Today I honestly earned my tourist badge, starting at 7 am.
After all, I was in the famed Cartagena de Indias, one of the main ports of the
flow of gold from Nueva Espaňa to Spain, and the focus of pillage and plunder
by corsairs and pirates from all over the Caribbean (starting with Francis
Drake in the 1580’s). There should be so much to see!
Early during my morning walk I learned that they have the
Hop on – Hop off tourist bus, which I of course booked on the spot, ready to
take the first bus, starting at 9 am. The first few stops covered some of the
outer fortifications of the old town, and of a nearby island that has now been
attached to the mainland by bridges.
From there we went to the Castillo de San Felipe, where I
got down to spend an hour and a half touring one of thee best preserved, and
most sophisticated, forts of Nueva Espaňa. It was the time of brute force
protection, and it was very successful during the 17th and 18th
centuries to repel the attacks of the English and the French. Unfortunately it
didn’t work against the throne of Spain after Cartagena declared its independence
on 11/11/1811 (the independence date of Colombia is normally attributed to
1810, but the Cartagenos choose to celebrate their own declaration of
independence in 1811). The Spanish Pacificador
knew all to well that the Castillo de San Felipe was impregnable, so instead he
set siege to the city, which only capitulated four months later, after half of
the inhabitants had died of starvation. The city was left a wreck, and was
further inflicted a blow with a cholera epidemic in the 1850’s. From there on
they seem to have been afflicted by bad luck, while the nearby city of
Barranquilla won every contract for development money. It is really not until
the 1970’s that Colombians discovered the touristic value of the city, and for
the last 30 years the city has gained on value to become the jewel that it is
today.
Cartagena’s history has its dark side: From the late 16th
century to the early 19th century it was the prime market for the
slave trade. It is here that the slave ships first touched the Spanish territories
in the New World, and a large proportion of the African slaves were torn apart
from their families here to go work for the Spanish landlords. As a result of
the high influx of Africans modern Colombia has a large population of
African-Americans, mulattoes, and ladinos. The good news is that, given that
most Columbians have at least of African blood in their veins they all get
along pretty well.
An unexpected event associated to the slave trade was the
arrival to Cartagena of an African black bird, which had traveled as a stowaway
in the slaver ships. This bird flourished in coastal Colombia, and is today
known as Negra María Lucía.
My next stage in the tourist bus was a drive through New
Miami, an incredible touristic development on Boca Grande bay-mouth sand bar
attached to the old town. Not my scene, but I can see that this conglomerate of
new, high-rise hotels is meant to challenge touristic meccas such as Rio or the
Riviera Maya. Cartagena used to be a bay with an islet smack in the middle of
its mouth. Beach sand drift eventually created bay-mouth sand bars on both
sides of the islet, which were respectively called Boca Grande and Boca Chica.
For defense purposes the Spaniards blocked the tidal inlet of Boca Grande, so
access to the bay was reduced to the narrow inlet of Boca Chica, which was
easier to defend. The sea eventually opened Boca Grande, but a clever military
engineer constructed a submerged dam across the opening, so only shallow draft
boats could go in an out, but not the deeper draft Man-o-War frigates.
Once back in the old part of town I spent three glorious
hours visiting the Maritime Museum. A lot of the museum was devoted to the many
fleets that attacked the city, some with success and some others repelled by
the defenders of the city. It gave me much admiration for the grit that the
Cartagenos have displayed over four centuries of history. The modern history
centers on the unique fact that Colombia is the only South American nation that
has both Pacific and Atlantic (Caribbean) coasts, and as such has realized that
it has to develop its maritime industry. I have long argued that Mexico has
squandered its own two-oceans uniqueness, and I hope that one of these days we
will also realized that we need to develop our maritime industry.
My Hop on – Hop off tour included a walking tour through the
old town, which I enjoyed enormously. We heard about the legends associated to
many of the lovely plazas, streets, and parks of the city. We also visited the
Gold Museum (not as rich as the one in Bogotá, but very fine indeed), and an
Emerald Museum sponsored by a jewelry store. I finished by having a very nice
dinner of sancocho de mondongo. Not
as good as the Mexican menudo, or the
Spanish callos, but pretty good
nonetheless.
One of the highlights of the walking tour was a stop in the
Plaza de Santo Domingo, where a statue of La
Voluptuosa (aka as la Gorda de Botero)
is on display. According to the guide, Botero has explained that he doesn’t
paint or sculpt fat people, but rather that he uses the volume he needs to
convey the form of his subjects. I happen to think it is an attractive Venus,
so I have bought a small replica, in the hope that it will survive the long
trip back home.
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