Soaped

You know that feeling of difficulty one experiences adjusting back to to reality after a long weekend... That's my current state of mind. Due to the rainy season, Matt's hours have been cut back; no more Saturday's and he heads home for the weekend at 2:30 on Fridays. On top of that Monday was a holiday. Three full days off is quite a strange feeling around here and I'm happy to announce, we get to do it all over again next weekend.  The other thing that seems to be keeping my mind in a daze is the impending arrival of our Colombian visitors! {9 days}

November is an exciting time in Colombia. They celebrate two holidays on back to back weekends. November 5 was the celebration of All Saint's Day and November 12th is Cartagena's Independence Day. Next weekend is a gi-normous holiday.  There is quite a bit of activity planned in this city, including the Miss Colombia pageant. 

This weekend the city was buzzing with people in celebration mode. Traffic was by far the worst I've ever seen it, the streets were full of people, streets were closed off to traffic. Matt and I made our way to the Old City on Saturday to check out a favorite cafe of mine and see what all this celebrating was about. 

Matt and I enjoyed a Sno-Cone {which they top with some coconut concoction}, some time in an antique store {where Sarah drooled over a massive Colombian door and tried to convince Matt that it could fall in the category of 'Colombian Art' and then a dream house could totally be designed around the door}, did some Christmas ornament shopping, and even stumbled across a parade.

{example door. Mine was better. Think: Older & Bigger}

This is the aforementioned parade we stumbled upon. We had been told of the parades that go on in the city during the November celebrations. In the photo above, you may notice some substance that is being sprayed in the air. This is some mysterious soapy stuff that is sold in a hairspray like can.  And the locals couldn't get enough of it. It was everywhere. Fast forward to Sunday night:  Matt and I went to the Old City with another couple for dinner. Due to several road closures we were dropped off in a different area. The streets were filled with people, singing, chanting, throwing fireworks, throwing flour, and spraying this mysterious soapy substance. We continued on, determined to reach our final destination. At one point, I noticed a young boy eyeing me. Note: He had a can of the mysterious soapy substance. I looked at him with a plea in my eyes that said, 'Please, No.' Apparently translated, that means sucker. The kiddo got me. He got me good, right in the left side of my freshly styled hair. I seriously felt like this guy.

After we realized that our Gringo status was making us a bigger target, we abandoned our dinner plans in the Old City and moved back to our 'mysterious soap substance-free' neighborhood. 

Back to Saturday:

Last week in the bay, Matt and I were in awe of a Mexican Naval Training Sailboat that docked in the bay. The boat apparently sails all over the world and Cartagena is one of the stops {so is Boston, Mass.} 

As exciting as Cartagena is in early November, Matt and I got a good dose of it. So, we are taking advantage of our holiday weekend and seeing what else Colombia has to offer. 

We're Bogota Bound!