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 as an Airbnb. 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. I had decided that 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 in Manga, my Airbnb was on 25th street and it was very busy. I met a lady at the gate of the Airbnb 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, the bed was not my size. It 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 in the kitchen area. 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 and visit the entire area. Incidentally, if you decide to book a trip to Machu Picchu, you will have to be on the bus really early in the morning for the trip. I was not aware of that. It's just good to know when scheduling your itinerary.
This is what most travelers told me about visiting Machu Picchu. They also told me that it was very cloudy in the morning, and it is difficult to see much until the sun is out completely. Of course, the area is very mountainous and so you can expect to see a lot of clouds when going up to the sites.
My new friends from France really had a similar fire of travel as I did. We had some of the best conversations in the kitchen area where we often met. I knew that I was going to miss them once I had left. They were a very kind and gracious couple.
Enjoyed walking over to Carulla's grocery store during the day
The Carulla grocery store, by the way, was just a block away from my Airbnb. I would often walk over there to do my shopping. Carulla's was a very clean and high-end grocery store. Not only that, but they had a deli near the back of the store where people would often eat and dine. Since Carulla's was just a block away from where I had stayed, I would walk there quite often. It was not until I had moved farther up the road to 26th street did it seem like a serious walk.
Once I had moved, I could really feel the walk to the store. It was a little far. It turned into one of those walks that had caused me to want to go back to my old Airbnb 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. They have events, festivals, and people are always out walking throughout the day.
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. The residents were very passionate about Manga and you could see it in the way things were ran in the city.
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, songs, and dance. 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 that 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. I mean people were always singing, laughing, or dancing. Honestly, I had never seen people dance so much in my life. I even recall a place in Getsemani where I was just trying to get past a group of people. A lady just grabbed me and started dancing with me. It was out of the norm for me, so I just smiled, laughed, and joined in the fun.
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 seven or eight in the evening. 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. I saw some of the most amazing birds ever. The area was full of birds of different hues and colors. Once I was walking over a bridge in a different area. I thought that white T-shirts were hanging in the trees, but the fact was, they were these great white birds. They might have been cranes, but they were so white and bright in color.
Boats were also speeding under the 25th avenue bridge as well. They were often filled with tourists who were going to different places. 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.