By Ulrike Koltermann Jan 3, 2011, 3:06 GMT
Cartagena, Colombia - When the humid Caribbean heat becomes too oppressive in Cartagena, locals and vacationers alike flee to the Plaza de Bolivar.
The plaza, surrounded by tall palm trees, features four fountains bubbling away. Overlooking the idyllic scene is a bronze statue of Simon Bolivar sitting atop a horse, in memory of the father of Colombia's independence.
Time, perhaps, for a coffee? A street vendor comes along with a thermos bottle to pour the hot, overly sweet beverage into a tiny cup.
One simply doesn't want to get up from the wooden park bench with its wrought-iron arm-rests. Here on the Colombian coast, life just goes slowly along.
Visitors involuntarily adapt themselves to the relaxed pace. In the colonial old city centre, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, one can casually indulge in idleness.
The low-built houses are a riot of colour, as if from a child's paint box. A cobalt-blue house stands right next to a mustard-yellow one, and they face, across the street, a house painted a Bordeaux red. Almost all the facades have carved wooden balconies from which lush bunches of flowers hang down.
Whoever dreams of the Caribbean scarcely thinks about Colombia as being a travel destination. Leftist FARC rebels, who for years took hostages and kept them in the jungle, rightist para-military groups and drug cartels have given the country a bad reputation.
But nowadays, at least, the FARC can only claim to control remote jungle regions.
For travellers, the country can now be considered just as safe as many other Latin American countries. In Cartegana, a 90-minute flight north of the capital Bogota, the political problems appear to be just as remote as, say, the politics of the city of Berlin appear to people living in a tiny hamlet high up in the Bavarian Alps.
During the Spanish colonial period the coastal town was the most important harbour on the Caribbean coast and a hub for all of South America.
It was from here that the riches - huge quantities of silver, gold and emeralds - seized by the conquistadores were shipped back to Spain. The gold museum located on the Plaza Bolivar offers some beautiful examples of how the Indios had once artfully processed their treasures.
Those taking a stroll through the alleyways with their colourful houses can scarcely avoid stopping along the way to see what the many fruit vendors have to offer with their wooden carts shaded by an umbrella.
Deep-red water melons and luscious, orange mangos sliced into strips are offered in plastic cups. Unusual, but very refreshing, are the green papayas on which salt has been sprinkled.
In the Getsemani district one finds mainly 'afrodescendiantes' - Colombia's descendants of former African slaves.
Above all in the evenings, the action is found on the streets. Children are playing football, women are washing vegetables and chatting, while old men are simply sitting on the broad wooden chairs and watching the action.
Here is where Cartagena's most famous Salsa Club, the 'Cafe Havana,' is located. When you hear the rhythmic music, you automatically start to move your hips.
The Colombian salsa dancers refrain from complicated acrobatics such as the kind taught in European dancing schools. But instead, they perform the basic formations all the more elegantly.
Your Talkback on this Story