Cartagena de las Indias, Bolivar, Colombia: The colonial section of Cartagena looks exactly like it should: it has colorfully painted narrow streets, buildings that have beautiful wrought iron balconies and lovely flowers on them, great churches, and quaint plazas.

 
It’s postcard perfect and ideal for any history nerd. 

 
Outside of the original walled city is the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. It’s an impressive structure that still looks over the city and the harbor. 
  

The heat is also impressive. It’s the kind of heat that makes you think about every step you take: you don’t want to spend excess energy. 

  
Exploring the fortress made me think of two things:

1. I fully expected to turn a corner and see Sir Francis Drake coming towards me, sword drawn as he’d just breached the fortress’s walls. Wandering through the tunnels is really fun and you can let your imagination run wild.  
2. It also reminded me of a truly creepy Edgar Allen Poe story, The Cask of Amantillado. Some niches in the catacombs would be the perfect size for Montresor to bury Fortunato alive. 

This was my second time in Cartagena — I visited it in mid-June during my first stint in Colombia. Because I’d already done the heaving sightseeing I opted to escape the heat and go to Playa Blanca: an hour west of Cartagena. 

  
True to its name the sand on the beach is white. It was a little overcast on the beach, but it was also delightfully cool and a great place to spend the day on the Caribbean.