Cartegena de India: Mucho Bonito

Well the heading says it all.
It means Cartegena ( located in Colombia, as there is one more in Spain) is very beautiful.

To begin with its like a typical tourist spot with tall skyscrapers facing the sea, plush emerald water and crystal white sand beaches, lots of friendly people always willing to help, lots of history and lots and lots to see.

I feel one should stay in Cartegena for altleast 3 days.
First day for local sight seeing
Second day for a trip via Boat to Isla de Rosario ( around 3 hour trip by sea) to a less crowded and very very beautiful island.
Third Day again for local sight seeing, but this time in the evening to see the lights of various monuments.


So heres what i did in Cartegena:-
1) Day one arrived on 17th Aug 07 Friday evening at around 7PM local time from Barranquilla to Cartegena. The Rain Gods poured over Cartegena. It flooded the narrow streets and there was watter logging upto 4 feet at several parts of the city. The view was Bad and Sad atleast for the tourists who expected to see bright sunshine.
Nonetheless the locals welcomed the rain,as it was very hot for past few days.
The traveled in a mini bus (20 seater, fully air-conditioned at full blast) for around 18,000 pesos. The Bus Operator was Carribeana. There are several others,however my Comcel Colleagues told me to pick this one.

So at the Hotel El Dorado, I checked in, the Lobby Receptionist "Shirly" doesn't speak fluent English, but enough to have a fruitful conversation. So I was assigned room No 1027 on 10th Floor. The view from the room wasn't breathtaking. I could see the sea completely, but I did see it. The view for me didn't matter much honestly as i had a very tight sightseeing itinerary anyways!! The rent per night is 140,000 Pesos and is inclusive of all three meals ( breakfast, Lunch, dinner) and Taxes. What more the rent also includes free National Liquors and Soft Drinks. You can drink as much as you want. There are evening shows with some local band playing their local music. Nice place to relax after a tough day over dinner.

Over dinner, I had a tough time talking to the waiters. However I did let them know that I am looking for 100% vegetarian food, excluding eggs and other non-veg.
SO they guided me to the buffet where I could choose from salads, plain rice, and juices. So I did. Not only that, the waiter got me some hot cooked vegetables in salt. So that was nice. I ate those with some tomato ketchup. Over the dinner I met a guy named Freddie. He is from Santadander, a local place not very far from Cartegena. he works for Nursing and Hospitality Business ans was here for a days work. We ate dinner in hotel together and then listened to the live band play over some drinks.

He was so helpful to me at all times. He didn't speak fluent English. But enough to strike and maintain interesting conversation. He taught me some Spanish words and I taught him some English words. What was so informative to know from Freddy was that he knew a lot of local music, So whilst the band was playing variety of local musica, like reggaeton, colombian salsa, panama slasa, chile salsa and jazz, he would help me make the distincition and also for certain songs explain the lyrics. WE had enough for the night, time to head for bed. it was 10 PM when we called it a day.

Day 2: 18th August 2007:
I arranged with the local Tourist Operator "Mary Tours" for a visit to Isla de Rosario. They charged me 60000 Pesos for a pickup from Hotel to the Harbour. The fee also included lunch at the beach and boat ride. What it didnt include was the Harbour Entry Fee. I had to pay 9000 Pesos for the same. The Boat was a two tiered mini which can accommodate around 100 people. The top deck was for the suntan enthusiastic ones with Open Top and the lower deck was lot cooler. The boat departed at 9AM and reached Isla De Rosario at about 12PM. I was clubbed with a huge group of tourists who had from various parts of the country and also from abroad. They were mostly older people roughly in their forties. There were around 10 odd people who were young around in their twenties. So it was cool to hang out with them. Over the trip they realised that I was a Alien and had no knowledge of Spanish. Yet it seems to be the nature of Colombian people not to embarrass you. They didn't speak fluent English, but were nice enough to help me get my way. The waters were a sight to behold. Absolutely clean emerald waters. The Coral beneath made the water look blue and green, like the types that we see in movies. It was amazing. En route, we also dropped off to another island which hosted a Aquarium, but this one is different from ones that I have seen in India. This one had huge > 3mts Fishes in LIVE sea waters. They had no glasses. The fish were encompassed in a large netted cage so that they cant run away and at the same time have live sea current waters to keep the water fresh. It was like an extension of the sea itself, only lot restricted for the fishes. The local Guide at the aquarium explained us about ( in Spanish ONLY) about various breeds of the fish. The entry fee to the Aquarium is 12,000 Pesos. There also was a Dolphin Show where they illustrated dolphin to perform acrobats in Air to touch a Ball hosted some 20 feet in air. Overall it was a nice show.

