoning you to wander its narrow cobblestone streets and allowing serendipity, and not a tour book, to be your guide. Historic Cartagena is a visual treat, a place where color takes advantage of every available surface, the character of the paint expressing the style of the owner or the passage of time. The grand buildings, expressing colonial and republican charm, are painted in soft shades of pink, peach, white and ochre and the smaller ones, usually one story, formerly occupied by workers and tradesman, are painted in a varied palette of bold colors.

Cartagena is a mélange of many cultural influences, a mix of people, Caribe Indians, Black Africans, Arabic, Spanish and other Europeans, who have been blending in an ethnic stew for over 500 years. Life here is lived out on the streets in a perpetual carnival pulsating with a vibrant Caribbean atmosphere. This city, with its seductive charm, is waiting for you to soak it up and to seep gently down into it. It is an emotional place that should be engaged, not so much studied; a place to be felt more than read about.

Historic Cartagena is divided into four sectors. Our hotel, located on Calle Santo Domingo, was in the Center or Calamari district and on our second morning in Cartagena, we set out on foot to explore this area first.

ON FOOT IN CARTAGENA
It was still early but the humidity here works 24/7and even before we could step into the street, it had us cloaked in a soggy wet blanket. Our immediate concern was to find a banco, a place to change money. We turned right out of the hotel and then took the first left, arriving at the Plaza Bolivar, a popular gathering spot with a storied history. The moneychanger was located on the west side of the plaza and we found him in a small office behind a thick wall of glass. Donald presented him two crisp one hundred dollar bills and in turn received several sheets of bureaucratic paper work to fill out. The man, without reason to hurry, slowly examined the money, held it up to the light, marked it with a pen and finally decided it was good enough to exchange for Colombian pesos. Apparently not trusting his calculator or his computer and relaying on nothing more than an invoice book and a sheet of carbon paper, he began to do the math by hand. Losing patience, I stepped outside and found myself standing in the former Arcade of the Scribes. In the past, illiterate people came here and paid a “scribe” a few pesos to write a letter or fill out a form. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia’s most famous author, worked in Cartagena when he was a young journalist and used the city as the background for several of his books. Those who have read Love in the Time of Cholera will recognize this to be the place where Florentino Ariza, one of the main characters in the book, worked as a scribe.

With our dollars changed into pesos, Donald and I walked across the street and entered the Plaza Bolivar, already filled up with morning visitors. During colonial times, this was the center of political and religious life. The Cathedral, home to the archbishop, is located on the eastern side of the plaza and rebuilt after Sir Francis Drake’s attack in 1586. The headquarters of the Inquisition is located on the north west corner and during colonial times, this square was called Plaza Inquisition. Established by the Dominicans to guard the purity of the Catholic Church against heresy and witchcraft, the Inquisition was exported to Cartagena in 1610. However, it was not carried out in the Spanish colonies with the enthusiasm experienced in Europe. Today, their early 17th Baroque building has been restored to its former glory and turned into a museum explaining the Inquisition with exhibitions of the torture instruments used to gain confessions. The Gold Museum and the Central Bank are both housed in renovated colonial buildings, adding additional grandeur to the park area.

With the advent of independence from Spain, the hated Inquisition was closed down and the plaza was turned into a bull fighting ring. Then in 1896, it was renamed, this time to honor Simon Bolivar. In 1810, Cartagena tried to liberate itself and became one of the first towns to declare independence from Spain. However, by 1815 this attempt had failed and even though they were defeated by the Spanish army, Bolivar called Cartagena “la heroic”, the heroic city. Cartagena would eventually gain independence in 1821 following Bolivar’s defeat of the Spanish at the Battle of Boyacá near Bogota in 1819.

Today an equestrian statue of Bolivar is in the middle of the plaza and benches line the perimeter. It has been landscaped into great expanses of green punctuated with large leafy trees, palms and rubber trees, providing shade from the over bearing sun. Donald and I sat on a bench, joining the others in people watching. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone or something else, but for us the nothing that happened was done in a most interesting way. Food vendors pushed their carts through the park, offering a wide variety of freshly squeezed fruit juices, fried arepas, and ice cream. A young man’s small cart consisted of nothing more than one coffee thermos and a few cups. We were offered lollipops on long sticks, peanuts wrapped in newspaper and cigarettes sold one at a time. While children chased the pigeons and old men played dominoes and chess, Donald and I tried to discourage the shoeshine boy, no we did not want our sneakers polished black and we did not need any shoelaces. Armed policemen were keeping a close watch on the park. For us, the measure of security they provided was always mitigated by the thought of why they were still needed.

