8/7/2014
Another phenomenal day in Colombia, perhaps the best, which I will repeat tomorrow. My dear colleague Erika arranged this tour for me so that I could go to the Rosario Islands, a national park, across from Cartagena. I am highly excited about the whole trip since I will snorkel to see coral reefs for the first time in my life. I am sharp on time in front of the office for Hotel San Pedro de Maja Gua. The bus that will pick up a dozen people from this place, which is very close to my hotel is already in front of the office. Sharp at 8:30, we take off and our driver delivers us to the far end of the Cartagena dock, where a small but will-turn-out-to-be mighty boat welcomes all of us. Due to my returning lower back pain, I had put my beach shawl behind my back, no doubt I left it on the bus, but, hey, I don't worry any more, Colombian people surely will save it for me at the end of the day. I am content.
Private dock for rosario islands
Our captain is as crazy as the drivers of Colombia! The boat is cutting through the water and occasionally is airborne after which it falls onto the water, which turns into a solid floor with a harsh slam; certainly not good for my back, but I survive, all is good. I am occasionally looking at my Spanish book and come to a burning question that the book doesn't make clear. The young man I am sitting next to looks very Latino. I ask him if he is Colombian or not in Spanish. Nope, he is English. Well end of my study, we start chatting.
Paul from England, world traveler
His name is Paul, working for an company selling alcoholic beverages, which he tells me emerged with the merger among Guinness and multiple other British and Irish companies. Most recently, he was living in Shanghai, but couldn't take the air pollution anymore and asked for a position back home. Before starting his new job, though, he took 6 weeks off for a South America tour, which he had not visited before just like me. He has already visited Argentina, Chile and Peru.
Cartagena defense waals and infamous clock tower
After Colombia, he still will have couple weeks left, he is debating whether he should visit Guatemala, Bolivia, or Nicaragua. He quickly eliminates Nicaragua due to the unrest there, his bet is between Bolivia and Guatemala then. I give all my best about Guatemala, which I had visited two years ago with my daughter. He is interested. Cutting through the bay toward the islands unfolds many evidences of how Spaniards established a strong defense system to protect Cartagena:
One of the two fortresses at the entrance of Cartagena Bay
Watching Spaniards steal all the gold the indigenous people had accumulated, a variety of pirates in addition to organized national navies attacked Cartagena to get a share of the gold. Thus, the first measure to protect themselves against such attacks was the very long wall system they built within and around the town. When that was not enough, they built the castle behind the city where the walls ended. At some point, they understood, it was too costly to allow hostile ships to come to their shore even if they were able to push them back:
After Colombia, he still will have couple weeks left, he is debating whether he should visit Guatemala, Bolivia, or Nicaragua. He quickly eliminates Nicaragua due to the unrest there, his bet is between Bolivia and Guatemala then. I give all my best about Guatemala, which I had visited two years ago with my daughter. He is interested. Cutting through the bay toward the islands unfolds many evidences of how Spaniards established a strong defense system to protect Cartagena:
Watching Spaniards steal all the gold the indigenous people had accumulated, a variety of pirates in addition to organized national navies attacked Cartagena to get a share of the gold. Thus, the first measure to protect themselves against such attacks was the very long wall system they built within and around the town. When that was not enough, they built the castle behind the city where the walls ended. At some point, they understood, it was too costly to allow hostile ships to come to their shore even if they were able to push them back:
During one of quiet moments of the boat
They then built two fortresses at the narrow entrance of the huge bay in front of Cartagena, some 10 miles out from the city shoreline. Thus, whoever attempted to enter the bay with malicious plans found themselves under cross fire from the fortresses. We slow down near the fortresses and our pleasant guide/captain fills us in, I assume with all this in Spanish, of course. Once the touristic mission regarding the fortresses is done, the boat takes off with such speed, I feel like the tip of the boat is facing the sky not toward the islands any more. Everything in Colombia feels so much like back home in Turkey. I quietly chuckle to myself: "OK, we get it, you know lots of tricks Captain..."
