Colombia is a land of treasure. Here silver and gold were stored in Cartagena, Spain’s coastal capital of the New World before finding their way to the palaces and noble houses of Europe.

Great cities and expeditions would be built on the conquest of indigenous tribes and African slaves.  Legends of Él Dorado would lure Spaniards and others inland from the same coast in search of untold riches.  

Later those same areas would find wealth and infamy through the Cali and Medellín drug cartels.  Cartels secured through cocaine and conflict that has only recently begun to be overcome. 

A country aware of its past but looking with hope to its future.  A country named after the most famous of New World explorers who never was there.