Now time back to head to Isla de Rosario, everyone was low on energy as it was close to lunch hour. I wasn't particularly hungry as I kept munching on the fruits and packaged Milk Shakes that I carried from Home. so for about 30 more minutes we finally reached isla de rosario, we were escorted off the boat into cool and serene island. Everybody jumped into the buffet and devoured a lot of food. I too luckily had enough of vegetarian food to keep me happy. I was pleasantly surprised. They had a local fish, salads, masala rice with coconut, Fried banana chips and Some other Fired Vegetable in lunch. Overall it was a very satisfying lunch. Enjoyed it.

Now it was time for the people to hit the beach. They quickly changed into bikinis and swimming suits and jumped into the sea. I didn't go bathing as I didn't want to. But people had funs. I watched from the shades beautiful ladies bathe in beautiful waters.

It was 3 PM and time to head back to home. Everybody was tired after their excursions on and off the sea. The boat took the shorter route this time and reached us the Cartegena Harbor at around 5:45PM. I and many others dozed off for a quick nap in the boat. IN this trip itself I had made my self friends with the entire groups. I requested them to offer help for a City Tour. Much to my amazement, they said that there were two city tours organized in a day, one at 9Am and other at 2PM.
I said I wanted to go for the 9AM one tomorrow.I asked them where and how I could fix the same. But again the helpful nature of Colombians showed, not only they offered me a FREE (repeat FREE-no strings attached)City Tour with them but also made me extremely comfortable. Just Like I was family. So I took directions to reach the pickup point from Virginia (their lead person) and agreed to meet them in their hotel ( Hotel Corsa de Sal) which is about 30mins walk along the beach or 5 minutes in Cab.

In the evening, I had dinner at the hotel along with a elderly couple in their 70ties who were with me in the Boat Tour. They helped me pick vegetarian food. I was again happy with the menu, it had enough to fill my stomach. Cant say it was delicious. But then i was ready for the worst.

So I had some time to kill, dinner was over at 7.30PM, what to do after that till 10PM ? I had some ideas from my client about splendid night life in Colombia downtown. So I asked Hotel Reception what i could do in the this time. They offered me excellent advice. They said I should try the horse carriage which takes around 1 hour tour of the city. It cost me 45000 Pesos but was worth it. They city is 100 times more beautiful in the night. Thank GOD the rains didn't fall the entire day.
Whilst I arranged for the horse carriage ride, I asked the old couple if they wanted to accompany me. I was going to pay in any case for the ride and there was space in the carriage. They were so overwhelmed by the offer. They thanked me profusely and hopped in. We had a good time. I have never been in a horse carriage for such a long journey. It was marvelous to see various monuments in the night. I mean beauty was over flowing from all places. The old Spanish Colonial Constructions lit by very low intensity lights make you feel you have transformed into a different era.

It was around 9:15PM and we sat over the drinks to listen to the live band play at the hotel. At about 10PM it was enough for us for the day, so we hit the bed. Overall it was a very fun filled day with a lots to write and talk about.

Third Day: 19th August 07:
Local City Tour
I got up at 6AM,had shower and packed up all the bags to reach the reception at around 8AM. I was horrified to see the crowds. I mean it felt like there were hundreds of people swarming all around with total chaos. I must be due to the fact that Monday 20th August is a public holiday in Colombia. Hence the Hotel Reception was way too overwhelmed checking in people, and obviously didn't pay attention to check-outs. Whilst the bell boy was retrieving my luggage and the Reception was finalizing my bill the Power Failed. The bell boy and around ten more people were stuck in the elevator. Poor them and even poorer me... My checkout was delayed, which meant I probably wouldn't make it on time at 9AM to Virginia's Hotel. Panic struck me, amidst all this heavy rain fall started. But luckily at around 8:45 AM power restored and I told the reception to keep my Bag and laptop in safe custody until I finish the City Tour and return at around 1PM. So they did. I ran to the exit and took a CAB to Virginia's Hotel with heart beating fast, cos it was precisely 9AM and I was thinking I might miss the bus. However when I entered the reception I met all the people that I was with yesterday in the boat tour. MY nerves calmed down and I sat with them waiting for around 15mins for the Tour Bus to arrive.

