Cartagena, Columbia; Street Art, Coffee Science and Ghosts.

Colombia’s port city of Cartagena de Indias loomed out from the mist at us as we arrived in the wee hours of a heavy, grey, clammy morning.

She is a sweltering, sultry and smoggy city. The oily mud from the harbour coated our anchor chain and stained our decks and our sweat seemed to attract a fine residue of black grime.  Our speed log impeller (a little wheel under the port hull that measures our speed) clogged up and stopped working from the gunk of this busy, industrial harbour….… But the city itself is everything a city should be and there is a pulse on the streets that makes you want to renounce suburban life, find a cool little apartment in the old city and become an artist or a writer…. 

The drug trade and cash flow that ensues from it has sprinkled flash, high rises across Cartagena’s skyline, but we loved the old city and surrounding districts where we found Cartagena’s soul well and truly intact.

We met Christo, (above right) a Belgian street artist who lives permanently in Cartagena and he gave us a tour of the city with a focus on it’s many adorned walls. It turned into a culture and history lesson as the art reflected on many gritty, political, social and cultural aspects of Cartagena. Its rich, violent history involving indigenous tribes, Spanish invaders and Negro slaves, penetrates deep into the core of modern day Colombia. In Colonial times, African slaves lived in the Getsemaní district, which is still a working class area and is flourished with street art.

Most of the walls have been adorned by Colombian artists but street art festivals at various times have introduced work by famous, Irish street artist Finn Dac and a variety of acclaimed artists from Lima, Argentina and Europe.

The quality of much of the work is good and the art told it’s story in a raw, honest way. Street art takes art out of the ‘white cube’ of a classy, sterile gallery and into the streets where it is accessible to all people and I think the grittier the city the better the street art. Commissioned murals and sanctioned wall art is lovely, but in cities like Cartagena it springs up from creative people struggling with all the urban and inner city issues and social unrest of a developing nation marinated in a rich, ponderous history. 

Above right; Cartagena’s largest mural commissioned by Coke. Strangely, the night the mural was complete (and the artists had been paid) the mural was defaced and the Sprite logo disappeared…The artists have denied any involvement and Coke, to their credit, never tried to replace the advertising aspect of the art. Not sure if Coke would employ street artists in the future but the mural was cool!

Colombia opened it’s doors to tourism as recently as 2007 and rapid development and an influx of visitors has meant that, once again, many of Cartagena’s residents are finding themselves displaced simply because they can no longer afford to live in their beloved old city (a UNESCO world heritage site) and surrounding districts. Much of the street art incites resistance to the rising issue of common people losing their homes. Below left; this is not an official sign but a much loved piece of street art and it reads ‘Private Property, WE ARE NOT selling or renting and you do not have permission to touch our buildings.  

Below; a poignant piece painted over a genuine ‘for sale’ sign; a poor farmer holding on to his flag and his house.

Below left; inside the candle is a house- hope for the future of her home…

Below left and below; comments on the pollution of the Caribbean sea. I do love art with a cause!

Every inch of Calle de la Sierpe (Snake Street) in Getsemaní is embellished with street art. It adds so much colour and interest to the district!

Below; female artist Yurika depicted Cartagena’s official bird, the Maria Multa in this vibrant piece below. It can be found at the Plaza de la Santísima Trinidad and the traditional story of the blackbird was told to Yurika by an old lady who lives close by. According to the legend, in the old times exotic animals lived in the plaza and colourful birds saved the villagers when flames engulfed the buildings and churches. As the birds carried the people to safety in their beaks, their feathers were blackened and they lost their colour and where forevermore plain, black creatures celebrated and adored by Colombians. 

Below left and middle; This bloke showed up a lot on the wall art- Pedro Romero was a Cuban artisan of African descent who mobilised Cartagena’s negro population to play a crucial role in Cartagena’s independence movement. Apparently there are no reliable images of him, so each portrait looks different but the tributes are many and he is clearly revered as a hero of the people of Getsemaní. 

Below right; Spanish galleons are arriving and she has lost all hope

Below: large, central mural at the old theatre (complete with sleeping homeless man)

I have decided I secretly want to be a street artist.. 

Below; Famed jazz musicians, turtles, love-hearts and art with a distinctly Mexican tone.

12 yr. old Kai says he will now look at street art differently. Well worth paying Christo for the tour!

Kai’s favourite.. The Galleons arriving to conquer Colombia

A ghost tour of the old city took us down cobbled streets and laneways and even into a swanky bar to view the crypt of a woman who died a horrific death after being separated from her lover. The stories took place within the 11km of fortress walls that envelop the old city. Ancient walls, restored colonial buildings, majestic cathedral’s charming streets and wooden balconies dripping with vines and flowers. The ghostly tales were brought to life as the pores of the inner city oozed with history. 

Below left and middle; withering on the hot streets while trying to navigate the old town. Above and below right: fittingly, we travelled via horse and cart.

Below; the grand archway entrance to the old city

Above; It’s an arty place, Cartagena.

Below; a meld of the old and the new Cartagena.

Below right; the wonderful Pegasus statue just outside of the old city

Below; This photo to me captures the sense of old meets new in Cartagena de Indias

Below; a firework show as viewed from the decks of Tika anchored in the harbour.

We met David Arzayus; coffee scientist extraordinaire in his mad little cafe- Cafe del Mural. The wooden, swinging sign reads ‘Cafe del Mural,  laboratoria Artesand’ and can be found down an artsy little laneway just off Calle Larga in Getsemaní.

David’s father was in the coffee bean industry, his grandfather owned a coffee farm and he had more passion and knowledge about coffee than anyone I have ever met.

We had wanted a good coffee early in the morning and our instincts told us that Del Mural would deliver, however, they were not open in the mornings! The first thing I asked David was, “why (the hell!) do you not open for the a.m trade?’ He was unapologetic; “ I don’t want to sell coffee to people who need it, only people who want it”  Well. I guess I couldn’t argue with that. This dude is not in the game to make money. He’s genuinely passionate about coffee and just wants to tinker and play and make coffee 100 different ways to people who appreciated it.

We opted for the coffee tasting tray- and David and his team busied themselves with beakers, test tubes, siphons and a variety of other implements (no standard, polished, shiny, barista machine’s to be found in this shop). El Espresso Romano involved a shot of strong, smooth coffee served with a wedge of orange in a cup that had been steamed and rubbed with lime. A Mexican infusion was stove-top extracted and involved cardamon, star anise and other exotic spices. Café del Tiempo was a wicked infusion of ice, a little sugar, rum, slices of lemon and a divine espresso shot on the side. And my favourite; a Cuban coffee- coffee and a shot of good whiskey. David used a different bean profile for each beverage and all were absolutely perfectly matched with the other components of each delicious blend.

We purchased some beans (roasted and bagged before our eyes) and sort of floated out of there… buzzing from a sensory overload, a coffee high and a soft, tipsy haze. David was busy lamenting that we didn’t give him enough time to show us another 18 blends/concoctions that he liked to make for coffee-lovers. Seriously, one afternoon wasn’t enough for Cafe Del Mural.

Next post: Closing the loop…back in the Guna Yala (San Blas) islands…

 

This entry was posted in The Sail.