Cartagena ... Spanish-esque Carribbean Paradise

Sunning it up in Cartagena has been blissful respite after our ordeal getting here.

.http://www.google.com.co/images?hl=en&q=cartagena+colombia+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=nZDoS6aCHoGdlgetg_S2Aw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQsAQwAA is a good link to see some photos

A Spanish fortified city on the coast is about as far from what I thought I would experience here! We arrived expecting jungle, chaos and slum like living, however, this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  The Old Town  is within the main city and is like stepping into a Spanish time warp everytime we go through the gates, castles, clock towers and stone walls at every turn,, horse drawn carriages and squares filled with tables and musicians.  The town is lined with machine gun armed guards, all meant to make the tourists and the rich feel safe, however, they add to the myriad confusion of old and new, safe and dangerous, clean and rotten.  No matter how often I see them, young boys with guns is still the most unnerving sight I have encountered.
We are staying just out of the Old Town and here is where the expected cocaine influence is a lot more evident.  Prostitutes cradling babies whilst soliciting and dealing drugs is a sight that renches and makes my stomach heave, and the morning sight of high, bug eyed, ignorant tourists jacked up on coke, adding to the disintegration of this beautiful place makes me sick. 
As with every place we have seen so far, the ugly and beauty are interlinked, and to love a place, one must learn to accept the parts that make us squirm...yet it furthers my resolve to work and help.  Ive been harrassing, emailing and battling the beauracracy in order to arrange to come back here and do something, anything, to improve the lives of those born into the gutteral lifestyle that sludges here.

Tomorrow we are flying to Cali in South Colombia where we will soak up some Salsa for a few days and more history  then cross into Ecuador by bus (we are all nervous about this, after hearing some horror stories about highjacks, robberies, and jungle kidnappings), to Guayacil where we will carry on to Lima by bus.
We aim to be in Cusco and finally up Macchu Picchu in 2 weeks! I have lined up some volunteer work there working in a hostel and teaching English, and also in Bolivia so I am very excited!

I will write more at the next stop!

Please keep emails coming
xxx