The camp will take place in Cartagena, Colombia. Aura Hotel Barú is a “petit” hotel located on the beautiful Barú Island within the Cholón Inlet, 45 minutes by boat from the city of Cartagena and 20 minutes from the Rosario Islands. Barú is one of the most exotic tourist attractions in Colombia due to its dazzling Caribbean landscapes that, thanks to the hotel, are within your reach. Barú is a beautiful tropical island that is 37 kilometers long, has an area of 7,000 hectares, and includes three towns called: Ararca, Santa Ana, and just at the end, the picturesque town of Barú.
The northern area of Barú is part of the Corales del Rosario National Natural Park and its coasts alternate sandy and rocky shores and mangrove areas, which play a (very) fundamental role in the marine ecosystem. The island of Barú had indigenous settlements before the discovery of America and its name comes from Cacique Barú or Bahaire, head of the organization of Caribbean indigenous people settled on Carex Island, now Tierra Bomba. For other historians, the term comes from the indigenous language and means crocodile(s) due to the geographical formation of the island seen from above.
During the Spanish colonial era, Bocachica, Barú, the Rosario Islands, and the San Bernardo Archipelago formed a powerful commercial enclave, the scene of fierce naval battles such as the famous Battle of Barú in 1708, in which the English Navy defeated the Spanish fleet, sinking two galleons supposedly loaded with gold and precious merchandise; a legend that still excites the imagination of those who contemplate the sea at sunset, imagining the San José Galleon shipwrecked near Barú with its precious cargo that has not yet been rescued.
Distances
- Rosario Islands - 20 minutes
- Cartagena - 45 minutes by boat