Colombia: We PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE not to hurt you, okay?

Hello from Cartagena, which is a really storybook-beautiful old city on the Carribean coast.

Much against the wishes of the US State Department and my family, I´m spending a week in Colombia. I´ve flown here from the sprawling, happy chaos of Quito, and it´s really kind of heartbreaking how little fuss one ought to make about most of Colombia in comparison to the kind of fuss most folks have been making. Me definitely included, I confess: just as much as anyone else, I´ve absorbed a lot of the stereotypes over the years.

Flying into Bogotà, I had a bit of a paradigm shift. Looking down from above, the areas around the main city look as if drawn with a ruler--all tidy little boxes and neat lines of streets. The airport is clean, safe, and busy, with well organized shuttles between the different terminals. Flying on Avianca, one of Colombia´s main airlines, I got a free newspaper to go with my juice box.

This country feels its own reputation more deeply than I imagined, and is working desperately to change it in a way that strikes me as both touching and sad. The national tourist comission has developed a new slogan: ¨Colombia--the only risk is not wanting to leave.¨ (I'm guessing that ¨Colombia: Bombing Airplanes is SO twenty years ago¨didn´t go over quite as well.) And, according to my newspaper, the national government just spent a crapload of money to install giant fiberglass hearts in DC and New York--inscribed with positive statements and new statistics about Colombia´s increased security.

Hope it works, because what I´ve seen so far makes Cartagena, at least, a very attractive place for travelers. The city dates back from the 1500s, and much of it is exceptionally well-preserved given the heat, humidity, and frequent pirate attacks. (The last issue, for the record, isn´t a threat anymore.) Buildings in the main city are beautifully, brightly painted, and there´s a leafy, green plaza every few blocks or so to help walkers escape the heat. The air is sweet with baking bread from dozens of panaderías, and a light wind cuts the humidity a little. Before coming here, I heard that Cartagena was swarming with moneychangers and sketchy folks trying to sell junk to the increasing number of tourists: haven´t experienced anything but the mildest attempts so far. Streets here are narrow and rather lightly travelled: most everybody seems to walk, sometimes straight down the street in the road, which is more or less safe since the vehicular traffic is so slow. Partially, I think, because ¨vehicular traffic¨in the historic center includes dozens of horse-and-buggy contraptions for tourists: yesterday, I almost got stuck between a horse and buggy on one side and a mobile arepa (corn pancake) stand on the other.

There are handfuls of travelers here and there, but not many: I stayed last night dead-set in the city center and will transfer tonight to a more tourist-oriented part of town. I´m hoping to find a good group tour of the Islas de Rosario ( a marine national park outside of Cartagena), and also to check out a bit more of the city.

Better sign off now if I want to get lunch: food here has been a challenge, mostly because it´s just too damn hot to eat. The juices, though, are delicious: although I have no idea what it looks like before you stick it in a blender, lulo is my new favorite fruit.