COLOMBIA

The Best
Kept
Secret
 4. A Latin Role Model

6. Bogota moves beyond its bad-boy image

Índice, Table Des Matiéres, Table of Contents, Indice

14. Colombia business: Luring attention and investors

18. Love and Cartagena

26. Colombia, Fondi alle Infrastrutture più Chance per le Imprese Italiane

28. On the trail of Colombia lost city

32. La OMT da un Sobresaliente Cum Laude a Colombia

34. La Gran Fiesta de Barranquilla

40. Colombie: Coup de Coeur Meconnu

44. The Secret Life of Juan Valdez

46. Higher, Deeper, Wetter

48. Above the Clouds in a Secret Colombia

54. Macondo o el vallenato más largo del mundo

60. Colombia´s Addictive Charm

64 Envidiando a Colombia
 12.03.2010
| REVIEW & OUTLOOK |
A Latin Role Model
Colombia’s political class follows the rule of law.
Latin American history is littered with elected leaders who later turned into despots—see
Chávez, Hugo. So when a Latin nation’s political class obeys its constitution and denies a
third term even to an enlightened and popular leader, it deserves applause.
Hats off, therefore, to Colombia, whose constitutional court voted 7-2 recently to strike
down a law that would have allowed President Álvaro Uribe to run for a third term. Mr.
Uribe responded like a democratic statesman, saying in a speech to the nation that
“I heed and respect the decision of the honorable constitutional court.”
Mr. Uribe will now leave office in August after eight years that mark him as one of
Colombia’s, and the world’s, most consequential modern leaders. Inheriting a ruthless
insurgency, he emphasized military strength and professionalism that has restored order
and security to most of the country. Kidnapping and murders rates have dropped sharply,
and it is now safe to travel on most highways. By improving the investment climate, he
has helped modernize an economy that was backward for too long.
4
But the manner of his departure shows that his most important achievement may
have been to boost Colombian confidence in its democratic institutions. With Mr.
Uribe’s approval above 65%, the legislature passed a law that would have let him
run for a third term he undoubtedly would have won. But the court ruled against the
law on procedural grounds regarding the collection of petition signatures needed to
introduce the law and the way the bill moved through Congress. It also said that the
law violated the constitution.
Mr. Uribe has also invested heavily in close relations with the U.S., and on that score
Americans have let Colombians down. One of the frequent arguments that Democrats
offer for refusing to allow a vote on the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement is that
Colombia hasn’t done enough to enforce the rule of law. The facts on the ground say
otherwise. But we now have definitive proof that on the most important legal issue—
the peaceful transfer of power—Colombia is a model democracy.
 15.04.2010

| TRAVEL » DESTINATIONS |
Bogota moves beyond its bad-boy image The days when Colombia’s bad-boy image as a land of narco-terrorist turmoil are
waning. Officials are actively courting tourists with the slogan “The Only Risk Is
By JAYNE CLARK / Photo JAYNE CLARK
Wanting to Stay.” And nowhere is the transformation more apparent than in its
capital city. An increase in flight arrivals from the USA makes getting here relatively
BOGOTA, Colombia — Strange and wonderful doings are afoot in this city that not so long
inexpensive. A boom in international hotel chains (as well as budget lodgings) is
ago was a touristic no-man’s land.
beefing up a once-anemic tourism infrastructure. And an exuberant cultural, nightlife
and dining scene is luring foreign visitors who previously considered a trip here as
In March in the otherwise staid Plaza Bolivar, hundreds of 3-foot-long ants appear to
tantamount to scheduling their own kidnapping.
skitter up the imposing Colombian Congress building.
What a difference a decade makes.
On a recent Saturday, feathered warriors, stilt walkers and dancers strut and gyrate and
flash their way down one of the city’s main avenues in a display of bawdy jubilance that
Nationally, Colombia is touting eco-adventures, such as birding and whale-watching,
rivals the most extravagant Mardi Gras parade.
and forays into its coffee-growing regions, along with beach and cultural tourism.
(Cartagena, the Caribbean jet-set paradise of the ‘50s and ‘60s, has undergone a
And on Sundays, traffic on 75 miles of normally jammed thoroughfares miraculously
renaissance after years of neglect.)
vanishes, making way for thousands of free-wheeling cyclists.

La Candelaria, the area at Bogotá’s colonial heart, is home to artists and a growing number of Bogotá, set at an elevation of 8,600 feet, nudges up against the lush Cerros Orientales mountains.
boutique hotels and budget hostels. The sprawling city is home to 8.5 million residents, but most visitors stick to the colonial downtown
area, La Candelaria, and a collection of affluent northern neighborhoods. Photo/Proexport Colombia

6
 But thanks to Bogotá’s emerging status as a Latin American gateway, most visits begin in
the sprawling city whose eastern edges scale the lush wall of the Cerros Orientales. The
city is home to 8.5 million residents, but most visitors stick to the colonial downtown
area, La Candelaria, and affluent northern neighborhoods with high-end shopping, dining
and nightlife. In between is the International Center, with its high-rises and bullring, a
remarkable 1931 brick structure that accommodates 25,000 spectators.
“Little by little, Bogotá is becoming an important Latin American city — not only because
it’s a business hub, but because of cultural activities and restaurants,” says Jaime
Echavarria, the U.S. director of Proexport Colombia, which oversees tourism promotion.
Locals are upbeat about these developments and seem particularly welcoming to the
growing number of foreign visitors and residents.
“This city has so much to offer,” says Michelle Yopp, an English teacher who moved here
from Tampa in August. “I’ve never felt uncomfortable here.”
Still, the U.S. State Department warning against travel to the country persists, despite
somewhat softened verbiage. It’s “something we have to live with for the time being,”
Echavarria concedes.
A chapel in the Salt Cathedral, about an hour outside Alvaro Yermain Baron, a curator at the
Bogotá. The Catholic church built 650 feet below the International Emerald Museum, shows off the
Earth’s surface in a salt mine is one of Colombia’s most raw gem in a recreated mine in the museum.
popular tourist sites. Services also are held here.
8
Tourism rebounds, residents return
Nevertheless, in 2008-’09, foreign-tourist arrivals were up almost 11% (at a time
when tourism dropped 4% worldwide). And almost a quarter of those visitors were
from the USA. Many credit Colombia’s turnaround to tough security measures taken
during Álvaro Uribe’s eight-year presidency. In Bogotá, a series of reform-minded
mayors have injected new vitality and order.
“There’s a tourism boom going on. New restaurants. New hotels. It’s not Denmark or
Sweden, but it’s coming,” says developer Abdon Espinosa, walking along a northern
street lined with Dolce & Gabbana, Bulgari and other international luxury brands.
In the past five years, 25 shopping malls have gone up, he says. Sidewalk tables
fill a pedestrian-only area called the Zona T that by night is jammed with youthful
throngs strutting to pulsing club music. In its colonial center, artists and others are
moving into once-derelict buildings.
As in other big cities, there’s homelessness and street crime. And security appears
to be a thriving industry — it’s not unusual to see armed military personnel on the
streets, and private guards conduct cursory bag checks on customers entering some
Sculptures by Fernando Botero in Bogotá’s Fernando Botero’s rendition of the Mona Lisa. The
Botero Museum. works of Colombia’s premier artist are displayed
in a namesake museum, along with paintings by
Picasso, Miró, Degas and others.
 establishments, for instance.
“Bogotá has problems, like any other city. But a decade ago there was a feeling of being
under siege and that’s gone,” says Mike Ceasar, an American journalist who last year
opened Bogotá Bike Tours. “The war (against narco-terrorists) hasn’t directly impacted
tourists for years, and I’ve met lots of students who’ve come down here for holidays,
senior citizens, theater groups and honeymooners.”
Many affluent residents who, weary of kidnappers and drug lords, fled the country in the
late ‘90s, are returning. And a creative culinary scene has emerged, led by talented chefs
such as Leonor Espinosa, owner of Leo Cocina y Cava, where native ingredients fuse
Spanish, Indian and African influences. The inventive chef pairs lobster tail with sweet
red pepper sauce; whitefish ceviche with coconut milk vinaigrette and mango puree; and
blends corozo, a tropical palm fruit, into her signature martinis.
Pride blossoms along with the arts
The city also boasts a vibrant performing-arts scene. This year’s just-ended Ibero-American
Theater Festival (held every two years and catalyst for the grand parade) attracted about
80 theater companies from 40 countries, the largest contingent in its history.
In downtown Bogotá, a young boy strikes A wagon carries beauty contestants at a fair in a town outside Bogotá.
a pose on a llama.
10
La Candelaria, which, despite its status as Bogotá’s colonial heart, had become a
seedy backwater, is re-emerging with new boutique hotels and budget hostels in
rehabbed historic buildings along its warren of cobbled streets. (Though locals still
warn you to watch your belongings by day and take cabs by night.) It’s a youthful
district populated by several universities. It’s also home to a fine collection of 12
museums, including the stellar Botero Museum, featuring Colombia’s premier artist,
Fernando Botero, along with works by Picasso, Miró, Degas and others.
Also here are Bogotá’s 19th-century cathedral and important government buildings,
including the Colombian Congress, where earlier this year, local artist Rafael
Gomezbarros affixed hundreds of giant fiberglass ants to its monumental façade. It’s
a curious sight. But for many, no more unexpected than the metamorphosis of the
city itself.
“Fifteen years ago, people didn’t like Bogotá— not even the people who live here,”
says Espinosa, the developer. “But something curious happened. And now, everybody
is proud of this city.”
A man walks past a wall in downtown Police gather in downtown Bogotá’s Plaza Bolivar before
Bogotá advertising various theater and a parade kicking off the Ibero-American Theater Festival
arts events. The city boasts a thriving arts in March. Behind them, the Colombian Congress building
scene. is crawling with hundreds of giant fiberglass ants, an art
installation by local artist Rafael Gomezbarros.
 IF YOU GO
Getting there: A growing number of
airlines flying to Bogota (including
new service from JetBlue and
expanded flights on Spirit Airlines )
has brought more competitive fares.
U.S. cities with direct flights include
Atlanta, Washington, Fort Lauderdale
and Los Angeles.
Getting around: Metered taxis are
relatively inexpensive - the fare from
the airport to northern neighborhoods,
for instance, is about $10. To beat
the traffic, try the TransMilenio buses,
Bogota’s version of a subway, with
bus-only lanes.
Where to stay: Stick to one of two
key areas: La Candelaria, the historic
heart of downtown, is where most
of the museums and preserved
colonial architecture lie. But nightlife,
restaurants and shopping are
clustered in the north in areas such
as the Zona Rosa, Zona T, Zona G
and Parque de la 93. In the heart of
the entertainment and shopping area
is the Morrison Hotel (011-57-1-622-
3111; morrisonhotel.com) a well-run
boutique lodging fronted by a small
park. Rates with breakfast start at
about $200, double. In La Candelaria,
Hotel de la Opera (011-571-336-
2066; hotelopera.com.co) occupies
two beautifully restored colonial-era
buildings. Rates start at $154, double,
including breakfast and spa access.
12
Nearby at the Abadia Colonial (011-
571-341-1884; abadiacolonial.com),
whose 12 rooms are arranged around
patios, rates start at $114, double,
with breakfast. The newly opened
Hotel Casa Deco (011-571-282-8640;
hotelcasadeco.com), also in the
old city, has grand mountain views
from its balconies and individually
decorated rooms starting at $110,
double, with breakfast.
Where to eat: Leo Cocina y Cava’s
innovative menu fuses Spanish,
Indian and African influences (lamb
sealed with squash seeds; green
plantains with coconut). Entrees:
from about $25. Club Colombia
serves traditional fare, such as
empanadas and ajiaco Bogotano,
a rich, potato and meat stew, in
a beautiful former private home
nearthe Zona Rosa. Lunch entrees:
$10-$20. Andres Carne de Res in
the town of Chia, about 45 minutes
from downtown, is legendary among
locals. With seating for about 3,000
and a staff of 700, it’s as much
about spectacle (with impromptu
parades and multiple dance floors)
as it is about dining. The huge menu
has delicious small-plate appetizers
(about $3-$8), and specializes in
grilled meats. (Andres DC, a smaller
outlet with seating for 700, is in the
Centro Andino shopping mall in the
Zona Rosa.
Don’t miss: The collection of art
museums (including the Botero
Museum) housed in colonial
buildings in the historic downtown.
The Gold Museum harbors a
mind-boggling assortment (said
to be the world’s largest) of pre-
Columbian gold objects. Nearby,
the new International Emerald
Museum let’s visitors tour a
reconstructed emerald mine and
displays priceless gemstones. For
spectacular views of the city, ride
the aerial tram up Monserrate, a
10,000-foot peak that dominates
Bogota. On top are a 17th-century
shrine and a popular restaurant.
The Salt Cathedral, about an hour
outside the city, takes a half a day
to visit. It’s a Catholic church built
650 feet below the Earth’s surface
in a salt mine.
Dancers bare it all -- or most of it -- in one of the parade’s
more unusual entries.
Tours: Excursions can be arranged
through most hotels. Hiring a guide
is less hassle than renting a car for
trips outside the city. Fabio Quiroz
of Guias Tours (guias-tours.qapacity.
com) charges about $35 per person
(with a minimum of three people)
for a city tour of four to five hours;
an excursion to the Salt Cathedral
is about $40 per person.
Bogota Bike Tours operated by an
American expat, offers biking and
walking tours. (011-57-312-502-
0554; bogotabiketours.com).
Information: colombia.travel
Thousands converge on downtown
Bogotá for a parade kicking off the
Ibero-American Theater Festival in March
 15.04.2010
| VIEWSWIRE |
Colombia business: Luring attention and investors
From THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
Presidents of four Latin American countries and 550 world leaders—90% of them C-level
executives—convened in Cartagena, Colombia on April 5th for the Latin American version
of the World Economic Forum. The Forum’s participants represented 42 countries ranging
from near-by to far-flung Cambodia. Colombia took advantage of this international
business event to showcase its newfound confidence in its security, its capacity and its
people.
The Colombian government pulled out all the stops in promoting itself as an ideal
destination for investment and proved itself to be an exemplary host. A government-
sponsored dinner included an ultra-high-tech 3D video touting Colombia’s culture,
geography and industry projected against a building in the old town square (designed and
developed by Colombians) and a live concert by Latin pop star Marc Anthony. However,
the noted absence of key regional presidents (there were none from the big economies
Mexico, Brazil, Chile or Argentina) and the somewhat limited regional perspective in panel
discussions highlighted regional discord and stalled integration efforts.
14
Overcoming crisis
Nonetheless, Colombia and Latin America as a whole were praised at the event for
having weathered the global meltdown of 2009 relatively well. But another major
theme was the need to avoid complacency and to make necessary investments in
infrastructure and education in order to create sustainable growth. Discussions also
revolved around the Latin American countries’ need to define themselves as a region
and to strategically evaluate their economic inter-dependence vis-à-vis the US and,
increasingly, Asia.
Colombia had much in its economic performance to showcase at the event. After
an average growth rate of 2.9% during 1990-99, its economic growth rate jumped
to 7.5% in 2007 and would have likely stayed on a similar course had it not been
derailed by the global economic crisis and a souring of relations with Venezuela,
one of its key trading partners. A large part of Colombia’s economic successes
over the past decade have been the result of a safer business environment thanks
to government’s crackdown on the drug traffickers and on the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), the violent guerrilla group with an affinity for
kidnapping.
 Besides ideological differences, it was the campaign against the FARC that triggered
conflict between Colombia and Venezuela when in March 2008 Colombia found proof of
Venezuelan aid to the FARC, leading it to denounce its neighbour before the UN. Tensions
with Venezuela reached new heights in 2009 when Venezuela President Hugo Chávez
placed a ban on Colombian imports to protest Colombia’s decision to allow US troops
wider access to its military bases for anti-narcotics operations.
This has been a big blow to Colombia’s economy: its exports to Venezuela dropped by
76.6% in 2009. Despite this, and the recession in the US, Colombia’s top trading partner,
Colombia’s economy grew at 2.5% in 2008 and skirted contraction by growing a modest
0.4% in 2009. It is forecast to grow between 2% and 4% in 2010, according to the
government. Moreover, annual inflation dropped the first week of April 2010 to 1.83%, the
lowest in two decades.
The economy’s resilience can be attributed to export diversification, free-trade agreements
and conservative fiscal policies. Overall economic policy should be consistent in the years
ahead, suggesting that progress will continue. However, regarding trade with Venezuela,
events in early 2010 don’t provide much hope for positive change. As Colombia’s president,
Alvaro Uribe was wooing international investors at the forum, Venezuela’s Mr Chávez was
announcing a new trade and investment agreements, including possible arms purchases
worth up to US$5bn, with Russia.
Need more linkages with Asia
Colombia’s finance minister, Oscar Zuluaga, explained that Colombia’s Achilles’ heel during
the recent economic crisis was its lack of trade with Asia. Other countries in the region
like Peru, Chile and Brazil weathered the storm much better thanks to trade with Asia, and
particularly China. As a result, Colombia is now looking to sign a free-trade agreement
(FTA) with South Korea. Trade with Asia will now deemed especially important as officials
are growing increasingly sceptical about the prospects for a long-stalled FTA with the US.
16
Luis Carlos Villegas, president of Andi, the Colombian business association, claims
that objections in the US to an FTA with Colombia are being used by the US
government as an excuse for protectionism. This was not the only shot taken at
the US during the four-day event. During a televised discussion featuring, among
others, the secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), José
Miguel Insulza, and the sub-secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the US State
Department Arturo Valenzuela, Harvard Professor Ricardo Hausmann blamed the OAS
and the US for failing to defend democracy in the region.
He also claimed that the region was currently experiencing a cold war, pitting pro-
market democratic governments against totalitarian regimes. Whether one believes
that such cold war rhetoric is warranted, recognising that some divisions exist,
and need to be healed, is a prerequisite for any meaningful progress on regional
integration.
Can’t afford complacency
Latin American business leaders concluded at the closing plenary session of the
forum that Latin America is recovering from the global economic crisis and has made
progress in addressing major social challenges and promoting democracy over the
past decade, but that the region could not afford to be complacent.
Since 2002, when Mr Uribe first assumed the presidency and began an all-out
assault on the FARC, the drugs trade and ordinary crime, Colombia has proven
to be anything but complacent. Now, with presidential elections set for May 30th
and Mr Uribe unable to stand for another term, Colombians are looking for new
leadership that will maintain the seriousness and conviction that has defined
the Uribe administration. They are also hoping that by highlighting the country’s
accomplishments at events such as the one in Cartagena, they will attract ever-
greater amounts of foreign interest and investment.
 02.05.2010
But for all of Mr. García Márquez’s popularity, Cartagena has drawn few García
Márquez-seeking pilgrims, because it has never assertively claimed the writer who
cut his teeth here but who has since been only a fleeting presence. Mr. García
Márquez arrived in Cartagena in 1948 as a penniless student from Bogotá and left
the next year, never to live in the city full time again. But his parents and siblings
moved to Cartagena two years after he left, so he continued to visit after settling
down in Mexico City.

