Where in The World: Santa Marta, Colombia
By George Fontana
On January 4th, my compadre John and I embarked on a much anticipated 111-day world cruise. As internet access allows, I will be forwarding dispatches from our global travels. Santa Marta, Colombia, our first port of call, is the oldest colonial city in South America (1525). Dramatically bracketed by the Caribbean on the north and the majestic snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains on the south, Santa Marta was long the principal port of Nueva Granada, and the center of commerce with Spain and the world before being superseded by Cartagena to its southwest. The Spanish Crown reaped considerable profits from the gold and emeralds mined by by the indigenous Tairona Indians. Later chocolate and coffee added to Spain’s coffers. More recently, cocaine and Colombian Gold – the hemp, not the ore – produced great sums of money, as well as violent gang warfare. Today, once forgotten Santa Marta boasts a well-preserved historic city center with a well-curated museum featuring gold and pottery of the Taironas, the massive whitewashed Cathedral (Colombia’s oldest) and the last residence of the great “Liberador” Simon Bolivar who died in the city in 1830. Surrounding the old city core are modern hotel and apartment high-rise towers which gleam in the Caribbean sunshine, impressive changes since my last visit in the 1960s.
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