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¡The Comeback Story of Cartagena!
A rebel crackdown in Colombia has led to a renaissance for
the colonial beach city; the new Hollywood connection
By MATT MOFFETT
December 30, 2006; Page P1
CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Shortly before Colombian President Álvaro
Uribe was inaugurated in 2002, Marxist rebels welcomed him by
blowing up a small bomb in a government office in the Caribbean
tourist center of Cartagena. It was about that time, amid a
surge in violence throughout Colombia, that Royal Caribbean
Cruises and other cruise lines stopped docking ships here due
to safety concerns. It looked like Cartagena's future as a tourist
town was bleak.
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But four years later, the city is making
a striking turnaround. Mr. Uribe has surprised nearly everyone by fulfilling
his pledge to take an "iron fist" against the guerrillas. These days
the rebels are on the run and the tourists are returning. The number
of kidnappings by armed groups has fallen by 85% from its 2002 levels,
to around 250, according to the Colombian government; the overwhelming
majority of victims of violent crimes like kidnapping are Colombian
citizens. Meanwhile, the number of visitors to the country has since
2002 almost doubled to around a million -- a quarter of them from the
U.S.
Cartagena has become symbolic of broader progress in Colombia. In the
past couple of years, a host of international notables, including Mick
Jagger, Queen Sofía of Spain and Julio Iglesias, have come to Cartagena
on vacation. The number of cruise ships docking this winter season is
up 50% from its low point in 2002-2003. And there have been a number
of elegant, yet intimate, new boutique hotels -- such as Quadrifolio,
La Merced and Hotel Casa del Arzobispado -- opening up to cater to a
growing number of tourists and conventioneers. |
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TRIP PLANNER: CARTAGENA
• How to Get There: You can fly directly
from Miami. But some tourists come through Bogotá, the capital,
which is worth a visit in its own right.
• Where to Stay: In the Old Town, the
two converted convents, the Santa Clara and the Charleston,
have good reputations, with rates starting at about $300 and
$270 respectively (http://www.hotelsantaclara.com/, http://www.hotelescharleston.com/).
There are also several charming boutique hotels, including La
Merced, where rates start at about $295 http://www.lamercedhotel.com/). |
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• What to do: The
Gold Museum features pre-Colombian metal and ceramic treasures. Set
above the Old Town is San Felipe Castle, which local historians tout
as the most formidable Spanish military fortification in the New World.
In the Palace of the Inquisition, there is a replica of the rack used
during interrogations. Also, a 45-minute boat ride away is Barú Island,
which offers crystal-clear water and one of Colombia's finest beaches.
• Where to Eat: The city has good restaurants
featuring a variety of cuisines, including Italian, Spanish, Arab and
Japanese. But seafood is what Cartagena's chefs do best. Stalwarts include
La Vitrola (Tel: 575-664-8243) and the Club de Pesca (http://www.clubdepesca.com/),
where dishes start at just under $20. Try the cazuela, a steaming seafood
stew. -- Matt Moffett
I've spent the past 20 years in Latin America reporting for The Wall
Street Journal and have visited Cartagena -- with its unusual blend
of colonial architecture, easily accessible beaches and wide variety
of water sports -- three times in the past five years. I've always felt
at ease here, and the other American visitors I've met while traveling
have told me they felt the same way. Andrea Greenberg, who works at
Fortune International, a Miami real-estate development company, has
been to Cartagena twice in the past few years. "The first day you might
have some worries, but then you just get caught up in all of the beautiful
things there are to see," says Ms. Greenberg, who enjoys dining in the
array of restaurants, from Caribbean to Italian, and sitting in a café
watching all the movement on Cartagena's bustling plazas.
This is still a country at war, as it has been for four decades. The
State Department warns that terrorist-related violence affects all parts
of the country and U.S. citizens continue to be "victims of threats,
kidnappings, and other criminal acts." But it says that urban areas
like Cartagena have become markedly less violent.
The surge in tourists over the past several years has been a shot in
the arm for the local economy. While the city still suffers from high
unemployment, there has been a rise in investment and business startups.
"There were some lean years when no one much was coming around to dance," says Tania Gomez, a pianist for a local music group. It's much easier
getting gigs these days, she says.
