It's like a dream walking around here. It's like going back in time. It's said that this is the most touched chubby girl in all of Colombia. Of course, we will go as far as they allow us to visit a castle. I have never been inside a castle in my life, and I'm going to take all of you to see it. Good morning, afternoon or evening. I hope you're all doing great, my buddies. Right now, we're at El Dorado airport, which is Bogotá's airport, the freezer city because it's cold, beautiful but very cold. The cold ends for us today because we're heading straight to the Colombian Caribbean. We're off to Cartagena, folks. Friends, we're on our way to Cartagena, and the sky is amazing. Look at the sea of clouds from up here. I don't know the reason, but it's beautiful. Friends, I'm not sure if it is, and I don't know what place it might be, but I think I'm seeing a snow-capped mountain peak for the first time in my life from here. It looks stunning. We are passing through some incredible wetlands. I don't know what area this is, but there are water paths that look like tracks, but they appear to be made of water. Now we have arrived in Cartagena, and to get to the place we're going to, the historical center, we have to go along the coast. Cartagena is a massive city. There are over a million inhabitants here, so we are on the coast, which is the tourist area, the area that is usually visited, where there are lovely places. Something I want to recommend is that if you want to come to Colombia, and want to take domestic flights, don't do what I did. Check well in advance because there are flights from 30 dollars on Colombian airlines and airlines like Wingo, Viva, and others that offer very cheap flights. So, book well in advance, and the flight will be cheaper. We finally sorted out the accommodation. We've found this place, which is fully booked in Cartagena. I guess it's because the year-end is approaching, but it's all sorted now. We are about to explore this city, but before we leave, I found a photography book about Cartagena here, and it's the best way to explain to you what we're going to do, what we're going to see, and everything that's in this place because it's fascinating. To give you an idea, all this area here is Cartagena, as I mentioned, it has approximately a million inhabitants; it's huge. We arrived over here, which is the airport area. Then we took a taxi that brought us along the coast to this city here, the walled city. This is the historic center. Little by little, we'll find out why it's so important in history and why this place is so cool. Then, over here is another part of the historic center. There's an incredible castle over here that we'll see later on, and over here is the city of Boca Grande, which is a city with taller buildings, more developed, more businesses, and more of everything. In fact, from the air as we were landing, we saw various factories in the area. And back here is Cartagena's port, which is one of the most important ports in Colombia and the world in general. This one here. With that, I hope you have a better idea of where we are. Later on, we'll fly to Rafelo to get a better sense of our location. So without further ado, let's start exploring the streets of Cartagena. Now, we are walking the streets of colonial Cartagena. This city is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved colonial cities in the world. It's like a dream walking around here; it's like traveling back in time. I'm sharing some videos of what this place looks like, and for a good reason, it's one of the most visited places in all of Colombia. It's incredible. Look at this place. And the first thing we're going to do, besides walking the streets, which is a complete tour in itself, is to go with our guide, the minister accompanying us, of course, the gentleman, We are going to see how those beaches are. How are the... what do you call them, Cartageneras? No, the "Cartagenieses". The women of Cartagena, that's what I meant. The first thing we're going to do is head to the center of this place because it's one of the most iconic spots. But as I said, the journey to get there is beautiful; words can't describe this place. While we're on our way there, I'll tell you something crucial. This city was founded in 1533. And as I mentioned earlier, since the 16th century, this was one of the most important ports in Spanish America, and currently one of the most important in Colombia and the world. Friends, I can't remember what I was saying; we'll try to pick up where we left off because, as you saw, there was an epic interruption, But continuing, here we find one of the sculptures donated by Fernando Botero to Cartagena, Fernando Botero is a very famous sculptor in Colombia; in fact, later on, we'll see more of his work, We'll discuss more about him, so subscribe to not miss out. But for now, let me tell you that here in Cartagena is the statue of La Gorda Gertrudis, that's how it's called, and it's said that this is the most touched chubby girl in all of Colombia. People usually come to touch