The Bus was a large fully air-conditioined 40 Seater Luxury bus. With a Tour Guide.
The Tour Guide's name was Incarnation. He greeted me and asked me if I understood Spanish if he spoke very slowly. I denied and he JUST for me explained the entire site seeing in ENGLISH as well as in SPANISH for rest of the crowd. It was more then happiness that I could take. First the City Tour was free for me and then the guide to explain it to me in English. All that made it the day so so special.

The tour took us at three places and was for about 3-4 hours
1) Fort......
2) Cartagena View from the Top of a Local Mountain
3) Old Colombia Walled City with 100s of old Colonial Houses to see.

The tour was very very full filling, the history at the fort and other two locations is frankly way too much to gorge in few hours. But nonetheless very educating to understand what Spanish people did 400 years ago. There is way too much on History of Cartegena to write about. So I leave that as an exercise for the interested.

Time to hit the hotels, We arrived back to our hotels at about 1:15 PM. I already had checkout so I had a quick bit on lunch, luckily again I caught up with the old couple. Their City Tour was with the same operator but at 2PM instead. So in our Broken English-Spanish conversation I explained them how exhilarating it was and tipped them about carrying adequate water, food for the road.

I reached the lobby and collected my bags and headed for the taxi. I took the taxi for 14,000 Pesos and reached the airport in about 15 minutes.

Took my boarding pass and checked in.
The airport is a marvel in its own. It very very small one, but yet so well architected that it makes you feel you have landed in some African Jungle. It has glasses in all fours sides from which you look into the beautiful Palm trees. The seats in the waiting lounge are also not the conventional ones, they are wooden with Chrome YELLOW Lacquer, The entire feel of the Airport is of a retro one. It feels that you are in some past. Also like Medellin and Bogota, it has free Internet.

Trust me, I didn't have internet for two long days in the Hotel, and have same at the airport.

Enough of blogging now, I am sure you must be bored reading. I sure am bored writing.
The announcement to board the flight has been made, its 16:03PM now and I am taking the Copa Airlines Plane for 16:40 to Bogotá.

So until my next blog,
ciao..................

I tore another Allen Solly Trouser:

Well at one side I received news that my LOST trouser in Cali is FOUND again........On the other side, I tore (suspected) my Allen Solly USD 50 Bottle Green Trouser.

This entire Colombia tour seems to have something against my trousers. One by one, I seem to be losing my trousers.

And its not helping either... I don't know what to do...
The new ones here are darn expensive. If I were to buy them in Colombia it would cost me over USD 60 for a brand like Van Heusen or Allen Solly.

Lets see, I plan to buy atleast one when I reach Bogota next week.

How Cruel Is Life !!

Time for Sorrow:
I was made to miss my flight today because I was ten minutes late at the airport. I was told company cannot delay hundred passengers for just an individual. I accepted the decision meekly.
I had to pay USD 20 for re-routing. I had to wait at Cali for over 4 hours.

Time for joy:
But then the Avianca Supervisor at Cali escorted me to VIP lounge and I had free food and Internet Access. I had comfortable seating and was able to Listen to BBC Radio ( ENG-IND last Test Match). It was all well. Time passed by very quickly. It was time to leave the lounge and go to Boarding...Gate 8.

Time for Sorrow:
The Flight Cali-Bogota was delayed by HOUR !!!. I had to wait sitting in General Area without all the VIP treatment. How Cruel Life can be ? I mean if I am late by 10 minutes I get penalized. If they are late, that too by an Hour, no penalties for them ? I mean there were hundreds of passengers, some handicapped, some elderly, some with infants...All had to suffer along with me. But we all accepted Avianca's decision. Why ?? Because the Global Rule Applies "Survival of the Fittest and the Best" Avianca in this case was Fittest and the best compared to us.

