Cartagena's sweaty sunrise: a yoga instructor's messy weekend
i walked out of my cheap Airbnb near the walled old town with a battered yoga mat, a half‑filled water bottle, and the weird certainty that today would be either a perfect sunrise session or a disaster. the humidity is still stuck on 19.6 degrees-yeah, i just checked, it’s still 19.6 with the feels‑like nudging 19.7, and the sweat is already pooling in my yoga shorts like it's trying to write a poem. pressure’s at 1011, the sea‑level reading matches the ground‑level, and the humidity’s 79. it’s a *slow kind of weather that makes you feel like you’re walking through a sauna while the sun’s sneaking in a few rays.
if you get bored, the coastal towns of Santa Marta and Barranquilla are just a short drive away, but honestly you’ll be stuck on the beach anyway. i heard the locals joke that you could go from one beach to the next in a bike ride without ever seeing a streetlight. someone told me that the “old city” hosts a hidden courtyard where the early birds do yoga at 5 am, but the landlord there changed the Wi‑Fi password three times this week.
the Casa hostel’s rooftop pool is a magnet for tourists but also a breeding ground for mosquitoes after dark - that’s what the Cartagena Facebook group warned me about. here’s a direct link if you’re curious: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cartagena‑locals/ .
my first meal was at Conde, a restaurant on the Plaza recommended by TripAdvisor with a 4.5 rating. the shrimp paella glistens like a neon sign, and the manager swore the secret sauce is lime from the nearby market - you can read the whole thing here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1054461-Reviews-Conde-Cartagena.html . i also checked Yelp for street‑food recommendations and found La Barca, a tiny stall that sells papaya‑cheese on a stick; see the review here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-barca-cartagena . both places definitely count as cheap eats when you’re trying to keep your budget from vanishing like a sandcastle in high tide.
the old town’s Plaza de la Aduana is perfect for a sunrise stretch, but the humidity (79%) makes every movement feel like wading through molasses. i tried to keep the session simple: a few cat‑cow flows, a gentle sun salute, and a lot of reminder breaths. the sound of waves is constant, the smell of fried fish drifts across the air, and the traffic in the streets is chaotic enough to make you wish for a yoga studio in a monastery.
a quick photo break: the colorful houses on Calle de los Piratas are Instagram‑ready, and the vibe on the surprise wall is always different at sunrise. i snapped a few shots with my DSLR, hoping the colors would survive the humidity. you can check the view here: https://unsplash.com/photos/photo‑1685670924728‑f851be267c0f .
i also grabbed a closed white metal locker picture for reference - the one you see here actually has nothing to do with my lockup but looks weirdly calming:
. then i remembered the map that everyone recommends when you’re wandering the narrow streets:
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the Yoga Cartagena studio on the beach promised sunrise classes at 5 am, and the sand supposedly makes grounding easier than a mat. i haven’t booked yet, but the rumor from a drunk guy at El Pescador was “don’t wear your phone on the beach-fish will eat it.” i laughed, then remembered i’m supposed to be writing about weather, not fish.
a local reviewer on TripAdvisor warned that the sunset at Playa Blanca is insane, but also that mosquito bites are a real thing. they suggested buying a cheap citronella candle from any corner shop; the Yelp review even called the smell “sea + citrus = happiness”. i grabbed one at the market and now my balcony has that smell floating around.
the overheard gossip at the hostel bar was louder than the ocean’s waves: “the tour guide who took a drunk group around the walled city claimed the secret entrance leads to a hidden bar serving cocktails with coconut milk”. i’m still skeptical, but i’ll keep an eye out if i ever decide to pay for a tour.
the neighbor cities of Santa Marta and Barranquilla are just a short drive away, but honestly you’ll be stuck on the beach anyway. there’s also Ciénaga with bike trails, but i’m too busy chasing the sunrise vibe to leave.
i ended the day with a grayscale photo of a house near bare trees, which somehow feels like the city’s hidden history:
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final thoughts: the weather in Cartagena this week is a 19‑ish degrees with high humidity, perfect for yoga but not for un‑protected electronics. if you’re looking for cheap eats, Conde and La Barca are solid picks. if you want to avoid the mosquitoes, bring citronella and stay near the water. and remember, the local reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, and the Facebook groups are full of both truth and drunken tall tales - listen to the drunk advice but double‑check with a Google search.
feel free to pin this on your travel board, share on Twitter, or read it on the local Cartagena forum. happy wandering, wherever the humidity* takes you.