Disclaimer - some of the following may be a bit scary for young children.  

On our third day in Cartagena, we visited a number of places in the old city including the Gold Museum and the church of  San Pedro Claver.  One place that stood out in a frightening way was the Palace of the Inquisition. 

We had a wonderful guide named Victor who is a history professor at one of the local universities. He began our tour with a brief history of the Inquisition in Europe.  In the old days, various monarchs throughout Europe used religion as a way to justify and maintain their control over their subjects.  I remember learning about the Spanish Inquisition which started in the 15th century but there were various Inquisitions, the first of which began in the 12th century in France and spread across Europe.   As the years passed and the Inquisition became more violent, it lost popularity among both commoners and princes. However, when Spain united through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella - both Catholic monarchs - they were in desperate need of money.  At the time, many Jews lived in Spain and the King and Queen declared them to be the biggest enemy of the Catholic church because the Jews only considered Jesus Christ as another prophet, but denied him as their messiah.  The Spanish Jews were also successful merchants & businessmen.  So began the Spanish Inquisition.  Thus the Jews were expelled (or worse) from the country and Ferdinand and Isabella claimed their property and wealth.  The monarchs continued to use the Inquisition as an instrument of control and became extremely wealthy and powerful (Note: The Inquisition was not just against Jews but other religions including non-Catholic Christians).  

When America was discovered, Spain was the most powerful empire in Europe. They brought the Inquisition to the new world in 3 locations - Cartagena being one of them.  But in 1610, there were no other religions in Cartagena to persecute! Yes, there were natives but the Jesuits were there to convert them to Catholicism. So whom did they put on trial? Witches, of course.

Witches:
Our guide Victor told us that witchcraft did not originate in Colombia, it came from Europe. The Palace of the Inquisition was used for witch trials and forced confessions.  It was not unlike what happened in Salem, MA however more gruesome and violent. Here is how it supposedly went down:

-Someone accuses someone else of being a witch and reports it to the Inquisition. 

-The Inquisition hires someone to follow the alleged witch in order to gather proof of witchcraft. Proof could be as simple as having some dried leaves or grass in the house. 

-Next the accused is arrested and weighed (see picture below). There was a magic number that a person should weigh back then, based upon a certain ratio to their height.  If the accused's weight did not fall in that range, they were put on trial.  For example, if a woman was too light, then she was definitely a witch because that meant she could fly (obviously!).  If she was too heavy, then she was still likely a witch because she committed gluttony wich is one of the seven deadly sins.  If she weighed the right amount, they would still put her on trial because they had a lot of proof from the accuser and investigator. So while it was the first step in the process, it was completely pointless. If you were accused, you were going to trial. 

Confession (AKA Torture):
This is where it gets really gruesome. They forced the accused to confess using unimaginable instruments. After seeing these devices, it's clear that nobody could stand the pain inflicted by these methods for more than a few seconds which is why most immediately confessed and accused others of being witches.  Why did they torture these people?  They thought they would become closer to God through suffering. Here are some of the devices they used:

Once accused, it was very difficult to be released and even if you were released it was often worse than death because the entire town shunned you.   

So how do weddings fit into all this?

Well behind the Palace is a courtyard typical of most colonial Spanish homes. In this courtyard they have a guillotine and a gallows - both of which were NOT used at this Palace but were put in the museum courtyard for show.  They were not used during the Inquisition at this Palace because the Inquisition did not execute people - they only convicted people as witches.  The police were responsible for execution.  If the accused died during confession (ahem torture) it was deemed an accident. 

Anyway back to weddings.  Victor told us that this courtyard was a popular place for weddings these days. He said that the bride and groom take pictures on the fake gallows and with the guillotine.  I couldn't beleive it! I Googled it and sure enough there are pictures!

This city is full of whimsical, emotional, and playful artwork. I especially enjoyed the metal sculptures scattered around the old city. Here are a few of my favorites:

After a good night's sleep we started our second day in Cartagena with a delicious breakfast at our hotel including a giant arepa filled with egg and meat. We also enjoyed fresh kiwi juice and strong Colombian coffee. 

In the morning we walked to the marina to inquire about boat trips to Playa Blanca - a beach on a small island about 40 minutes away. At the time we weren't completely sure we wanted to spend and entire day on the beach so we held off on purchasing a ticket. It was a good thing we did because we decided not to go to the beach for a couple reasons: 1) We later read reviews of the beaches and most of them were not favorable. According to the reviews the beach is OK but you get hassled by vendors every second. 2) We just didn't have enough time - there was more to see in the city center! 

After the marina, we walked to Castillo de San Felipe de Burujas. In order to get there, you have to walk out of the old city and through a neighborhood called Getsemani which is a little sketchy. We walked down calle Media Luna which was full of hostels. At the Castillo, we hired a guide named Gustavo which was very helpful. His English was OK and he had a little stutter but he was very passionate about the fort's history and pointed out lots of small details that we would have otherwise missed.  Read more about our visit to the Castillo here. 

