Barranquilla, Colombia: Beyond Shakira’s Birthplace

Six Months in South America, Part 22

I was not planning on going to Barranquilla. The halfway point between Santa Marta and Cartagena wasn’t on my radar, and besides it being the birthplace of iconic musician and hip truth teller Shakira, I did not know much about the city. 

However, back in Cusco, I met a new friend, Maria from Barranquilla, and she convinced me to stay with her for a few days before heading to Cartagena. 

Although Barranquilla isn’t like the flashier tourist hubs of Santa Marta and Cartagena, I had a surprisingly good time in this port city next to the Magdalena River. 

First of all, I’m convinced even the dullest town would be a trip with Maria, who has a big personality and had the most tattooed, muscular young Colombian men calling her Patrona. She was gracious enough to show me the main sites around Barranquilla and gave me little history lessons as we went along. 

Barranquilla has been a port city since the 1600s due to its strategic position next to the Magdalena River as it winds to the Caribbean Sea. Once nicknamed “Colombia's Golden Gate,” the port has a long history of serving as a gateway to the region. 

It's also known for having one of the best carnival celebrations in Colombia. The Carnaval of Barranquilla was named a “National Cultural Heritage” by the Congress of Colombia in 2001 and recognized by UNESCO in 2003. People take to the streets with colorful parades, Afro-Caribbean music, and ornate costumes. 

Maria took me to various art installations around the city, where Venezuelan teenagers turned amateur photographers snapped our photos for a few dollars. Honestly, these were some of my favorite pictures from the trip. Someone please hire these teenagers as pro photographers because their attention to detail was immaculate.

We snapped photos at the Monumento Ventana Al Mundo and Aleta del Tiburón Junior de Barranquilla, with Maria playing along with the photographers’ fun angles.

Afterward, we had some drinks and walked along the Malecon del Rio, with kilometers of walking paths next to the river, and various restaurants and statues along the way.

This is also where the city recently unveiled the massive tribute to Shakira, which I unfortunately did not get to see as it hadn’t been installed yet. At 21 feet (6.5 meters), it’s the second largest statue to a pop icon in the world (the first is of Marilyn Monroe in Palm Springs). The statue’s plaque reads: "A heart that composes, hips that don't lie, unmatched talent, a voice that moves the masses, and bare feet that march for the good of children and humanity.”

Shakira isn’t the only icon who once frequented Barranquilla. Literary great Gabriel García Márquez spent quite a bit of time in the city, and Maria and I passed by the bar and restaurant, La Cueva, where he and other writers and artists would hang out. I’m a huge fan of Marquez’s use of magical realism to illustrate Colombia’s storied and complicated history. Around the city, you can also see art installations of yellow butterflies, a nod to the writer’s most famous work, “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

Barranquilla is a lowkey city compared to its touristic neighbors, but I still recommend stopping in. If you want to hang with locals, get excellent photos at world-class art installations, and pay tribute to Colombian legends, then Barranquilla is for you.