Moving further East along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, our next stop is Barranquilla, one of the most important port cities in the Caribbean and home of Shakira. First things first: it is not a beautiful city. It is a typical port city, and not really interesting for tourists as such – except for carnival! For one week in February (or March, depending on the dates) the city becomes packed and goes all crazy. I have read in various sources that this is apparently the second biggest carnival in the world, after the one in Rio. True or not, it is quite a sight!

I have to confess that I don’t like carnivals or carnival parades, as they are “forced-funny” in Germany (people are “fun” for a week, then miserable for the rest of the year – I am the other way around haha). But I loved going to the…