Now 83, he still maintains a house in Cartagena, where he often stays for a time in
winter. But despite that connection and despite his fame, there is no García Márquez
museum in the city and no straightforward way to retrace the path of his youth.
| CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA > COLOMBIA > CARTAGENA |
Love and Cartagena In the last several years, a group of historians and scholars has sought to change
that, laboring to document the city’s García Márquez connection. Seeking to identify
By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS / Photo ROBERT CAPLIN
the places and people behind
his works, they have interviewed
In the deep recesses of the Basurto market, a man is shaving the face of a pig. A razor in
the author’s friends and relatives,
his hand, he glides across its face to remove the fuzz. The pig will soon be dinner. Not far
examined his public statements
away, cow hearts are on sale, and beside them cow eyes, staring out ominously, bound
over the years and cross-referenced
for a hearty potage. A shopping cart full of limes whizzes past. Alcatraz birds loom on
passages in his books with real estate
the corrugated-tin roofs. “My Sweet Lord” is playing in one corner; in another, Caribbean
records and other documents. They
songs pour from a bar lined with drinkers. It is not yet noon.
are working the findings into a García
Márquez-themed audio tour, to be
Truth can be stranger than fiction in Cartagena, the Colombian city whose real-life blend
released later this year. Meanwhile,
of seediness and charm has been an important inspiration for one of the most imaginative
one of the scholars, Iliana Restrepo
writers of the modern era, Gabriel García Márquez. It is a city so pregnant with the near
Hernández, of the local Universidad
magical that, when Mr. García Márquez took a visiting Spaniard on a tour one day that
Tecnológica de Bolívar, generously
included a Creole lunch and a stroll through the old city, it lowered his opinion of Mr.
shared some of their research with me.
García Márquez’s talents. The Spaniard told Mr. García Márquez, as he would later record in
an essay, “You’re just a notary without imagination.”
These findings come at a moment
when Cartagena is waking from a
Imagine a city that could make Mr. García Márquez, the Nobel Prize-winning giant of
long slumber, recovering some of
magical realism, seem like a notary.
the vitality that Mr. García Márquez’s
novels richly depict.
The world speaks of Dickens’s London, Balzac’s Paris and Rushdie’s Bombay, but the
association between Mr. García Márquez and Cartagena is less well known. And yet
Situated on the Caribbean, on
Cartagena has been an important if brief chapter in Mr. García Márquez’s own story. It is
Colombia’s northern coast, once
the city — throbbing with the varied cultures whose mixing he chronicled — that propelled
among the most important trading
his writing career; the city of the surreal, where toucans land on a table at its finest hotel;
Dancing feet in Plaza Bolívar, which is situated ports in the colonized Americas, the
the city where Mr. García Márquez arrived with nothing and learned to spin local tales into
within the old city of Cartagena. walled old city of Cartagena fell into
literature; the city awash in myths; the city that, in furnishing the reality for his magic,
shambles in more recent decades.
made him a writer.
The wealthy old families that Mr. García Márquez wrote about began to move out
to the Miami-like suburb of Bocagrande, while the poor moved in. A result was that
“I would say that I completed my education as a writer in Cartagena,” he once told an
many of the centuries-old colonial houses that define the old city were reduced to
interviewer for a local documentary about Cartagena by the actor and filmmaker Salvatore
empty shells, with proud doors and high, pastel-hued walls masking the ruins and
Basile.
18
 tall grass within. It would have been a dispiriting time to arrive with Mr. García Márquez’s In the Plaza Fernández de Madrid, which Mr. García Márquez recast in his love story
books, only to discover a city with few traces of its former grandeur — though with less as the Park of the Evangels, a traveler can sit precisely where the hopeless young
of the drug-tinged violence that prevailed in other parts of the country. man would have sat, “on the most hidden bench in the little park, pretending to
read a book of verse in the shade of the almond trees.” A horse-drawn carriage
But in the last many years, as part of a broader Colombian reawakening, the city is resurfacing today may clip-clop past, in which case you can imagine Fermina passing by.
with boutique hotels, fusion-seeking restaurants and new fashion labels that turn sleepy
towns into global destinations. Tourists are descending on its galleries, strolling idly down And even the house where Fermina grew up was not wholly fictional. According
its byways, reveling with locals at New Year’s Eve parties in public plazas. Travelers now call to scholars, you can see it on the plaza today — the white house with a second-
it Latin America’s hippest secret. floor balcony on the eastern side of the square, covered with vines, garnished by a
parrot-shaped door knocker.
It is a renaissance of which Mr. García Márquez might be skeptical, having shown some hostility
to the city’s modernization campaigns, like the time when the sprawling downtown market Another spot where Mr. García Márquez found inspiration was the Plaza Bolívar,
was removed from the walled city and planted a short drive away. Yet it is a renaissance that, which is situated within the old city. On one side of the square is a colonnaded
combined with the recent arcade, known in
scholarly work, makes a “Cholera” as the
García Márquez pilgrimage Arcade of Scribes: “an
accessible for the first time. arcaded gallery across
from a little plaza
A hypothetical tour for such where carriages and
a pilgrimage might begin at freight carts drawn
Plaza Fernández de Madrid. by donkeys were for
Cartagena, dangling into the hire, where popular
Caribbean, its lanes lined commerce became
with flower-filled balconies, noisier and more
is a city for lovers; and it dense.”
was the setting for Mr. García
Márquez’s novel “Love in the Under the arcade,
Time of Cholera,” regarded Florentino, rejected
by critics as one of the 20th by Fermina and
century’s great love stories tormented within,
in literature. The city’s midnight ambiance. The author was inspired by the city’s real-life blend of seediness and charm. found a way to
redeploy the surplus
It is the story of a young man of humble means, Florentino Ariza, who falls instantly love that he could not use: “he offered it to unlettered lovers free of charge, writing
in love with a girl named Fermina Daza, the daughter of a merchant. He courts her by their love missives for them in the Arcade of Scribes.” On one occasion, he realized
letter, only to be rejected. Aspiring to move up in society, she marries and enters the that he was writing letters for both parties in a budding courtship, his words slowly
elite Cartagena of her husband, Dr. Juvenal Urbino. For 50 years, Florentino pines for her, coaxing them together.
consoling himself with meaningless, frantic copulation — until, upon Dr. Urbino’s death,
he gets a chance to assert his undying love once again. The passage of time cannot change fiction, but it can play fast and loose with
reality. Today the arcade has been turned over to a new obsession: the Colombian
What may come as a surprise even to the novel’s most ardent fans is that Mr. García devotion to beauty pageants. The national beauty pageant organization has its
Márquez, famous for his wild imagination, drew heavily on the reality of Cartagena for headquarters there, and the ground on which Florentino would have written his
“Cholera” and other works. letters is now embossed, Hollywood style, with images of recent beauty queens.

