Cartagena Questions

droble77 says on Aug 1, 2008, 14:31:

Here's a map of the Old City to give you an idea of where centro and San Diego is. . .

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GregYohn says on Aug 1, 2008, 15:34:

Hola!

Hang out in Getsemani at Casa Viena to meet tourist types there!

12VOIP.com gives free calls to Colombia.Greg

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pedro says on Aug 1, 2008, 15:39:

You'll be fine with either Centro or San Diego. They're both inside the walled city.

San Diego is a little bit nicer, in fact, it's calmer and without the hoi polloi commercial activity of the zone that's marked "Centro" on your map.

que nota!

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droble77 says on Aug 1, 2008, 16:05:

Thanks Pedro, that's the kind of info I was looking for. I like calm so I'll try to reserve a spot in San Diego. . .

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IloveCidy says on Aug 1, 2008, 21:18:

Stay at the Decameron. It is about 229k per night and is all inclusive. If you want to go in the walled city, it is about 5k for a cab.

I miss my novia!

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tomtom33 says on Aug 2, 2008, 04:44:

I would not recommend the Decameron to anyone partly because it is all-inclusive. There are so many good restaurants to sample. And you cannot walk the beach anywhere near the Decameron without being assaulted by vendedores. The air conditioning froze me out(there was no control in my room), and it took two days to get hot water.

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Saltador says on Aug 2, 2008, 05:27:

You are correct that Aviancas prices for in-colmbia travel are quite high. You can look for alternative airlines, but they are scarce. It's kind of a monopoly for Avianca unfortunately.

If you're looking for a "nice sail" to one of the islands, you must take the big boat of the decameron to isla baru. I know of no boat going to the rosarios that is a nice sail, in fact depending on the wheather it's more of a "white knuckler".

Just make sure that wherever you decide to stay, you don't enrich any gringo expats. Limit your enriching to rich colombians. Good thinking.

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tomtom33 says on Aug 2, 2008, 06:10:

Fortunately there are many alternatives to Avianca for in-country travel. I use Aires(http://www.aires.aero/Website/Default.aspx) mostly between MDE and CTG, but I have flown them from MDE to BOG and plan to hit Bucaramanga non-stop from MDE.

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Saltador says on Aug 2, 2008, 07:21:

tomtom,
Do you find Aires to be cheaper for the flights you take, or is it just your aversion to Avianca that motivates you to fly with them?
I just did a quick ckeck on prices for a trip I'll be taking in December, CTG to Manizales round trip. Avinunca quoted 684,500 pesos, Aires 718,600. Both are more than I'd like to pay, and comparable to the cost to take Spirit round trip Chicago-Fort Lauderdale-Cartagena.
Guess I'm spoiled now :-(

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droble77 says on Aug 2, 2008, 08:48:

"Just make sure that wherever you decide to stay, you don't enrich any gringo expats. Limit your enriching to rich colombians. Good thinking."

Sorry Saltador, I forgot to include rich Colombians in the list. But yes, it's true, I'd rather give some of my hard-earned money to middle class and poor people than rich owners whether locals or no.

As you may already know, many foreigners were buying up properties in the Old City when the bargains were good, revamped them, and now are renting them out. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but with prices of 500K to 2 million COP per NIGHT, these places are not bargains anymore even for the average GRINGO tourist! :-)

I can afford the lower end of that no problem, but FOR WHAT ?? I don't plan to stay at the hotel and admire the styling and accommodations during my vacation. :o)

So if you know of any middle-class (like me) expats or locals that have a nice (not luxurious) place to rent out that doesn't cost a small fortune, please PM me about it, otherwise, why attack me??


tom33: yep, I'm trying to avoid staying at the Miami-ish Bocagrande-Laguito area as I've read here and there about the touts nearby, not to mention the beach isn't really all that according to various reports.


Saltador:
If the waters around Rosario tend to choppy, then the marketing of these private boat rides in some of these hotel web sites I've looked at, is a lot of BS!! That's good to know. Maybe it's best to just save the money and go on a bigger boat crammed in with the locals on vacation.


Did some more research on airlines last night, and found only AeroRepublica flies from BOG to CTG for about the same fare as Avianca.

I think Tom33 has a few more options in the Medellin area with Satena, Aires, ADA, EasyFly. . . :)

I have OnePass miles, so I'm going to see if I can use those with AeroRepublica. . . Avianca wanted 15K miles PLUS 200K COP in taxes! I'm going to check if I can get it for less taxes using my OnePass miles. . .

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tompower says on Aug 2, 2008, 08:50:

hey droble are you sure you wanna stay in the old city? I would never stay there here's why: noisy, i remember one time i was in the centro hotel and some vendor was parked outside my balcony from 5 am on shouting, way too many beggars (not to be confused with vendors) harasing you and worst of all its too far to the beach, its easier to take a taxi out at night or the day time to the centro for sight seeing and night life than it is to take a taxi back to the center from the beach if your suit is wet. Your interest in the islands tells me your gonna wanna hang-out on the beach so why not have your hotel right there next to your tent or better said your bathroom right next to your tent. Are you going to cartagena alone? or with your wife?
Remember, we're all in this together.
Tom Power

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tomtom33 says on Aug 2, 2008, 08:56:

Aires was cheaper. I mostly use them because they fly from Olaya in Medellín rather than Rionegro and because they are not Avianca.

It is my guess that, like in the US, flights to smaller cities cost more. Try flying from Madison, WI, to Fargo, ND.

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droble77 says on Aug 2, 2008, 09:02:

tompower:

I'm looking at a couple of places in San Diego which as per Pedro above is a bit more calm. I'm already aware of street noise, so my aim is to try to get a place at an upper floor with the room facing the inner courtyard not the street.

I like the idea of exploring the streets of the Old City and checking out all the colonial style buildings. I do plan to spend a night or two at one of the islands which I've heard the beach is much nicer than Bocagrande-Laguito, not to mention more nature and less hotels, casinos, hookers, and touts. ;0))

I'm not going alone. I'm bringing sand to the beach. Rola sand. . . ;)

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sloopskipper says on Aug 2, 2008, 09:06:

There is also http://www.aerorepublica.com/ the Copa subsidiary in Colombia. I have no idea of the prices.

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tomtom33 says on Aug 2, 2008, 10:02:

San Diego can actually be rather quiet especially the area around the Santa Clara.

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