Cartegena, the colourful city

i've now reached Cartegena which is still on the columbian coast and so still very hot indeed. i'm now travelling with Johanna and Jennie both of whom are swedish and occasionally forget that i'm not only to be confronted by my perplexed face after they've asked me a question! Cartegena is, apart from very hot, very beautiful- in fact it says in the guide book 'one of the most beautiful in South America', (nd if thats not a recipe for disappointment i don't know what is) but actually it is- one of the most beautiful i mean. The old part of the city is still completely surrounded by the original old wall and the buildings within the wall all seem to painted a different colour and are punctuated by pretty shaded plazas. The first day we arrived we watched the most spectacular thunderstorm over the city with lightening so bright it was almost daylight. After the rain stopped we spent the evening wandering the streets and being persuaded to buy pieces of jewellery from some of the many street salesmen. The following day we saved our energy for the evening as we had heard that Cartegena has a reputation as a party city, again we were not disappointed and danced til almost dawn! The next night was pretty much a re-run of the previous and again we had much fun.
You'll be pleased to know we have explored the city to some extent, well we had done lots of shopping and thats has covered alot of ground! We walked along the top of the walls in a thunderstorm- i was terrified and had to sit down half way along! it seems to be the season here for thunder storms and most days we have been able to watch amazing lightening shows (i'm yet to be able to capture this on film but i keep trying) There is, however only so much shopping a girl can do (especially when she's got no job!) and so after a few days of heat in the city we decided to head for a remote beach called Playa Blanca. This is far more remote than Tayrona and had no electricity or even running water- we had to wash in bottled water (how very decadent!). I've now had good oportunity to work on my tan and finally i look like i've been away on holiday! i think in a few days i'll head south and once again seek cooler weather.