86 Countries and Still Counting: Restaurante San Basilio de Palenque

I chilled yesterday. Today, visited La Serrazuela mall, bought some candy to take home and enjoyed a long lunch on the beach. Tomorrow is the spa, followed by a massage in my apartment, so today was my last time with Juan Carlos, other than Wednesday, when he drops me at the airport.

It's only been two months. But it feels like I have a new life and routine here that I'm really going to miss. Will I be back? Absolutely! This trip has been all I hoped for, and more.

Now, a few photos.

I love Google Translate. Then I discovered that people actually eat pork and glazed donut sandwiches. I can't explain alien toast or sandwich tombs.

Excellent bowl of chilled leftovers - baked chicken, beets, potato, blue cheese and avocado.

The sea turns brown when it's windy. This was my view for much of Sunday.

The skies were gray and overcast at 5:30 a.m.

But it got clearer.

There's an online form to complete before leaving the country. I have no middle name. But apparently my name is now Nancy Magsig Magsig Magsig.

Most of the form was in English, but not all.

I love the Spanglish.

La Serrezuela is worth a visit. It started as a bullfighting ring. That is still there, but modernized and is used as a concert venue. The mall is circular and built around the ring, on 4 levels. Filled with mostly designer and high-end stores.

That modified VW bus sells ice cream.

The railings are glass. Given my fear of heights, it creeped me out a bit.

That's part of the bullring/concert venue on the left.

It is a unique structure that reflects the old and the modern that represents Cartagena.

I love the Old City. The architecture, colors and views are remarkable. But the crowds and traffic are a lot. Drivers here drive slowly and are patient. As I waited for JC to come and get me, I watched the silver car try to go left, but changed his mind, backed up and made a right turn. Which required the yellow taxi (who was illegally parked) to back up. This all took a couple of minutes. There was no honking, no yelling. Just drivers figuring out how to make it work.

As we approached the beach, I thought this was a kite surfer then realized it had an engine.

Sundays are busy at the beach. But by lunch time on Monday, trash was bagged and ready to be picked up.

That's Marbella in the distance. It's just before the Old City.

The beach was almost empty.

JC and I had the second floor to ourselves for about an hour before two other customers arrived.

This place is great. If you want good prices, great food and a local experience, this is a great choice.

I'm betting that within ten years this entire beach will be covered in high rises.

Me, JC and the restaurant's owner.

Patacones, French fries, coconut rice, crabs, shrimp, langoustines, shrimp, fish and a tiny bit of salad. Along with two water and seafood soup was $50.

We put a good dent in it.

So peaceful. A 15 minute drive from the Old City.

Roland - I thought of you while I was waiting for the Cajero in Olimpica.

Sunset

30 minutes later.

JC picked me up at 7 a.m. this morning to head out on a 1 1/2 hour drive to the first free African town in the Americas. In 2005, because of its historical significance, it was named a UNESCO heritage site. I'll put a bit more about the history of the town in the photo captions.

I spent about five hours with JC today, which means I only spoke Spanish for five hours. My brain is now numb. And poor JC - his ears are probably bleeding after that much bad grammar. I have to give him credit for patience - and for helping me with the damned irregular verbs.

We stopped at Olimpica on our way home so I could pick up a few things, including beets and rotisserie chicken for dinner. Back at home, one of the elevators still isn't working so the other two are working hard and it sometimes takes awhile. One man was clearly impatient and kept pushing the "call" button. When we got on (4 of us older women, the 40 something impatient man), the ladies helped me get the grocery cart in and one woman was hitting the buttons for the floors people wanted. The man just barked out his floor to the woman and she reacted immediately. Respect for age is important in Colombian culture. She repeated his request in a questioning tone, then let him have it, in Spanish. "Have you forgotten what your mother taught you? Do you not know how to ask politely? Did you forget the word 'please'?" With all the other women nodding along.

My floor came first and I thanked the ladies for their help as I got off. I suspect the remainder of the ride to the 41st floor was in silence. It was a fine moment to witness. The sense of solidarity was palpable. I will miss the incredible respect I've been shown here by complete strangers. Partly because I'm a tourist but mostly, I think, because I'm an older woman.