In the walled Old Town, visitors can take in a concert or cultural event
at the Heredia Theater or walk the leafy garden of the 18th-century
San Pedro Claver Church. Gabriel García Márquez, Colombia's Nobel Prize-winning
author, owns a newer house with a wall and watchtower that has become
a tourist attraction in its own right. Just a short ferry ride away
is Barú Island, with its white-sand beach, and the Rosario Islands,
a coral reef archipelago that is popular for snorkeling, fishing and
surfing.
In my trips around the region, I've seen classic colonial architecture
in places as distinct as the venerable mining town of Guanajuato, Mexico,
and bustling Old Havana. But what's unusual about Cartagena is the creative
way it has taken the buildings that have won the city recognition as
a United Nations World Heritage Site and adapted them for tourism.
Sofitel's Santa Clara Hotel, which occupies the site of a 17th-century
convent, has a bar built into the choir and a restaurant in the refectory.
Set on a parapet with canons pointing out to the sea, the Café del Mar
bar is a romantic spot with drinks such as fiery aguardiente, a sugar-cane
spirit and limonada de coco, a mix of coconut milk and lemon juice.
The Palace of the Inquisition, where Roman Catholic tribunals persecuted
alleged witches and heretics, is now a museum whose lawn is used for
banquets; the diners at one recent event were unfazed by the replica
gallows set up near the head table. |
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La Vitrola, a restaurant specializing
in seafood, retains a spirit of Caribbean adventure. With its
ceiling fans, intimate lighting and old photographs on the wall,
the restaurant looks like a place where conspirators would go
to plot a coup. And one night when I was there the restaurant
was the scene of an uprising of sorts. A troupe of tipsy Spanish
tourists commandeered the maracas from the Cuban house band
and started a conga line snaking through the restaurant.
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"You never know how people will behave
when they come to Cartagena," says manager Gregorio Herrera. "Some get
very, very relaxed."
Despite the long bloodletting their country has endured, locals are
genial and eager to cater to visitors. "Some visitors come here expecting
to see sad people who are demoralized and beaten down by war," says
Joan Mac Master de Gamarra, manager of La Merced hotel. "But instead
they find that locals are light-hearted and very happy to meet them." I can vouch for that. When I asked a motorcycle cop for directions,
he wasn't satisfied with simply telling me how to reach my destination.
He insisted I hop on the back of his bike so he could take me himself. |
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Security experts say the Marxist
guerrillas who have placed bombs on burros and canoes -- and
who almost got away with reconstructing a Russian-style submarine
-- are still a threat. Indeed, in recent months there has been
an upsurge in guerrilla attacks, albeit mostly confined to isolated
rural zones hundreds of miles from here. But even in the bloodiest
years of the Colombian conflict, Cartagena was largely spared
due to the presence of Colombia's largest naval base. And Mr. Uribe in May won a
landslide re-election to a second four-year term, ensuring some continuity
in security policy. Just to be safe, newcomers to Cartagena should probably
make the tourist-friendly Old Town the hub of their activities. Beyond
the walls lies a typically sprawling developing world urban area, parts
of which are nice and parts of which aren't.
Perhaps the biggest sign of Cartagena's renaissance is that Hollywood
is taking an interest. Director Mike Newell just finished shooting "Love
in the Time of Cholera" in Cartagena, a $50 million production with
an international cast featuring Spanish actor Javier Bardem. The film,
based on a novel by Mr. García Márquez, is the first major Hollywood
picture produced in Cartagena since "The Mission," starring Robert De
Niro two decades ago. |
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"Cholera" producer Scott Steindorff
was set to film in Brazil, where he'd made a previous picture.
"Partners, family, friends, every single person, said, 'Do not
go to Colombia,' " says Mr. Steindorff, in an interview
in the colonial house he was staying at in the Old Town.
For Colombians, having the movie made in Cartagena is a point
of national honor. Colombia's vice president, Francisco Santos,
insisted on meeting Mr. Steindorff to sell Cartagena. "When
I got here, I fell in love with the place and realized I couldn't
film the movie anywhere else," Mr. Steindorff says.
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The closest thing to a security scare during
the three-month shoot came when actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno heard some
odd hooting sounds coming from a closet in the old house where she was
staying. It wasn't one of the moments of "magic realism" that Mr. García
Márquez specializes in; it turned out to be a pair of owls, which the
crew christened Florentino and Fermina, after the film's romantic protagonists.
Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com |
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