Cartagena de Indias
A must destination!
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Visiting Cartagena
The magic of Cartagena
Forget the security risks and enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the people
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz | Tribune Reporter
November 23, 2008
If it isn't the bright bougainvillea tumbling from the colonial balconies or the quiet shimmer of the Caribbean Sea, then maybe it's the impromptu dance parties in the town plazas, or the joyful din of guitars, bongos and maracas that drifts through the city with the evening breeze.
Just what it is that hooks you, no one knows for sure. But soon enough, you begin to understand what the locals keep saying.
Cartagena is magic.
"There's something mystical in the air," says Valentino Cortazar, a Colombian painter who lives within the old walled portion of the city in a one-bedroom, two-hammock apartment.
Cortazar, originally from Bogota, said he was splitting time between Miami and New York when he visited Cartagena eight years ago for an art exhibition—and never left.
That happens here, from time to time, that people get sucked in. Musicians Davis Pineda and Elizabeth Salaazar, who roam the streets with a guitar and bongo drums singing Latin American ballads, said they visited Cartagena from nearby Barranquilla five years ago and found a "strange energy" they couldn't resist. The people were warmer, happier, different from the rest of Colombia. They live here now, struggling to make ends meet, staying for the music, for the beaches, for reasons they can't explain.
No wonder Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia's king of magical realism, set several of his novels in Cartagena.
"Beautiful landscape, beautiful people, beautiful colors," Cortazar muses one night over wine and fish, which you'll get your fill of here. "For an artist, it's perfect."
It's perfect for a tourist too.
Forget the security risks and enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the people
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz | Tribune Reporter
November 23, 2008
If it isn't the bright bougainvillea tumbling from the colonial balconies or the quiet shimmer of the Caribbean Sea, then maybe it's the impromptu dance parties in the town plazas, or the joyful din of guitars, bongos and maracas that drifts through the city with the evening breeze.
Just what it is that hooks you, no one knows for sure. But soon enough, you begin to understand what the locals keep saying.
Cartagena is magic.
"There's something mystical in the air," says Valentino Cortazar, a Colombian painter who lives within the old walled portion of the city in a one-bedroom, two-hammock apartment.
Cortazar, originally from Bogota, said he was splitting time between Miami and New York when he visited Cartagena eight years ago for an art exhibition—and never left.
That happens here, from time to time, that people get sucked in. Musicians Davis Pineda and Elizabeth Salaazar, who roam the streets with a guitar and bongo drums singing Latin American ballads, said they visited Cartagena from nearby Barranquilla five years ago and found a "strange energy" they couldn't resist. The people were warmer, happier, different from the rest of Colombia. They live here now, struggling to make ends meet, staying for the music, for the beaches, for reasons they can't explain.
No wonder Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia's king of magical realism, set several of his novels in Cartagena.
"Beautiful landscape, beautiful people, beautiful colors," Cortazar muses one night over wine and fish, which you'll get your fill of here. "For an artist, it's perfect."
It's perfect for a tourist too.
The Magic of Cartagena
The magic of Cartagena
Forget the security risks and enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the people
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz | Tribune Reporter
November 23, 2008
If it isn't the bright bougainvillea tumbling from the colonial balconies or the quiet shimmer of the Caribbean Sea, then maybe it's the impromptu dance parties in the town plazas, or the joyful din of guitars, bongos and maracas that drifts through the city with the evening breeze.
Just what it is that hooks you, no one knows for sure. But soon enough, you begin to understand what the locals keep saying.
Cartagena is magic.
"There's something mystical in the air," says Valentino Cortazar, a Colombian painter who lives within the old walled portion of the city in a one-bedroom, two-hammock apartment.
Cortazar, originally from Bogota, said he was splitting time between Miami and New York when he visited Cartagena eight years ago for an art exhibition—and never left.
That happens here, from time to time, that people get sucked in. Musicians Davis Pineda and Elizabeth Salaazar, who roam the streets with a guitar and bongo drums singing Latin American ballads, said they visited Cartagena from nearby Barranquilla five years ago and found a "strange energy" they couldn't resist. The people were warmer, happier, different from the rest of Colombia. They live here now, struggling to make ends meet, staying for the music, for the beaches, for reasons they can't explain.
No wonder Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia's king of magical realism, set several of his novels in Cartagena.
"Beautiful landscape, beautiful people, beautiful colors," Cortazar muses one night over wine and fish, which you'll get your fill of here. "For an artist, it's perfect."
It's perfect for a tourist too.
Forget the security risks and enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the people
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz | Tribune Reporter
November 23, 2008
If it isn't the bright bougainvillea tumbling from the colonial balconies or the quiet shimmer of the Caribbean Sea, then maybe it's the impromptu dance parties in the town plazas, or the joyful din of guitars, bongos and maracas that drifts through the city with the evening breeze.
Just what it is that hooks you, no one knows for sure. But soon enough, you begin to understand what the locals keep saying.
Cartagena is magic.
"There's something mystical in the air," says Valentino Cortazar, a Colombian painter who lives within the old walled portion of the city in a one-bedroom, two-hammock apartment.
Cortazar, originally from Bogota, said he was splitting time between Miami and New York when he visited Cartagena eight years ago for an art exhibition—and never left.
That happens here, from time to time, that people get sucked in. Musicians Davis Pineda and Elizabeth Salaazar, who roam the streets with a guitar and bongo drums singing Latin American ballads, said they visited Cartagena from nearby Barranquilla five years ago and found a "strange energy" they couldn't resist. The people were warmer, happier, different from the rest of Colombia. They live here now, struggling to make ends meet, staying for the music, for the beaches, for reasons they can't explain.
No wonder Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia's king of magical realism, set several of his novels in Cartagena.
"Beautiful landscape, beautiful people, beautiful colors," Cortazar muses one night over wine and fish, which you'll get your fill of here. "For an artist, it's perfect."
It's perfect for a tourist too.
