Community development project worthy of admiration

We create a socioeconomic fabric of development to take care of the environment, provide jobs and better living conditions, Juan Carlos Cuadra, activist and representative of Agencia Tuarisba, told DARIO LAS AMRICAS on Instagram.

We are the route that begins in Ararca and extends to other places on the island, such as Santa Ana and Bar, where we offer tourist excursions with good local cuisine, folklore and lots of nature, he stated. We are the route that begins in Ararca and extends to other places on the island, such as Santa Ana and Bar, where we offer tourist excursions with good local cuisine, folklore and lots of nature, he stated.

Practically forgotten in the middle of an island that was a peninsula and a channel separated them from the mainland, where a bridge was later built; Bar still shows signs of the old palenques founded by maroons or enslaved Africans who escaped from the slave regime during the Spanish colonial period.

Hence the name palenque became synonymous with freedom, since every person who became part of one of them was free.

In fact, Bar witnessed the great naval battle between the English and the Spanish in 1708, where the Spanish galleon San José was sunk, loaded with 200 tons of gold and silver, jewels, crucifixes, paintings, watches, swords and cannons.

Three centuries later, in 2015, the remains of the gallery were discovered by Colombian researchers.

Project

After the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we began the project to recover mangroves and here we have a nursery where we grow black and red mangroves, and then plant them along the canals, explained the community activist.

Indeed, mangroves play a key role in protecting coastlines against erosion.

They are life-generating engines, he stated. They serve as home to hundreds of species of fish, mollusks and crustaceans, as well as birds, he noted. They are life-generating engines, he stated. They serve as home to hundreds of species of fish, mollusks and crustaceans, as well as birds, he noted.

We have already planted 42,000 plants, he stated.

And, at the same time, we educate the population so that they do not throw waste into the canals or bay, he confirmed.

Gradually, the project was expanded to include the economic sector and promote the white beaches that stand out on the island.

In this way, entertainment and sports programs emerged to keep young people and children busy, while teaching them work skills that they can apply to obtain jobs, he stressed.

With this provision, economic powers are created that help them improve streets, homes and jobs, he summarized.

Aids

With very limited funds, given by donations received from private companies, the task could seem unsustainable.

It is the effort, the personal help that each community activist provides, the main driving force of these projects.

We hope that, one day, the government will collaborate through its environmental care programs, he commented. We hope that, one day, the government will collaborate through its environmental care programs, he commented.

Among the collaborators, Fundación Santo Domingo stands out, an organization that was created in 1960, in Barranquilla, and its purpose is so that more people can provide well-being for their families and make Colombia a more equitable and sustainable country.

Let’s say that one of the arms of this project is the development of ecological tourism, explained Jorge Moiss, an independent tourism businessman, who accompanies a group of journalists through the channels of Ararca.

For this reason, we have articulated seven tourism operators to make a great community route in this area, express, to offer nature, folklore, gastronomy, walks and bird watching.

There are hotels such as Decameron Bar, Las Islas, Sofitel Bar Calablanca and Urantia, whose reservations you can obtain through Agencia Tuarisma on Instagram or directly with hotel firms on the Internet.

Our work as a foundation is to articulate and strengthen this sustainable tourism offer, said Moiss.

Paseo

The route begins in Ararca, where girls often play with old dolls on the porch of their houses and boys go to a dusty sports field to practice soccer or baseball.

The tiny boat awaits on a small pier, in which locals and visitors travel through the canals between mangroves, where teenagers usually go in search of something to entertain themselves.

A long canal, dotted with tree remains and inhabited by endemic and migratory birds, serves as a path to Cinaga de los Coquitos, which anticipates the arrival to the coast, where the bay of Cartagena looks slender.

One step and learn more about history. It is the lime kiln, built by the Spanish more than 300 years ago, where they cooked the limestone and bricks that were used to build the great wall of Cartagena.

To finish the walk, a good homemade meal in front of the bay: rice with coconut, whole fried fish, patacones and fresh salad.

Here innocence has the face of children, who play barefoot on the branches of the trees and make a small plastic bag into a doll to entertain themselves.

The fresh water of the bay, the sun on the coast and even the rain are its best toys.