San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia- First Free Town in America

San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio is a village about an hour's drive from Cartagena, Colombia, along the Via de la Cordialidad. In 2005 the village was declared Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Palenque is also considered the first free town in America.

Spaniards introduced kidnapped Africans slaves in South America through Magdalena River Valley. Its mouth is close to the important port of Cartagena de Indias where ships full of Africans arrived. Some Africans escaped and set up Palenque de San Basilio, a town close to Cartagena. They tried to free all African slaves arriving to Cartagena and were quite succesfull. Therefore, the Spanish Crown issued a Royal Decree in 1691declaring free to Palenque de San Basilio Africans. These Africans were the First Free Africans in America. 

The village of Palenque de San Basilio has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants and is located in the foothills of the Montes de María, southeast of the regional capital, Cartagena. The word "palenque" means "walled city" and the Palenque de San Basilio is only one of many walled communities that were founded by escaped slaves as a refuge in the seventeenth century. Of the many palenques of escaped slaves that existed previously San Basilio is the only one that survives. Many of the oral and musical traditions have roots in Palenque's African past.

Cartagena, Colombia- Old Town

We are staying in a lovely boutique hotel called Ananda in Old Town, the oldest part of the Cartagena, Colombia. There are 75 blocks in this charming section filled with great colonial and Republican architecture, shops, squares, restaurants, and hotels. I love walking the streets, noticing the doors, flowers and other charming aspects of the area.

Cartagena, Colombia- UNESCO World Heritage Site

Cartagena is a city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of the Bolivar Department. The port city had a population of 1.3 million and is the 5th largest city in Colombia and the second largest in the region, after Barranquilla. The Cartagena urban area is also the fifth-largest urban area in the country. Economic activities include maritime and petrochemicals industry, as well as tourism.

The city was founded on June 1, 1533, and named after Cartagena, Spain. However, settlement in this region around Cartagena Bay by various indigenous people dates back to 4000 BC. During the colonial period Cartagena served a key role in administration and expansion of the Spanish empire. It was a center of political and economic activity due to the presence of royalty and wealthy viceroys. In 1984 Cartagena's colonial walled city and fortress were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was a strategic place for security in the early centuries. It has always been an important port, even upto today.

Vista views of the city:

Fortress:

Materials of Fortress include limestone, coral and brick:

Saint Peter Claver Church courtyard:

Square with Colonial and Republic architecture:

Christopher Colombus statue with six pointed stars:

Sabbath in Tayrona National Park, Colombia

We arrived in Tayrona on Thursday to find ourselves booked into Ecohab # 4 which means it is the fourth hut up the mountain and I have to climb 4 flights of stairs every time I want to go to my room. Not very good accommodations for me! Luckily, Ecohab#1 was going to be available on Friday and we could switch! Yeah!

After visiting the beautiful beaches, we prepare for Sabbath which is trickier here since our hut is not connected to the dining room. So we leave a pile of books at the dining room along with our tuna fish packet in a plastic bag.

The staff at the dining room was pre- warned about us by our travel agent. They received a list of what we could and could not eat and what could be prepared how. Our guide gave them new plastic dishes, cutlery and glasses for our use only. The staff was so amazingly accommodating! They made sure to have muesli and yogurt for breakfast. They made raw vegetable salads for lunch where we added tuna, but they were prepared to bake fish double wrapped. We decided not to order such fish, however, since our suitcases are so heavy with food!

After davening, we read, relaxed, had lunch, took naps- a relaxing Sabbath in a gorgeous setting. We thought it would be hard because of the rural setting, but it was special in its natural beauty.

The Tayrona National Natural Park is in the Carribean part of Colombia. The park presents a biodiversity endemic to the area, presenting a variety of climates and geography that ranges from arid sea level to 900 meters above sea level. The park covers approximately 12 sq miles of maritime area in the Carribean Sea and approximately 58 sq miles of land.

^{Sandy beach in the park:}

Some of the dining room staff from Ecohabs:

 

The Gold Museum- A Treasure of Bogota

Simply entering the Gold Museum in Bogota is enough to notice its magical character. Part of legacy of mysterious cultures of which we only have fragmentary visions is right there in plain sight of visitors.

The little that remained after all the barbarity and looting is exhibited- a treasure many pirates would have dreamt about. Hundreds, millions of pieces that survived the fog of many days and the rust of time lead us to think that these people, our ancestors, should have been named “People of Gold”.

The Bogota Gold Museum contains close to 34,000 gold pieces, plus 20,000 bone, stone, ceramic, and textile articles belonging to 13 Pre-Hispanic societies: Tumaco, Nariño, Cauca, Calima, San Agustín, Tierradentro, Tolima, Quimbaya, Muisca, Urabá and Chocó, Malagana, Zenú, and Tairona.

An amazing collection! Here are some of my favorites, starting with the first piece the bank bought to start the collection:

Bogota, Colombia- The Athens of South America

Bogota is the capital  of Colombia with  9 million inhabitants. In terms of land area, Bogotá is the largest city in Colombia, and one of the biggest in Latin America. It figures among the 25 largest cities of the world and is the third-highest capital city in South America at 8,660 ft above sea level, after Quito and La Paz. With its many universities and libraries, Bogotá has been called "The Athens of South America." 

    Bolivar Square

Cable car up to see views