The Christmas and New Year’s holidays are a big deal in Cartagena. People from all around Colombia travel to the coast to get some beach weather – Cartagena is only 10 degrees north of the equator, so it’s firmly in the tropics; typical December temperatures are upper 80sF/30C. Visitors also like to take advantage of the vibrant nightlife, the citywide light displays, and a big NYE fireworks show.
Outside of Oso’s marina, there are two small parks. More or less nondescript and empty during the day, at night each park is lit up with Christmas lights. Couples and families stroll through, admiring the lights and enjoying the cooler nighttime temperatures.
There are plenty of Santa displays, and inflatable snowmen – the only kind that could inhabit the tropics – decorate many business and houses. While the weather doesn’t make it feel like Christmas (at least to us), the enthusiasm of the season makes up for it.
New Year’s Eve is known as Noche de San Silvestre, and large dinners are held around outdoor stages. And at midnight, the fireworks begin. Unlike a US celebration, where a large display of fireworks is ignited from a central location, in Cartagena the entire city seems to erupt – there are fireworks in every direction. While the total volume of fireworks probably doesn’t match an official display in a US city (in our experience, folks in the USA are the clear global leaders in recreationally blowing things up), the breadth of the display more than makes up for it.
We enjoy the fireworks from the foredeck of Oso, right next to hundreds of boats that flood Cartagena’s inner harbor for the celebration, each one blaring their own music at top volume. It’s a festive scene – Happy New Year!