Cartagena skyline through the handrails of the boat
The entire boat trip from Cartagena to the island is actually close to an hour. Good thing, it is so hot, despite the wind our speed is creating, it doesn't feel cold at all. I recall, back in Turkey, how we would bring sweatpants and jackets to such boat trips since the temperature on the boat would drop by 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit compared to what it was on the beach. Well, we are in the tropics, it clearly makes a difference.
Our captain cooling off his belly on the pier!
I start chatting with a young woman, whose chatty daughter all of a sudden falls asleep leaning against her mother with a bag against her mouth. Apparently, she has sea sickness, and poor thing she has all the reason to have sea sickness with our speed. Her name is Emma, her mother's Catalina, who is an architect in Medellin. I am learning more and more that the coastal line is the major vacation site for all Colombians just like Turkish people flocking to the western and southern coasts of Turkey for vacation. As a result, all passengers on the boat are Colombian or other Latinos except for a young British couple, Paul, and I as foreign visitors. Finally we get to our little secluded island. The hotel team meets us with refreshing fruit juices, it really hits the spot. Then comes the information session on what activities are available to us.
Hotel San Pedro de Maja Gua is hidden on this wooded island
For our day trip, we can do snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking and biking in addition to a visit to the aquarium. I recall Erika telling me visiting the aquarium. However, I already know that this island is known for its coral reefs, which made it a national park. I am most interested in that. The group that decides to go for coral reefs consist of the British family, Paul and I in addition to a few Colombian fellow tourists.
I start chatting with a young woman, whose chatty daughter all of a sudden falls asleep leaning against her mother with a bag against her mouth. Apparently, she has sea sickness, and poor thing she has all the reason to have sea sickness with our speed. Her name is Emma, her mother's Catalina, who is an architect in Medellin. I am learning more and more that the coastal line is the major vacation site for all Colombians just like Turkish people flocking to the western and southern coasts of Turkey for vacation. As a result, all passengers on the boat are Colombian or other Latinos except for a young British couple, Paul, and I as foreign visitors. Finally we get to our little secluded island. The hotel team meets us with refreshing fruit juices, it really hits the spot. Then comes the information session on what activities are available to us.
For our day trip, we can do snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking and biking in addition to a visit to the aquarium. I recall Erika telling me visiting the aquarium. However, I already know that this island is known for its coral reefs, which made it a national park. I am most interested in that. The group that decides to go for coral reefs consist of the British family, Paul and I in addition to a few Colombian fellow tourists.
We get back on a boat, a smaller one this time, and head to a location a mile west of the hotel and anchor about 200 yards from the coast.
Hotel San Pedro de Maja Gua under the canapoy of tropical trees
Our guide is Nestor Junior, he goes by Junior, but I get his real name out of him with benevolent interrogation since he is as indigenous as one gets. He has a rope tied to one of his ankles tied also to a floating device held by a gentleman, I am not sure if he is assigned to hold it or he holds onto it because he doesn't know how to swim. At any rate, I figure out very quickly that if I stay close to Nestor by holding onto the rope near him, I will get to see lovely scenes underwater.
Our guide is Nestor Junior, he goes by Junior, but I get his real name out of him with benevolent interrogation since he is as indigenous as one gets. He has a rope tied to one of his ankles tied also to a floating device held by a gentleman, I am not sure if he is assigned to hold it or he holds onto it because he doesn't know how to swim. At any rate, I figure out very quickly that if I stay close to Nestor by holding onto the rope near him, I will get to see lovely scenes underwater.
Tropical trees are phenomenal
Initially, I am not very impressed with what I see under the water, I council myself for patience, and as always, it pays off beautifully both literally and metaphorically. As we move toward the coast the scenery dramatically changes. Rocky terrain appears with some rocks rising almost to the surface. However, I am again disappointed to see that the rocks are bare. "Stay in the moment and with Nestor, Resmiye" and "Volla!" As we move further closer to the coast, all of a sudden I start seeing what I've expected all along. Rocky terrain underwater now is all covered with corals: Nestor waves his hand at them and they come to life with their gentle movements. The open mouths of the corals all of a sudden close and the dark yellow color of the rock turns into a pale yellow color as if they fallen asleep.
