THE DAILY ESCAPE: LA INDIA CATALINA, DE COLOMBIA

As you travel, you become accustomed to learning things about other cultures you had never suspected, let alone knew. Even things you wonder at and may not agree upon.

I was standing in a little shop in Cartagena, Colombia, and noted there were several small versions of a statue of a Native American woman for sale amongst the tchotckes. At one end of the shop, positioned amongst artistic portraits of women and girls in a position of honor, stood a life-sized copper-colored copy of the same image.

I asked the shop owner "Quien es la india?" ("Who is the indian woman?")

He replied "Es La India Catalina". ("The indian Catalina.")

A moment later I indicated my camera, "Con permiso" ("With permission")

"Si, solo la india." ("Yes, the indian only.")

"Si, solamenta la india." ("Yes, only the indian.")

Upon research I found that the woman, named Catalina by the Spaniards, helped in the conquest of the native Colombian peoples. She is held as a symbol, of sorts, by the Colombians, and this statue -- the original -- is revered by modern-day Colombians.

Given my work with native American cultures, I'm not sure why.

But I will honor her.

THE DAILY ESCAPE Boca Grande

Sunset over Cartagena, Colombia's thriving Boca Grande (Big Mouth) district. 

The skyscrapers and multimillion dollar residences a testimony to the country's changing finances and emergence from the dark days of the drug wars. The city has been a dangerous one for generations, first as a focus for Spanish trade as they pillaged the Incan empires. Then, later, a mainstay against the brutality of the Caribbean pirates and European gamesmanship. And finally, and most recently, as the poster child for the war against drugs. 

Oh, and a well-known appearance in the 1984 romantic comedy, Romancing the Stone.

A lot yet to do, it's abundantly clear that Cartagena, at least, is loving its new, and safer, prosperity.