Picture: David Louie Source:Supplied. Famous for its beautiful colonial architecture and colourful flower-clad balconies, Cartagena is that idyllic destination you think of when your mind wanders off when daydreaming of visiting South America. After landing in Cartagena from Bogota, we were looking forward to some warmer weather and being back closer to the ocean. We had been travelling for months and our trip of a lifetime was drawing to an end. Money, or lack of it, was starting to play a part in the accommodation we stayed in and pretty much everything else that took up our days.
How David Louie ended up in a brothel. With this in mind, I booked us into what seemed like a quiet little guesthouse just outside of the colonial city centre. We planned to spend a few days at the beach and walking around the old town, all of which would cost us nothing!
Arriving at the guesthouse, everything seemed in order as we checked in. Out and about in Cartagena. We spent our first day in the old city allowing ourselves to get lost in its picturesque, winding streets.
At every turn we found ourselves stopping to admire an old colonial style building or to watch the traditional fruit basket ladies Las Palenqueras in their colourful dresses selling exotic fruit on the street corners. As the afternoon turned into evening, we sat on the old walls of the city and enjoyed a beer while watching the sunset across the blue waters of the Caribbean.
After a long day of travel and discovering a new city, we decided to get an early night in preparation for a day at the beach the following day. Little did we know, sleep would be the last thing on our mind once we returned to our guesthouse. Deciding to read before we went to sleep, we laid in the room enjoying the quiet. A few minutes later, I heard someone being let into the room next to ours by the man at reception.