Time for Joy:
After one hour of wait we finally boarded the plane. But BOY was I pleasantly surprised by the SAME royal treatment that I got from the Avinaca Air hostess !!!!
She (Air Hostess) vaporised all my anger in a split second with her Angelina Jolie type smile.. And to top icing on the cake, the (Co)Pilot was a beautiful female. I took her pictures as well. Then I met Angelina Jolie ;-) and let her know profusely. I took her pictures as well. Complimented her for her gorgeous beauty.

Time for Sorrow:
Back to waiting in the Bogota Airport for connecting flight to Barranquilla. Its going to be tough. This time no VIP lounge to be peppered with. Only the general waiting area with hard seats and only snail speed Internet Access. I have a headaches now. Feeling the stress of today's marathon. Hopefully I don't fall sick. Have to begin TOI tomorrow at Barranquilla.

Bad Karma or Bad Place to be in !

Today morning I had a 6:21 AM flight to board from Cali to Barranquilla. So I went to the hotel reception and checked out at 5AM. Whilst I was trying to pay my dues, it was revealed to me that I was running low on Credit on my Corporate Travel Credit Card.

Also in trying various options, like paying the amount in two halves and also trying differnet swipe machines, the receptionist consumed very critical time. He too one hour from 5AM to 6AM.

I had measly 20 odd minutes before the flight took off. I told the escort from the Client to drive as fast as could. And that he had ten minutes to reach the airport.
He drove fast and furious, at 120Kmph and we travelled approx 40kms in ten minutes.
I arrived at the Airport Checkin at 6:10AM. The Ground hostess denied me the borading pass. She said the last checkin was at 6AM. The doors of the plane are closed and that nothing can be done now. The Company Policy states that they cant delay the flight for just one passenger.

So here I was begging (literally with my folded hands and requesting her to make an exception) but to no avail. She said rules are rules.

So I asked her what best she can do for me. So she said We will put you on the next flight to Barranquilla. The only problem is that it is not a direct flight. I will now need to take the Cali - Bogota - Barranquilla flight.
The Cali to Bogota Flight is at 10:30 AM, so a wiat of 4 long hours at Cali.
The Bogota to Barranquilla Flight is at 2:30 PM, so a wait of 3 long hours at Bogota.

Also I had to shell out USD 20 (approx) for Cancellation of existing ticket and rerouting.

However as I write, not is all BAD here. During all my turmoil at Cali Airport (unlike Milan Airport), I was escorted ALL the time by a very beautiful and fluent English Speaking Ground Hostess. Her name is Lina Maria. She took me to a place where I could get the rerouting of tickets done and waited with me whilst the tickets were reissued. Then I asked her what will I do without Internet Access for another 4 Long hours. She said let me do a favor. She took me to the VIP lounge, where I met even more beautiful Women, and was treated like a VIP. I mean I had FREE internet Access, Access to Free Cold Drinks and Hard Drinks ( Beer and Expensive Wine), Warm breakfast( had some Non-Veg) .A very comfortable Chair and Table to rest the laptop.

Except for the internet and some fruits I didn't consume anything else as I am a strict Vegetarian, and also I don't drink. But that's besides the point.

The ROYAL treatment that I received from Avianca despite being a defaulter is something that I will associate with Cali now for rest of my life.

Four Point Sheraton:Cali: Lost (Misplaced) my brand new 100 USD Van Heusen Trouser

Yesterday, just one day before my checkout from Four Point Sheraton Cali, I was horrified to find out that the Hotel Laundry lost (misplaced) my brand new 100 USD Van Heusen Trouser.

I have written to the hotel Manager about the same. They tell me that they will search for it again on Monday as this is a weekend and will let me know.

If they find it, they will courier it to my Bogota Address else reimburse me with for the loss.
But I am not sure how much. The Hotel Policy vaguely tells that the reimbursement will be roughly 10 times the washing charges. That is paltry 32 USD.

Lets see what happens.

