Even early in the morning, my brows sweated from the sweltering heat. We walked the cobblestone streets, admiring the pastel-colored colonial buildings adorned with balconies. Our steps were accompanied by the clip-clop of los coches – horse-drawn carriages – taking tourists around the block. Vendors and tourists crowded the open plazas, and the palenqueras – Afro-Latinas dressed in colorful traditional garb – greeted them. As if we were transported back to the Spanish colonial times, we experienced a place where history and the present intertwined. We were in Cartagena de Indias, or simply Cartagena, in Colombia.