As we sat on the bench we noticed some workers removing some fake trees with yellow plastic leaves and little flowers with lights in them We think they were probably Christmas decorations for the entrance to the Old City.
We also were able to study our map and find the way back to the ship which was very useful because it helped us to discover that the cabs in front of the Old City were forced by the traffic pattern to go the wrong way and it would be much easier to pick up a cab across the street that was going the right direction. This would be huge later.
We didn’t have a lot of quiet time on the bench, cab drivers were constantly honking and waving at us as if we were just too dumb to realize that we needed a cab. Then a lady walked over, she was from our ship (you could tell from her Royal Caribbean bag) and she wanted to know where she should get a cab. She said that she was told the ride back was $5 but she forgot where to pick up a cab for that price. We sent her across the street, the cabs in front of the Old City were not just facing the wrong way but were far too eager to be the kind of cab with a $5 fare.
With about 45 minutes to go until meeting time we spotted Aiofe and Lee. We walked over and said, “Hey guys!” Oh they were glad to see us, I thought we were going to get hugs for being early.
“Are you guys ready to go back?” Aiofe asked eagerly.
“Yes we are and we have the taxis all figured out.”
They had one last shop to hit on the corner to get a Colombian hat, then we crossed the street to find a ride back. Our only problem now was that none of us spoke spanish and none of the cab drivers or anyone else for that matter, spoke English. Two cabs and one Policia later and I was feeling like a space alien… “Can you take us to our ship?” From the question I could almost understand the blank looks on their faces. Then I said… “Cruise Ship”… “Ah, Crusiero!”, said the Pilicia and he translated to our driver who then gave us a price of $7 which we were all glad to accept.