Cartagena, Colombia Travel Blog!

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA Travel Blog!

Happy New Year!!! YESSS It's 2020 and it's my first blog of the year!! SO excited for this year and hope you are too! Before the year ended, I GRADUATED from Grad School!! (Whoop Whoop!!) Of course, a trip was in order and I have heard so many great things about Cartagena....the culture, the history, the food and I definitely wanted to visit. We went for a total of 5 days, which was perfect, but I could have stayed longer Lol. Keep reading for our full itinerary and travel tips!

We flew Spirit (which was actually a great experience, no complaints) and stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Bocagrande. *TIP: $1.00 = 3,288 of the Colombian Peso, so Colombia is super affordable!* Anyways,  I HIGHLY recommend the Hyatt Regency hotel. It was the perfect location in Bocagrande, which is a popular area for it's long, sandy beaches, dining scene, cafe's, and shopping. The hotel had all the bells and whistles, breakfast, infinity pool, and was walking distance to most of the restaurants and about 10 minutes away from the Walled City.

The Walled City should definitely be on your list of sites to see! It is an historic wall that surrounds old town Cartagena with colonial architecture, bars, restaurants, and of course the beautiful murals and Palenqueras.

We booked all of our excursions with Experience The Real Cartagena (Alex Rocha) ✊🏾 and they were amazing! They are a Black owned company and pride themselves in "Letting a Black Man teach you Black History" They offer tons of tours that all include lunch and history of Cartagena.

We went to Palenque, a town established by run away slaves with African roots where we learned about music, dance, culture and their way of living. We met with the locals, visited a dance school where the children danced for us, and learned about their history. 

 The tour also came with a delicious lunch! The traditional Colombian meal of Fried fish, coconut rice, plantains, and salad...DELICIOSO!

We also visited El Totumo Mud Volcano, and active mud volcano popular for its alleged healing. Great and weird experience! You bathe in the mud and can get a massage (or not) and are washed off by locals in the sea. Unfortunately the Pink Sea, which I wanted to see, was closed during our visit, but the tour usually visits it as well.

 


*TIP: Hopefully your bargaining skills are good, EVERYTHING is negotiable and you will be approached multiple times to buy things, etc. The best way to say no is "No Gracias". *

And Yes, Colombia is a Spanish speaking country, so I would brush up on your Spanish as well!  Other tours they offer are a Party Bus and a Boat tour, unfortunately we did not have enough time  (sad face) Will do next time!

The Palenqueras are colorfully dressed women who historically commuted to Cartagena from Palenque to sell candy and fruit. Today, they thrive off tourism and are an iconic symbol of Cartagena, highly respected, hard-working women that represent strength and resilience in Afro-Colombian heritage. 

Cartagena is a beautiful city, full of life! I cannot wait to go back! Explore the city, eat, drink, meet the locals, and soak in all the culture this beautiful city has to offer. 

 

Thank you for stopping by! I had an amazing time and encourage everyone to TRAVEL the WORLD. There is so much to see and appreciate about other cultures!

Travel leaves you Speechless, Then turns you into

a Story Teller - IBN Battuta

 

Thank you for reading!

Connect With Me!

Instagram: RbyRachaelRae

Facebook: RbyRachaelRae

Twitter: RbyRachaelRae1

Youtube: RbyRachaelRae

Pinterest: RbyRachaelRae

Washington DC in 3 Days! Travel + Style

Washington DC in 3 Days!

Happy Black History Month everyone!

Other then April (My Birthday month), February is also one of my favorite months! First...it's Black History Month..(duh) and of course Valentine's Day, but also because it is a Winter month and it actually gets cold in Florida!

This year with being in Grad school (ugh), I am loving short three day weekend getaways! And I love planning trips! I was looking through flights and saw that Frontier Airlines had flights to DC for $100 r/t. So my husband and I booked them fast! ** Just some tips about flying Frontier if you have not already. It is a no frills budget airline similar to Spirit. So if you want to pack a carry on or check in a bag you will have to pay extra**

My husband and I are chill travelers so we just get a duffle bag and roll up our clothes! I also am a frequent traveler and use a travel credit card and I racked up enough points to stay at a beautiful hotel, The Hampton Inn Washington DC NoMa, which was very close in proximity to everything that DC has a to offer! Let's start our trip!

Hampton Inn Washington DC NoMa

Day 1: We flew in to Dulles International Airport (IAD), which is actually in Virginia, but the DC area is known as the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) due to their closed proximity to each other. For transportation, we took LYFT for the whole trip. Just some tips if you've ever used ride sharing, as a first time user you can use promo codes and get a discount. Here is my code to LYFT (RACHAEL77819) to get $20 off your first ride! And UBER to get $5 off your first ride! And ALWAYS make sure the license plate matches and that you get into your right UBER/LYFT!

