On day ten the Disney Magic stopped in Cartegena, Columbia. The Disney Magic has never stopped at the port so the locals were so excited to have our ship at dock. It was truly an emotional event to look at the dock and see the locals dressed in traditional clothing. There were adult and small children. They were in awe of the Disney Magic and for most of them this is the closest they will ever get to anything "Disney". My heart was full watching the dances they were performing and seeing all the young children wave with big smiles on there faces. I was just as excited to see them as they were to see the ship.
Cartegena was one of my favorite stops because of the culture there. The only bad thing I can say is that the peddlers were obnoxious!!!! They were so pushy and would not leave you alone even after you kindly rejected them and walked away. They were chasing us down!
These ladies greeted us with fruit and pinwheels:
Here were some locals that were performing on the dock:
As we walked to the end of the dock there was a children's choir that stood out there for hours singing:
Disney Magic really is a magnificant sight!
We hired a van to take all of us on a tour of the city. Our first location was La Poppa- a Catholic cathedral located at the highest location in Cartegena. On the way there we drove through middle class (reality check):
The views at La Poppa were spectacular- you could see the entire city! If you enlarge the picture below you can get a good look at the poorer areas. If you look really close you will notice the LDS church building in the bottom center of the picture:
We then traveled to old town Cartegena. Old Town is surrounded by a 12' stone wall. It was truly spectacular!!!! The streets were narrow with cobblestone, vibrant colors on the buildings, balconies, street vendors with quaint carts, and beautiful arcitecture! It is a photographers dream- I thought of Kamee the entire time there! My camera does not do any of it justice!
Aren't these doors great?
Here is the gang after our long day of shopping and sight seeing!
BTW: If any of you know my brother and sister in law ask them about there customs check as they were trying to get back on the boat. They had a hilarious experience, but it is not suitable for some viewers so I could not post it on the blog :o)!!!!
The beehives took their level at church literally! Don't they look as sweet as honey? (gag!)
I thought that their leaders should have been the "hive"- wouldn't that be cute?
Check out the earings:
Here is one of the captains that got to know our family pretty well:
Look at the cute details!
Here she is infront of her display at YW in Excellence. She made pumpkins bars to put on the table to go along with her apron.
Here is what Trevor thought of the concert. It was so loud that I am amazed that he was able to sleep through it!
Ally and AJ came on the boat in Aruba and stayed through the rest of the cruise. We were able to see them by the pool, in the elevator, etc. I was impressed at how friendly they are. They did sign autographs one day and my girls were able to get a picture with them also. Funny thing about the autographs- they were scheduled to sign for one hour and three hours later they were still signing because the line was so long! Luckily my girls were one of the first 25 in line so they did not have to wait long.
When we were done snorkeling we got ready for our kayaking adventure. None of us had ever kayaked before so we were so excited! I wish I had pictures of it because it truly was just like a postcard. We could see all the way down to the bottom of the ocean, the water was still and all different colors of blue! Words cannot describe. We will definetly kayak the next time we go back- yes the next time- who knows when, but someday!
Here is downtown Aruba. We did not have much interest in exploring all the shops so we only spent about an hour downtown. We did learn that all of Aruba's coastline is public. None of it is off limits nor do any hotels own the coastline. We also learned that lots of the taxi's in Aruba are "pimped" out! We sure enjoyed our rides in the taxi with the huge tv screens!
We also learned that aguanas run free here! They are everywhere- kind of freaked me out. After our excursion and shopping we headed over to the Westin to meet up with the rest of the Jones clan. Talk about iguanas- ugh! I wish I would have take a picture of all them them so you could appreciate what I am talking about! Where we were lounging out there were about 30 iguanas running around us. They would just stare at us like "you are in my space". 
Here is the beach front where we were hanging out. I loved this picture because it shows the European culture ;)!
Princess Tea
ALL the princesses came around to our table and we were able to get some great princess shots. The princesses also taught us how to dance, wave, bow and curtsie. Meredith LOVED this part of the cruise!!!
At each meal we had the same servers. They got to know what we and our kids like to eat and drink. For example- Trevor was served a whole plate of grilled shrimp almost every night and Ryan was served a mickey head ice cream after dinner (every single night). Too bad they could never remember that I like A LOT of ice.....
Trevor tried escargo here- or as he says snails- he liked them.
Here is Ryan eating ANOTHER Mickey head (with spinkles)!
These ladies greeted us with fruit and pinwheels:
Here were some locals that were performing on the dock:
As we walked to the end of the dock there was a children's choir that stood out there for hours singing:
Disney Magic really is a magnificant sight!
We hired a van to take all of us on a tour of the city. Our first location was La Poppa- a Catholic cathedral located at the highest location in Cartegena. On the way there we drove through middle class (reality check):
The views at La Poppa were spectacular- you could see the entire city! If you enlarge the picture below you can get a good look at the poorer areas. If you look really close you will notice the LDS church building in the bottom center of the picture:
We then traveled to old town Cartegena. Old Town is surrounded by a 12' stone wall. It was truly spectacular!!!! The streets were narrow with cobblestone, vibrant colors on the buildings, balconies, street vendors with quaint carts, and beautiful arcitecture! It is a photographers dream- I thought of Kamee the entire time there! My camera does not do any of it justice!
Aren't these doors great?
Here is the gang after our long day of shopping and sight seeing! 
BTW: If any of you know my brother and sister in law ask them about there customs check as they were trying to get back on the boat. They had a hilarious experience, but it is not suitable for some viewers so I could not post it on the blog :o)!!!!