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A group of us from Panama just spent 5 days in Cartagena, Colombia. We all loved the city but the hotel we stayed in, Hostel Hotel Santo Domingo (great location…right down the street from Plaza Sto. Domingo in the walled city) was a DUMP! Two of the rooms had no toilet seats. The guys got those rooms. The "girls" room had a toilet seat…and dog (I’m not kidding) beside the toilet when we checked in. The rooms had no a/c but did have fans (we live in Panama and are used to heat & some humidity but with 90% humidity, Cartagena’s a good place to have an a/c). I locked my key in the room one day and the hotel had no spare–no 2nd key; they had to call a locksmith, which they got around to doing after 5 pm…tho I’d told them I’d locked myself out at 10 am. Our bathroom had no usable mirror and not a single flat surface. The shower curtain rings were ripped out so it was impossible to keep water off the floor. One day they forgot to give us towels. I worried about electrocuting myself every time I turned on the bathroom light…the switch was barely connected to the wall by a nail and was connected to the light fixture itself by an electrical-taped wire. The hotel is completely open to the street and is beside a bar that has loud (bad) live music on weekends and loud recorded music on other nights. Even earplugs didn’t help on Friday night; my bed vibrated to the bass. Two of my travel companions checked out after the second night and found nice accommodations, still in the walled city. Be forewarned. This is a case of inexpensive NOT being worth it!
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