her; as you can see, some parts are more worn than others, where you can see the color has faded; that's because people touch her for good luck in love, I was told that you have to slap her buttock, for good financial luck, so we're going to give it two slaps. This place where La Gorda Gertrudis is located is called Santo Domingo. It's also beautiful, with a tall building full of balconies and looks entirely colonial. We've been lost for a while now, looking for the city center, searching for the clock tower, but getting lost here is wonderful, I can't stress this enough. The streets are dreamy. Now, after wandering all over Cartagena, we've arrived at one of the city's most iconic places, This is where the clock tower is. This one right here. The statue behind me is of Pedro de Heredia, who founded Cartagena in 1533, And picking up where I left off earlier, which I couldn't finish, This city, since the 16th century, was already one of the most important ports, if not the most important, for Spanish America. Currently, it's also among the most important in Colombia and the planet in general. That's why, and for different reasons, this place was extremely important. So, it was constantly attacked by pirates, corsairs, and other countries that were enemies of Spain, and wanted to conquer it, etcetera. Because of that, they had to build walls, they had to secure the city, and that's why this city is called the Walled City, because it literally has giant walls that we are going to see and learn about, which protect all around and protected back then from pirates. Today they are very well preserved. Even here in Cartagena de Indias is the sturdiest castle in all of South America. We'll see it very soon. don't worry, as there's no one else like me, subscribe to the Araya Vlogs channel. I'm with a friend from Costa Rica, and in Cartagena, things are heating up. bugs. A tip: if you come to Cartagena, come ready for rap because they rap at every corner, and they have good talent here. We learned how to rap. they rap well. Now we continue looking in the city for a church, that since we entered Cartagena de Indias was visible because it was very tall. It turns out it's this one behind me. It's called Iglesia San Pedro Claver. It's massively large, an incredible colonial construction. I was reading somewhere that this church was built in 1580. Now we've moved out of the Walled City, because we're going to visit an amazing place nearby. But, of course, we walked because that's how you experience the everyday life of this place. I've told you before: always on the streets or sidewalks, as long as it's safe, it's nice to walk. For instance, here in Cartagena, it's a very, very safe place. The city center is very touristy, so there's police everywhere. Out here, honestly, at least at this hour, it doesn't seem that unsafe. We're getting closer to the place we're going to visit, it's that impressive castle over there. And to get there, we have to cross this bridge that connects the Walled City with that other area. Friends, now, we have finally arrived at one of the most iconic places in Cartagena. This is the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. It was founded in 1657, and this is one of the largest fortifications in Colombia, and one of the most powerful Spanish constructions in South America. Of course, we're going inside as far as they allow us to see a castle. I've never been inside a castle in my life, and I'm taking all of you with me to see it. We are almost at the highest part. Let's see if now we reach up top to have the entire panoramic view of the city. This castle was built on a hill, of course, with the idea of spotting enemies. Battles took place here, the English came, the British, pirates arrived, all sorts came to invade the city for all the reasons I was telling you about earlier, So, the king at that time, King Philip IV, approved the construction of this castle, to stop the entrance of all those people who wanted to come and harm this city. This castle, the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, is a castle that was built to protect the entrance from enemies coming by land. Because, as I mentioned, we're now going to see the wall that surrounds the entire city, where the historic center is currently located. That wall protected the area from ships, where pirates came, corsairs came by sea. But the city had a weak point, which is this place where Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is built. So, at that time, Philip IV approved the construction of this castle. It's a fortress built on a huge hill. This is gigantic, with extremely thick walls, and the cannons, the part with the cannons, is not pointing towards the sea, but it's pointing towards the other side, for all those who came on horseback, on foot, etcetera, etcetera. A lot of things happened here. In fact, there's so much history in this place that this video wouldn't suffice to tell it all. The castle also has tunnels like this one that you can enter. Only that currently, for instance, this