Cartagena in the morning heat

In the afternoons and evenings, there is a wonderful breeze which mitigates the heat and humidity of the city, but in the mornings, it is dead calm and usually overcast, creating a fairly oppressive atmosphere. They say you acclimatize; I am waiting.

Yesterday morning I caught up on blogging while Peter slaved away on the boat. Few people I know are so industrious. At 1 p.m., we wiped off the sweat, got a taxi to the Torre del Reloj, and met Paula and Andrew at the shop of Mr. Emerald. Mr. Emerald is an American who has lived most of his life in Colombia; he is also a sailor, so our visit had two purposes: to get information from him about local boatyards and people to hire for various jobs on the boat and to shop for emeralds. After a brief chat, we opted to go out for lunch and then return for a long chat. Paula and Andrew had been interested in the meals we had a couple of days ago at Cebiches and Seviches at the Plaza de Los Coches (where slaves used to be auctioned), and Peter and I didn't mind eating there again. I had the same delicious vegetarian ceviche, and everyone was quite pleased with their delightfully flavorful food.

Peter and Andrew in the Plaza de Los Coches

Before returning to Mr. Emerald's, we walked through the portals of the Torre del Reloj to visit the Parque del Centenario, constructed over a hundred years ago to commemorate the centennial of Colombia's independence from Spain in 1811. In the center, there is a monument with the names of the men who signed the declaration of independence on the 11th of November.

Monument to the signers of the declaration of independence from Spain

But that was not the focus of our visit; we went for the animals, which Andrew and Paula had discovered the previous day. Giant iguanas hid high in the trees. A large brown-throated three toed sloth slumbered, nestled in the fork of two large branches. An enormous black vulture was unperturbed by passersby as it rested on the ground in the shade. Long-tailed grackles, known as Maria Mulatas in Colombia, vocalized loudly from the trees and the ground. (The males are glossy black and the females have matte brown feathers.) Red squirrels jumped along branches and skittered over the bare ground, their coppery, fluffy coats bright against the dun color of the dust. Nearly hidden in the foliage of a tropical tree were three cottontop tamarins, small New World monkeys. As we were getting ready to exit, a local man offered to point out a baby sloth near its mother. We had seen the mother but missed the baby, who was hanging upside down from a nearby branch and grooming itself. As we sat, mesmerized, it moved as with great effort, one foot at a time, slowly up to a higher level.

Moving on, we returned to the elegant, air-conditioned interior of Mr. Emerald's shop. He graciously provided us with lots of information and offered to introduce Peter to a person who could possibly manage some of the work. Maybe 45 minutes later, we got around to looking at the emeralds. With Paula and Andrew's input, we selected a silver pendant set with six small gemstones.

Then we went our separate ways. Paula and Andrew returned to their apartment and the pool there. Peter walked back to the boat to work some more. I was free (at last!) to explore the churches, shops, plazas and streets of El Centro. My first stop was the Church of San Pedro Claver and its convent. Constructed between 1580 and 1654.

Front of the church of San Pedro Claver with the convent tothe left

The convent was where the Jesuit priest Pedro Claver lived for most of his life. As a young man, he sailed to Colombia in 1610 and was ordained at the cathedral in Cartagena in 1616. Following the path of Father Sandoval, the first missionary to the slaves, he devoted the rest of his life to helping the African slaves who were brought to Cartagena to be sold.

Over 10,000 slaves arrived in Cartagena every year, in the holds of ships as human cargo, despite the fact that the slave trade was condemned by the Catholic Church. Pedro Claver went to the wharves when the ships arrived and began his ministry within the holds and at the pens on the docks, where he provided the medicine, bread and citrus fruits, brandy and tobacco. It is estimated that he catechized and baptized over 30,000 slaves. In addition, he tirelessly worked for human rights for them as well as slaves he visited on plantations until his death after four years of illness, during which he never left his room, in 1654. The remains of his body are encased in marble and glass with lavish gold embellishments behind the altar of the church. (The church was, previous to his canonization in 1888, known as San Juan de Dios.)

Between the sanctuary and the convent is a large courtyard with sunlight shining through bright green foliage. The first section previously had the cistern for the compound and the back part was for meditation. The sections of the convent which serve as a museum portray the life of San Pedro Claver in paintings along the cloisters and in the sparsely furnished room where he died. In a long room behind one cloister is an array of religious artifacts, paintings and statues. On the walls of another part of the cloister is a small exhibition of small, modern paintings from Haiti. Another section has locally carved wooden female figures. A small room has pottery from various colombian cultures as well as a collection of ammunition from the colonial era.

The courtyard of San Pedro Claver

Bells in an arch in the courtyard 

Pedro Claver's room

Room with religious art and artifacts

The sanctuary is large and open, with mostly unadorned white plastered walls and thick, semi-circular arches. The altar in the apse is ornately carved of Italian marble and decorated with gold. When I was there, the altar was being prepared for 5:00 mass. The large table was covered with a stiffly starched white cloth with intricate lace at the edges and pillar candles on hefty bronze bases were lit.

Sanctuary of San Pedro Claver

Altar and the remains of San Pedro Claver

I climbed up two levels on the enclosed, white-washed spiral staircase at the other end of the nave to get a better view of the peaceful sanctuary before returning to the streets of El Centro. I walked toward El Centro, hoping to get inside the cathedral across from it, but no doors were open.

The outside of the cathedral

Yet another beautiful street in El Centro

I stopped in a couple of shops and wandered through narrow streets, arriving unexpectedly at the Plaza de Santa Domingo filled with tables serving customers of the surrounding bars and restaurants. The Convent and Church of Santa Domingo was constructed over a period of 150 years, beginning in 1522, replacing a structure, the first established church in Cartagena, in the Plaza de Los Coches which had burned.

Exterior of Santa Domingo

Stained glass window in Santa Domingo

5:00 Mass in Santa Domingo

A fairly well-attended daily mass was taking place, so I just took a couple of quick photos from the back of the nave and exited. I zigzagged along and found myself at the Museum of Chocolate. On the second floor there is a small but quite informative exhibit about the process of turning cocoa beans into cocoa butter and cocoa powder and cocoa liquor and, of course, delicious chocolate. The ground level of the building is a store with lots of free samples! I like my chocolate straight, so I only tasted the crunchy chocolate and the bars of differing percentages of cocoa.

Museo de Cacao

I was hoping the limeaid vendor would be in the Plaza de Los Coches, but he was not, and I wasn't interesting in a bottled beverage. As I crossed the street on the outside of the Torre del Reloj, I heard lively music from the Parque del Centenario. When we were there earlier in the day, the stage was being set up for a performance and someone was conducting a sound check before playing recorded music. Now the music was live. Sponsored by the University of Rafael Nunez, the Concurso de la Cancion Nunista (contest for unpublished songs) featured young people singing and playing instruments before judges and a small but appreciative crowd (probably mostly family and friends, I presume). 

I arrived back at the boat at sunset, finding Peter ready to wrap up his work for the day. I dutifully prepared a warm meal in the toasty galley before taking a refreshing shower in our bathroom and then spending the rest of the evening reading.

The afternoon breeze has arrived but I need to shower to rinse off the patina of sweat so my skin can enjoy it.