Cartagena – a changing city (Colombia)

Cartagena is a crowded city transforming itself before your eyes. As you walk down the streets in the Old Town area, especially Gethsemane, you see many buildings with scaffolds or with workmen walking in and out with pipes and rebar and other building supplies. It looks like many old houses here are being renovated.

While many old, seemingly untouched buildings remain, hundreds have been turned into hotels, restaurants, and bars. Seems like every block someone asks if you want a beer. Seafood places (with lots of ceviche) are all around, as well as Peruvian, pizza, and Italian. Fruit and juice vendors roam the streets with the multicolor dressed women with pineapples who will pose for a picture or two for some bills from your pocket.
Colorful buildings with bougainvillea-covered balconies are everywhere. Murals cover many walls, both those that seem abandoned and those of restaurants and hostels. Color is everywhere.

The below is in my hotel’s lobby, and there is another version in my room, and I found it while I was walking today.