COLOMBIA - THE PALENQUERAS OF CARTAGENA DE INDIAS

You’ve seen them on the front of every Colombia travel guide. You’ll find them painted on thousands of souvenirs. They’ve even become Colombia’s most popular business logo. If you visit Cartagena’s historical old town, you’ll soon spot the palenqueras: black women in colourful dresses expertly balancing bowls of tropical fruit on their heads. Today, they make their money posing for photos, but this wasn’t always the case. Who are these women? Where did they come from? And how exactly have they become the symbol of not just Cartagena, but of Colombia? One of the most iconic characters you’ll see in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia are the smiling palenqueras — those ladies dressed in colourful outfits who balance a bowl of fresh fruits on their heads. Descendants of enslaved Africans, who managed to escape and settle in places of difficult access, today they cross the walls again or walk through the streets and monuments of the city. Since the sun begins to shine strongly, until it seems to be lost in the Caribbean Sea, they offer to locals and tourists a variety of exquisite fruits such as watermelon, mango, pineapple, papaya, among others. The Palenqueras embellish the Historical Center of Cartagena de Indias, becoming part of the landscape. The reason for their name is due to their origins, because these women, who sell delicious tropical fruits and delicious sweets, are native to the first slave-free’s people town in America, called San Basilio de Palenque, a district of Mahates-Bolivar. In 2005, the village was declared by UNESCO as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. San Basilio de Palenque was founded in colonial times by runaway slaves and it’s considered one of the first free towns in the Americas;  and its rich cultural heritage remains to this day.

 

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