Cruising to COLOMBIA! Coffee in Cartagena & Street Food in Santa Marta

And we're literally running back to the ship. I'm comfortable with this in airports, but not so much being last second to a cruise ship.

Yep.

Good morning. It is day seven aboard the MSC Magnifica on this round the world cruise. We just finished up the Caribbean portion of the trip, but today we're in South America.

This morning, we have arrived in our 85th country of Colombia, to the port of Santa Marta. It's a town that we know absolutely nothing about, but it looked beautiful this morning as we were pulling in. The town is nestled between the mountains and the sea, and it looks absolutely beautiful.

Santa Marta is the oldest town in Colombia. And today we're on a tour called the Highlights of Santa Marta. So hopefully we'll be learning some fun history facts.

So we just learned that the oldest church in the entire country is located here in Santa Marta. It's actually been made a cathedral by the Catholic Church, and the Colombians call this church the mother church of all the churches in Colombia.

Our historical tour of the town is officially over and we are back on the ship. However, our original plan was to stay out in the town and do some exploring on our own after the tour. So we were getting off the bus, and then our tour guide was like, wait, you can't go out on your own with all of those cameras by yourself. And we were like, oh.

So we came back to the ship, we dropped our backpacks, which had, like, all of our other electronics in them, and we're going to head out with just this one camera. Anytime a local cautions us in a city, we try to take that very seriously. But with that said, like, for the last three years, we've been walking around with a huge camera and pretty much have, like, tourist target written across the front of us. And nothing bad has happened to us yet.

And our tour this morning was so fast. So we need to go out there and have some more time.

Yeah, we want to, like, explore the more local side of the city and also try to find some local foods to eat.

You see one of the foods that.

We want to try.

Dicky. Gracias.

He was so nice and understanding with my terrible Spanish and my terrible counting. 2000.

Colombian. We've not been here long enough. I don't even know what this is called. Pesos.

We were talking to a few locals this morning, asking them what we should eat while we were here, and this was one of the things that they recommended that I was most excited about. It's basically a popcorn ball. And from what I understand, this Is all, like, talking broken Spanish and English to one person. There's, like. They turn sugar cane juice into syrup, and that's what they use to connect all of the popcorn together. And it looks like bacon chunks. I think it could just be, like, sweet sugar cane. And then in the middle, maybe there's coconut, is what I thought I understood.

Oh, gosh, it's so sticky. I can't. It's hard. I think it must be, like. Yeah, some kind of, like, sugar cane jelly. It basically tastes like a really sweet popcorn ball. It's delicious. I didn't find any coconut.

See?

Okay, get out of here. Get out of here. So there. There's a guy, like, standing behind the camera the whole time that we were filming, and I think he just really wanted my popcorn ball, and I gave him the rest of it, and he seemed really happy.

So we just got into next bakery, where we were about to buy whatever we were going to eat next.

And here's how, like, this relationship usually works when we're on the road. Not, like, for any reason. Not because I don't trust Cara, but, like, for the most part, I usually always carry the money. I usually pay for the stuff. And.

And this is, like, the one time I was doing the interaction with the money. So there's this beard going, and he had, like, all this cash, and he was trying to, like, get me change, and I was just like, okay, this is good.

It's too many.

I think he gave me 18 drinks. Kara's like, oh, you're giving me way too much. Click, click, click. Anyway, I paid, like, $10 for that popcorn. I actually. I don't.

Popcorn ball that you gave away.

It's all good. I'm sure that guy walked away extremely happy for our generosity.

Yeah, I needed it more than we did.

Okay, we're gonna edit that.

I'm not paying for anything anymore. It's too much pressure. Okay, we're at a bakery now, and we're trying this cute little basket of baked. One of our good friends Lena from the budgeteers lives in Colombia, so naturally, we asked her what we needed to eat while we were here. This is pan de bono, and there's also pan de yuca. They're both cheese bread. One's made with yuca flour, and one is made with cassava.

Oh, my.

Oh, that's really nice. Oh, really good. You can't, like, find the cheese in there. Like, it's not stringy. It's, like, baked into the flavor. This one was reheated in the microwave, but I Can only imagine how good it would be if it was actually fresh. Ooh, you can see the cheese in that way.

Should have had the camera in slow mo. I'm trying to pull it really slowly.

Oh, that one's even better.

It is better.

Denser. My favorite piece of bread I've ever had.

I'm a fan of Colombian cheese bread.

Let's go.

Thank you. Try my first.

First Colombian coffee in Colombia. I am so excited. It's, like, burning my hand right now. It's such a cool coffee culture here. So we've only been walking on this street for a few minutes. We've already passed two people who are just pushing these carts of these large thermoses of coffee, and it was only 300 Colombian pesos. Oh, yeah. They've added some sweetener to it, but it's so strong, which is the only way to drink coffee, in my opinion. And it's just crazy that this is casually came out of a thermos on a cart that's being pushed down this side road.

They were so awesome. They spoke a little bit of English. We speak a little bit of Spanish, so we talked for a very long time. We think we got their YouTube channel.

I don't. I just love those guys. They were just walking down the street playing music in, like, the best mood ever.

They were so talented.

Okay, the cruise ship, like, is pulling out of port in 40 minutes, but we still have one more food that we really want to find, like, the one that everybody told us that we had to try. Where to go?

We have to hurry. We're gonna miss the cruise.

Okay. We found it, but we had to just get it to go, and we're literally running back to the ship. I'm comfortable with this in Air Force, but not so much being last. Get to a cruise ship.

Yep. This better be worth it.

The light in the city is absolutely beautiful right now. Before we got here, I was doing some research about this city on the Internet, and it was acting like there was nothing to see. This is just like a jumping off point for other tourists. But it's absolutely beautiful. It's awesome. Come to San. There's a beach. Food's really good. It's super cheap.

There's literally an Instagram spot on every corner.

So bright. Okay, thanks. We made it. If the amount of people on this bus in addition to us is any indication of how many people were left in Santa Marta, we're the last.

We were the last.

So we made it back just in time to watch the sunset, and we are now pulling away from the port. That was a close one, but hopefully this is worth it.

Literally.

We haven't even opened the box yet. I have no idea what to expect.

Whoa.

So we had to Google what it was. Patacon is double fried green plantain. We ordered this one with guacamole.

Mmm.

That was so good. It's kind of like a tostada. Like a really thick tortilla with toppings on top.

So good.

I am loving Colombia. This is the perfect end to our first day here. But it's not our last day. And since we're on a cruise, we're washing it down with Prosecco. See you tomorrow.

Today is day eight, and this morning we woke up in Cartagena.

Cartagena is the city we have always wanted to go to. And today we're exploring the old town, which is going to be beautiful. And we're drinking some coffee, Colombian coffee. It's going to be an awesome day.

And oh, my gosh, the buildings here are so beautiful. There's so many colors.

So there are a ton of vendors walking around trying to sell every souvenir imaginable to you. Pretty much just like there is in any big city. But the reason that I mention it is because I thought our tour guide handled it better than I've ever seen it handled while we were on the bus. She told us things that we should buy and some things that we shouldn't buy, like fake Cuban cigars and fake silver. Then she told us how much everything would cost. And she said, I'm telling you all this now while we're on the bus, but if we get out on the street and you ask me if you should buy something, I'm gonna shake my head and I'm gonna say yes. You know why? Because you're leaving this afternoon and I have to live here for the rest of my life and see these people every single day. And I just thought that was the best way I'd ever seen that handle. Because you get out on the street and then you feel like you can trust your tour guide when somebody's coming up trying to sell you something. But yeah, it puts them in a super awkward situation, and I totally understand it.

Coffee time.

Take the chairs. Yeah.

I'm basically living mind free right now. We are doing a professional tasting of Colombia's most award winning coffee. This is so much fun. First we learned about the coffee making process and all the themes, and then we got to taste three coffees. So he poured us the first one and he was being really Vague. And he said, everybody smell it. So we all took a sniff, and nobody really said anything. And then everybody took a sip. And I wish we would have been recording everyone's face, because everyone's going. It was, like, super strong and bitter and just not that good. And I got really worried that maybe I don't like Colombian coffee. And then they came around with the second one, and it was this really light color, and it smelled sweet and fruity and citrusy. And I took a sip, and thankfully, it was the best sip of coffee I've ever had. So we learned that these are bad beans, and these are good coffee beans. Apparently, the Colombians usually end up drinking this coffee. This is what's in the grocery stores here. And then they export all the really nice coffees, which is kind of sad. And that's why they add sugar to all of their coffee hair to mask the bat. So the coffee we had on the street yesterday was probably from this, and that's why it had sugar. But what's funny is, I was like, oh, this is so good. Oh, it's good. Shows how much I know. This has been so much fun. I'm gonna be sprinting through the streets and try to hang in the rest of the day.

So we had to leave the city, but we are still getting to have one of the coolest Colombian experiences. We're about to get to hang out with a celebrity chef from Colombia in the kitchen of the ship, and he's going to be teaching me how to make ceviche. This afternoon, we have the opportunity to hang out with celebrity chef Jorge.

You feel nervous chopping in front of. Yes, that's good. That's good. Perfect. Great. Okay, that's fine. So I'm gonna cook that in there. Yeah.

Nice. We're gonna leave a little bit mix here. Again.

I'm learning.

And then some cilantro.

It is the best leche I've ever had.

This is what we're gonna eat tonight.

So the reason that Carrie got to spend the afternoon cooking with the celebrity chef is because MSC has actually invited him on board to make sure everybody on this ship gets a local Colombian meal. So he, like, came up with the entire menu that we're having here in the dining room.

This is Jorge. For our starter, we're having the ceviche, the one that Kara cooked. It's at. Not for the whole ship, but, like, the same thing. And then for the main course, we are having a white fish with bright plantain puree with smoked aubergine and deep fried Cheese. And last but not least, for dessert, we are having a coffee cream with biscuits and pistachio ice cream. And sadly, this is going to end our time in Colombia. We were only here for two short days, and we know this is definitely not long enough in this country. This is a country that's been on our bucket list for a long time. We were really looking forward to coming here, and all this did for us was solidify that we have to come back and spend more time here. But with that said, two days in Colombia is better than no days in Colombia. The good thing about a cruise is that where one adventure ends, another one begins. And so tomorrow, we are starting our transit through the Panama Canal.

And we can't wait to spend our first day in Colombia.

Just a door giving you a second chance so you can learn from your mistakes.

Thank you. I don't want a second chance. I don't deserve this. Does this make you cringe?

Cringe?

What is cringe cringe like, is it bothering you how bad I am?

You're so encouraging. Be careful with your fingers. Yeah. If Karen talking about the coffee experience was a bit shaky because I'd already had three cups. I literally, like, feel my hand shaking as I was trying to hold the camera still.

I hold my caffeine better than Nate does.

Just have more practice.