With Garcia Marquez’s Florentino Ariza as our guide, we walked in his footsteps to the Plaza Fernandez de Madrid, finding ourselves in the San Diego district, formerly an upper class neighborhood, home to wealthy businessmen and high ranking military officers. In the novel, Florentino’s love for Fermina would go unrequited and just like him, we sat on a bench under what I hoped was an almond tree and stared at the white house across the street which Garcia Marquez used as the model for Fermina’s home. Just as he described it, there was a large balcony and a doorknocker in the shape of a parrot. Called Gabo by his friends, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, now in his later years, returned to Cartagena and built a house. We were walking in that direction until the sounds of music filling the air caused a small detour and we found ourselves in the nearby Plaza de San Diego, adjacent to the School of Fine Arts. A jazz band was practicing a Latin version of “Falling Leaves”. While listening to Roger William’s piano version reinterpreted into a salsa beat, we viewed an unexpected student art show.

We finally made our way down Calle del Curato and at the corner, near the walls of the city, we stood in front his Gabriel Marquez’s house. It is an artful arrangement of cubes and arches designed by Rogelio Salmona, Colombia’s foremost architect who clad Bogota in red brick. Keeping him in or keeping us out, the house is hidden behind a high forbidding wall painted the color of rust.

Donald and I walked through the San Diego section, back to El Centro and to the plaza adjacent to the city’s main gate. Along the way, we marveled at the beautiful balconies where brilliantly colored flowers cascaded over the railings. Using our eyes to peel away the encrusted layers of time, we knew the wooden balconies were constructed in colonial times and the stucco ones constructed after independence during the time of the Republic. A cacophony of sounds filled the streets, a group of young men sitting on over turned crates strumming guitars, vendors crying out, advertising their fruits and vegetables sold from wooden carts. We passed the palenqueras, Caribbean women dressed in their traditional colorful skirts and blouses selling fruit from baskets balanced on their heads. They seemed to sway down the street to the sounds of Caribbean music pulsating through the thick air, once again from unseen sources. Cartagena’s private life goes on behind high walls and heavy ornamental doors. Nevertheless, I interpret a door left open as an invitation to step inside and we were often rewarded with scenes of courtyards filled with fountains, flowers and shade trees.

Thick walls surround historic Cartagena and the main entrance, facing the bay, is through a triple arched gateway guarded by a drawbridge that is no longer there and a clock tower that forms part of the iconic scene. During the latter part of the 19th, it became fashionable to place clocks in public buildings and one was placed in this tower in 1888 giving the gate the name, Puerta del Reloj, Clock Gate. In the area in front of the gate, Plaza de los Coches, there is a statue of Pedro de Heredia, the founder of Cartagena. This plaza is the site of the former slave market, the largest such market in the Americas, and by the time slavery was abolished in 1811, over one million people had been processed through here. A series of buildings face onto the plaza and underneath its arcaded façade is the El Portal de los Dulces, stall after stall selling candy presented in glass jars. When we arrived, the plaza was alive with activity, people walking through, construction workers restoring an old building, and bus tours gathered around Pedro de Heredia. At the edge of the plaza, a man was standing on a wooden crate waving a Bible in the air, apparently preaching to a small crowd that had gathered to listen. Several days later, we returned to this plaza in the late afternoon. By that time the famous restaurant and bar, Fidel’s, had set up their chairs and tables and even though we never felt a cooling sea breeze and the sunset was hidden behind the clouds, we enjoyed a cold beer while listening to music and watching the local dance troupes that perform each afternoon in the plaza.