My fellow day tripper Paul and I at our lunch table
And the fish? Schools of a variety of fish dancing among the rocks is a totally different scene to savor: The mainstream black colored fish of all sizes is abundant filling the background. Then we start seeing in the depths a pretty large emerald colored fish, almost transparent. Nestor calls it "Lula verde". Initially we spot a rare lula verde, but deep in one of the many canyons in the reefs, we see a big school of lula verde swimming very elegantly. Nestor kicks off the rope and dives down.
He positions himself just behind the school of fish and starts swimming dancingly along with it and they do the same. I never saw a man and a school of fish dance this elegantly before my eyes before. My heart goes to all of them at the bottom of the water. How can we nurture this kind of friendship between men and animal kingdom so that man-created destruction of the world stops; our children and grandchildren deserve a better, more peaceful mother earth...
Interesting coastal erosion prevention method
I am not using snorkel during this expedition, thus, i have to take breaths outside the water. Although Nestor has his snorkel on, in the depths of the Carribean, all he can do is to continue his endless exhalation. During the time he spent under the water, I took at least three breaths and when he comes out to the surface, there is no sign that he has spent couple of minutes without taking any breaths. Next, he shows the way to us into a deep underwater canyon. I am still puzzled with some rocks being bare and some covered with live underwater habitat; there is something not natural here, almost like fire-stricken acres in national parks that I have seen over the years. I will soon learn that it was almost an identical process:
Locals' colorful art products for sale as we leave the island
When I ask Ricardo at the end of our expedition, he clarifies that indeed the barren rocks is not a natural phenomenon: Before tourism exploded in these waters, the natives on the island had gotten into fishing with dynamite use some ten years ago, which practice almost killed the reefs and the fish population. However, once tourism industry discovered, coral reefs could bring more income to natives than simple fishing, they stopped this very harmful practice and corals started flourishing again. I hope the income from snorkeling for the reefs we and many other tourists generate for the natives we have encountered today and those we have not will incentivize them all for the decades to come to keep their reefs, our reefs alive.
School of silver fish off internet: What I had seen was mush more spectacular
In one of the canyons, I have a de ja vouz feeling: Underneath us is a school of tiny silver fish, almost invisible. But in fact, when paid attention, it feels like there is a million of them. They form a huge oval ball just like the ones that I had seen couple years ago in Gocek, Turkey by an island just like this. The oval school of fish in which, each individual fish is very intimately tucked side by side with its fellow school mates apparently gives the predators the impression of a very big fish, thus, protects the silver fish from becoming very easy preys. Basic instinct for survival has a wisdom of its own, doesn't it? To watch this semitransparent body of fish, with its shimmering, with its minuscule movements, with reach but so far away is meditation.
Not all of Cartagena is pretty there are shanty parts where working class people live...
My entire experience underwater is in fact a full hour of meditation. There is no distraction but the fish, the reefs, the moving bodies of our group members, all in harmony with one another. We are all in the moment, what a relaxation it is to become one with our natural surrounding. Becoming one with the ocean, with the fish, with the vegetable and animal habitat under us, and with our fellow men from who knows how many nationalities. Why can't the entire world do the same? Why can't we stop fighting one another, why can't we see that imposing one religious belief on others is not good for humanity? Why can't we stop dropping bombs on this group or that? Why can't everybody on earth allow everybody else be the way they choose to be without harming any other living creature? Another lula verde catches my attention and brings me back to the beautiful moment that I do not want let go of.