20
 According to the scholars, Mr. García Márquez feels an especially strong connection to the Today, what remains of that era is a small crypt below El Coro, the hotel bar, that
square because Simón Bolívar, the Latin American revolutionary, is one of his heroes. The any guest can enter by descending a few stairs. But the atmosphere is incongruous:
writer is said to have come to Plaza Bolívar from time to time simply to sit and think. on many nights, a live Afro-Cuban band is playing, with Colombian couples shuffling
gracefully on the dance floor, the men in untucked short-sleeved shirts and white
One afternoon last January, the plaza’s benches were full of people: chatting with friends, shoes, the women in elegant dresses.
taking breaks from work, sneaking in romance, writing letters over the free Wi-Fi. A small
contingent of soldiers, mission unknown, stood to one side, guarding something or The Cuban connection offers yet another way into Mr. García Márquez’s life. The
someone. Sellers of food and trinkets mingled with potential patrons. writer has long raised eyebrows for his friendship with Fidel Castro, and is even
said to maintain a home in Havana not far from Mr. Castro’s. Whenever he is in
A García Márquez tour must go beyond his writings to seek hints of the real-life García Cartagena, Mr. García Márquez has been known to dine at La Vitrola, among the
Márquez. For that, one might start with the author’s home in the city. finest restaurants in town, which evokes Old World Havana with its gently swirling
ceiling fans, dishes like spiced shredded beef over fried plantains and live Cuban
It stands on the edge of the old city, in the San Diego quarter, facing the sea; with its son music, with its guitar-and-percussion-driven songs. And while Colombia
outward gaze and high has lately turned rightward in its politics, Cuba is in many ways a patron saint
walls, it has an aloofness of Cartagena’s after-dark culture. Among the city’s most authentic and coolest
suggestive of Mr. García nightspots is Café Havana in the Getsemaní district, where photos of legendary
Márquez’s relationship to Cuban singers line the walls and the raw rhythms fill the room and spill out the
the city. It is a rare act of open grated windows into the dim streets.
architectural subversion
in a city of architectural Indeed, it is in Getsemaní, a vaguely seedy, working-class neighborhood just beyond
conformity: not a colonial the walls of the walled city, where the gritty, rum-soaked Cartagena that Mr. García
house in the Spanish style, Márquez first fell in love with can most easily be seen. It has resisted thus far the
but a modernist dwelling gentrification that has come to the walled city. And in these parts it is not hard to
that Mr. García Márquez imagine the roadside restaurants and bars where the young Mr. García Márquez
ordered built. It looks like a made friends, chased rumors and began to find his voice.
straight-edged castle, with
orange-red walls, a ring of He arrived in the city in 1948 from Bogotá, after political riots started a fire
holes running around the that burned down his hostel. It took with it all of his possessions, including his
property, a swimming pool typewriter. He went to Cartagena and began again, finding work within days at El
and a sprawling lawn. Mr. Universal, a newspaper that became a kind of journalism school for him. He has
García Márquez is said to A boy feeds pigeons in the Plaza de San Pedro. written of having submitted articles and then watching as the editor crossed out
live in the house for only virtually every word, writing a new article between the lines of the old. It was the
several weeks each year, although he has spent a much longer time there this year, said Ms. journalism of an earlier age, when writers and editors sat along the pier relishing
Restrepo, the scholar. steak with onion rings and green banana at dives, mingling with poets and
prostitutes, telling tales and, in turn, converting anecdotes heard into articles for the
Opposite the García Márquez house is the venerable Sofitel Santa Clara hotel, where the next day’s paper.
writer is said to stop sometimes for a drink. The hotel was a hospital before it was a
hotel, and a convent before it was a hospital, and it shares the city’s mildly haunted air. “All of my books have loose threads of Cartagena in them,” Mr. García Márquez said
in the documentary. “And, with time, when I have to call up memories, I always bring
Working as a reporter in the late 1940s, before he owned a home nearby, Mr. García back an incident from Cartagena, a place in Cartagena, a character in Cartagena.”
Márquez was reputedly sent to the hospital to investigate a tip that a skeleton had
been found, belonging to a girl with 22 meters, or 72 feet, of hair. That real life episode
induced the García Márquez novel “Of Love and Other Demons,” and became yet another
illustration of the strange dance of myth and reality, fiction and truth, in Cartagena.
22
 IF YOU GO

HOW TO GET THERE
Several airlines fly to Cartegena
from New York, usually with at least
one stop. A recent Web search found
a Copa Airlines flight from Kennedy
Airport, with a layover in Panama
City, from about $500 round trip, for
travel in May. For additional flights,
see nytimes.com/travel/cartagena.
WHERE TO STAY
The Sofitel Santa Clara (Calle Del
Torno No. 39-29; 57-5-664-6070;
hotelsantaclara.com) feels like the
offspring of a luxurious hotel and
a haunted house. The bar, El Coro,
has Cuban music on many nights.
Mr. García Márquez lives across the
street and has been known to sip
a drink at El Coro. A recent search
found rooms starting at about
475,751 pesos, or $250 at 1,900
pesos to the dollar.
For a less rarefied experience, the
Hotel Monterrey (Carrera 8B, No. 25-
103; 57-5-664-8560; hotelmonterrey.
com.co), just beyond the old city
walls at the edge of Getsemaní,
has well-appointed rooms starting
at 247,390 pesos. It is not far from
where the old market stood and
where Mr. García Márquez, as a
young man, made his start as a
journalist. Ask for a room in the
back, away from the loud salsa club
next door.
MÁRQUEZ SPOTS
The Basurto market is a short taxi
ride from the walled city. It has
a reputation for housing thieves
and pickpockets, as such markets
invariably do, but cautious and
prudent travelers should have no
troubles.
In the Plaza Fernández de Madrid,
Florentino Ariza longed for Fermina
Daza while sitting on a park bench
under almond trees. The white
house with the large overhanging
balcony, near the corner where Calle
de la Tablada meets the eastern
side of the plaza, is the one on
which Fermina’s house is said to be
modeled.
In the Plaza Bolívar, Portal de los
Escribanos (Arcade of Scribes) is
where real and fictional characters
once wrote letters for the unlettered
and where Florentino found a use
for his irrepressible love. Today,
the street vending that Mr. García
Márquez described persists, but
Galéria Cano, a stylish boutique on
the square, has mined Colombian
culture to offer a selection of
artifacts of interest to travelers
(Plaza Bolivar No. 33-20; 57-5-664-
7078; galeriacano.com.co). The
plaza is also a good place to start a
tour of the city by horse carriage.
Mr. García Márquez’s home stands
at the corner of Calle Zerrezuela
and Calle del Curato in the San
Diego district, overlooking the sea.
The Santa Clara hotel is across the
street.
La Vitrola (Calle de Baloco No.
2-01; 57-5-660-0711) serves Cuban-
inspired fare, washed down with
Cuban music and dancing between
the tables. The seafood is fresh, the
meats are tender, and everything
comes with plantains. Dinner is
about 190,300 pesos for two, with
wine.
Café Havana (at the corner of
Calle Media Luna and Calle del
Guerrero, in Getsemaní; 57-310-610-
2324; cafehavanacartagena.com)
is a direct flight to another world.
Beyond the walled city, far from
the fancy new restaurants, the bar
throbs with drinkers, dancers and
singers-along. The Cuban mojito
(12,000 pesos) is excellent.
Anand Giridharadas writes the
column “Currents,” on ideas, for
The International Herald Tribune
and nytimes.com.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 16, 2010

The cover article on May 2 about Cartagena, Colombia, referred incorrectly to the
writer Gabriel García Márquez, whose fiction has been inspired by the city. As is
customary in Latin America and in Spain, where a person carries both the paternal
surname and maternal maiden name, the writer is Mr. García Márquez, not Mr.
Márquez.
24
 20.01.2009

soprattutto al fine di garantire una

Colombia, fondi alle infrastrutture più eficiente movimentazione delle
Più chance per le imprese italiane merci sul territorio, il governo ha
MARCO CAPARRELLI stanziato, nel Piano nazionale di
sviluppo in corso, circa 38 miliardi
Bogotà riduce l’imposta sul reddito e stanzia 38 miliardi di dollari di investimenti per di dollari per la costruzione di
moltiplicare la presenza di parchi industriali in zone franche. L’incoming di capitali infrastrutture, di cui 20 miliardi
stranieri è in forte aumento finanziati con risorse pubbliche.

Con la riduzione dell’imposta sul reddito dal 33 al 15%, prevista dalla legge 1004 del
2007, la Colombia prevede di triplicare, nei prossimi anni, la presenza di parchi industriali
in zone franche, che attualmente superano la decina e ospitano 340 imprese straniere.
Ciò vuol dire che crescono in Colombia le opportunità per le aziende italiane che negli
ultimi dieci anni hanno già visto triplicare il valore degli investimenti fino ad una quota,
registrata nel 2007, di 156 milioni di dollari. Già nel primo trimestre 2007, è aumentato
del 100% l’incoming di capitali stranieri nel paese grazie ad una strategia governativa che
riserva alle imprese straniere pari trattamento e diritti rispetto a quelle locali, a eccezione
di settori strategici, come i servizi pubblici, le assicurazioni, le telecomunicazioni e quello
minerario.
«La legge - spiega Luciano Paganelli, presidente della Camera di Commercio italiana per la
Colombia - offre un vantaggio indubbio per le imprese italiane interessate ad approcciare
il mercato colombiano perché consente di sottoscrivere i cosiddetti Contratti di stabilità
giuridica, che garantiscono agli investitori l’immutabilità delle condizioni contrattualibper
un periodo di vent’anni, anche nel caso in cui emergano complicazioni per la realizzazione
dell’investimento». La presenza di aziende italiane nel mercato colombiano, pur non
essendo ancora particolarmente significativa, sta registrando un visibile incremento: sono
circa una ventina le grandi imprese che hanno aperto una filiale nel paese, mentre sono
numerose quelle colombiane che hanno assunto la rappresentanza di marchi italiani
in diversi settori, dall’arredamento, all’alimentare, passando per le apparecchiature
elettroniche e i sistemi di sicurezza. Maè il settore delle infrastrutture colombiano
che, secondo uno studio dell’Organizzazione mondiale del commercio, presenta il
maggiore potenziale attrattivo per gli investimenti esteri. Considerato, infatti, il deficit
infrastrutturale di cui il Paese soffre e la necessità di un adeguamento dei servizi,
26
Sono in fase di assegnazione,
e in molti casi sono stati già
attivati, importanti appalti per la
costruzione o l’ammodernamento
del sistema stradale e ferroviario,
del sistema fognario e di acquedotti,
nonché per la realizzazione di
impianti alberghieri, soprattutto in
considerazione dell’incremento dei
flussi turistici in entrata, pari a circa un milione di unità, nel periodo 2002-2007.
Anche il Foro de Liderazgo para la Integración de Sudamerica, tenutosi lo scorso
dicembre in Colombia, ha considerato lo sviluppo infrastruttural settore prioritario in
grado di incrementare la competitività dell’area.
Nell’ambito dell’iniziativa sono stati presentati venticinque progetti che, nei prossimi
anni, verranno realizzati sul territorio latino americano, nove dei quali nella sola
Colombia, finanziati con fondi previsti nel Piano di sviluppo nazionale. Tra i
progetti pianificati nel settore delle infrastrutture stradali, i più importanti, anche in
considerazione della loro dotazione finanziaria, sono l’Autopista Ruta do Sol e la
Via de las Americas, le quali collegheranno rispettivamente Bogotà con il Porto di
Santa Marta, e il confine colombiano-venezuelano con Panama. Il primo progetto,
del valore di circa 3,5 miliardi di dollari, prevede l’ammodernamento e la costruzione
di nuovi segmenti stradali; il secondo, invece, con uno stanziamento di 6,5 miliardi
di dollari, mira a rilanciare il flusso commerciale e turistico tra le zone interne del
paese e quelle della costa atlantica.
 28.03.2010
On the trail of Colombia’s lost city
By FLORA BAGENAL
Colombia has its own secret version of Machu Picchu. And it takes a hardcore three-day
jungle trek to get there
Less than an hour into our Colombian jungle trek , I have a panicked thought that I might
be suffering a mini heart attack. The path is almost vertical, the sun is impossibly hot and
my heart is pounding so hard and fast, I can hear it in my ears. I develop an irrational,
raging hatred of my friends, who are several turns in the path in front of me and seem
to be skipping ahead like mountain goats. I couldn’t care less for the acres of wild forest
panning out as far as the eye can see — all I can think about are the endless warnings I
ignored before I got here.
One travel blogger described it as “52km of pure sweaty hell”. Another said: “Our advice
is to hike elsewhere if you are worried about fitness or personal safety.”
They went on: “Drug lords, left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, police and the
army are all suspected of wrongdoing here.” Even my mum waded in when she heard that
I’d booked my flights, with a clipping from a newspaper telling the story of a British man
kidnapped on the same trek six years ago. On it, she had scribbled: “Promise me you’re
not going here.” So what exactly were we thinking?
The plan to go to Colombia came from a dinner-party conversation with two friends. A
couple we know were travelling in South America, and said they’d be on the Colombian
coast for new year. On a cold, grey London evening, the thought of blue skies, beaches
and backpacking couldn’t have seemed more appealing.
28
The idea to attempt the trek came later, when we started to do some research. We
found out about a “lost city” you could hike to that had only been revealed to the
outside world by gold-diggers in the 1970s. The site is in the north of the country,
hidden 18,000ft above the Caribbean coast, deep in the jungle-covered mountains of
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park.
It has been guarded for centuries by the descendants of an ancient South American
civilisation, who still live there today and are said to hold the secret to its sacred past.
The ruins of Ciudad Perdida (literally, “lost city”) date from AD600 and are seen as
Colombia’s version of Machu Picchu, but without the train-travelling day-trippers —
because it’s a six-day round hike to get there.
Visions of The Goonies and the Indiana Jones films flashed before us as we
discussed furiously on email whether to include it on our itinerary or not. On the
one hand, a proper adventure seemed far superior to a bog-standard beach holiday,
but if it were as unpleasant as the blogs made it sound, we’d be kicking ourselves
for wasting six days of our three-week holiday. In the end, we decided that, as long
as we weren’t at risk of kidnap — we established that this was unlikely, as the area
was guarded by the Colombian army — then steep inclines and searing heat were
not enough to merit our chickening out. It was going to hurt, but the chance to get a
whiff of something off the beaten track was more important.
Setting off on that first day, while still shaking off the dregs of a New Year’s Eve
hangover, I had to do a lot of soul-searching to remind myself why I was there. At
the top of the first hill, however, the guides told us that we’d completed the worst
bit. To my surprise, they turned out to be telling the truth.
The hike is divided into five-hour sections, one a day, and punctuated with basic
but well set-up outposts, where we washed in waterfalls, ate food cooked over the
fire by our guides and slept in hammocks. The tour company we went with, Turcol,
has been operating in the area longer than anyone else, and provided six extremely
fit young guides for 30 people. Our group was a mix of Colombians and Europeans,
including a chipper pair of Geordies taking a break from working for the British
Council in Colombia.
The path to the lost city follows the contours of a mountain and switches between
vast open plains overlooking treetops and splashing through streams under a canopy
of cartoon-like creepers and vines. At steep points, the guides stationed themselves
along the way to offer encouragement, but mostly they left us to set our own pace,
which meant that we often found ourselves wandering in the undergrowth alone.
It was at one such point that the girls and I almost walked into a fat, sun-drowsy,
but nonetheless deadly coral snake dangling in our path. Its venom, our guide
explained later, can kill a man in eight hours, which is why the local tribesmen wear
government-issued rubber wellies. Secretly, we congratulated ourselves on coming
across a real jungle killer.
 On the third day, we reached the river, which we had to cross eight times in the space of Travel details Is it safe?
two hours to reach the foot of the 2,000 stone steps to the sacred city. It was, at most, A 12-day tailor-made holiday The Foreign Office currently advises
waist-deep, but in the rainy season (May to October) it swells to chin height and has to be including the six-day trek to Ciudad against “all but essential travel” to
crossed with the help of ropes and karabiners. Perdida and visits to Bogota, Villa some parts of Colombia — one of
de Leyva, Cartagena, the Rosario which is the Sierra Nevada de Santa
Finally, there’s a 50-minute clamber up steep, mossy steps to reach the treasured summit. Islands and the Tayrona National Marta National Park (for full advice,
Having seen a faded picture, I had a vague idea of what Ciudad Perdida would look like, Park, starts at £2,255pp, B&B, visit tinyurl.com/yjj6tc2). The lost
but no photo can do justice to the jaw-dropping 360-degree view that hits you as you including flights from London city itself, however, has recently
step on to its terraces. We arrived at just after 1pm, when the sun was high in the sky and to Bogota, domestic flights and been taken off the list of places
the heat was visible in mirage-like waves hanging in the stillness above the treetops. all excursions, with Journey under review, and travel companies
Latin America (020 8747 8315, are able to organise tours to the
That night, we slept in a hut on stilts in the lost city. It’s the only structure currently journeylatinamerica.co.uk). region.
allowed on the site, but the guides told us there is a dispute between the government and
the locals over how much more can be developed. Helicopters for the soldiers already land Globe at One (020 7272 3443, “Travellers to this area must be
among the ruins, and if, as archeologists believe, there are sites deeper in the jungle yet globeatone.co.uk) also offers a made aware of the latest travel
to be uncovered, traffic is expected to increase. trip including the “lost city” trek, advice given by the Foreign Office
as does Turcol, a local operator for the region of Santa Marta,” says
On the two-day journey back to our start point, we met more locals, who came to sell (buritaca2000.com). Journey Latin America, which can
us beer and hand-woven bags. Tourists are still a novel concept to these families. I was arrange treks to the lost city (see
particularly struck by a tiny pregnant girl, who turned out to be 15, and had a one-year-old travel details). “It is essential that
strapped to her back. travellers check with their travel-
insurance company that they have
Back in civilisation, bad blogs and heart palpitations long forgotten, we toasted our wise adequate cover.” This advice is
choice of destination with an unhealthy amount of rum and a ham-footed attempt at salsa. backed up by the Association of
Our brush with death may have been limited to a lazy snake, but Indiana Jones would British Insurers (020 7600 3333,
have been proud. www.abi.org.uk).

30
 27.01.2009
La OMT da un “sobresaliente cum laude” a Colombia
Autor DPA
La Organización Mundial del Turismo (OMT) presentó hoy a Colombia como un modelo a
seguir en lo que a transformación y esfuerzo turístico se refiere, tras haber conseguido
mejorar la seguridad y aunar ésta con una mejora de las infraestructuras y la promoción
turística.
“Para que haya turismo es necesario que haya seguridad”, admitió el Ministro de
Industria, Comercio y Turismo colombiano, Luis Guillermo Plata, durante la presentación
en Madrid del informe “Colombia: De nuevo en el mapa del turismo mundial”.
El documento ha sido elaborado por la OMT y se da a conocer coincidiendo con la
inaguración en la capital española, mañana miércoles, de FITUR, la feria del turismo más
importante del circuito internacional.
“Si no hay seguridad, para qué vas a gastar en promoción”, dijo Plata. “Hubo un
momento en el que a los propios colombianos nos daba miedo viajar por el país”.
Pero la situación, según él y la OMT, ha cambiado con el combate a las guerrillas y el
narcotráfico.
Y el turismo, a su vez, influye de forma positiva en la erradicación de esas lacras. “El
turismo nos ayuda a luchar en esa batalla, dando oportunidades, educación y trabajo”,
afirmó el ministro.
32
“Colombia lo está sabiendo hacer extraordinariamente, muy bien”, manifestó Germán
Porras, ex secretario de Estado de Turismo de España y autor del documento. Si
hubiera que darle una nota al país latinoamericano, ésta “se quedaría muy cerca del
sobresaliente cum laude”, aseguró.
El informe de la OMT presenta a Colombia como “un país que ha logrado volver del
borde del abismo” tras verse sometido a a una prueba de supervivencia “a manos de
la acción combinada del narcotráfico, de la guerrilla y del terrorismo durante muchos
años”.
Así, y según dijo Porras, “ha sabido transformar la realidad” en materia tanto de
infraestructuras como de seguridad. Y en comunicación, añadió, “también lo está
haciendo muy bien”. “La OMT”, dijo el español, “quiere que sea un modelo para
aplicar también a otros países que estén atravesando momentos difíciles”.
El reto ahora es superar la “brecha entre la realidad y la percepción” que se tiene de
la misma respecto al país latinoamericano. Y, según el experto español, la campaña
de imagen turística “Colombia, el riesgo es que te quieras quedar”, está siendo muy
importante para ello.
Entre los instrumentos que se destacaron en la sede de la OMT, además del
combate a la inseguridad, se encuentran los incentivos impositivos. Así, el país
latinoamericano ofrece una exención del impuesto sobre la renta durante 30 años a
los nuevos hoteles que se levanten en el país o a los que amplíen sus instalaciones,
una medida con la que se pretende dotar de 14.000 nuevas habitaciones hoteleras
a Colombia.
 08.03.2009
| TURISMO |
La Gran Fiesta de Barranquilla
Autor DANIEL FLORES / Fotos DANIEL FLORES
BARRANQUILLA.- En un hecho que podría marcar un antes y un después en la historia de
las relaciones internacionales, los presidentes de Colombia, Venezuela y Estados Unidos
-Alvaro Uribe, Hugo Chávez y Barack Obama- desfilaron juntos por las calles de esta
ciudad del Caribe colombiano ante una multitud eufórica. A ellos se les sumaron, entre
otras personalidades, nada menos que la ex candidata presidencial Ingrid Betancourt y
varios líderes de las insurgentes Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).
No estuvieron solos. De cerca los siguieron el querido futbolista local Carlos e l Pibe
Valderrama, Shakira, el Chapulín Colorado y Mr. T, inconfundible personaje de la serie de
televisión Brigada A.
El encuentro fue posible, dobles y disfraces de por medio, gracias a una nueva edición
del Carnaval de Barranquilla, declarado Obra Maestra del Patrimonio Oral e Intangible de
la Humanidad por la Unesco en 2003, sencillamente la fiesta más importante de Colombia
y uno de los carnavales más populares de América junto con los de Río de Janeiro y
Nueva Orleáns. Cuatro días locos y cargados de desfiles, conciertos y bailes que cada
año son en verdad la culminación de varias semanas de jolgorio, pero también de una
decidida reivindicación de raíces y tradiciones. Porque si bien no faltan los mencionados
disfraces de personajes actuales ni los camiones cubiertos de logos de auspiciantes y
cargados con actores de telenovelas, lo que predomina son casi doscientas agrupaciones
que interpretan meticulosamente ritmos, movimientos, coreografías y vestuarios de rasgos
aborigen, africano y español.
Una vez más, el clima distó mucho, eso sí, del de un congreso de antropología. Lo que
quedaba claro ya desde los vuelos que transportaban turistas de Bogotá a Barranquilla
(hora y veinte de viaje). Como si el piloto fuera el mismo Rey Momo, una marca de
whisky invitaba a los pasajeros a brindar mientras la tripulación les proponía una especie
de concurso de chistes alcanzándole un micrófono a quien se animara (y se animaban
muchos). Y al llegar a destino, junto a la cinta para retirar el equipaje, un grupo de
promotoras daba la bienvenida con cerveza adecuadamente helada para los casi 40°C de
temperatura ambiente.
34
Suspendida casi cualquier otra actividad, los principales eventos transcurrieron entre
el sábado 21 y el martes 24 de febrero por la vía 40, en esta ciudad de un millón y
medio de habitantes, junto a la desembocadura caribeña del Magdalena, principal río
del país y clave del desarrollo económico de Barranquilla durante el siglo XX.
Allí desfilaron, en un recorrido vallado de cuatro kilómetros, durante cuatro o cinco
horas por jornada, desde carrozas superequipadas y movilizadas por importantes
firmas hasta comparsas de los barrios más humildes, ambas rodeadas por
participantes espontáneos con un espectro igual de amplio: de empresarios a chicos
de la calle. Hasta el cierre, con el sepelio de Joselito o la muerte del Carnaval.
Para el turista que no reconoce a los famosos de la tele colombiana o que puede
asistir a carnavales de otras latitudes, seguramente lo más interesante fue la Gran
Parada de Tradición y Folclor, con una décima parte del público de la previa y más
glamorosa Batalla de las Flores (700.000 personas, según datos oficiales), pero
con diez veces más elementos autóctonos para apreciar. Algo difícil, es cierto, sin
la ayuda de la folletería preparada para la ocasión por la Fundación Carnaval de
Barranquilla, que apoya, incentiva y vigila desde hace 17 años el mayor orgullo de
esta ciudad junto con su equipo de fútbol, el Junior (donde jugó alguna vez el Pibe
Valderrama). Algo de información básica resulta imprescindible para identificar, al
menos vagamente, garabatos, cumbias, congos, sones de negro y otras danzas de
movimientos tan específicos como sus significados.
Otro de los momentos altos de estos días y para tener en cuenta para los
afortunados que asistan a su versión 2010 fue la Noche de Tambó, baile gratuito y
masivo en la plaza de la Paz, frente a la catedral de Barranquilla. Durante seis horas
(todo un mensaje para los músicos que tocan a reglamento), la agrupación Tambó
dio un seminario de auténtica cumbia, género que no tiene mucho que ver con otras
músicas más australes del mismo nombre, y que se basa casi exclusivamente en
toques de tambores con una austera línea melódica a cargo de gaitas, más parecidas
a quenas que a bagpipes escocesas.
 PALCOS
Los desfiles de la 40 se pueden
ver gratis detrás de las vallas, pero
lo ideal, para resguardarse del
Participaron casi 200 agrupaciones con un gran sol, sentarse y contar con baños
despliegue de trajes, coreografías y color.
químicos, es acceder a un palco que
puede costar entre 50 y 400 dólares
(los VIP) para los cuatro días.
SEGURIDAD
El eslogan de la autoridad turística
Como cantante invitada, el conjunto recibió a la gran Totó La Momposina, una Cesária colombiana dice “Colombia: el
Evora colombiana, es decir el nombre local más reconocido en la escena de la World riesgo es que te quieras quedar”.
Music. Pero el espectáculo central lo dieron las 10.000 personas, incansables, bailando en Efectivamente, con algunos
una especie de procesión circular, una y otra vez alrededor del escenario. Pura diversión. recaudos básicos, ese es el único
peligro en los custodiados eventos
Esa noche hizo una de sus apariciones estelares Marianna Schlegel Donado, Reina oficiales del Carnaval. El baile, por
del Carnaval 2009. Como en todo o en buena parte del Caribe, las reinas son muy supuesto, continúa siempre en
importantes en Barranquilla. Schlegel Donado, rubia barranquillera de 23 años, estudió bares, restaurantes, clubes y discos.
Arquitectura en España y viene de una familia de soberanas: su madre, una tía y una En tal caso, los extranjeros harán
prima portaron antes la corona de esta fiesta. Por la calle 40 desfiló en un camión bien en chequear antes a qué barrio
repleto de parientes y amigos rubios como ella, bastante diferentes de los otros miles de se dirigen. El Alto y El Prado son los
participantes de estas carnestolendas. El Carnaval será una fiesta popular, pero su reina más amigables con los turistas.
surge siempre de los clubes sociales de la elite barranquillera y es coronada por decreto
del alcalde. TOUR A LAS RAÍCES
Los interesados en el aspecto
En todo caso se puede considerar al Carnaval como un reflejo de la sociedad local: reúne cultural de esta fiesta no deberían
tanto a negros que recuerdan a sus antepasados esclavos como a familias que exhiben perderse La Ruta del Carnaval, que
generaciones de exclusiva prosperidad; chicos que van a estudiar a Estados Unidos y se ofrece por talleres de artesanos
otros que piden plata en las esquinas; hay una comparsa de guerrilleros desmovilizados de máscaras y disfraces, y centros
y otra de policías que reclaman por la liberación de compañeros secuestrados por la de operaciones de comparsas. Es la
guerrilla; todos en el mismo lugar e igual de alegres. Sus defensores argumentarán que el forma más sencilla de acercarse, por
Carnaval no hace diferencias sociales. Los detractores, que las exhibe y les pone música. ejemplo, al municipio suburbano
Para decidir quién tienen razón, no queda otra que colarse un rato en esta increíble fiesta de Galapa, hogar de artistas como
de una ciudad entera.
36
José Llanos y Manuel Pertuz,
diseñadores de todo un bestiario
carnavalero. Consultar en la
Secretaría de Cultura, Patrimonio
y Turismo de la ciudad: www.
culturapatrimonioyturismo.gov.co
QUÉ VER
En términos turísticos, el centro
de Barranquilla es perfectamente
evitable, aunque cuenta con el
valioso edificio de la antigua
aduana donde hoy funciona
una biblioteca y un centro
de documentación. El barrio
El Prado, en cambio, es una
curiosidad arquitectónica para
conocer, diseñado en 1921 por los
hermanos norteamericanos Karl
y Robert Parrish, con mansiones
y jardines. En el Barrio Alto, hay
buenos hoteles, gastronomía y
centros comerciales. Quien viaje
a Barranquilla, sin embargo,
debe saber que no encontrará
el desarrollo de ciudades
colombianas más grandes como
Bogotá y Medellín. Cabe recordar
también que Barranquilla está casi
exactamente a mitad de camino
entre dos esenciales destinos
turísticos con playas e historia,
Santa Marta y Cartagena, ambos a
unos cien kilómetros de distancia.