In my honest opinion Hotel Four Point Sheraton - Cali is not worth the price that you have to shell out. And in the end face all the inconvenience.
The Hotel has really left a sour taste in my mouth for Cali.

Its like 100 good things and one screw up can undo all the good. This is precisely I feel about this hotel.

Four Point Sheraton:Cali

Today I took a flight from Medellin to reach Cali.
I checked out of the Affinity Hotels in Medellin and took a cab from Medellin to the local Airport.
The Airport is on the mountain top some 50kms away. It took us 1 hour around a spiral path. But the view is breath taking. You can smell the fresh air and the greenery all around is amazing. The view from the top of the Medellin City also is a sight to behold.

The flight was by far the best. Avianca seems to be winning all the coupons from me so far. Every experience with Avianca (on and off the plane) is so so pleasant. The moment I was standing in the checkin counter. I was greeted with a smile by a very beautiful ground hostess. She was darn beautiful. I just couldn't believe that I was in Medellin Airport.
She pleasantly went through the formalities and gave me my boarding pass. I am certainly going to remember her smile for a long long time.

So after just about 40 minutes in air, it was a time to land. My flight had a lot of families with kids. So the moment we landed they all aplauded, like thanking the pilot for safely landing them .
At Cali, I was not so warmly greeted by a Comcel Colleague.
Maybe he was apprehensive about his English. Maybe he wasn't too confident. Maybe he was too tired from his last night planned activity which lasted until 3AM. Maybe today is Sunday and his boss made him receive me on his day-off. Maybe he is just like this.I wouldn't know.

In any case we drove in his car for about 20kms until we reached the Four Points Sheraton Hotel where my office has made my reservations. The road from the Airport to a stretch of about 15kms is like a National Highway and unbelievable straight. No curves until you exit the highway to enter the city. I mean you could have your foot down on the accelerator and drive at 120kmph without a hitch. But the moment you enter the City you are immediately reminded of MUMBAI. The roads are broken with huge pot holes. I haven't seen these in Bogota or Medellin.
So when i inquired politely to my Comcel Colleague, he told me that the Municipal Corporation here doesn't do much to fix the roads and that their earlier mayor was a blind guy and a very poor administrator.

Alas we reached the Hotel. The Reception was warm in welcoming to Hotel. Thank God they speak English. Even the housekeeping folks speak English. The mini restaurant bearer also speaks English. So that helped me get lunch (remember VEGAN, no eggs, no beef, no ham, no pork, no chicken, no fish...) I had some beans, rice and fried banana.

The Aura that I get from this hotel is negative. The entire hotel is ill lit. The moment you enter the reception area, you feel the dullness, the darkness. Its terribly cramped for space. INMHO, the entrance to a hotel should be very grand. There is absolutely no way that the natural sunlight can enter the premises. The artificial one is clearly not been done for the present.It feels that I don't want to stay here.

The room for approx USD 100 per night feels lot cramped up for space. After the bed there is just about 3 feet of place around it for a person to walk around.

There is no wifi in room. But I do have Cat5 Connectivity which after reasonably large tinkering by myself and the local bellboy seems to be working.

There is huge construction going on in 4 Points Sheraton -Cali right now. That probably makes you feel even more uncomfortable. It doesn't affect me directly though.......

The view is pathetic to say the least. I stare directly outside the Car Parking Lot.
Would you believe it !!! I certainly don't. But then I am willing to compromise. In any case from Monday onwards my day will begin at 7AM in office and will end at around 5PM.
So I wont be doing much in Hotel in any case except to having a bath and nights sleep.

The bed here also hurts. The whole place is so yester year type.
The toiletries leak, The shower doesn't have enough water pressure. The bed is so damn hard, the tapestries seem old, feel that they haven't been changed for last 10years at least.

The whole Aura in the room feels like you have entered a sick room. Wanting and pleading you to make changes to it. Add some life to it.

Maybe I am thinking too much. But I can assure you I am not coming back to this hotel ever again.

Thats it for now. These are my first impressions of the place. Maybe they will change if I experience this place longer. Maybe they might be reinstated.

Dominos Pizza...Bitter Sweet Experience

Today i went to Domino's Pizza in Medellin Colombia. I ordered a Pizza with no NON-VEG toppings. i.e no egg, no meat, no fish, no pork, no beef, no ham, no carne........
But the lady taking the order didn't understand the request.