tunnel leads us to the restrooms. It has been refurbished, but this is the real tunnel, as it was back then. Look at the panoramic view we have from this castle over the entire city. Now, this bridge we are passing by here is a drawbridge, bridges of castles from those times. It feels like being in a movie, walking around this place. We keep going up, almost reaching the highest point. After going through some tunnels, those were the ones connecting the middle part of the castle with the highest part. And to enter those tunnels, something very curious happened. It's that, at the time, when you were entering, there was no way to know whether you were a friend or foe. So, people had a passphrase. The one inside would say something, and the other had to respond with a code they already had. And if they didn't respond with that code, well, they would be eliminated right there. That's where it ended. After going through that tunnel, we've now almost reached the highest part of the castle. Here there's a fluttering Colombian flag, beautiful, gigantic, and the highest part is over there. So, let's see where we cross to get up there, but I want you to appreciate this with me. Look at the view we have here, oh God, this is real. Let’s find the entrance to get up there. Friends, here we find the last tunnel that will take us to the highest part, to the summit of the castle. Now yes, guys! You have to see this, this is the highest point of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. From up here, if the views we were having were good, this one is indescribable. Moreover, there are holes up here where the cannons went, the cannons that shot at the troops approaching to attack. I will show them to you. These here, are the holes I was telling you about all over the top of the castle. These holes were made to fit the cannon through that aimed at all the troops coming to attack by land. So, these guys at some point spat fire up here, as I told you, there’s too much to say about this place. A complete video wouldn’t suffice to tell everything that happened here, but I want to show you another very special place in Cartagena. Let’s run over there. Friends, here I am at another of the places I wanted to show you, but there’s no time. The day is going by, there are so many beautiful things to see that it's impossible. I wish you could see everything we are seeing here, but it's impossible, there's no time, simply no time. This place we are at right now is the wall, the wall that surrounds the entire city, the one that protected this place from all the attacks. Here too there are holes where the cannons went. And this is what makes this place be called the Walled City, literally, as you can see, it's a very thick wall. Additionally, you can come to walk on the wall, you can go around the entire city walking on top. Also, there’s a very famous place on the other side. Maybe we’ll get there. And I want you to see this marvel that’s behind me. This is currently a shopping center. It’s the shopping center of Cartagena. Before, it was a bullring. A few years ago, they grabbed it, remodeled it, refurbished it. Look at this work of art. So you can get an idea of the thickness of this wall and the size it has, because I would have loved to show it to you during the day. Because it's impressive that they built something like this around the city. There are parts where this wall is about 25 meters wide, approximately. Of course, there are others where it measures 10 meters, 5 meters. So you can get an idea of how big it is. And at least, at least 5 meters high. So, right now, as it's night and also on camera you won’t see it the same, but this thing is huge. To me, honestly, it broke my heart to leave here without you being able to see this wall. So I came a bit earlier before going to the next place we’re going to, which is going to be epic. Subscribe so you don’t miss it. And this is how the wall looks during the day. All of this here is a wall at least 5 meters high. It goes around the entire city. And these are the cannons it has in different holes. Those over there were the ones in charge of defending the city. Well, my friends, so finally here ends the incredible journey of today through Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, one of the most beautiful colonial cities I have visited in my entire life. As I told you, the day wasn’t long enough to see all the beauties around here, but undoubtedly, what we managed to see was impressive, too cool, as the buddies say. I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did. Don’t forget to subscribe, share this video if you liked it. What did you think of the city of Cartagena de Indias? Beautiful. Don Erick, Bachelor, Minister, Beautiful, incredible, recommended? 100% truly, 100% recommended. Are there pretty women here? I don’t know because I wasn’t paying attention to that. Are you faithful to your girlfriend? Yes. a greeting to Erick’s girlfriend. I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as we did and see you in the next video, pure life.
