Cartagena, Colombia

So after 14 hours of planes, layovers, and time changes, we arrived at one very hot and happy destination. We exchanged the remainder of our money at the airport seeing as Canada and the Miami airport could not offer us enuogh Colombian pesos. Turns out, it is much better to exchange in Colombia as we recieved 1750 pesos for $1. Miami gave us $1605 for $1. Good for us. Our airport pick up was waiting to take us to Hostal Arrecifes, which is outside Cartagena in a fishing village called Boquanilla. The area is a wee bit sketchy and is overpriced because there are not as many tourists. We mostly stayed at the pool in our hotel and slept because we were so tired. Lindsay had forgotten to tell Megan that in some places TP must be put in garbage cans and not down the toilet. Needless to say all questions were answered and the system becomes second nature. We had a dinner of fried fish, fried plantains,rice, and salad for $15 mil. The money system here is somewhat crazy. Mil = thousand, so 50 Mil=50,000pesos =$25.00 USD...get it, we did. It takes time, but you get the gist. We took the bus to Cartagena to meet a brother of one of Lindsay´s restaurant regulars. We forget to get off the bus, so a taxi took us to where we needed to be...don´t judge us. Today we woke up and returned to the walled city and Hotel Casa Tatis, which we highly recommend. It is $20 per person per night and includes breakfast. Very nice place in the Getsamani district and is surrounded by other hotels, hostels, traveleres. We spent the day eating street meat and taking pictures around the old city, which resulted in an afternoon siesta. Again, good for us. We just finished a dinner of tipico...fish, meatballs, 2 beers, rice, beans, french fries, and beets that cost us $10 all in. So far we have remained under budget everyday. Friday we fly to Leticia, a town on the Amazon bason that borders Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. From there we will take a 4 day boat ride into Manaus Brazil, so it is unlikely that you will have an update before then. On a side note, we have been offered special services twice in 5 hours (aka, cocaine). Lindsay told one guy she didn´t want his kind of party and threw away his number. The second guy tried to tell us he had something special, but someone was in front of us...Policia. They are on every street corner...thank God. Needless to say we are having fun and feel safe, but it should be noted that you have to act safe and make smart decisions in this country. You also need to say No gracias...translation, get your dirty drugs away from our clean selves. Over and out...pictures to come