Our final accommodations was the beautiful Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena. We stayed an extra night so that we weren’t traveling on Madeline’s birthday. Our excursions included a walking food tour of the city, a visit out to the forest to find the cotton-tail tamarins, a hot afternoon at a fort, and a snorkel day at a hotel on an island. On Madeline’s birthday, we did more walking of the city and had a nice, relaxing day at the pool as well. It was then time to head back to the States.

Cartagena

3/14/25—3/23/25

It was time to leave Armenia. We had one more cup of good Colombian coffee, then went to the airport to walk out to our flight to Bogotá. We transferred to another plane and flew to Cartagena, where we again walked off the plane out onto the tarmac.

The Sofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena was a short drive from the airport and just inside the walled city. We had a brief moment to view its beauty before going to a rum-tasting session. After three rums, the happy group started walking through the various plazas in the city, being met by our local guide to give us a food tour. It was a nice way to immerse ourselves in the local culture.

Breakfast at the Sofitel was great, but we were ready to head out to the dry tropics and put on our boots to go trekking through the forest. We saw howler monkeys, crazy ants, a camouflage spider, bats, and all sorts of important trees for the ecosystem...

…but our goal was to find cotton-top tamarins, or Tití. We did find some up high in the trees.

We planted our own tree and named it Myles. Our group liked the conservationists and the food.

It was a hot morning, so when we got back to the hotel, only a small group wanted to go visit San Felipe de Barajas Fort. The fort was picturesque, to say the least, with great views of Cartagena.

We then went to the colorful neighborhood of Getsemani. It was a nice walking tour while the others stayed back and played in the pool. We had dinner on our own, and chose to eat a burger and pizza outside in the plaza.

The fruit in Colombia was just phenomenal. We included some in every breakfast we had, and it seemed like they served avocado at every meal. We were a big fan!

 

We drove to the Rosario Islands west of Cartagena, on the Caribbean Sea. It felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere, but then we came to a reception area. From there, we took a golf cart to a dock, then a boat to a hotel on an island, and then another boat out to the reef to go snorkeling. It was all lots of fun, and the speed boats to and from the reef were exhilarating.

Some people stayed back at the hotel while we were snorkeling. They had a cool infinity pool there. We then had another outdoor meal, and this lunch was probably my favorite meal all week. The fish was fabulous, and Madeline got another delicious chocolate dessert. We then went back to the resort in some crazy traffic and got dressed for our farewell dinner. Our week with Adventures by Disney was over.

It was Madeline’s birthday, and we didn’t want to travel on it, so we stayed an extra day at the Sofitel. We walked out to the wall and followed it around to one of the bastions. The sea was beautiful, but the sun was hot. We turned into the city and visited some of the plazas, even having a nice lunch on a balcony overlooking Plaza de los Coches.

We then relaxed and drank at the pool for a while, talking with the only other family from our group that stayed the day. We ended her birthday with a nice sushi dinner overlooking Plaza de San Diego outside of our hotel.

It was time to leave Cartagena and Colombia. It was a wonderful trip, but we had to walk outside one more time to catch a plane and fly to Miami, where we had an American meal.