Manga
A view of Cartagena Bay at the Cartagena Tourist Pier
The history of Manga really started in 1533 according to sources. I will not get into the history of this great barrio, but I will say that I was told just a little bit about Manga from a taxi driver.
He began to tell me in Spanish that Manga was named after the Mango trees that grew in the area. This area was once a swamp land just outside of Cartagena’s central location.
Today, Manga is a thriving and, some parts, an exclusive area for many Cartagenian professionals. Manga is a very family-oriented, quiet, and safe neighborhood with enough small eateries to keep a person’s stomach very full.
Manga had become another one of my favorite places to live and dwell. Once I had left the ITACO hotel, I found a house that was being rented out. I saw the place online and there was a room in the back that had seemed very spacious and private. I had decided to rent it out for one week and if I really liked it then I would stay longer.
25th Street on a slow day, and the town homes where I stayed
Once I had arrived at Manga, my Airbnb was on 25th street and it was very busy. I lady met me at the gate and she had welcomed me into her house. She then took me to my room and showed me where I would be staying. The room was exactly what I had seen in the photos online.
It was small and quaint. However, there was just one problem, it was not my size. The bed was too small. Since I had paid for the entire week, I had realized that this would be my home for about seven days.
I will say that I did meet a couple from France that I wound up befriending. They were travelers too. We had such great conversations throughout the day. I really enjoyed them because they had been to so many places across the U.S. and they were so thrilled about the next places that they were traveling to. If I am not mistaken, at the time, they had just come back from Peru. They were able to go up to Machu Picchu in Peru.
What most travelers told me about visiting Machu Picchu was that you have to get up really early to ride the buses up. They told me that it was very cloudy in the morning, and it is difficult to see much until the sun is out completely.
They really had a similar fire of travel as I did. We had some of the best conversations in the kitchen of area where we often met. I knew that I was going to miss them once I had left. They were a very gracious couple.
Enjoyed walking over to Carulla's grocery store during the day
The Carulla grocery store was just a block away. I would often walk over there to do my shopping. Carulla was a very clean grocery store. Not only that, but they had a deli near the back of the store where people would often eat and dine. Carulla was just a block away from where I had stayed until I moved further up the road to 26th street.
Once I had moved, I had a much longer walk to the store. It was those walks that had caused me to want to go back to my old small place just around the corner. However, after a while I really just became used to the walk.
A view of Manga from Getsemani
So why did I like Manga so much? First of all, Manga was a very quiet neighborhood that offered many small and quaint restaurants, coffee shops, and several ice cream stands. It is a cool area that makes a person feel at home.
Secondly, a lot of professionals live there and because of that there is a demand from the residents that the area stays clean with proper energy services.
Lastly, every so often, Manga would have these great festivals that bring in hundreds, if not thousands of people to the area. I recall the festival that I had attended at Manga Park just over the bridge. Oh my goodness, if you have never been to Cartagena, Colombia and visited Manga during the Independence Day festivals, you are missing out on a treat.
Colombians know how to have fun and they take great pride in their music and songs. Whether this includes playing or singing, it does not matter, they know how to celebrate.
My first walk in Manga after I had moved into an Airbnb. This gentleman was holding up traffic one of Manga's busiest street...25th street. However, I don't think he cared too much about the traffic.
Manga Park had one of the best battles of the band exposes of music during the Independence Day celebration. Bands had come down from Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Medellin, Bucaramanga, and other cities. It was so, so great! I think I had enjoyed it so much because it was new, and it was different. I also thought and noticed the people just really knew how to enjoy life.
That was my biggest take-away. People in the area and throughout Colombia, for that matter, just know how to enjoy life. And that is really why Manga and Getsemani became my favorite places. I just saw how people would celebrate life to the fullest.
Was it my way of enjoying life to the fullest? No, not really. But when I began to see how other people enjoyed life outside of my comfort zone, I began to love it just that much more.
Manga was just over the bridge from Getsemani. My college friend Stan was living in Getsemani and then he eventually moved to the Cartagena Stil hotel in El Central.
A view of my walk over the bridge from Manga to Getsemani
Each morning when I was living in Manga, I would always walk across the 25th street bridge and go over to Stan's place. Since he had some issues with his eyesight, he was not able to walk very far. So walking over the bridge became my routine just about every day.
Those walks were great walks and they had really helped me get back into shape. I think the walk was about a 1.5-mile hike if I am not mistaken. I would walk it in the mornings and in the nights.
Once I would leave Getsemani, I would go over to Manga where the streets would close around 7 or 8 p.m. It seemed that after 9 p.m. during the week in Manga, hardly anyone was out.
But oh, the morning walks across the bridge to Getsemani were the best of times. The weather was perfect. The skies were always blue. The birds were flying way up above, as if they were just happy to be out flying.
Boats were speeding under the bridge filled with tourists. Sometimes I would wave, and the people would wave back. It was life in its simplest form. Not only that, but cars were passing by on my right and people were walking to and fro on the bridge.