DATOS ÚTILES
Cómo llegar
Por Avianca, con escala en Bogotá,
el pasaje Buenos Aires-Barranquilla
cuesta 1250 dólares con tasas e
impuestos.
Dónde dormir
Aunque las tarifas varían en los
días de Carnaval, el Barranquilla
Plaza, de cuatro estrellas, ofrece
habitaciones dobles y cena para
dos en su espectacular piso 26 por
unos 100 dólares. www.hbp.com.co
El de mejor reputación es el hotel
El Prado, inaugurado en 1930,
un icono del barrio más lindo de
la ciudad. Desde 145 dólares la
habitación doble.
www.hotelelprado.com.co
38
Participaron casi
200 agrupaciones
con un gran
despliegue de
trajes, coreografías
y color.
Dónde comer
En un buen restaurante y con
bebidas alcohólicas, comer afuera
cuesta unos 25 dólares por persona.
La Cueva: célebre bar-restaurante-
centro cultural, heredero del
reducto donde Gabriel García
Márquez y otros intelectuales
del Grupo de Barranquilla solían
reunirse. Vale la pena conocerlo
aunque el lugar vive tanto de la
historia sin que la atención esté
siempre a su altura.
Cra. 43 N° 59-03.
Narcobollo: otra historia curiosa.
La de Barranquilla es en realidad
una sucursal del local original, que
se hizo famoso cuando la policía
lo allanó luego de sospechar de la
legalidad de sus operaciones por
algunos de sus clientes. Pero el
sitio simplemente preparaba los
mejores bollos de la región.
Cr 43 84-188.
Naia: cocina fusión y diseño
moderno. Cra. 53 N° 79-127
Entre las comparsas
y los bailes no
faltaron dobles
de personalidades
como Chávez,
Uribe y Obama
Souvenir Cambio
La mayoría de los hombres se lleva El cambio habitual es de 2100 o
de Barranquilla (y del resto del 2200 pesos colombianos por dólar.
país) un recuerdo que, de paso, le En los eventos de Carnaval, una
resulta muy útil para protegerse cerveza Aguila o Club Colombia
del duro sol barranquillero: el cuesta 2000 pesos; agua o
tradicionalísimo sombrero vueltiao, gaseosa, entre 1200 y 500; un
fabricado en realidad en la región paquete de diez cigarrillos, 1470.
de Córdoba. De ala ancha y
con vivos en negro (de secretos
significados), su valor puede ir de
10 a 60 dólares, dependiendo de la
cantidad de vueltas de palma con
que esté confeccionado. Lo ideal
es comprarlo en el buen Mercado
de las Artesanías, a las puertas
del viejo estadio del Junior, donde
también hay toritos de Carnaval,
instrumentos musicales y más.
 27.10.2008
Colombie:
Coup de Coeur Meconnu
Texte ANDREANNE KOHLER / Photo DR
Si la Colombie voit son nom régulièrement étalé dans la presse, rares sont les
articles évoquant sa beauté. Dommage, ce pays possède des trésors
insoupçonnés.
Petite appréhension en débarquant à l’aéroport de Bogotá. Une crainte somme toute
justifiée, à force de nouvelles sombres diffusées dans les médias. Mais à peine dans le
taxi qui me conduit vers le centre-ville, j’oublie tout. Mon chauffeur, Carlos, me souhaite
la bienvenue dans son pays maravilloso, puis augmente le volume de la radio. Une
rumba m’entraîne au coeur de la culture musicale colombienne, une musique
omniprésente qui ponctuera tout mon voyage. Il faut absolument sortir un samedi soir
dans un bar branché pour admirer les superbes Colombiennes onduler leurs hanches sur
les rythmes latins – n’oubliez pas que c’est d’ici que viennent la belle chanteuse Shakira
et le ténébreux Juanes.
Après avoir suivi les conseils des locaux et fait des photocopies de mon passeport pour
enfermer l’original, avec tous les autres objets de valeur, dans le coffre-fort de l’hôtel,
je pars pleine d’entrain découvrir la ville. Au début un peu sur mes gardes puis, avec le
temps, de plus en plus détendue.
Bogotá, située sur le haut plateau fertile des Andes à 2640 mètres, compte près de sept
millions d’habitants. Son climat printanier tout au long de l’année permet de visiter à
pied le quartier historique de la Candelaria, les majestueux bâtiments coloniaux – la
plupart réunis autour de la Plaza Bolívar – et d’admirer la ville du haut du Monserrate.
Une «colline», comme on l’appelle ici, dont le sommet atteignable en téléphérique ou
funiculaire s’élève tout de même à 3200 mètres! Les Colombiens y viennent par milliers
pour vénérer l’image du Cristo Caido y Azotado.
40
L’écotourisme en plein essor
A environ 150 kilomètres de Bogotá se trouve la petite ville coloniale de Villa de
Leyva. Je m’y rends en bus local; une véritable aventure débute, assise aux côtés
d’autochtones chargés de leurs achats effectués en ville. De nombreux contrôles
rappellent la proximité de la capitale, mais tous se déroulent calmement et
rapidement. Si les premiers impressionnent, on prend ensuite plaisir à échanger
quelques mots aimables avec les militaires, curieux de rencontrer une touriste.
J’apprécie Villa de Leyva, trésor à l’architecture coloniale, centre touristique connu
pour son immense place centrale à gros pavés et les bâtiments qui l’entourent,
inscrit au Patrimoine colombien. Cette visite culturelle me plonge dans l’histoire du
pays, imprégnée par la venue des colonisateurs espagnols dans les années 1500.
Pleine de charme et d’entrain, Ana, ma guide, me dévoile tous les secrets.
Si la Colombie est célèbre pour ses villes coloniales, elle l’est également pour sa
végétation dense et luxuriante, qui permet à un écotourisme actif de se développer,
proposant ainsi des hébergements en harmonie avec la nature. Et, bien entendu, la
grande fierté du pays réside dans son café à l’arôme intense. En effet, qui d’entre
nous n’a jamais goûté un pur arabica de Colombie?
Depuis un siècle, la Colombie produit le café le plus doux du monde et en est
devenue le deuxième exportateur mondial.
En visitant Carthagène des Indes
Une visite du pays ne serait donc pas complète sans avoir fait un crochet par le
triangle du café, qui regroupe les villes et parcs autour d’Armenia. Les nuits passées
dans une finca (ferme) de café transformée en lodge simple, de même que la
visite du parc national du café, permettent de mieux comprendre la production du
café, mais aussi de découvrir le côté sauvage de la région. Et bien entendu, cette
incursion dans les terres est l’occasion de déguster une cuisine riche et authentique,
ici souvent composée de riz, de haricots rouges, de yuca, mais aussi de fruits
succulents.
Un double saut de puce en avion me mène à Carthagène, sur la côte caraïbe. Et ô
surprise, c’est un tout autre visage du pays que je retrouve ici. Carthagène des Indes,
qui est le nom complet de la ville inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l’humanité, m’a
toujours fait rêver – et je n’ai pas été déçue. Je l’imaginais colorée, chaude, rythmée
et historique. C’est ainsi que je l’ai trouvée. Après une balade dans la vieille-ville
encerclée de remparts – témoins des nombreuses attaques de pirates – où des
soirées exclusives destinées à la jet-set locale sont organisées, une excursion d’une
journée permet de découvrir les îles Rosario. Ambiance créole assurée! A ne pas
manquer: un plongeon dans les eaux cristallines et chaudes avec masque et tuba –
les fonds coralliens sont intéressants et la mer peuplée de poissons multicolores.
Un pain au chocolat en pleine jungle
 La cathédrale Dans le parc national
de Bogotá sur de Tayrona, les
la place Bolívar. visiteurs peuvent
dormir dans des
bungalows ou des
hamacs.

Une chose est déjà sûre: je suis conquise par le pays, par ses contrastes et par ses Les eaux cristallines bordant les îles Rosario, dans la mer des Caraïbes,
habitants si accueillants. Cela même avant d’avoir cheminé sur les sentiers du superbe constituent un paradis pour le pêcheurs et les plongeurs.
parc de Tayrona, à environ 200 kilomètres de Carthagène. Facile d’accès, couvrant une
surface de 15 000 hectares, dont 12 000 de terre et 3000 de côte, il possède une faune
et une flore incroyables. Le fait d’être logée au coeur du parc, de dormir dans un hamac
sous le ciel étoilé – je vous rassure, des bungalows sont également disponibles – permet
de découvrir sur des sentiers bien entretenus un paysage de montagnes, de forêts et
de plages. Quelques jours qui seront marqués à vie dans ma mémoire… J’y ai mangé le
meilleur pain au chocolat de ma vie, cuit par Luìs dans un four en pierre à 10 mètres de
la plage, en pleine jungle. Un régal!

Ma longue route se poursuit en direction du Venezuela… Je laisse derrière moi un coup de

coeur, un pays où il faut savoir outrepasser les nombreux regards curieux, parfois très
perçants dans les grandes villes, et ne pas prêter une attention démesurée aux mises en
garde incessantes. Etre prudent oui, mais renoncer à visiter la Colombie pour des raisons
de sécurité, non!

