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Cartagena: The Miami of Colombia

I knew that when planning my trip, I wanted to get at least a quick glimpse of the Caribbean coast, as it differs so greatly from the rest of the country. And I’m so glad I did, despite the weather so hot it left me breathless and the struggle to get there.

The journey to Colombia didn’t exactly go as planned when our evening flight was canceled in favor of one the following morning. This meant we missed our flight and had to rebook one and then another. After many hours in the Bogota airport, we finally made it to Cartagena in the late afternoon.

We checked into our room at Casa Zahiri and immediately left to find one of the many street bars within Getsemani for a much-needed mojito. Exhausted from an unexpected two days of travel, it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and not be overwhelmed by the music and movement of weekend revelers. Returning to our room, I didn’t make it long before passing out in my bunk.

Door knockers of Cartagena

The next morning, feeling rested, Sammi and I went in search of the most important thing: coffee. We ended up at Libertario Coffee Roasters, a very trendy coffee shop, for cold brew and avocado toast. We weren’t the only ones there as fellow travelers and locals had set up their laptops as a makeshift coworking space.

We took the time to walk around the city without a real plan, stopping to snap photos of the many murals as well as the kite festival going on outside the walls. We passed the house of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose[……]

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WHAT’S IT LIKE TO LIVE WITH AN INDIGENOUS TRIBE IN PANAMA? ONE INTREPID TRAVELER SHARES HER EXPERIENCE

One of the main reasons people travel is to experience something new. Culturally immersive encounters and transformative trips that take us out of our comfort zone both enlighten us about the world and help us grow. Intrepid traveler and blogger at Girl In The City, Erica Olson, shares her experience living with an indigenous tribe in Panama, how it changed her and lessons learned.

1. IN PANAMA YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO STAY WITH AN INDIGENOUS TRIBE. WHAT WAS THE TRIBE, AND HOW DID YOU GET TO STAY WITH THEM?

I actually joined a non-profit organization that allowed me to travel for about six months in Central America. We spent about two weeks in Panama with the Ngabe Tribe, a diminishing indigenous tribe that has a language that is fast dying. A lot of the language is now mixed between Ngabe and Spanish. There are a lot of efforts to try to preserve the tribe and their values; however, they are integrated with a lot of modern culture. For example, the men wear standard Panamanian clothes, but the women still wear the traditional dress. The tribe is known for wearing bright clothing in different colors. We met an interpreter that was kind enough to take our traveling group to stay with them for two weeks. We had been going back in forth with him about it for weeks. They have really only let about two other groups visit them in the past, so it was a really rare experience. They want as little exposure to the outside world as possible. The truck ride alone up the mountain take[……]

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