When we arrived, it was close to evening. Our hotel was close to Union station which is a train station and also a mall and eatery. Our hotel had a free shuttle, so we took it to Union station did some shopping and The Capital was in walking distance so we walked over to the capital and did some sightseeing and took some pictures. We worked up a hunger (They don't feed you on Frontier lol) so I Yelped a Burger place called The Capital Burger, which served up some really great burgers and I would definitely recommend. I love traveling in comfort and style, and have really started to love athleisure wear. Got this super comfortable Green Adidas Hoodie and Leggings Set from Amazon to keep me warm.

     

Day 2: It was my husband's 1st time in DC so I wanted to show him all the Monuments and museums. I used Groupon ( DC Trails ) and got a Hop On/Hop Off tour on a Double Decker Bus. The tour takes you all around DC and you can hop on and hop off as he pleased. Our 1st stop was The National Portrait Gallery which I have been dying to go to, to see the portrait of President Barack Obama and 1st lady Michelle Obama. The best thing about DC is that all the museums are free so we just walked in and got to see the beautiful portraits. Yess! Definitely need to see their portraits and the many other portraits in the museum.

 


We hopped back on the bus and we took it to the National Mall where most of the monuments are. We first say the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Washington monument, the Reflecting Pool, and the Lincoln Memorial. These are the quintessential monuments that I would recommend see.

 

   


For some Black History, visit Ben's Chili Bowl on U street, which is a black historical restaurant. It was built in 1958 by Mrs. Virginia. The restaurant has seen it all! We saw her on a TV show and wanted to say hello and she was so sweet and happy to take pic with us. Also President Barack Obama came here right before his inauguration in 2008 at ate there. They have a chair there with his picture behind it and I had to sit in the chair! We also loved the Barack & Michelle mural on side of the building. Now you guys know I love a good mural!

 


Found this other beautiful rainbow LOVE
mural in Blagden Alley along with many more.

 
We ended the day with dinner at Georgia Brown's, a soul-food restaurant that I never leave DC without going to!  I stayed uber warm the whole day this cozy Chunky Red Sweater, Faux Fur Hat, and thigh high boots from Rue 21. I finished off my look with Gold Mirrored Sunglasses , a black Michael Kors Crossbody, and my favorite High-Waisted Jeans! Click the links to shop my look in my Amazon Store + More looks!





Day 3: Now the main reason I wanted to visit Washington DC was because I have tried two times before to go to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), but never got to go. It is a free museum to visit however you need tickets 3 months in advance or a lottery system that opens 6:30 am in the morning and on Sunday, we got some!

 I would HIGHLY suggest that Everyone visit this museum! And spend 2 days there! We initially thought 4 to 5 hours would be enough to see the whole museum but we were so wrong. The museum starts from when the colonizers came to Africa, stole Africans to enslave them, and then brought them over to the Americas, The Caribbean, and basically all over. I guarantee you will learn things you never knew about African American history and culture. The museum spans 7 floors I believe all the way to the present.

 


My husband and I will definitely be back again because it was so enriching to learn about our history and culture and where we came from and where we are going. Some other DC eats I recommend is Busboys and Poets which we didn't get to visit this time but I've been before and I definitely recommend!

 



Thank you for reading! I love learning about other places to visit, eat, etc! If you have any other suggestions comment and let me know! I'll put them on my bucket list...MUAH!

Connect With Me!

Instagram: RbyRachaelRae

Facebook: RbyRachaelRae

Twitter: RbyRachaelRae1

Youtube: RbyRachaelRae

Pinterest: RbyRachaelRae

Ankara Everything! ~ DIY Summer Crop Top & Skirt

Hey Loves!

 I am loving #Summer2016 .... but the highs in Florida are up to 105 degrees! This weather has me wearing very little clothes (hehe) but still remaining stylish of course. I had some Ankara fabric that I had been meaning to use and decided to make a crop top and a skirt with it. I love two piece sets because you can either wear them together or separately...so it's kind of like having three outfits?! Using my DIY tutorial for an off the shoulder top I re-purposed it while making the top and just cut the fabric shorter to create a crop top. For the skirt bottom I used the same tutorial, however I did not add sleeves and I cut it longer for it to be a skirt and voila! An easy DIY Ankara off the shoulder crop top and skirt set! You can easily make this set with any fabric, Ankara is my fabric of choice because it is so vibrant and colorful and of course because I am Nigerian :-) 

To make this two piece set follow my easy DIY tutorial! 

 Click Here for tutorial : DIY Off the Shoulder Top Tutorial

Like my hair!? Check out my DIY Crochet Hair Twists Tutorial : Click Here

Scroll down for more pics!

 ~ DIY Ankara Crop Top and Skirt Set by RbyRachaelRae ~

Crop Top & Skirt : DIY

Sandals: GoJane (Sold Out) Similar Here

Necklace : Forever 21  Here

Sunglasses: Forever 21 Similar Here

Let me know what you think in the comments!
Thank you for stopping by!
MUAH!!

Pin any images here--> 

Connect With Me!

Facebook: RbyRachaelRae

Instagram: RbyRachaelRae

Twitter: RbyRachaelRae1

Youtube: RbyRachaelRae

Pinterest: RbyRachaelRae