Getsumani – “our” Cartagena neighbourhood

Now that we have finished singing the praises of the old city of Cartagena, we’ll tell you a little bit about Barrio Getsumani - one of the neighbourhoods immediately outside of the walls and where our hostel was located. Although Getsumani was apparently - one time long ago - a well respected and popular neighbourhood with many of “the” hotels and restaurants, it has undergone a bit of a slide in recent years. As a result, most, but not all, of the remaining hotels/hostels are somewhat tattered and not the safest places to get to after dark. But, following a lead of some other travelers, we found a pretty nice, newly renovated, hostel in Getsumani only four blocks from the walls, and safety, of the old city. And oh how interesting that four block walk proved to be every evening…

Each evening as we returned to our hostel from the city we would compete to see which one of us could spot the most hookers. The local drug dealer, who was obviously an optimist, never missed an opportunity to offer us marijuana and/or cocaine no matter how many times we had declined his previous offers. Although we gave him an “A” for effort, the truth was probably that he was too baked to remember who he had offered what to from one minute to the next.
In contrast, even well after dark, there always seemed to be at least a few “locals” walking, working, or just going about their business, in the midst of the drug deals and hookers. As well, it was a time that the young boys took advantage of the cooler and quieter streets to play soccer, and all in all it actually felt reasonably safe. Just a very colorful and quite friendly neighbourhood, with one (fairly old) drunk hooker never failing to smile, say hello, and give Ian a wink…