Day 9: Ceviche and swimming in Getsemani

by Ted · Published January 15, 2019 · Updated January 17, 2019

First full day in Cartagena
James woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. We gave him some kids aspirin and he was ok today — but still not 100%.
Breakfast in the open air courtyard of the hotel — tropical fruits, juice, mini croissants and cereal.

A few math games in the hotel after breakfast.

Pickup at 10am for a cooking class in a private home in the Getsemani neighborhood just outside the walled city — said to be the Brooklyn of Cartagena. We didn’t know what to expect but were blown away. The home was insane — three story, open air, pool in the middle of the first floor next to the first class kitchen. The four of us bellied up to the kitchen bar and watched as Chef Alejandro Ramirez of Cartagena’s Maria restaurant work his magic. The kids helped — smashing plantains, peeling skin from squid and breading chicken fingers — and played in and around the pool.

Alejandro was super worldly and personable. Colombian, went to school in London, worked all over Europe, Japan and at Daniel in NYC. Said he tried to work at Momfuku Noodle Bar but couldn’t get David Chang’s attention. Two stories from working in a restaurant in Tokyo:
- We remarked at how his kitchen was always organized and clean. He said the Japanese have a phrase: “Order is light in the darkness.” Margaret said that should be my mantra.
- He said the young apprentices working in kitchens would have one specific job for years. His job for years was drying the seaweed for sushi. He said one guy was adding water to rice for 10 years. The Japanese think that the rest of the world tries to do too much and doesn’t develop expertise in one thing
Food was incredible. Menu included ceviche, fried plantains, coconut seafood soup with coconut rice (all made with fresh coconut milk), chicken tenders for the kids and an apple tart to celebrate our anniversary (tomorrow). Ceviche was one of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted.
Took a bunch of video with the goal of creating a compilation. Will attempt that later but here are a bunch of pics.

We walked back to the hotel, snooping around some local markets and taking a few pics on way.

After an afternoon swim and a Category 5 meltdown by Willa relating to a swim shirt requirement in the pool, we took it to a little private-ish spot on the roof of the hotel for math games, drawing, cocktails and a light bite.

Finished a Cam Jansen and the kids were asleep by 7:30.

Observations after our first full day in Cartagena:

We’re officially intrigued.
The weather is fully Caribbean. The sun is no joke —hits you like nothing you feel in the US. But you can’t beat that warm ocean breeze at 6pm where you wouldn’t want the temp to move one degree in either direction.
Very adult focused place — especially here in the Walled City. Margaret mentioned the treacherous staircase in our hotel. No playgrounds or kid play spaces. Many restaurants close after lunch at 3, open again at 7 or so. Hasn’t created any issues thus far — only makes us want to come back without the kids at some point.

Other Highlights:

This city is somehow too cool for baseball caps or big flopping sun hats. I bought a Panama Hat from some dude on the street. He didn’t have a store or stand — just roaming around with a big stack of lids like the guy in Caps for Sale. He started at $COL 40,000 (about $12.75). I countered with 10,000, we agreed on 25,000. Pretty sure I haven’t accomplished my goal of looking cooler.

Margaret has been in the market for sandals ever since hers were swept up by the movers. She paid $COL 40,000 for these.

Busy day tomorrow: chocolate making experience at 10am and a tour of the old city at 3pm.

Update:

Testing our first embedded video with a hacked together Google creation from our cooking class. Sorry for the annoying portrait / landscape switching.