We walked to the adjacent square, Plaza San Pedro. It is named for Peter Claver the 17th Spanish monk who was appalled by the inhuman treatment of the slaves and while attending to their needs, managed to baptize over 150,000 of them. For this work, he became the first Spanish churchman in the Americas to be canonized. The nearby church is named for him and its ochre colored cupola can be seen from most parts of the city. The day we were there, we had the entire plaza to ourselves and spent time looking at the metal sculptures depicting people at work on traditional crafts and trades. Their Modern Art Museum is nearby and stepping inside, we gratefully welcomed the air conditioning. While cooling down, we wandered through their collection of Colombia as well as Mexican artists. The art was abstract and expressive and the air was chilling. The building is an excellent example of how their historic buildings are being renovated to accommodate modern needs while still maintaining their original façades.

As anyone knows who has spent time in tropical heat, the siesta exists, not because the people are lazy, but because it is necessary to get out of the sun. After enjoying the museum, finding a place for lunch and walking back to the hotel for a rest seemed a good idea. As the days past, we would tour in the morning, siesta in the hotel and then come out again in the early evening. Was it inevitable that the cloud cover would persist or were we fated to enjoy a sunset over the Caribbean Sea? We never knew, after all, we were in Cartagena.

Adventure, natural wonders and a dreamer’s paradise are some of the words that can best describe a tour of Latin America. Spending a few weeks travelling in the South American continent was not only thrilling but a rewarding experience for me. My idea of a Latin American tour never really comprised of visits to the popular tourist spots – it was all about delving deeper into the culture, language and people of the countries I visited. Argentina, Chile, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Brazil – tours to every country was an enriching experience. Of all the Latin American countries, the one that I probably can never forget is Brazil.

My Brazil tour was nothing short of an enigma, with surprises in store at every place of my visit. Brasil or Brazil is the largest South American country that has everything from football to Carnaval on the offing. The colorful city life of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife and Olinda, all the highlights of a classic tour of Brazil, made me fall in love with the country. The rich cultural heritage of Pernambuco and Bahia, the unexplored Amazon rainforest and natural extravaganza of Iguaçu Falls left an indelible imprint on my soul.

The charm of the Brazilian cities is accentuated by the presence of vast coastline. The golden beaches present a breathtaking view of the sea. A major part of my time during the stay in the cities like Rio De Janerio and Sao Paulo was spent either enjoying a lazy stroll on the beach or playing beach volley ball. A visit to the Floresta da Tijuca or Tijuca Forest was an amazing experience as I was really interested to know how skyscrapers and a forest can co-exist in an urban setting! The three overwhelming sights at Rio are of the Sugarloaf Mountain, the Corcovado, and the sweaping panorama of the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, with the peak of Dois Irmaos as backdrop on the south and the sparkling lights of Niteroi on the far side of Guanabara Bay to the norht. Above all the towering statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado simply captured one’s senses!

In the north, along the coast, the bright and colorful colonial architecture of Brazil and heritage of Salvador thrive. The state of Bahia, located perfectly on the mouth of the huge bay of Todos os Santos, needs to be sampled for its Afro-Brazilian rituals, customs and traditions. With vibrant culture, exquisite colonial architecture and last but not the least the mouth watering cuisine of Bahia, the cobblestone streets of Salvador just deepened my love for Brazil.

A visit to Manaus, the chief port and heart of the Amazon basin, marked the close of my Brazil tour but not before I had got a taste of the monumental river. Visiting Manaus, one gets to experience one of the major attractions of a tour to Brazil-  a visit to the amazing Amazon rainforests that stretches over six countries. I got as close as possible to nature by taking small boat tours to the interiors of the forest. The outings leave one spellbound by the beauty and biodiversity of the Amazonia.

Samba, Carnival, lip-smacking Brazilian seafood, Christ the Redeemer, Amazing Amazon, great beaches… Do you really need more reasons to include Brazil in your next trip to Latin America?

Pemyangtse Monastery, West Sikkim

Sikkim’s original inhabitants, the Lepchas, call their land Nyemael , “Paradise.” Though one of the legendary “bayul” or Shangri-la valleys that refer to a handful of remote valleys of the Himalayas was said to be only behind the mighty Kanchenjunga, rather than implying the entire former Kingdom, Sikkim, now the 22nd state of India, has very much the same characteristics as the other fairy tale kingdoms of the Himalayas.

