Note to Self: Barranquilla

The Barranquilla welcome sign.

We never stopped here, but this is our note to come back here later. Barranquilla is a port town on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast between Cartagena and Santa Marta. We traveled through it on our way to Santa Marta and Tayrona National Park. Through some Wikipedia-reading, we learned that Barranqilla was an important port and destination for immigrants from Europe after the World Wars, but corruption in the latter half of the 1900’s reduced its wealth and importance. But it still hosts the largest carnival and celebration in Colombia each year.

The coastal strand near Barranquilla

The reason we want to come back here, though, is that the surrounding area is gorgeous. The coastal strand on the outskirts of Barranqilla is packed with small villages that that survive with the tides. Brightly-colored houses built on stilts line the road, while the wetlands nearby teem with wildlife.

The only picture I could get of a house on stilts in the dying light.

And somewhere out there by the road is a little red-and-white brick house, lit at night by warm lamplight, that looks like it’s stepped out of a Hayao Miyazaki film. It reminded me of the cottage at Swamp Bottom from Spirited Away.

And I didn’t get a picture of it. Yet.