Hence the delivery was with NON VEG: With Pork and with Salami.

So i complained to their Manager in a polite way.

Immediately they took back the non-veg pizza and gave me a VEGATRIAN one..

All issues resolved ?? Even I thought so...

But I was sweetly surprised......They also offered me a custom made VEG pizza for FREE to correct their mistake.

It seems some ISO process is ticking (un)well in these companies.

Sight Seeing in Medellin!

Today I went Sight Seeing in Medellin..
So I took a City Sight Seeing Tourist bus, named TuriBus.
It starts from park pablado at sharp 9AM.
It takes u along a guided tour of the Medellin with a tour guide who explains the history of various locations as they come along while the bus is in motion.
But here's a catch !. the Guide only speaks SPANISH ........so for me its all gibberish and sheer waste of time.

None the less I caught up with three people who were in the same bus as I was and luckily for me they spoke ENGLISH and SPANISH..

So I hung around with them until we reached the last tourist destination--Publito Paisa (aka People of Medellin).
It's a small setup on a mountain top with a small self sustained colony. Its used to represent the original Indians living in Medellin.
It has a small bar, small church, small school and small houses with typical Colombian getto.

So I did take lots of pictures and then we had a sort of lunch at the only ( aka very expensive) restaurant on the mountain.

From thereon we went to the closest Metro Station - "Industrialis"
We took a train to a station named "Acevedo"
From there we had a Joy ride on the Rope Way (aka Cable).

We got down on some Poor area in Medellin...forgot the name.
But it had some mini FAIR going on with 100s of stalls put up on the street.

So we walked around, until We found one very intresting stall with lots of hand made wooden artifacts. It had a wooden Harley, old vintage car, old trucks ..etc

My co-tourist friends from ARUBA seemed to like the genuinity of it and bought one Harley Bike wooden artifact. It cost them 40,000 COP.











I too was attracted towards one of the vintage cars. It was for 22,000 COP. I bought it eventually.

From there on, we took a return train back to a station closest to my hotel (Hotel Affinity)
The station was "Poblado"

So while I was asking for instructions on how to reach the hotel, there was a OLD VINATAGE car road exhibition in which over 1200 cars participated from all over Colombia.

So I spent about 2 hours clicking over 400Mb of Pictures of old cars.


The show got over at around 6PM.
From there it was to head home.






And now I am at the hotel, writing my experience to you.
Overall it was a memorable day. I will indeed remember Medellin, more for good reasons then bad.

Tomorrow I have a flight to catch to CALI.
Will write up the same soon.
Until then ciao
Buneous Notches

In Colombia:Medellin

Well friends,
First pardon me for not blogging enough.
Its been that kind of time.
I have lots of good news for you.
1) I have joined my dream job in Cisco India.
2) I have been assigned a very tough MPLS TE project for a GSM Customer in Colombia.
3) I have bought a brand new spanking RED Maruti SWIFT Vxi

All this has kept me busy. I have had to completely revamp myself in lots of ways.
1) I've had to gear upto Cisco Standards. I have had to undergo several official and several Self-Paced Trainings to come upto to Speed with MPLS and MPLS TE.

I am writing to you after such a long time sitting in a Hotel Apartment in Colombia Medellin.
Today was one of my lean days when I finished a very grueling TOI on MPLS TE and ISC to the Customer in Medellin.


Now I have two days in Medellin before I fly on Sunday to Cali.
From thereon, Monday onwards, it would be a week long TOI to Customer in Cali.


But i sincerely intend to blog, daily. .......maybe not realistic...maybe once a week and try to share my experiences with personal and professional life.

Last few months since I joined Cisco have been a roller coaster ride.
Every single day was a lesson learnt the hard way. The school of hard knocks!.

I have so much to share with you all , Just at the moment I am not even sure where to begin.
But maybe it would be a good idea if i just started a fresh outlook to my blog.

And maybe I should start posting my future experiences more often..
Let's wait and watch, Time will be the best judge to decide if I blog often.

Until my next post ciao. Buneous Notche