Me on the Sky Deck, with the port of Cartagena and the Bishop's House on the hill in the background. It's approximately 7 in the morning, local time (same as EDT, I think) and the weather was hazy and warm.

After a brief wait in the Rubens, we boarded our little bus and began the tour.

The tour combined driving and walking. Our first stop was in "old town" Cartagena, at the cloister and church of St. Pedro Claver, who had cared for the African slaves brought over to the city.

A sample of the Colonial Spanish archiecture in Old Town Cartagena

The resting place of St. Pedro Claver, the Patron Saint of Cartagena

In the cloister adjacent to the church, Jill allows the parrot guy to place a large parrot on her shoulder. Mom looks on from behind.

This is a tricky shot because of the relative darkness of the foreground, but Jill managed to capture a few of the stained-glass windows in the dome of the church. The saint's name is inscribed in Latin along the circumference.

We also toured the Museum of Gold and the Museum of Anthropology nearby, passing by the Palace of the Inquisition and Bolivar Plaza.

The Palace of the Inquisition. I bet the museum inside is fascinating, but it wasn't on our tour.

Schoolchildren on a field trip to Bolivar Plaza, pretty much like kids anywhere.

The statue of Simon Bolivar in Bolivar Plaza. Bolivar is considered to be the "George Washington of South America"

Our tour took us down narrow streets with colorful facades like this one.

Toured the Naval Museum (the defense of Cartagena from incursion by sea plays an important part in the city's history) and watched a folklorico dance show.

This picture of the Folklorico dancers didn't really turn out (I was too far away, and the lighting wasn't good), but I kept it for its impressionist flavor. Note the simple painted backdrop and the white patio chair off to the left.

Back on the bus for the trip through unbelievable traffic congestion to "new town" and stops at two shopping centers and a fort. The first string of shops occupied what had once been a dungeon. 15 minutes there was not enough time to see anything. We had a longer stay the the next set of shops, but those were mostly emerald stores. Still, I found a street vendor with decent t-shirts while Mom and Jill looked at jewelry.

While Mom and Jill shopped, Dad posed with a fruit-basket-carrying local who insisted we take her picture.

Fort San Felipe is situated to protect the old city from attack from the Caribbean. We walked up steep ramps nearly to the top of the fort, and could see much of the old city from that vantage point. It started raining near the end of that tour, which was a welcome change from the warm and very humid weather we'd been in all day.

Jill poses along one of the ramparts at Fort San Felipe, with Old Town Cartagena and an approaching rainstorm in the background.

The bus took us on a roundabout route back to the ship.

Reports were that over 700 of the 1200 or so passengers had signed up for the bus tour, and there was a steady stream of buses pulling onto the pier emptying their load of Veendamers.

We had lunch, played cribbage in the neptune lounge, took a nap, Then we joined the sail-away party on the aft Navigation deck: margaritas, chips, salsa, guacamole.

At the sail-away party: Jill in her natural environment--holding a margarita.

Watched us pull out of Cartagena and sail through the bay to the Boca Chica ("little mouth; the Spaniards had blocked the Boca Grande ("big mouth") to hinder piracy). It rained a bit on the way out and we took lots of pictures.

As we head through the Boca Chica, this fort is on the port side. Its cannon were placed lower to puncture the hulls of enemy ships.

On the starboard side, the fort's cannon were aimed higher to take out the masts and rigging. (Incidentally, this is the fort off which Michael Douglas' character dove in pursuit of the crocodile in the movie "Romancing the Stone.")

Instead of going to the Crow's Nest, Mom and Dad came by with one of the bottles of Rob's merlot, which we drank before dinner.

Unlike previous evenings, we were still alive after dinner, so popped into the Piano Bar to join the oldies singalong. Jill got a free drink for guessing the piano player's first ever song sung in public. Mom and Dad headed off to bed, while Jill and I had a nightcap in the Explorer's lounge.