Cartagena

We made it to Cartagena! Our flights were all on time and our driver was waiting at the airport so it was a smooth trip. It has been a long day though! It’s scorching hot here in the daytime – 90s with humidity also in the 90s. We got up at 4am to make our flight at 6am and neither of us slept all that well last night. We’re exhausted! We got to the apartment and someone from the school was waiting for us. He seems very nice and gave us basic instructions. When he left, we discovered that the air conditioner in the main room of our apartment wasn’t working and the air conditioners in the two bedrooms aren’t powerful enough to cool the entire apartment. We spent most of the day melting! We went to eat and found a restaurant with AC. However, what Colombians consider air conditioned and what we consider air conditioned are not the same thing. The restaurant had a tiny wall unit that barely cooled at all. It was a long afternoon!

Not everything has been bad though. First days in a new country, especially in the developing world, require adjustment. Things we take for granted in the US are luxuries here. Our contact from school came to fix our AC this afternoon so we have a nice, cool apartment now. Our apartment is really lovely and we have a beautiful view of the ocean. I’ll try to post a couple pictures below. The apartment complex also has a nice pool, and everything is neat and clean. It’s fun to be back in a Spanish speaking country. The family that runs the restaurant where we had supper spoke very little English, and our driver only spoke Spanish as well, so I’m getting some good practice. It’s good practice for Bill too, and I think he’ll be able to join conversations once we start classes on Monday. Around 6:30, the sun starts to go down and it really cools off here. There’s a nice breeze that comes off the ocean. We found a small grocery store around the corner to buy food and other supplies and I’ll start cooking some of our meals in our neat little kitchen.

Once we get settled in, I think it will be a good trip. I’m excited to see the old, colonial part of the city and start Spanish lessons. I’m going to go watch Colombian TV for a few minutes before I crash in bed. I’m running out of energy fast! Bill will probably have an update to add here soon.