42
 04.07.2010
| BUSINESS |
The Secret Life of Juan Valdez
By DANIEL GROSS
How Colombia’s most famous coffee picker is challenging Starbucks.
Remember Juan Valdez? In a long-running series of television ads, the iconic Colombian
coffee farmer and his donkey were the embodiment of Colombia’s legitimate cash crop.
Until the emergence of Shakira, Valdez, who was played by two different actors, was
the Colombian celebrity most known to Americans. My Slate colleague John Dickerson
recalls that on a trip to Colombia with President George W. Bush, the press corps was
sequestered at the airport, and “Juan Valdez” was brought out to pose for photographs
with reporters. “People took a few and then he hung around smiling at all of us typing on
our laptops for the next seven hours.” (Dickerson doesn’t remember whether the donkey
was present. After all, when you’re traveling with the White House press corps, it’s tough
to keep track of the precise number of asses on the premises.)
In the past decade, Colombia has undergone a transformation—it’s safer, more prosperous,
and, while still poor, much more integrated with the global economy. Exports tripled
between 2002 and 2008. Juan Valdez has also undergone a transformation. The stock
character is gone, but the name lives on. In the past decade, Juan Valdez has shifted from
being a person who traded on a stereotypical, pre-modern image of Colombia—lilting
Spanish, peasant garb, farm animal—into an international brand and consumer experience.
As I learned from my visit to Colombia last week, where I was traveling with a group of
journalists and attending the World Economic Forum Latin America, Juan Valdez is now a
brand, not a guy. In 2002, Colombia’s National Confederation of Coffee Growers launched
44
an ambitious plan to turn Juan Valdez into a sort of Colombian Starbucks. It set up
stores to sell beans by the bagful to tourists and began to open coffee bars. Outside
Colombia’s borders, expansion has been relatively slow. Juan Valdez has opened
stores in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. (though it closed one of
its New York stores in February), a few in Spain, and several in Chile and Ecuador.
(Here’s a store locator.)
In its home country, however, Juan Valdez is beginning to gain Starbuckian scale,
especially in Bogota, home to at least 60 Juan Valdez shops. It’s capitalizing both
on nationalism and the significant advances of the Colombian economy. In recent
years, as the domestic security situation has improved, Colombia has benefitted
from rising global demand for commodities—oil and metals—and steady growth
in foreign investment. In the World Bank’s most recent Doing Business rankings,
which rate countries on how easy it is to do business there, Colombia scored 37th,
the highest ranking of any Latin American country. One of the biggest items in the
Colombian news this week was the fact that inflation is running at a meager 1.84
percent annual rate. Growth in extractive industries has spurred growth in banking,
transportation, engineering, professional services, and information technology—the
type of jobs where you need to pop out for a jolt in caffeine to help you survive the
next PowerPoint presentation.
Starbucks hasn’t figured this out yet. Starbucks sells Colombian coffee at its stores
in the United States and in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. But it doesn’t have
any outlets in the land of Juan Valdez. In the base of an office building in Bogota,
Colombia, the Juan Valdez cafe is very similar to a smaller Manhattan Starbucks.
The décor is modern—a red color scheme, with no kitschy weavings or hats.
Professionals in smart casual sip caffeinated concoctions, generally ignore the wan
pastries, and peck away at smart phones. And, like Starbucks, Juan Valdez tries to
infuse its caffeine-delivery vehicles with dollops of off-putting connoisseurishness. At
the airport in Bogota, I picked up a pound of Juan Valdez’s Amazonico. This bean, the
package tells us, hails from the Amazon Basin and is “clean, with a strong hint of the
wild and a rich residual flavor.” Whatever. This morning, I whipped up a double shot,
sat down at my desk, turned on the computer, and looked out the window. There
were squirrels and deer in the yard, but no donkey. Still, Juan Valdez was definitely in
la casa. “Bueeenos Dias.”
Daniel Gross is also the author of
Dumb Money: How Our Greatest
Financial Minds Bankrupted the
Nation and Pop!: Why Bubbles Are
Great For The Economy.
 09.11.2008
Higher, deeper, wetter
Byline ABUL TAHER
Abul Taher is left breathless by an adventure holiday in Colombia
I had read of the dangers of Colombia - a country most people believe is plagued by
cocaine and Farc separatist guerrillas. Once there I saw a different country, a largely
peaceful place whose people are delighted to see overseas visitors. Most Colombians I
met said that there were troubled areas, but these were confined largely to the jungles
and borders of the country.
My first destination was the village of Utica, about 1,600ft above sea level in the Andes,
which is a cen-tre for adventure sports. In one day I was able to ride a quadricycle along
ancient dirt tracks made by native Indians as they trekked up the Utica mountains, then
walk with a team of local guides along the river Negro where it was no more than a
shallow stream. After half an hour of walking along the muddy river, we came to a series
of five cliffs that the river cascades down.
We abseiled down each one, the first four almost 200ft high and the final one nearly
230ft. It was a gruelling exercise and both my arms and legs had turned to jelly by the
end of it.
Then the whole team got on a raft to ride about seven miles of middle-ranking rapids
back to Utica vil-lage. The raft was thrown about like a boat in a stormy sea, and it was
a mission just managing to stay on board. I realised why the river was called Negro - its
water was coal-black due to the rocky mud.
Armando Serrano, who runs a hotel in the village and offers package deals on all the
sports, told me that Utica was becoming a magnet for western adventure-seekers, who
could experience the activities in Utica for a day for about £ 45 per person. At Suesca,
about 40 miles north of Bogota, I had a go at rock climbing in the mountains, part of the
Andes, then trekked to the top of the Suesca range, which was 328ft above the canyon.
We came down via another route, which was far steeper and far slippier.
46
But I wasn’t done yet. The capital of adventure in Colombia is the Santander region,
about 180 miles north of Bogota. It has several paragliding clubs, and the one I
chose, Bolladera Las Agilas, launched me into tandem paragliding: running off a
cliff with an American instructor. Once we were up, the view was spectacular, with
villages, valleys, waterfalls and rivers running through canyons. And there were
mountains in all four directions. The cool breeze of 1,000ft above the ground made
the experience seem dream-like.
After paragliding came torrentismo - abseiling down a 230ft Juan Curi waterfall. This
is safe but it is an exhausting experience - not helped by the occasional icy cold
drenching. I had to stop a few times due to sheer tiredness, and one or two others
had the instructor abseil down with them on a parallel rope, as they were scared into
immobility by the height.
Six hundred feet below the village of Paramo is a mile-long cave. Exploring it meant
walking through it, and then crawling through it, and then jumping 16ft down into
dank water and swimming the rest of it. The whole experience takes more than an
hour - but it feels longer.
Santander is not just about adventure sports. No visit to the region is complete
without a tour of Barichara, a beautiful Spanish village that has changed little since
the 17th century. It is a popular holiday destination with Colombians and for tourists
like me, it was an ideal place to relax after the excitement of fly-ing, climbing and
crawling.
Abul Taher travelled as a guest of
Proexport, the Colombian Tourist Office
(020 7491 3535, www.visitcolombia.com).
A 16-day guided trip to Colombia, which
includes adventure sports in Santander,
costs £ 2,795pp with Wild Frontiers
(020 7736 3968, www.wildfrontiers.co.uk),
including flights from the UK, transfers,
accommodation, meals and guides