It's been another fabulous day. Here are some photos.

The flame at this gas refinery burns constantly.

We crossed this bridge over the Magdalena river. Which we also saw when we visited Baranquilla.

We passed through the industrial zone and the freighter port. There are a lot of trucks.

As we approached the toll booth, there were lots of vendors offering travelers fast food (arepas and empanadas), coffee, fresh fruit and baked yuca snacks.

JC couldn't understand why we don't allow this on US highways.

Yes, that is a uniformed guy standing in the back of that truck. The only military I've seen are either near the Naval Base by my apartment or doing training exercises. Today, for example, I saw a group of soldiers, running. They were just exercising, not dealing with drama. I've seen lots of police doing traffic stops, but no more than I've seen in FL. I've felt very safe here.

Did I mention the number of trucks on the road?

Apparently having some people leave up Christmas stuff is universal.

The area around Palenque is wetter than Cartagena with a lot of farms and cattle.

JC stopped to pick up some yuca snacks. They were savory, crunchy and airy but not my favorite. I'll stick with the sweet yuca treats.

There were lots of trees, including a lot of mango trees, covered in blooms. Mango season is in April.

I did not expect this on the two lane road.

Am I the only one who doesn't feel compelled to take a selfie in front of the name of every town?

I was struck by the bright colors and how clean people kept their homes.

This is the public elementary school. On our way out of town, all the students were getting ready to start some sort of sports parade with many of the kids in uniforms. Sadly, there was no place to safely pull over so we could join the fun.

Baby pigs!

There were many well done murals, several with inspirational poetry.

This is a restaurant. The white border, with slight variations was on most of the houses. Some had people dancing, like this, others had people playing the traditional drums.

There were also a lot of horses. They had homemade saddles, made of wood, straw and blankets.

There is a church and plaza in the middle of town, which is very traditionally Spanish. It was well-maintained and vendors were setting up for all the tourists who were arriving as we left.

There were flags representing the many countries who've contributed to the Palenque culture. In addition to the African countries which were home to the slaves brought to Cartagena. Also, Spain, Portugal, England and other countries contributed to the unique culture, language and religion of the Palenque people.

Not surprisingly, one of the vendors is a woman who's a friend of JC's.

This is a statue Benkos Bioho who founded Palenque in 1599.

Palenque is the first free black community in the Americas.

I so wanted to buy one of these colorful and unique purses.

This small purse almost came home with me. But I do not need more stuff.

The church is the center of the community.

JC's vendor friend, who happened to be the aunt of our tour guide. Who spoke excellent English, btw.

There were many dogs. All very mellow.

This pole is faded but an example of everything being painted and decorated.

This is the local (tiny) hospital.

Our guide was great and spoke fluent English, Spanish and Palenque.

This mural has words in the Palenque language. He tried to teach me some basics but my brain was already struggling with English and Spanish.

My favorite stop was the Music House. All the traditional instruments. Visitors get to sign the walls.

I want this door.

Can you find where I signed the wall?

He played each instrument for us. Videos at the end of the post.

Just a chicken and horse on the sidewalk.

I love all the colors.

Another restaurant and the cool border.

This is "Kid Pambele" - Antonio Cervantes Reyes, a famous boxer from Palenque. He is known not just for boxing but also for bringing "light" (electricity) to Palenque in the 1970s.

This guy is selling fresh milk from house to house.

Yup, milk cans.

Another milk vendor.

Sorry for the blur but this little girl and her bike were too cute.

We stopped to buy some guamas - another new fruit to me. You eat just the white covering of the seeds. Similar in taste to a mangosteen. Tasty.

Back across the Magdelena river.

There are a lot of signs for this animal. JC and one of the vendors said it is an armadillo (which they eat, btw) but it looks like an anteater, to me.

My favorite street sign. Beware of crossing amadillo/anteaters; iguanas and snakes. How big are the snakes that they warn you they may be crossing???

I've taken this road several times now. Usually we turn off for lunch in La Boquilla but I had an appointment to get home for today. We'll be back for seafood in La Boquilla next week. Coincidentally, my favorite seafood place is Restaurante San Basilio del Palenque.