Above the entrance to our hotel waved a flag that read: Santa Marta Corazón del Mundo 500 Años. I asked the security guard about it. “This year we’re celebrating the city’s 500th anniversary,” he said ...

I arrived in Colombia last week to begin backpacking South America with my boyfriend. Our first stop was the Caribbean city of Cartagena. Known for its Spanish colonial architecture, 16th-century ...