1/15/02 | Nobody expects...

Because of all the city machinery and the naval base across the harbor, Cartagena is a bit of an HF radio black hole. So we haven't gotten much news from NPR or BBC lately. (The local news is, of course, in Spanish, and usually read too fast for us to catch more than a little bit.) What little we do get occasionally contains dire news about Colombia, the most recent being the on-again, off-again peace talks between the government and the largest rebel group, the FARC. There are warnings of increased violence. Based on the news reports, Colombia sounds like a very nasty place to be.

Except that the troubles are mostly in Bogota and further south, several hundred miles away. They might as well be on the moon. Cartagena continues to pack tourists into the hotels and beaches, and every few days a cruise ship comes in. A few days ago it was the Queen Elizabeth II, looming over the containers and cranes of the commercial wharf. We watched that massive ship leave the harbor; it was like a city block sliding smoothly past all the tiny sailboats. According to Rafael, a tourist guide we met in the old city, there were 2700 passengers aboard.

Doorway of the Inquisition Museum (Palacio de la Inquisicion)

Rafael chatted us up outside one of the cathedrals near Plaza Bolivar, happy for the chance to extol his city and practice his very good English. He told us the cruise ships have only been coming for three years, but it's made a huge difference to the economy. (On the other hand, we have heard from another source that a much smaller percentage of cruise ship passengers leave the boat for city tours here than in most other ports of call) Now everything that happens in Cartagena is done with an eye to the tourist trade. Many of the streets in the old city are frequently closed off to vehicular traffic so that people can stroll down the narrow byways without worrying about getting run over. Several streets and squares will be stripped of their asphalt, he says, and repaved with cobblestones, to enhance the historic feel. And the historic Palacio de la Inquisicion -- the Inquisition Museum -- will be closed next week for two years of badly-needed renovation.

The Palacio de la Inquisicion dominates one side of the Plaza Bolivar. Originally a block of three mansions belonging to wealthy Cartagenans, it was quickly appropriated by the officials of the Spanish Inquisition for their headquarters in the New World. Before visiting the museum, we had lunch in the somewhat offputtingly named "Cafe of the Inquisition", located in a lovely tree-shaded courtyard which was originally the stable area of the mansions. (The food wasn't too tortuous, but the teenage waiter's English, which he insisted on trying to speak to us, was. "You like soap of feeshes? Choocken?")

Inside the Palacio de la Inquisicion

We hadn't realized that the Spanish Inquisition had a presence in Spanish America. But the Inquisitors basically ran the show between 1610 and the 1811 revolution, keeping the Spanish subjects in line for over 200 years by sowing discord and fear. The original terrorists, if you will. They stole whatever money and property they wanted by the simple expedient of declaring the (former) owner a heretic, witch, prostitute, or homosexual. The indigenous Indians, and also the black slaves, were exempt from being condemned as heretics on the grounds that they weren't really human, but just simple beasts. We wonder if the true reason was that they didn't have any property worth stealing!

In the museum were replicas of the various instruments of torture, with woodcuts and paintings on the walls showing them in use. Paintings of important Inquisitors alternated with paintings of supposed witchcraft. The museum also showcased random other items from the history of Cartagena, and a nice diorama of how the walled city looked in the days of the Spanish Main. But in general it was a scattered collection housed in a run-down building that looked about to collapse. The guide we hired told us that renovations had been planned once before, but that corrupt officials stole the money that was allocated! It's nice to hear that repairs will be getting underway soon -- it's really a magnificent building, and a city with the long and important history of Cartagena deserves a nice museum.