How Colombia is turning its fortunes around – and becoming a safer tourism destination

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At that time, Colombia was one of the world’s most dangerous countries, besieged by violent battles between Left-wing guerilla groups, Right-wing paramilitaries, and government forces – all fighting over cocaine.

Bombs were planted in cars, planes and even underneath Botero sculptures. “You could hire a gunman in the 1980s for 20 dollars; the price for a pair of sneakers,” one guide gravely informed me.

Finally, exhausted by years of pointless killings, a peace agreement was brokered between the government and guerilla groups in 2016. As a result, murder rates have dropped to a third of a 30,000 peak in the 1990s, narco traffic – although still present – has significantly dwindled and areas of the country are accessible for the first time in years.

The perception of women is changing too, attracting thousands of solo female travellers – including me. A decade ago, this isn’t a journey I would have done alone. But inspired and intrigued by a group of strong female figures who feature on new tours with Abercrombie & Kent, I was ready to explore without a plus one in tow.

The role of women “Those years of violence have earned us greater respect,” claimed Marina Martin, another resident of the City of Women who helps members develop enterprises and secure legal rights including ownership of property – a necessity after so many men were killed. But emancipation comes at a price. Putting title deeds into her own name, she admitted, caused her own divorce.

In the past, opportunities for women – who were only granted suffrage in 1954 – were limited to mother, nun, housekeeper or an object of sexual desire. Walking through the banana-yellow archways of Las Bóvedas in Caribbean-splashed city Cartagena, passing trays stacked with coconut sweets and shoe-shiners perched on stalls, I mentally listed the female characters of my favourite Gabriel Garcia Marquez novels. Many fell into these categories.

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Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/south-america/colombia/colombia-tourism-solo-female-cartagena-medellin/ Author : Publish date : 2024-03-11 03:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .