ABCTG. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

Ajá…a little of the magical realism that made Cartagena the favorite muse of Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

 

The “heroic” city of Cartagena de Indias is a complex place. A fun-loving party town on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with a dark history of slavery, corruption and stark contrasts between the have and the have nots. From the five-star luxury hotels found in the 17th century walls and on the private Caribbean islands owned by Colombia’s ultra-wealthy to the impoverished shanty towns by the airport, this is a city of extremes. A tropical paradise for some and a daily struggle to put food on the table for others.