can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

World ARC Blog from Aqua Luna - Colombia Murals, Music, Mayhem ….. and Life on Stilts




World ARC 2025 - Santa Marta, Colombia 19-23 Jan -  By Claire Wallace - Aqua Luna (GBR) Discovery 58


Santa Marta is a feast for the senses. As you stroll through the streets you are deluged by a riot of colour, smells, music and mayhem. The city is visually dramatic with the Sierra Nevada mountains forming a spectacular backdrop and the Caribbean Sea in the foreground. Colourful street art decorates many of the buildings and sets the stage against which the life of the city plays out. 

 

If you love people watching you’re in for a treat, particularly in the evening when the city springs into even greater life, and crowds throng the streets enjoying the seafront boardwalk and the central Parque de Los Novios. Colourful restaurants and bars are cheek by jowl in the streets surrounding the parque, and insanely loud music from each one competes for attention. And just in case this wasn’t exciting enough, talented street performers materialise out of nowhere, the crowds part to give them space and everyone enthusiastically joins in with their impromptu performances. 

 

 


On our 3rd day we decided to get out of the city and experience something quite unusual by visiting the aquatic ‘Palafito’ fishing villages of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. The Ciénaga is a vast lagoon complex of over 4000 square kilometres and is considered to be one of the most strategically important areas of water for the planet. It is home to vast tracts of mangrove forest, a cornucopia of fish, birds and animals such as manatees, pumas, snakes and crocodiles - and of course the lagoon’s stilt-house dwelling fishing communities. 


Our transport was a fast ‘dug-out’ style motor boat that sped across the vast reflective expanse of the lagoon and whilst we enjoyed the timeless scene of the palafitos fishing from their long canoes - or pirogues - with handwoven nets, our guide told us that the fishermen are often out for 4-5 days at a time with no shelter from the elements and salting their catch to preserve it. 


An hour across the lagoon and we arrived at the colourful amphibious community of Buena Vista. The 171 wooden houses are built on mangrove stilts and are a kaleidescope of different colours and murals, with each design representing the spiritual connection of the inhabitants to their environment. It is fascinating to watch the locals pole their pirogues through the aquatic ‘streets’ that connect the houses: each boat is given a name and is considered to be part of the family. Even young children travel like this by themselves - or if no boat is available a log will do! 

 

 


The villagers are highly interdependent, helping each other paint and maintain their houses, and as the stilts last roughly for 2 years there is an on-going programme of replacement. There is a food store to supplement the diet of fish, a school for children up to 9 years old and a basic medical facility. 


The larger community of Nueva Venecia (New Venice) that we visited second, has more facilities including a drugstore, a church (which has 2 services a year) and a football pitch which appears to form the main source of entertainment for the community’s boys who apparently play from morning to night.


Besides the beauty of the natural surroundings, it is enchanting to experience first hand this traditional way of living and understand how the communities adapt to the environment. It is a truly unique way of life: we loved taking part in the traditional ‘dance of blacks’, enjoying a local fish lunch and experiencing a tiny snapshot of these lives so utterly different to our own. 


Sadly however the idyllic images conceal a darker reality and we were humbled by the realisation of the many challenges the communities face.  They were devastated in 2000 when paramilitaries brutally massacred 39 inhabitants. A great number of the villagers fled and many have still not returned. Those that have are now facing environmental threats to their way of life. Through diversion of water sources and the building of a road across the end of the lagoon, the naturally brackish waters are becoming increasingly salty, causing a significant reduction in the fish stocks that these fisher-folk rely on. Additionally drought conditions are so significant that we couldn’t visit the third village of Trojas de Cataca as the water was too low for even our shallow boat to navigate. The communities are increasingly turning to tourism as an alternative way to support their families or leaving their communities altogether. 

 


More immediately, there is no sewage system and no drinking water. This has to be brought in by boat by members of the community from a tributary of the Rio Magdalena. We also discovered that it is quite usual - and considered to be acceptable - for girls as young as 12 or 13 to become pregnant and marry. This fact has pestered my thoughts since and although I try not to view what is normal in other cultures through the lens of my western values, I nonetheless find it disturbing. 


It feels as if the whole way of life for these three small communities is held in a fragile balance and although I take heart in the resilience of such amazing people, I just hope that they can continue to uphold their unique way of life. One of the dancers told us ‘I was born here and I will die here. This is the only place we want to live’. I sincerely hope that she and her people are able to do so. 


Huge thanks to Claire for allowing us to feature her blog and photos!

 

Read more of Claire's blogs as well as others from the World ARC fleet