RUBEN RAMOS
After Haiti, Brazil, and the United States, this country has the highest percentage of black-African-descended population in the Americas. And here, too, the Caribbean coast is a major area for Afro-Colombian culture, although there's also a good bit on the upper Pacific coast, especially in the department of El Chocó. On the Caribbean, the primary cities of interest are Cartagena and Barranquilla (home, by the way, of Afro-Colombian U.S. baseball major-leaguer Edgar Rentería, as well as Latin America's second largest Carnival celebration, strongly African influenced). In addition to seeing a number of palenqueras (above), Afro-Colombian women in their distinctive dress and headdresses in these cities, you can also take a day trip to a palenque (one of the walled town originally founded by escaped slaves in the 17th century), notably the first one, San Basilio de Palenque (pop. 3,500), 90 minutes south of Cartagena. In 2005 declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, it's a simple place but a fascinating experience in which you can meet some of the locals and sample some of their music and food.
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