Cartagena It is a simply magical and convulsive city from the first time it is seen: the night, the sea, the walls, although all this is part of the beauty of Cartagena, we cannot forget another part of the city that also exists, and It is the colorful Cartagena, the dynamic Cartagena, the cultural Cartagena, the historic Cartagena, the black Cartagena, the Spanish Cartagena, the indigenous Cartagena. We come from mixing and survival, we have a tradition of adaptation, of cultural coexistence, here we are not just an identity, we are not just a tradition; And that is why the city has been growing and developing in contrasts, the old, walled and fortified city next to the new Cartagena, the Cartagena that vibrates to the rhythm of the champeta, but without forgetting the drums that once accompanied it. In Cartagena it is not at all strange to find cobbled streets, inhabited by the history of the colony, by the sounds and taste of the black people, by the wisdom of the indigenous people that is still alive in us.

Through its colors and paintings, the city of Cartagena tells a story that does not stop changing, transforming the multiple spaces that had previously been conquered, had been appropriated by other stories, by other storytellers. And it is that this capital of the department of Bolívar is a fascinating city at first glance, the way in which the heroic history is combined with the current history, between the streets, the small corners, the large squares and the old churches we are finding the remains of our ancestors, from an imposing colonial construction, a castle that rises above the view of the city, to the remains and rubble of what could once be a house, the home of Maroons, Spaniards, Indians united in new colors , to new constructions, to new homes and new inhabitants from the most distant corners. Cartagena is a city destined to mixes, to the coexistence of distant, disparate worlds, visions that contrast and learn to create not only new memories, but also new ways of making and telling the history of Cartagena.

In Cartagena, the main tourist destination in Colombia, magic and art are not hidden in museums and galleries, you can see it in the streets, in houses, in restaurants, it is a city where each place has a smell, a sound and a warmth of its own. We see our new faces, our new thoughts, new ways of expressing ourselves about how we feel in our locality and how we understand each other. Each portrait that adorns the murals represents a previous struggle and a current struggle, a face between the past and the present, we are rescuing not only the spaces of our city, but our Caribbean identity. For the first time in our history and in our memory we are taking command of our spaces and in every corner of this city you can find a part of the Caribbean soul like nowhere else. Cartagena is a street, it is color, it is flavor… the sun, the sea and the soul of the people who make it a city. Stay with us and learn about our culture and our feelings when walking the streets that tell our story!

Written by Tania Correa - Professional in Linguistics and Literature and Teacher of Nueva Lengua - Cartagena.