Smaragdschmucksachen, die Klasse in Cartagena bilden

How did this experience get such a high score? You are taken by a bus a given a history of the city. This was nice. Then you get to the jewelry museum and factory and that is where it all goes down hill. You are sat down with one instructor and 6 fellow students. Our instructor only knew two words in English. Loop and five times. They are the students who have to teach as part of their studies. You have to rely on the other students to figure out what to do. The emerald they give you is a raw stone that they can not sell. Ugggg. They have you make a necklace which was very basic, like simply threading the stone and beads together. You then make a pair of earrings and bracelet. Again, remember there is little instructions. When done, they charge you $35 for the bracelet and ring. $25 for the raw stone and $10 for the silver. So an additional $70 charge. They then take you to the museum which is cool to see but very rushed. They then lead you to the store to buy the real emeralds. They are much more expensive then if you were to buy them at a retail store. You do have the memory of buying it in Columbia but is it really worth the cost. I have been on many tours and excursions and this is the worst of all the ones I have gone on. Save your money and time....please.

My son (13) loves jewellery and gems so this was a great experience. Our instructor was great and really helped us as we made 4 pieces of jewellery. The tour of the museum was also great and we learned a lot. My son loved watching the process of the emeralds being shinned.

Upon walking inside for the jewelry making emerald class, we were welcomed by Jera Guardo. This young lady was very professional and very humble in explaining the procedure we will be learning in this class. She left us to work with experts but would come in frequently to check on all of us. After the class, Jera took us to the museum just above the shop it self. Her knowledge of the history of the mines and how to judge the emeralds was astonishing. She explained how it was done in prior years with dynamite and now with cutting and making it environmentally as friendly as possible. She accompanied us to the store showed us many different cuts and colour and shape of the emeralds She made us purchase a set which was out of my financial league but my wife loved it because of the way Jera helped. Kudos to Caribe to have a team member like her.