02.08.2009
| EXPLORER |
Above the Clouds in a Secret Colombia
By MATTHEW FISHBANE / Photos DENNIS DRENNER
As crampons crunched ice, our guide, Rubará, raised his traditional woven sisal-thread
handbag by his face and asked me to snap a photo. We were climbing above 17,000 feet,
just shy of the summit of the Ritacuba Blanco, a glaciated peak shaped like a soft-serve
ice cream cone, at El Cocuy National Park in Colombia. Aquamarine-hued icicles hung from
the maw of a crevasse and, far below, clouds blanketed the Orinoco Basin.
The landscape stretched across dozens of ice-capped peaks and deep cirque valleys.
Moraine lakes, formed by the natural erosion from glaciers’ unhurried flow and retreat,
shimmered in mineral hues. Nearly 30 miles away, we could just make out the telltale
church spire of the town of Soatá. Save for a photographer friend and one other guide on
the ice field, no other people were in view. The February day was bright. I’d finally caught
my breath.
“The snow is sacred to us,” said Rubará, the only indigenous U’Wa ranger of the eight
who work in the park (he used only his single U’Wa name), before acknowledging that, as
a guide, he’d never been this high before. “We should be heading down.”
Down was the only way to go, but I wanted to linger.
Solitude at high altitudes is increasingly rare. Unlike congested climbing destinations like
Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua, Cocuy, both remote and, until recently, risky to visit, has been
South America’s undiscovered gem of mountaineering.
This may be a temporary condition. The park has also had a marked increase in visitors.
Fabio Muñóz, the park’s director, said it registered nearly as many tourists in January as in
all 2008.
But for now, at least, there are no 200-tent shanties there. No trail quotas, lottery peak
permits or trashed base camps. Roberto Ariano, a ranger for the park, who focuses his
efforts on conservation, called Cocuy a “lost corner of Colombia.”
48
Rising from the Plains of Arauca, near the Venezuelan border, El Cocuy National
Park covers over 1,000 square miles of terrain and 15,000 vertical feet. Its stratified
ecosystems shelter red-footed tortoises, pumas, howling monkeys, tapirs and, soaring
above them all, condors. U’Wa Indian reservations make up half the park’s domain.
Tourism is concentrated in the Sierra Nevada, covering just 2 percent of the park.
Erwin Kraus, a dapper Colombian of German descent, was the first explorer to
document the sierra thoroughly, in the late 1930s and ’40s. Kraus photographed and
painted the range, producing important baselines in the study of glacial retreat, on
his way to several first ascents of peaks in Colombia.
By the 1980s, the intrepid backpackers and climbers who made the five-to-seven-day
trek through the range or opened routes on virgin rock faces usually kept news of its
surpassing beauty to themselves.
Today, much of the glacial area of the park is disappearing. In Bogotá the week
before we began our trip, the Colombian glaciologist Jorge Luis Ceballos showed
me evidence of the rapid retreat of Cocuy’s ice cover. From a single, 57-square-mile
sheet in 1850, he said, just 7 square miles of scattered snowcaps remained in 2007.
Recent photos displayed side-by-side with Kraus’s black and whites showed distinctly
different mountains.
Within three decades, Mr. Ceballos estimates, the Cocuy will be nothing but mostly
barren rock and high-altitude tropical tundra. Mr. Ceballos attributes this glacial
retreat primarily to warming temperatures. (During our trip up the glacier, we came
across one of his red-tipped ice-mass probes: the Ritacuba had shrunk about six and
a half feet in just two months, well beyond normal seasonal fluctuations.)
It was the tail end of the dry season when the photographer Marcos Roda and I
made the 250-mile drive north from Bogotá: an 11-hour journey, almost all of it curvy,
most of it paved. Marcos throttled his Mitsubishi jeep northward, slowing only for
military checkpoints.
For years, any point past the sixth hour of that trip was a no-go zone, home to
competing fronts of guerrilla and, later, regional paramilitary. At times, Mr. Ariano
said, the state simply abandoned the park.
In 2003, though, as part of a broad military offensive, the Colombian president,
Álvaro Uribe, installed an elite brigade high in the Cocuy. The ensuing battle over
the strategic corridors between the northern Amazon and the Andean plateau was
bloody and brief. The park is now considered safe, and pro-guerrilla graffiti has been
scrubbed off walls in the towns of Güicán and El Cocuy nearby.
 From El Cocuy (elevation, 9,000 feet), a pristine colonial town of uniform whitewash and
light-green trim, acclimatizing and donning layers of fleece as we went, we churned 4,000
feet higher into the misty alpine tundra of the Lagunillas Valley, past potato farms and long-
haired dairy cows. These soon gave way to stacked stone walls and grazing Merino sheep.
At the end of the road lay the campgrounds long owned by the Herrera family. (Miguel
Herrera, 50, climbed with Erwin Kraus, as did his father.) The Herrera camp also serves as
the gateway to the striking southern peaks of the range and a staging ground for the more
elaborate 44-mile trek through the whole park. The latter route laces together lakes and
exotic vistas over a series of strenuous passes, the highest of which tops out at 15,000 feet.
A pair of Austrians, whom we had met at the camp, spent half their parkwide, eight-day
trek huddled in a tiny lightweight tent, away from freezing rain. Nevertheless, they bagged
two summits that required technical-climbing gear and mountaineering expertise, and only
encountered an American and six Slovaks along the way.
“Wonderful, despite the rain,” said Gerhard Tüchler, Austrian No. 1. “We’re repeat visitors.”
“Best-kept secret in the Americas,” said Stefan Pappernigg, Austrian No. 2. “But perhaps
Gerhard and I now know each other a little too well.”
That night, as Marcos and I sipped steaming potato soup, Mr. Herrera told stories about
Erwin Kraus, roaming Andean bears with unusual facial markings that resemble glasses,
and his father’s pack horses sinking in brittle snow on the passes. Drowsy from the
altitude, I retreated woozily to a well-blanketed bed.
The next morning, we walked the valley. A marked trail took us up a ridge into fields of
furry 15-foot-tall plants called Frailejones because they are thought to resemble hooded
Unlike congested climbing destinations like Kilimanjaro, Guides Omar Lopez, left, and Roberto
El Cocuy National Park in South America is still an Ariano take their morning coffee.
undiscovered gem of mountaineering. Peaks can top
50 17,000 feet. Until about a half decade ago, the area was
virtually off limits because of guerrilla activity.
monks in silhouette. Over 700 species of endemic flora have adapted to the
conditions of the Cocuy. The combination of wonder and isolation felt akin to a
scuba diver’s at a remote but lively reef.
Above the valley, the rocky moraine afforded spectacular views of the ice-carved
granite faces and snow caps. From there, on a clear day, you can see El Púlpito del
Diablo, the Devil’s Pulpit, a perfectly hewn cube poking out of the snow-draped
shoulder of Pan de Azúcar, and the twin bell-shaped peaks called the Campanillas.
That afternoon we drove 45 minutes north to the Posada Sierra Nevada, a work-in-
progress guesthouse perched at 12,960 feet, where we rested. Before dawn the next
morning, Belisario Santisteban, who runs the posada, saddled four mares, while his
wife, Nelly, prepared a breakfast of cheese, eggs and hot chocolate. Several hours of
riding later, we reached the lip of the Ritacuba Glacier, where we laced on crampons
and roped up for the white icy incline ahead.
Rubará led the way past the science station, shaking his head. “The glacier suffers
from our trampling,” he said, repeating a common U’Wa belief. We set rest targets
of a few hundred yards, one foot at a time, breathing heavily. Slowly, the Cocuy’s
30 other rugged peaks began to reveal themselves over cornices, more fierce and
vertical than their lakeside views had suggested.
Rubará gazed over his tribal lands, thousands of feet below to the east. I thought of
Colombia’s audacious new tourism slogan: “The only risk is wanting to stay.” Almost
alone at the top of the Cocuy, this slogan rang true.
A campsite at Laguna Grande de la Sierra.
 GET READY TO RIDE A BUS FOR 11 HOURS, RENT A HORSE AND DRINK BEER AT HIGH
ALTITUDE
GETTING TO AND AROUND THE PARK
In January, JetBlue (www.jetblue.com) began a route between Kennedy Airport in New York
and Bogotá, Colombia, with a stop in Orlando for as low as $325 round trip. Similarly,
Spirit Airlines (www.spiritair.com) flies from La Guardia Airport through Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., for $330, according to a recent Web search. Continental, Delta and Avianca all operate
six-hour flights to Bogotá from New York airports.
For the trip from Bogotá to the towns of El Cocuy or Güicán, prepare yourself for an 11-
hour day (departing at 5:30 a.m.) or overnight (departing at 8:30 p.m.) bus journey. Unless
a car is included in your itinerary — rentals are prohibitively expensive — there is no
other way. One-way tickets are 40,000 pesos, or $20 at about 2,000 pesos to the dollar,
though, so consider buying two seats in the name of comfort. Libertadores (57-1-295-1803)
has the most reliable service.
December to February tend to be the driest months, hence the most crowded. The rest of
the year can be unpredictably wet; either way, gear for high-mountain weather is essential.
Temperatures are 40 to 70 degrees during the day and freezing at night.
A blooming Frailejones plant in the A Cocuy mountain scene at twilight.
Lagunillas Valley. Over 700 species
of endemic flora have adapted to the
conditions of the Cocuy.
52
El Cocuy National Park charges foreigners a 29,000 peso entry fee. From any of the
three main access points, horses are 25,000 to 50,000 pesos for a day. Expect to
pay local guides 30,000 to 60,000 pesos for a day’s work, depending on distances
covered, and feel free to tip. Many spectacular day hikes require neither guides nor
horses. Inquire at the park office in El Cocuy, just off the town plaza (57-8-789-0359).
The Colombia National Parks’ Web site (www.parquesnacionales.gov.co) also has
information about arranging visits.
LODGING AND OUTFITTERS
Any of the half dozen guesthouses on the western approach to the park can arrange
treks, hikes, food, camping and shelter, but the Posada Sierra Nevada, an Alpine-style
refuge above Güicán (double beds are 30,000 pesos; www.posadasierranevada.com),
is best prepared to cover all the bases. The Herrera campground (57-311-214-9255)
is bare-bones and cold, but dirt cheap, with a small number of simple beds available
for 12,000 pesos a night. High-altitude beer costs 1,700 pesos.
Arrange more advanced rock and ice climbing through the mathematician and guide
Nicolás Moreno, at Altitud Adventures (57-310-814-8797; www.climbelcocuy.com), or
Rodrigo Arias (57-320-339-3839; www.colombiatrek.com). Both speak English and
offer all-inclusive itineraries from Bogotá.
For a less piecemeal approach, the upscale outfitter Mountain Travel Sobek (888-687-
6235; www.mtsobek.com) plans to resume package tours to Cocuy in 2010, after a
24-year hiatus.
A burro hauls camping gear for hikers. Rising
from the Plains of Arauca, near the Venezuelan
border, El Cocuy National Park covers over 1,000
square miles of terrain and 15,000 vertical feet.
 29.08.2009
| VAMOS A...LA COLOMBIA DE GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ |
Macondo o el vallenato más largo del mundo
Por EUGENIA RICO / Foto THIERRY BORREDON
De Aracataca a Cartagena de Indias, por el Caribe colombiano tras los pasos del autor de
‘Cien años de soledad’
Macondo o el vallenato más largo del mundo. Muchos años después, con los ojos
cerrados, ante el caserón a punto de aplastarle con su sombra, el viajero recuerda el
momento en que el abuelo de García Márquez llevó a su nieto a conocer la fábrica de
hielo. El mismo edificio de madera de época republicana al otro lado del río donde
las mariposas no son amarillas, sino negras, y las piedras son redondas, de antes del
diluvio, de antes incluso de que el coronel Nicolás Márquez llegara a Aracataca. Entonces
nadie llamaba aún Macondo a este pueblo, ni siquiera Gabito, que aún no había nacido
ni aprendido a contar mentiras mejor que nadie. El pueblo vivía la belle époque de la
compañía bananera estadounidense y todos los prodigios parecían posibles: incluso el
frío. Al niño García Márquez le sorprendió más la dureza de aquella blancura tan fría que
quemaba que la ausencia de su padre que quemaba también.
Aracataca
Frente a la Casa del Telegrafista, donde se guardaron todos los enseres de los Iguarán
aguardando el museo que acaba de abrirse, una anciana de dientes arrancados al hielo y
a los cien años de soledad que vive el departamento de Magdalena -al norte de Colombia,
al que pertenece Aracataca y de donde hace mucho que se fueron los americanos, sus
grandes coches, sus muertos y su prosperidad, y se quedaron sólo las palabras del gran
54
palabrero- recuerda cómo tuvo al niño Gabriel José en sus rodillas y que, al contrario
de todos los niños del mundo, no quería oír siempre la misma historia, sino una
diferente cada vez.
Aracataca es una palabra indígena que significa río de piedras; los de aquí llaman al
pueblo Cataca y rechazaron en 2006 en un referéndum llamarlo Macondo a pesar de
que por todas partes la palabra se levante en cercas, en casas sociales, en escuelas.
El hospital lleva el nombre de la madre del premio Nobel: Hospital Luisa Santiaga
Márquez Iguarán. El recién inaugurado museo (Casa Natal de Gabriel García Márquez),
en el mismo lugar donde estaba la residencia de los abuelos maternos del escritor,
es un edificio de nueva planta que imita los zaguanes antiguos donde las tías se
mecían sin descanso en el corredor de las begonias. Sólo quedan los espíritus, un
árbol milenario y el chiscón donde vivían los indios esclavos que contaban a los
niños las historias de la Sierra Nevada. Aquí nacieron, en un rincón de una alcoba
sin ventanas, Gabriel García Márquez (el 6 de marzo de 1927) y el realismo mágico.
Aunque Alejo Carpentier fuera el partero, el predecesor, los muertos que comen
con los vivos, los aparecidos de la abuela Tranquilina Iguarán y los relatos de las
guerras del coronel Nicolá s Márquez -que sí tuvo quien le escribiera- darían lugar al
mayor mito literario en castellano del siglo XX. Era un niño en un caserón de mujeres
cercado por los fantasmas de la abuela y los cuentos de guerra del abuelo.
Ryszard Kapuscinski creía que Cien años de soledad (publicada en 1967) era el mejor
reportaje de la historia y los colombianos dicen que es el vallenato más largo del
mundo. Lo cierto es, sin embargo, que casi toda la obra de García Márquez es fruto
de sus ocho primeros años, cuando vivía con sus abuelos maternos en la gran casa
poblada de espíritus y de consejas de Aracataca. Las palabras son conjuros para
librarse de los demonios que llevaban acechando a la cándida Eréndira durante más
de quinientos años de soledad (La increíble y triste historia de Cándida Eréndira y
de su abuela desalmada, 1972). Por eso, muchas páginas después, ante el caserón
insolente que se sostiene a duras penas al otro lado del monumento a Remedios
la Bella (de la cuarta generación de Cien años de soledad), el lector convertido en
viajero siente el calor agobiante de la fábrica de hielo abandonada y recuerda a
Melquíades y a su hielo mágico.
Barranquilla
El viajero también recuerda el cajón de hielo del bar La Cueva, en Barranquilla,
donde se reunían sus amigos escritores ricos en torno a la historia de un náufrago
sin sospechar que el joven muchacho que escribía en El Heraldo, al que las putas de
la pensión El Rascacielos lavaban la ropa, convertiría a aquel hombre en el náufrago
más famoso del mundo (Relato de un náufrago se publicó por entregas en 1955).
 En Barranquilla, unos niños felices se asoman a las verjas de hierro de la casa donde Márquez siempre ha afirmado que el realismo mágico era simplemente realismo,
el niño García Márquez vivió con sus padres tras la muerte de su abuelo en 1936. Al contar cómo es la costa caribeña de Colombia donde todos los milagros dejan de
abandono del padre, que acabó trayendo a casa varios medio hermanos, siguió una serlo ante el milagro único de que todo siga venciendo a la violencia y al olvido,
epopeya que la madre y Gabito, convertido en prematuro padre de familia, trataron de venciendo incluso a los muchos más de cien años de soledad del departamento de
sortear con talento. Hoy, en el mercadillo vecino al Rascacielos, vendedores ambulantes Magdalena.
pregonan ediciones pirata de Cien años de soledad. Por la escalera más desigual del
mundo se atraviesa el infierno de los cuartos misérrimos donde mujeres de ojos oscuros Tayrona
intentan vencer a la soledad y a la pobreza malvendiendo su piel. Desde su terraza,
García Márquez hacía señas a sus amigos de El Heraldo, que todavía no eran el grupo En el parque Tayrona, en la sierra nevada de Santa Marta, los indios kogi cuidan de
de Barranquilla; desde aquí el infierno se convierte en un cielo por el que se divisa la la armonía universal. De aquí baja un arroyo que se llama Macondo y aquí consigo
iglesia en la que García Márquez se casó con Mercedes Barcha, una de las dos mujeres ver por primera vez el árbol con ese nombre, que ignora su fama y se agarra a
de su vida. La otra es Carmen las rocas blancas y prehistóricas como
Ballcells, su agente literaria. La las túnicas impolutas de los indios.
herrumbre de un espejo refleja Macondo es también el nombre de una
a los desgraciados cubiertos finca de Aracataca y el de un mundo que
de polvo que arrastran una nació mientras García Márquez viajaba
bicicleta en llamas por las en tren con su madre para vender la
calles. El sol es de fuego, y el casa del abuelo y leía a Faulkner. A
hielo, un sueño lejano, tan sólo través de los platanales, “cada río tenía
una palabra como las de los su pueblo y su puente de hierro por
libros. donde el tren pasaba dando alaridos, y
las muchachas que se bañaban en las
El viajero abandona Barranquilla aguas heladas saltaban como sábalos a
no antes de visitar el recién su paso para turbar a los viajeros con
inaugurado Parque Cultural del sus tetas fugaces”. Hoy no pasará el tren
Caribe, un museo sorprendente (existe un proyecto para volver a ponerlo
que próximamente tendrá una en marcha para el turismo). Es la guagua
sala dedicada a García Márquez la que sigue entre plantaciones y niños
(cuya apertura está prevista desnudos hacia el horizonte blanco.
para finales de este año).
Cartagena de Indias ha inspirado obras de Gabriel García Márquez Cerca de Santa Marta, el calor es agudo
como Del amor y otros demonios. / Thierry Borredon
Tren Amarillo como el hielo. Escolares con corbata
recitan los últimos días de Simón Bolívar
“Yo nací y crecí en el Caribe. Lo conozco país por país, isla por isla, y tal vez de allí en la Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino. García Márquez los recreó en El general en su
provenga mi frustración de que nunca se me ha ocurrido nada ni he podido hacer nada laberinto (1989), alejándose de Macondo para caer en un laberinto literario del que
que sea más asombroso que la realidad”. Las palabras de García Márquez se me aparecen le salvarían los vericuetos reales de Cartagena de Indias y sus mansiones coloniales.
cuando la guagua se para en los billares de Sevilla en la zona bananera que recorrió Aquí nacieron obras como El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), inspirada en los
García Márquez en el Tren Amarillo. Niños pelirrojos venden tucanes, monos, serpientes amores de sus padres, y Del amor y otros demonios (1994), donde narra la historia
y camaleones a los transeúntes, y el olor de la guayaba se mezcla en el aire con el de la novicia adolescente Sierva María, que transcurre en el convento de Santa Clara.
tabaco rancio y la pestilencia agria de los orines de tanto animal muerto de miedo. García Amores prohibidos, contrariados, fértiles en hijos y en páginas.

56
 Cartagena de Indias

Por la Ciénaga de la Virgen, de aguas dulces y saladas, entramos en Cartagena de Indias:

sueño de piratas y de escritores. El calor se convierte en delirio y todos los demonios
tienen nombre de mujer en el Portal de los Dulces: ajonjolí, cabellitos de ángel, maná de
leche que curaron el amor de las doncellas, pero no la cólera de los esclavos. La ciudad
es un párpado de piedra que se cierra en torno a la nostalgia de tiempos mejores. La casa
de García Márquez se arrima a la muralla frente a un malecón por el que pasan coches
que nunca se detienen. Una casa que Gabo casi no visita, quizá porque ya no le hace falta
pisar el Caribe para recordarlo. García Márquez es el Caribe para millones de lectores de
todo el mundo que padecieron el idilio de Sierva María y enloquecieron con el olor de las
madreselvas.
Cómo ir El proyecto del Tren Amarillo
“Para mí, el rincón más nostálgico de Cartagena de Indias es el Muelle de la Bahía propone dos rutas que salen de
Iberia (www.iberia.com; 902 40 05 Santa Marta y recorren la región.
de las Ánimas, donde estuvo hasta hace poco el fragoroso mercado central. Durante
00) vuela desde Madrid a Cartagena Un itinerario está centrado en la
el día, aquélla era una fiesta de gritos y colores, una parranda multitudinaria como
de Indias, vía Bogotá, desde 684 ruta bananera y otro es el recorrido
recuerdo pocas en el ámbito del Caribe. De noche era el mejor comedero de borrachos euros ida y vuelta con todo incluido. Macondo que llega hasta Aracataca.
y periodistas. Allí estaban, frente a las mesas de comida al aire libre, las goletas que Avianca (www.avianca.com). vuela Aunque aún no tiene fecha de
zarpaban al amanecer cargadas de marimondas y guineo verde, cargadas de remesas de de Madrid a Cartagena, vía Bogotá, inauguración, en la actualidad la
putas biches para los hoteles de vidrio de Curaçao, para Guantánamo, para Santiago de desde 689 euros. ruta se puede realizar por carretera
los Caballeros, que ni siquiera tenía mar para llegar, para las islas más bellas y más tristes con guías.
del mundo. Uno se sentaba a conversar bajo las estrellas de la madrugada, mientras los Visitas Parque Cultural del Caribe
cocineros maricas, que eran deslenguados y simpáticos y tenían siempre un clavel en la (www.culturacaribe.org;
Casa Natal de Gabriel García Márquez. 0057 53 72 05 83). De 8.00 a 17.00
oreja, preparaban con una mano maestra el plato de resistencia de la cocina local: filete
Entre las calles seis y siete de (viernes hasta 18.00); fin de semana,
de carne con grandes anillos de cebolla y tajadas fritas de plátano verde. Con lo que allí
Aracataca. Abierto todos los días de de 9.00 a 18.00. Cierra lunes.
escuchábamos mientras comíamos, hacíamos el periódico del día siguiente”. La voz de 8.00 a 12.00 y de 14.00 a 18.00. El 2,75 euros.
García Márquez resuena a lo largo del viaje, cuya mejor guía es Vivir para contarla (2002), museo está abierto desde hace un
sus memorias. mes y, aunque no está terminando Información
del todo, se puede visita.
Muchas palabras después, el viajero metido a escribidor recordará los callejones de Entrada gratis. www.colombia.travel.
Cartagena donde un premio Nobel le enseñó que ser escritor no es otra cosa que estar Casa del Telegrafista. A dos manzanas Corporación de Promoción turística
loco y volvería a recorrer la ruta de García Márquez. Esta vez, con los ojos cerrados. de la casa natal del escritor. Abierto Tayrona (0057 31 57 21 13 99).
de 8.00 a 12.00 y de 14.00 a 18.00 Turismo de Santa Marta
diariamente. Entrada gratis. (www.santamartaturistica.org).

58
 30.12.2008
Colombia’s addictive charm
By DARALYN DANNS
Formerly known for its drug cartels, the country has gained some serious Latin class.
Cerro de Monserrate, the Bogotá hilltop offering superb views of the spectacular city
Colombia has to be South America’s best-kept secret. To me it instantly conjured up coffee
and emeralds; for my friends, kidnappings and cocaine spring to mind. The country used
to have a reputation for violence and drugs, but when Álvaro Uribe became president in
2002, he cracked down on the drug traffickers and armed gangs.
Now Colombia is mainly safe for tourists, although it is best to avoid areas around the
borders with Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru.
Bogotá, the capital, is a vibrant, modern city where high-rises and universities fuse with
colonial houses and shanty towns. The Bogotanos are extremely welcoming and even
going through immigration was easy because the staff were so helpful.
Perched in the Eastern Andes, Bogotá is around 8,700ft above sea level and basks in year-
round spring-like weather, with warm days and chilly nights.
Once you acclimatise to the altitude, you will find that the city’s grid system of carreras
and calles makes getting around easy.
There is a great café culture here. The smell of coffee wafts through the streets and you
will find plenty of places to people-watch and get your caffeine fix. Juan Valdez is the best
local coffee chain, where often in the mornings you will find Bogotanos not only drinking
their espressos, but dunking cheese-bread in their hot chocolate.
60
I began my sightseeing tour wandering round the La Candelaria. This old part of
Bogotá has narrow streets crammed with wonderful colonial buildings, museums,
market traders and restaurants as well as the Hotel Centro Plaza, which has a kosher
kitchen.
Of the city’s museums, take a look at the new Gold Museum — or Museo del Oro —
in Banco de la República which was due to reopen in November – and the Museo
Botero in Calle 11, named after the Colombian artist Fernando Botero and housing
some of his renowned works of voluptuous figures.
After I had done the culture bit, I took a cable car ride up Cerro de Monserrate. There
is a church on the top of the hill, but the main attraction is the spectacular views
of the city. The Santa Clara restaurant is the perfect place to stop for lunch, offering
both permitted fish and vegetarian dishes on the menu.
Shopping is great in Bogotá as there are plenty of names you won’t see at home.
The Centro Andino, El Retiro and Atlantis Plaza are good malls and not to be missed
is a stroll down so-called Fashion Street — Zona T — which is a showcase for the
top Colombian designers.
The food in Colombia is delicious, fresh and full of flavour. There is good fish and a
wide selection of fruit and vegetables and plenty of excellent restaurants in the city
serving dishes that the kosher-observant diner will find acceptable. Parque de la 93,
Zona Rosa and Usaquén are all hot areas for dining.
Harry Sasson, I was told by a local friend, is Jewish and Colombia’s most famous
chef. He owns some of the city’s coolest restaurants though, sadly, none of them is
kosher. We had an enjoyable meal at Harry’s Bar which was handy for my hotel, the
luxurious Charleston Casa Medina. Located in the financial centre, the hotel offers a
perfect combo of old world charm and all mod cons.
If you have time, go see the Salt Cathedral, carved out of a salt mine, at Zipaquirá,
just north of the city.
For a complete change of pace, I headed to Cartagena de Indias, a hot and steamy
city on Colombia’s Caribbean, which beats to the rhythms of salsa, cumbia and
vallenato.
Cartagena is surrounded by stone walls, built to protect the city from plundering
invaders, including Sir Francis Drake, who wanted to get their hands on the city’s
treasures. Inside the walls is a well-preserved, colourful old town, now a Unesco
world heritage site, with beautiful colonial buildings, bougainvillea-filled balconies
and pretty squares.
 My base in Cartagena was the Sofitel Santa Clara where an eclectic bunch of past guests
includes the King and Queen of Spain, Mel Gibson and Bill Gates. Originally built in the
17th century and a former convent, it is known as a holiday magnet for the Panama Jewish
community.

With superb seafood restaurants (most also serve permitted fish), such as the Club de
Pesca overlooking the sea, it is easy to see why Cartagena is so appealing.

If you prefer the beach to the pool, Bocagrande, Cartagena’s answer to Miami, is only a
short cab ride from the hotel. The beaches are not as beautiful as the ones you usually Travel facts Jewish Colombia
find in the Caribbean, but Cartagena’s culture and pulsating nightlife offer so much more
than the average Caribbean island. Last Frontiers (www.lastfrontiers.com; Jews arrived in Colombia in the
01296 653000) offers tailor-made 16th century from Spain, fleeing the
An hour’s boat ride from Cartagena are the Rosario Islands, an archipelago of pretty coral holidays throughout Latin America. A Inquisition. Many were Conversos,
islands. Sailing out of the bay through the open sea, the colour of the water changes from seven-night trip to Colombia, spending who concealed their identity.
dark blue to an eye-ravishing shade of turquoise. three nights in Bogotá at the Charleston The next wave of Jewish immigrants
Casa Medina and four nights in came from Jamaica and Curacao in
My base was the San Pedro de Malagua Hotel and my guide told me people stay there Cartagena at Sofitel Santa Clara on a the 18th century, followed by a huge
to escape the world and it is easy to see why. Rooms in this tranquil spot have no TV or bed and breakfast basis, costs from influx from Eastern Europe in the
phone and guests are encouraged to switch off mobiles and BlackBerrys. £2,365 per person (based on two early 20th century
sharing). This includes international There are 5,000 Jews in Colombia,
Besides walking along the beach, trying some watersports or going to the spa, there flights (Iberia via Madrid) and internal half of whom live in Bogotá.
is little else to do — just eat, chill out in a hammock, watch the sun set and gaze at flights, private transfers and private Cali, Barranquilla, and Medellín also
the stars. If you want to take a trip, you can take the short boat ride to the open-water city tours of Bogotá and Cartagena. For have Jewish communities.
aquarium to see the dolphins and shark perform. more information about Colombia visit There are four synagogues in Bogotá,
www.visitcolombia.com as well as a Chabad House (0057 5
Back in Cartagena, the late afternoon, when the sea breeze cools the air, is the best 360 2279)
time to explore. A ride in a horse-driven carriage around the old town is the perfect way Hotel Centro Plaza, Carrera 4 No 13-
to see it. Though it may sound cheesy, it is rather nostalgic and romantic which is what 12B, La Candelaria (0057 124 33818)
Cartagena is all about.

Afterwards, explore the cobbled streets where Afro-Colombian women carry fruit balanced
on their heads, a reminder of the cultures that have left their mark on this city.

The Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas — considered the finest fortress built by the
Spaniards in the colonies — is a must-see as is the city’s own Gold Museum on Plaza
de Bolivar. And for unmatchable views of old and new Cartagena, take a cab up to the
mountain-top monastery of Convento de la Popa.

62
 20.06.2010
| INTERNACIONAL |
Envidiando a Colombia
Por MOISÉS NAÍM
No es solo la economía.
El país también ha tenido milagrosos cambios en cuanto a la seguridad.
Envidiarán, por ejemplo, a un país donde un presidente con enorme apoyo popular y
obvias ganas de seguir gobernando acepta abandonar el poder e irse a su casa al final
del periodo porque así lo decidió un tribunal. Esto es inimaginable en varios países
de América Latina, donde los jueces son propiedad del presidente. También envidiarán
una contienda electoral en la cual todos los candidatos tienen credenciales serias, larga
experiencia, propuestas válidas y la voluntad de no imitar el populismo tan de moda en la
región.
Colombia no solo suscita envidia por su democracia. Los milagros también dan envidia. Y
en estos últimos años Colombia ha vivido varios milagros.
Quizás el menos reconocido internacionalmente es su progreso económico. En 2002,
cuando Álvaro Uribe comenzó su presidencia, Colombia solo exportaba 5.330 millones de
euros en productos que no son tradicionales como el petróleo o el café. El año pasado,
las exportaciones de estos otros productos alcanzaron 12.100 millones de euros, a pesar
de la recesión mundial y del bloqueo comercial que le impuso Venezuela.
64
Durante la presidencia de Uribe, la economía colombiana se expandió todos los
años, creando así casi tres millones de nuevos puestos de trabajo. La inversión
privada, tanto nacional como extranjera, aumentó sustancialmente y la inflación cayó
del 7% en 2002 a un insignificante 2% en 2009.
Para poner estas cifras en contexto, la comparación con lo que le sucedió a
Venezuela en ese mismo lapso es tan odiosa como reveladora: el desabastecimiento
y la carestía son habituales, la destrucción de empleos en el sector privado ha
sido masiva, su inflación es la más alta del mundo, la economía se contrajo en un
3,3% en 2009 y un 5,8% en lo que va de año, y es la de peor desempeño de toda
América. Todo esto a pesar de que, durante la década en que ha gobernado Hugo
Chávez, Venezuela ha disfrutado de los mayores ingresos petroleros de su historia;
ingresos que además se vieron acrecentados con préstamos internacionales que
ahora le imponen al país una deuda externa cuatro veces más grande de lo que era
en 1999.
Aunque fuese solo por esto, la envidia de los venezolanos por Colombia estaría más
que justificada. Pero no es solo la economía. Colombia también ha experimentado
milagrosas transformaciones en cuanto a la seguridad de sus ciudadanos. Bogotá,
Medellín o Cali solían ser sinónimo de asesinatos, secuestros y crimen generalizado.
Hoy día ese trágico reconocimiento le toca a Caracas y a algunas ciudades de México
y Centroamérica.
 Y luego están las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), esos sanguinarios
mercenarios que, disfrazados de luchadores sociales, han sobrevivido gracias al
narcotráfico y el secuestro. Esta cruel guerrilla ha aterrorizado durante décadas a los
colombianos, sobre todo a los más pobres y vulnerables. Durante mucho tiempo,
profesores, políticos y periodistas nos explicaron que el dinero de la droga, la inhóspita
selva colombiana, la debilidad del Ejército y de la policía, la venalidad de los políticos y
la pobreza del país hacían de las FARC una maldición con la cual los colombianos tendrían
que vivir para siempre. Se equivocaron.

En la prensa internacional hoy leemos titulares como este: “La guerrilla ya no es el

gran problema de Colombia”. Más aún, los medios informan de que las FARC están
disminuidas, desmoralizadas, aisladas y sin la influencia que solían tener. Las FARC ya no
aterrorizan a los colombianos, y si esto no es un milagro, se le parece mucho.

Obviamente, Colombia no es un paraíso. Casi la mitad de los colombianos siguen siendo

inmensamente pobres, y la desigualdad económica, las injusticias sociales, la violencia, la
corrupción y el narcotráfico siguen siendo realidades cotidianas. Pero menos que antes.
Este no es un dato menor en un continente donde el progreso es tan infrecuente que,
cuando ocurre, parece un milagro.

Los avances experimentados por Colombia durante la presidencia de Álvaro Uribe son
innegables. Y sus éxitos no solo provocan envidia, sino que también sirven de ejemplo
y de esperanza para otros países que siguen empantanados en el autoritarismo y el mal
gobierno. Los colombianos le han demostrado al mundo que los pueblos pueden revertir
tendencias y evitar destinos inaceptables. Por eso, un día como hoy se pueden sentir
orgullosos y admirados. Y envidiados.
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