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Cartagena 4: Money, Power and Influence

I wandered into the Hotel Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara for a beer today. Lonely Planet recommended at least stopping in at the bar for a drink if you can't afford the outrageous room price so I followed their advice! This hotel is absolutely amazing and also incredibly expensive. The picture below is one of the hallways (probably a better word for that) surrounding the central courtyard.













Apparently the Lonely Planet author and I are not the only ones impressed with the hotel, the oil and gas industry also seems to like it, see the photo below. Speaking of money, power and influence, I bumped into a former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania in the Hotel Caribe bar the night before my conference began. I was sitting having a beer with a fellow conference attendee when he approached us and began talking. He was in Cartagena for a conference, I can't remember if it was the oil and gas event but I think it was, as a consultant. This slime ball asked my friend and I if we were going out later, where the party was etc., clearly hoping to have some fun. According to Wikipedia (yes, not the end all be all of sources I realize) he was involved in some shady things in Congress and after meeting him it doesn't surprise me...yuck.













The hotel bar was very cool...













They even had a Toucan on the floor hopping around!

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