Lepcha girl

The Buddhist patron-saint of Sikkim is Guru Rinpoche who is said to have passed through the land in the 9th century and introduced Buddhism to Sikkim. As a result landscape is studded with many picturesque monasteries, much like Bhutan further to the east. Though most monasteries extol Padma Sambhawa and follow the Nyingmapa order, or Red Hat school of Buddhism, since 1959 when the 16th Karmapa arrived in Sikkim after Tibet was overrun by the Chinese, Rumtek, a large monastery near Gangtok, has become the seat of the Tibetan Karma Kagyu lineage.

Gompa near Yuksom

Same as its neighbors, Sikkim too was a monarchy, presumably since the 13th century though the first king, or Chogyal, of Sikkim was not consecrated until 1642 in Yuksom, in West Sikkim. The end of Sikkim’s monarchy came on April 6, 1975 when the Indian army subdued the palace guards, placed the king under house arrest and Sikkim ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, its sovereignty lost. It is said that Sikkim’s merger with India was necessary for India’s national security since India’s first cross border skirmishes with the Chinese in the 1960s. China claimed Sikkim to be part of Tibet, hence part of China and India feared vulnerable to an attack should Sikkim succumb to China. Though the eventual annexation of Sikkim to India was years in the making, perhaps as far as back as 1947 when India gained independence from the British, fact is also that India played dirty in the process, staging referendum vote whether the people wanted to become part of the union, all to pave the road to justification of the eventual annexation. Hailed as expression of democracy, those that remember the voting and events of those days well recall India hauling in masses of poor folks from the plains, some said to have been brought from as far south as Bihar to vote, all to show the wish of the majority was to join the Indian Union. No foreign press was allowed into Sikkim for a long time and even as late as 1980s number of those that used to be close the former Chogyal and agitated against India’s rule lingered off and on in Indinan prisons.

Preparing for a ceremony, Pemyangtse

Today, most Sikkimese know they lost their independence in 1975, and the plains-bound passengers from the hills still say they are “going to India” despite that indeed they are in India. The pride of the Lepchas and being Sikkimese carries on and it is good to see that the young generation has not lost their identity, quite the contrary. Although India has always been hailed as the largest democracy and praised for its practices, it seems the spirit of democracy it sowed in Sikkim is a far cry from its otherwise fine track record.

To learn more about the events of 1970s when India annexed Sikkim, read Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim, by Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

Lamanai ruins, Belize

Orange Walk District and its principal town of the same name, are situated north of Belize City. Orange Walk Town is about 55 miles from Belize City. The main tourist attractions are the New River and the famous Mayan ruins of Lamanai. Mexican influence is evident and there are some Mennonite communities in the area.

Located in the Cayo District, San Ignacio features cathedral-like forests, shimmering emerald rivers, caves, mountains, cascading falls, and mighty ruins. It is here where the Mountain Pine Ridge and the Mopan and Macal rivers are located. The various lodges in the area offer diverse activities including hiking, trekking, kayaking, canoeing, horseback riding, and bird watching. It is also in this area where the Mayan ruins of Caracol and Xunantunich are located.

Ambergris Caye is the largest of Belize’s nearly 200 offshore cayes . Commuter planes (15- minute ride) and water taxis (1-hour ride) link it to Belize City. The airstrip is in the heart of town, so most resorts are just a jump away. This is the capital of carefree and casual: there are no paved roads, traffic lights, and no high-rise buildings. Although most resorts are beach-front, Ambergris is not a beach destination in the traditional sense.

10 Nights from $1625* $1699 w/tax
Departure from Houston All Airports, TX
Itinerary Includes:

* International round-trip airfare
* All transfers between cities
* 3 nights in Orange Walk
* 3 nights in San Ignacio
* 4 nights in Ambergris Caye
* Daily breakfast (most hotels)
* Hotel Taxes

Price history for this itinerary (past 14 days):
From Chicago Ohare Intl, IL for 10 nights $1,816 $1,935 w/tax
From Dallas Ft Worth, TX for 10 nights $1,699 $1,767 w/tax
From Hartford, CT for 10 nights $1,736 $1,811 w/tax
From Houston G.Bush Intercont, TX for 10 nights $1,624 $1,697 w/tax
From Los Angeles Intl, CA for 10 nights $1,662 $1,737 w/tax
From Miami, FL for 10 nights $1,804 $1,865 w/tax

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