What saw during my visual meditaton under a tropical tree
Yet, like every special wonder, this also has to come to an end. As people gather around the boat, I take a swim circling the boat twice. It feels soooo good. When we get back to the boat, I discover that the British family had actually scuba-dived so that their adolescent son could get his credit that he needed for his scuba diving course. I love to see in families such devotion to their children and their needs and such wisdom to integrate such tasks into fun family time. Nestor now is used to me calling him Nestor instead of Junior? I hope I can convey to him without words that it is OK to be Nestor in this white man's world. Being Nestor is becoming enough, in fact more becoming to him, at least in my eyes. Do I see a different kind of connection with me in his eyes as well? Or is it wishful thinking?
Cartagena castle
When we get back to the shore, our food is ready! I had ordered a whole morollo fish, native to these waters, I definitely will look for it in Latino food stores in Iowa City. Paul has ordered a filet, we both enjoy our fish, I along with my mixed fruit juice and Paul with his beer. Paul is a world traveler, his sisters are both teachers, but one has changed careers after working as a nurse for a while just like their mother. We have a lovely chat about the books we have read, a movie that he has watched. I am glad we started an accidental conversation. Paul makes my day much more interesting than it would have been.
Cartagena at dusk from the castle
In a little bit, I walk to the east side of the beach away from the few customers on the sands. I find a tree up on a wall above this rocky part of the beach. I sit on the natural rock wall and meditate listening to the sounds of the sea, now trickling into the spaces among the rocks of the shore, now thrusting herself onto the wall, the sounds of the birds chirping, singing, cooing in all kinds of melodies, the sounds of the rocks squealing and crackling and the sounds of the trees whispering, sighing, and rustling with no man made artificial sounds. After this audio meditation, I open my eyes and start my visual meditation, this experience of just being over the reefs, on this island, away from even the smallest crowd nearby in and of itself is meditation.
When we get back to town, I head toward the castle, the Castille de Felipo V. You have to walk through some quite rough neighborhoods to get to it, but that is part of the game. I know, Cartagena has the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor living if not together, side by side to say the least. Homelessness is not rare, both in Cartagena and Bogota. But at the same time, on the eastern end of town are huge high rises, some hotels but some residential buildings for the middle class and upper class. Poor neighborhoods on the other hand are crowded with shacks that mostly are run down. Making mental notes of all these observations, I climb up toward the castle. What is ironical is that, right across from the castle is one of the major malls of the city. The tourists are heading toward the castle when Carthaginians are busy in and out of the mall!
Old and new side by side
I am right on time to visit the castle. Dusk is fast approaching and the vistas from up above the town's skyline are spectacular. As I read some place, this castle is so similar to that in San Juan and perhaps to others in South and Central America. I feel like I am in San Juan one more time. The castle's thick, I mean thick walls, huge towers, hidden passages and galleys are off-putting in a sense, but as interesting, displaying the culture of a certain time frame; colonialism at its height.
Old and new through one another
I enjoy the sun coming down gradually creating the mystic scenery of pre-dusk. I volunteer to take a photo against the ocean and old town of a Latino couple, which they clearly appreciate, now they do have at least one photo of both of them in a loving embrace. I watch a young man taking multiple photos of an extraordinary Latina beauty in a very striking attire that displays all her slightly provocative attractiveness on top of one of the inner walls of the castle. He is so enjoying to be documenting her in her, again slightly provocative poses, and she is enjoying to be posing for him to such an extent, I just smile at them and leave them be, that is clearly what they need at this moment of intense connection.
Flag up on the castle against Cartagena skyline
Finally, I decide to head toward the city walls for the sunset. I am not the only one who has made that plan. There is a huge crowd over the walls and everybody is crowding the west side of the walls to watch the sunset. I discover that this is the thing to do when in Cartagena since it seems like most of the city's population, young and old is up on the walls. Another opportunity to meditate. My heart is light, it is full of light, surprisingly, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that my daughter announced to take time off medical school at least for a year to travel. I hope my heart is emitting some of its light to others around me, who are doing the same to me....
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| Sunset in Cartagena from the city walls |
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