If you grew up in a landlocked country….

…you’re most likely fascinated with water, ports, ships, etc. Or maybe this is just me?? Having grown up in Switzerland (I lived there 25 of my first 26 yrs), we had to travel to the ocean or to see any ports, cruise ships, fleets etc. Well, it’s in front of my window now…and like a little kid at Christmas, I watch the ships come and go — and yes, take pictures. I find the size of the vessels fascinating, how the cruise ships are little cities that light up a portion of the night sky and how the navy ships get escorted into port. It’s the little (big) things…

La Placita — Burger Bar in CTG

After moving our lives a few block to our permanent apartment, and cleaning for quite a while, it was time to refuel! We ventured out on foot to explore this new section of Boca Grande and found La Placita. A burger bar, which can also be found in Santa Marta , setup to look like an outside bar, yet you’re inside, colorful and am open kitchen so you can observe the burger fans making your dinner!! We both offered Hamburger Classicá with papas de yuca. (No food porn pictures, sorry!)

Snow day in VA, sunny in CTG

Yes, I’m Swiss, yes I should like snow — and I do: at Christmas and in the Swiss Alps or any other ski resort. Even now, being clearly far away from the Alps, I’m routing for them to get more snow. It just makes for better living, the locals make more money, the tourist are happy and it looks pretty. Besides that, I’m totally fine WITHOUT snow…it’s too messy, it causes chaos — especially in the DC area…so here’s to sun, sun rises, shorts and flip flops!! To my dear friends in all the colder places: we love you and hope, you can book a flight to CTG soon!!

Dos y dos — BodyPump en español

Well, we signed up for a gym today. ProFitness, which is walking distance from our temp quarters and from our apartment as well. We had made up our minds, but wanted to take one class. So off to 815am BodyPump we went.
Challenges:
1) first BP class in 10 days
2) being stubborn and NOT lowering the load
3) language
Taking a class in a foreign language keeps the brain engaged for sure, good thing Angel picked tracks from releases I am familiar with…but then there’s still the Spanish, or coastal language spoken here in CTG. To make a long story short, both husband man and I survived, we got a good workout and I learned a few cues en español:

Dos y dos
Corto (top/bottom halves)
Rápido
Lento
Abdominales contraído

It’s a start and I’ll go back for more (BodyPump on Wednesday)!!

Frutas de Colombia

I love fruit. I love exotic fruit, Colombia is like a playground for my love!! Since my Spanish is not as good as I wish it was, it’s still somewhat of a surprise what I end up buying! But my curiosity usually wins, so I’ve bought papaya, mango, granadillas and maracuyás so far! Papaya and Mango I knew before, Granadillas and Maracuyás are new to me. Granadillas are sweeter than Maracuyás, but both are great and I know I’ll keep on buying them to eat around the clock!!

In DC it was Two Amy’s…

As you know, we loved (!) Two Amy’s Pizza. We pretty much only went there for pizza while in WDC. Yes, we tried other places, we always came back!
Tonight, we ventured out into the old city, that part of CTG inside the wall created to fend of anybody looking to attack CTG. Enoteca was our destination, pizza (among other items) on the menu. Husband man ordered Pizza ai Funghi and added olives (if you know him, this is NO surprise!), I chose Pizza Cardinale, basically a Margherita with Prosciutto. Verdict: good, very good — we will be back. Does it live up to Two Amy’s? That’s still up for discussion!!

Una noche Colombiana

We had the opportunity to experience a small slice of Colombian nightlife, unfortunately, this also meant saying goodbye to a couple getting ready to leave CTG in a few short weeks! We went to a Social Club, envision a combination of bar, restaurant and club! The Paella was amazing, made with coconut rice, which is very typical for CTG! The Machaca’o was very tasty — look it up at http://www.bazurtosocialclub.com

Small successes

As I ventured out today, I had two objectives: 1) sign up for the Carulla points card (think Giant/Safeway card) and 2) get a class schedule for the gym located a few steps from where we are staying till Tuesday. I’m happy to report hat I was able to put a ✅ behind both and also successfully identified the cost at the gym, incl the Embassy discount.

Off to Juan Valdez I went for a celebratory Fruppé de Maracuyá (en leche)!!

we are here, we are here…

….after talking about this move for the past 11 months, we flew to CTG via Bogota. It’s almost a relieve to finally be here, I never felt anxious or nervous about this big move, especially if I compare it to my move to the USA in 1998! This time around, I felt prepared, organized and have a partner in crime: husband man!!

The first 24 hours included a gorgeous sunset, a full moon over the bay and an amazing sunrise, I could (and will!!) get used to life in Cartagena. For those of you that know me well, I aim for perfection and will make the most out of the time here in CTG!

CTG – we have arrived!

First impression as we drove from the airport to Boca Grande!