Have Fun Stormin' the Castle

San Felipe de Barajas Castle

This national monument of Colombia was originally built in 1536. It was built by the Spanish to protect the city from English and French Pirates. They loved the Gold and Emeralds! Who doesn't. The last Sunday of the month the city opens the castle for the locals. The rest of the month is open for a fee. I consider myself a local, so we went. Actually the youth want to do a fireside at the Castle and Dan was casing the joint to see if it would work. It was crawling with people and quite a party. It would be no for the fireside, but we had a great evening.

The family checking out the view of the city from the wall.

The Castle is a network of tunnels, galleries, trap doors, an intricate communication system, escape passages, and a system of mines to blow the whole thing up if it fell to invaders...which it never did. The kids love to see how deep they can go down in the tunnels before they get scared and want to turn around. It's very dark inside. The air is hot and musty, and we easily get all turned around. On this day, the tunnels were packed with people . It was so loud inside with all the screaming echoing all over the underground tunnels. The kids had a blast.

At the top of the hill behind us is the "Popa"
Back in the day, it was a jungle that served as a refuge to the runaway slaves. The Agustinian priest later built this convent which also served as a haven for the escaped slaves.

"Have fun stormin' the castle boys!"

Blake taking a moment.

We were quite the spectacle. We usually are when we go in public among the masses, but on this day we were drawing a bit more attention then usual. I think it was the baby in the backpack, or maybe my green eyed kids, maybe the English accent, or just the horns growing from our heads. A few people approached us and wanted to speak English with us, but mostly they just stare. After three years I still have not gotten comfortable with the staring.

The dance "Mapale"

At the top of the Castle this group was performing some of the traditional dances of Cartagena. Blake performed this dance in Kindergarten. . Throughout the old city, mostly at night, you can see small groups of street performers. It makes for a lively night life.