And in a country that is on the go and growing with hotels, Cartagena, for a city its size, has a drastically large variety to choose from when it comes to world-class service and style. My favourite was the Casa San Agustin on Calle de la Universidad. Small, tasteful, hip and private, it made me feel like a local and like I was being doted on at the same time.

After Cartagena we flew back to Bogota for a long weekend before heading home and were able to digest all that we had seen. It was a country of variety: multiple mountains, oceans, and jungles, Caribe, Inca and Spanish. In just a couple of weeks you can feel like you have seen three different and distinct countries.

As cheesy as it sounds, there is a magic in the air—the same one Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes in his stories. And as much as I may hate to admit it, Colombia’s new motto, “Magical Realism,” actually fits the bill quite nicely.