Walking Tour of Santa Marta, Colombia
Six days in Santa Marta, Colombia, I finally did a free walking tour! What was I waiting for? I have so many recommendations on where to eat, what to eat, where to go and not go and the street to go if I need anything, like a new pair of shoes, or a sewing kit, or anything – Calle Andresito, and apparently, there’s one in every city in Colombia.
My tour guide extraordinaire was Sophia, shown here beside a statue of Gabriel Garcia Marques, Nobel Prize Winner for literature and a Colombian. As I was the only English speaker, it turned into a private tour, which meant we could detour to the “juice guys” near the port for a blended fruit juice of lulu and orange, a very local drink. And I learned that I could go back to the guy and say “napa, por favor” and get more for free! When we stopped at another juice guy later for me to try the coroso juice, I got to put it into practice. He laughed when I told him that was the first time I had ever said it – not sure because it was funny or my Spanish was funny. Or maybe possibly because no one has ever said that to him before!
Thanks to the walking tour guides, Carlo in Getsemani and Sophia here in Santa Marta, I have developed a greater appreciation for graffiti. The stories of each piece of art, their characters and artists contribute to an understanding of local Santa Marta and Colombian history and culture. The first murals, called the players, served as a focus for telling me about the genres of music in Colombia, one of which I had seen in the plaza the other night and didn’t know it!
Another depicted the solution to the conflict when Venezuelan refugees settled into an already marginal, struggling area. The solution was to put them together to create a mural, with the unifying theme of the very common human activity of fruits and vegetables from markets, with the third part of a person shelling the coroso fruit.
Santa Marta was the first city in South America, founded in 1525 by the Spaniard Rodrigo de Bastidas who believed that the Spaniards and the locals should be equals. The conflict that this caused resulted in him being stabbed and dying in Cuba. His body was repatriated later and for a time, the bodies of the founder and the great liberator, Simon Bolivar, laid together in the Catedral de Santa Marta, the oldest Cathedral in South America.
Simon Bolivar eventually ended up in his homeland of Venezuela. In Simon Bolivar park, an equestrian, with the front legs of the horse in the air means that he died in battle, but he actually died of tuberculosis, a little bit of poetic license perhaps. Or maybe just respect for his courage, commitment and conviction. A few blocks away from the oldest cathedral is the oldest church in South America, constructed in 1587. A fire destroyed most of it, leaving just the original facade and the black Jesus, from the smoke from the fire. And in front of it, from 8 am to 2 pm, is a family with their huge pots selling the best fish soup, my homework for tomorrow!
We walked through many streets and alleys, with Sophia telling stories and pointing out the BBB restaurants – bueno (good), barato (cheap) and another b that I can’t remember right now, but I know it’s something that I want! And then there was a place that had a 4th b – bastante, which means enough. I will probably never be hungry enough for that place anyway!
Maybe that fish soup will help my head, that to be honest, is swimming with information now – music song titles, history of buildings, idioms, local lore and legends. The tour went well beyond the expected 2 hours because Sophia shared so much and answered all my questions. I definitely have a much greater appreciation for Santa Marta and Colombia now – thank you, Sophia of Free Walking Tours!
