The Black History Month Travel Takeover continues with Colombia! Throughout the month of February we will be celebrating and featuring Black travelers to Afro-Latino countries! These countries include Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic!
Here are a few facts about Colombia aka The Republic of Colombia. It is located in Northwest South America. The language spoken is Spanish. Colombia has suffered from armed conflicts between several groups including the left wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Do you recall the name Pablo Escobar? He was a Colombian drug lord known as “The King of Cocaine”. During the height of his career as a drug lord, he supplied approximately 80% of the cocaine found in the U.S. He was also one of the wealthiest men in the world with an estimated fortune in the billions! Due to this history of crime in Colombia, it was not considered by many to be a tourist destination. However, these conflicts and crime have been on the downturn since 2005. Popular cities to visit in Colombia include Cartagena, Bogota and Medellin. Colombians have made their mark in literature and the arts. African influences can be heard and seen in Colombian music and dance. “Afro-Colombians” are Colombians of African descent. Colombia has the fourth largest population of African descendants in the West. The top 3 are Haiti, Brazil and the United States. On the blog “Too Busy Traveling” by Keisha Rogers she discusses the Afro-Colombian town of Palenque. The town was created by runaway slaves who fought of the Spanish. They have preserved many of their African customs and languages which is incredible.
Have you been to Colombia? If so, share your thoughts with us below! For more information, please visit their tourism website. If you do have plans to to travel to Colombia, please read my recent blog post entitled “The Zika Virus Outbreak: What Travelers Need to Know.”
Join in on the fun on Instagram & Twitter with the hashtag #BHMtraveltakeover! Post your own pictures from all these amazing countries! A big thank you to the Nomadness travel tribe for contributing these pictures of black travelers in Colombia!
As always, thank you so much for the love!! Palenque and Cartagena rank up there as one of my FAVORITE trips to date!!
I can see why! I enjoyed learning about Palenque and look forward to visiting one day!