We cabbed it back to the hotel for a little siesta. We then hit up Cafe del Mar to watch the sunset. This place is touristy but so worth it. It's situated on top of the old wall and has a stunning view of the sun setting over the sea in one direction,  as well as a golden view of the old city in the other direction.  It's a great place to kick off the night. 

For dinner we tried La Cevicheria - a restaurant recommended to us by several people. We sat outside which was lovely for about 5 minutes, then the vendors came selling everything under the sun. Had we done it again we would have sat indoors.  The ceviche was very good and very traditional - mixed seafood in a ton of lime juice. However, we preferred the meal we had the night before at El Boliche because it was a little more interesting.  After dinner we strolled down to Plaza de la Aduana to listen to some salsa music at Donde Fidel.  This area is great for people watching! We read that people dance salsa in the plaza later at night but we couldn't stay awake and were back at the hotel by 10pm.

Yesterday we toured Cartagena's fortress of San Felipe de Burajas, named after King Philip the IV of Spain. This fortress was designed by the Spanish and is regarded as one of the strongest defense complexes built during colonial times.  The Spanish began building the fortress in 1536, then expanded it in 1657.  Cartagena quickly became a very wealthy port city which attracted many attacks from various enemies, so the Spanish invested a lot of resources to protect this city. 

The fortress was built on a giant hill so the guards could see intruders coming from miles away - by land or sea.  Enemies that attacked by water came through the bay because they were less likely to hit sand bars. Cartagena's first line of defense was a giant underwater chain that stretched from one side of the canal to the other. When they spotted an enemy ship approaching, they lifted the chain so the ships could not pass. 

When enemies attacked by land, they had to get by the fortress first. The fortress is massive - wide at the bottom and full of dark tunnels. There are many secret tunnels that soldiers used to escape from the fortress if necessary.  Some tunnels led to a dead end in order to confuse & capture the enemies. Each tunnel has small inlets off the side where soldiers could hide if the enemy was able to get past the canons & through the giant wall. The inlets were staggered so if the soldier attacked the enemy, they wouldn't hurt their fellow soldiers across the tunnel.  

It was a very impressive structure and we recommend visiting if you are ever in Cartagena!

Question for Mrs. Barbier's class 2A:  Who were the earliest enemies to attack colonial Cartagena?  Hint: They traveled by sea in search of gold, often burying the gold in hidden places throughout the Caribbean.

Googlers, this one is for you!  We street-viewed the Streetview car in Cartagena.  Upon spotting the car, I ran to it and took a picture. The driver saw me and drove by with a huge smile and waved at us. I think a lot of people were perplexed by the car judging by their confused expressions.  In a few months, we'll have to check street view in Plaza Santo Domingo, Cartagena to see if we made it into the picture!

We had a long, but fun trip down to Cartagena, Colombia. We left on a 6am flight from Boston, connecting at JFK airport.  On our flight to JFK there was a gaggle of 50-something ladies leaving for a girls vacation two rows in front of us. They were so excited they started dancing and singing Bob Marley's Jammin.   They had serious Boston accents which made it very entertaining, especially when they started gossiping (Oh my gawd, I could nevah vacation with Baaahbarah....nev-ah). So we started off the day with a good laugh! 

Our flight to Cartagena was comprised of two groups of people: a giant wedding party and dudes. The group going to the wedding were already in party mode and very excited for the lucky couple getting married this weekend. It brought back memories of our wedding in San Juan- so many people you love on vacation together. Chris and I wish we could have another destination wedding!  The majority of the flight was filled with 20-30 something guys,  probably going down for a long weekend to party. The last time I saw a plane comprised of this many guys was on my flight to Vegas for CES. 

We arrived in Cartagena around noon to sunny 90 degree weather. We took a cab to our hotel and spent the afternoon walking around the city. They old city is beautiful. It's entirely Spanish colonial architecture and the buildings are different colors, many with climbing vines that produce cascading flowers over the windows & balconies. It reminded us of San Juan except with fewer hills, wider buildings,  more people out and about, massive churches and more bold colors than the pastel colors of the Caribbean.

We made a few interesting observations on our walk:

-Everyone sips the local drink Aguardiente (or guaro) out of little plastic cups, purchased from street vendors.  It's a clear, anise-flavored alcohol.

-Every now and then you'd pass by a llamadas sign - meaning phone calls. It's not a phone booth - it's literally a person sitting on the side of the road with a credit card machine hooked up to a couple of old cell phones.  These vendors are usually on every other street. 

-ATMs are really hard to find and when you find them they often don't have money. People wait in line to use an ATM.  

At night the city transforms.  All the cafes and bars are full and the locals gather in the plaza to catch up with friends over a bottle of beer.  You can hear music in the street and the temperature drops to near perfect.  While this town is vibrant and colorful during the day, it's magical and very romantic at night. I loved strolling through the streets of el centro around twilight (6:30pm) under a sky that was a rich cobalt blue color.  

We ate dinner at El Boliche Cebicheria which was very good. It's a little hole in the wall place that seats around 15 people.  The ambiance left a little to be desired but the food & service made up for it.  Our waiter was wonderful and his recommendations did not disappoint! 

Here are  a few snapshots from our first day: