Brush Shoulders with the Living Lineage of Cartagena’s Zenú Indigenous Culture
Photo Credit: Cartagena Insider Tours
Cartagena’s original settlers didn’t arrive on galleons or speak with a Spanish tongue. Meet the OG when it comes to Cartagena culture, the centuries-old Zenú people still subtly leaving their mark in the fabric of the Colombian Caribbean.
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Metalworkers, weavers, and engineering geniuses, the Zenú people were among the great ancient civilizations of the Americas. Today, their culture and traditions are hanging by a thread (and a cañaflecha one at that) while their language has died out completely. Fortunately, pockets of Zenú culture do still exist throughout the Cordoba, Sucre, and Bolivar departments, one of which is as close as a hilly slum on Cartagena’s fringes where more than 30 families of indigenous descent live and carry on the corn-heavy cuisine and harder-than-it-looks handiwork of their ancestors.
A Brief Brush-up on Zenú History
Pillaged by pirates and brought to near extinction by Spanish Conquistadors in the 1500’s, the story of the Zenú people resembles that of many first nations in the Americas. For nearly 2,000 uninterrupted years, the Zenú lived in harmony with the land and each other along the floodplains and river valleys that fed the Gulf of Morrosquillo in the modern day departments of Sucre, Bolivar, and Cordoba.
They wove goods and clothing from a wild palm called cañaflecha, crafted gold ornaments from the river’s ore deposits, constructed intricate canals and fed an entire population by the farmland irrigated by them. In other words, their life was one well-oiled machine…until the arrival of Pedro de Heredia, the Spaniard who went on to found Cartagena de Indias in 1533.
With a nose for shiny and valuable objects, it didn’t take long for the Spanish conquistadors to sniff out the gold the Zenú had been adorning their easy-to-pillage and abundant burial mounds with. And then not much longer for a near total annihilation of the Zenú population, their traditions, and their language.
It wasn’t until 1773, that the Spanish Crown designated 83,000 hectares of San Andres de Sotavento as a Zenú reserve for any surviving tribespeople. By 1905, however, the National Assembly of Colombia reversed that distinction. For another century, the Zenú fought for the restoration of the reserve and in 1990, they finally achieved it. Unfortunately, that’s when the FARC moved in to the territory, bringing with them violence and driving many Zenú to relocate to the cities where they struggled to find work and support from the government.
Today, roughly 33,000 Zenú people continue to cling to their traditions of weaving cañaflecha, while their fight for land rights is ongoing.
How To Experience Cartagena’s Zenú Culture & Community
The Tour Option
With a Zenú indigenous as your guide, Cartagena Insider Tours offers an in-depth and immersive experience into the life, history, and hardships of the Zenú culture today and in the past. The tour begins at the foot of the Pedro de Heredia statue in the Plaza de las Coches, continues with a meandering and information-filled walk through town to the Zenú Gold Museum, and finishes inside of a weaving workshop on the outskirts of Cartagena’s city center. The 360-degree insight straight from the mouth of a Zenú descendent is priceless, while little touches like a stop for coffee and quick chat with a tuchinero (Cartagena’s quintessential curbside tinto sellers who happen to all be indigenous) and a perfectly timed tray of mazamorra and arepa de maiz viche after making headway on your own cañaflecha creation.
TOUR DETAILS
Who?: Cartagena Insider Tours, a 100% locally-led tour operation created to fund the human rights non-profit FEM
Duration: 4 hours, tour departs at 1pm
What's Included?:
- Indigenous and bilingual guide
- Guided tour of the Zenu Gold Museum
- Visit to a Zenu Weaving Workshop + Weaving Class
- A typical indigenous snack & beverage
- A cañaflecha souvenir
- Transportation to and from the historic center
The Do-it-Yourself Option
Visit the Zenu Gold Museum
Perhaps the best introduction to Zenú culture in Cartagena is the Zenú Gold Museum. Stocked with gold artifacts crafted by the Zenú people, as well as information (with full English translations) about their culture, traditions, and history, it’s a free and easy way to enlighten yourself to the life and times of the region’s original inhabitants. The museum, located just off the Plaza de Bolivar opposite the Palacio de la Inquisición Museum, is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays from 9am to 1pm, and closed on Sunday.
Chat with a Tuchinero
Tuchineros are the tinto slingers you’ll spot all over town with their rack of thermoses full of coffee with and without sugar. What I hadn’t realized before my tour with Cartagena Insider Tours is that they are nearly exclusively of indigenous descent, the reason being that this is the only job many displaced Zenú could find when they moved to Cartagena from Tuchín (hence the name). Order a 500 peso cup and shoot the breeze with the first tuchinero that crosses your path in Cartagena and support their livelihood in the process.
Shop Zenú Handicrafts
Invest in a high-quality cotton hammock woven by the Zenú women of San Jacinto, pick up a handwoven Sombrero Vueltiao, or a bracelet or bag of cañaflecha. Whatever you choose, you’re supporting Zenú weaving tradition and the women behind this ancient weave. A great shop in town that sells Zenú handicrafts is Orika in San Diego.
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What to Read Next
For a satisfying sampling of street art and stop-you-in-your-tracks graffiti, beeline it for Getsemaní, a colorful neighborhood on the fringes of Cartagena’s walled city.