Classic Colombia

Colombia has a cultural diagonal running from the Andes to the Caribbean, and it can be traveled in its entirety in ten days. It begins in Bogotá, 2,600 meters above sea level, in a city that has accumulated five centuries of history. It ends in Cartagena, at sea level, in a port that for three centuries was the gateway for everything Spain wanted from this continent, including the people brought by force from Africa who built an extraordinary culture here with the materials they were given.

Bogotá opens this journey with the Gold Museum and La Candelaria, the Botero Museum, Teatro Colón, and Monserrate at sunset. Andean cuisine tells stories of mestizaje in spaces that are part of the city.

We then continue our journey to Medellín, a city whose history and resilience draw you in from the very start. Experience it from deep within its comunas, told by community guides who use street art to recount the violence this city lived through. This journey helps you understand what cities can do when they take up their stories, work through them rather than ignore them, and tell them from their own point of view.

Cartagena closes the journey with five centuries of history visible in every stone. Castillo de San Felipe, the Inquisition Museum, the Modern Art Museum, the Baroque cathedrals, and the heritage houses of the walled center. And Getsemaní, the neighborhood that resisted gentrification through champeta and murals and remains the city's most alive and honest place. A private lunch with a Caribbean matrona sharing recipes of Afro-descendant heritage is one of those experiences found in no restaurant, because what is passed on is not only a recipe but a way of understanding where our food comes from.