A drumbeat runs throughout Colombia, finding new rhythms to tap to as it flows from region to region. In the Caribbean, it’s expressed through a blend of African and indigenous influences, sweeping participants in seductive turns and poses. Down in the Pacific, classic styles find new form with fancy footwork and modern beats. So enrapturing are these cadences that they’ve managed to shimmy their way into cultures all over the world.

Discover a new side of Colombia by learning the dance and musical styles that help define its regional cultures.

Artists dance to the soundtrack of cumbia in Barranquilla © Luis Acosta / Getty Images

Cumbia

Cumbia music and dance takes different forms throughout Latin America, but it is believed to have originated in the Magdalena department in the Caribbean region of Colombia. Once a dance of courtship, cumbia fuses African percussion with indigenous wind instruments, resulting in infectious rhythms that bring you to your feet.

Every year in August, the small Caribbean community of El Banco hosts a National Cumbia Festival for four days, treating locals and travelers to cumbia dance competitions, concerts from emerging musicians and parades. San Jacinto, another inland village, plays an important role in cumbia history; it’s where local indigenous people invented a flute-like instrument called the gaita. Popular groups like Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto hail from this tiny town. If you pass through Cartagena, Crazy Salsa offers introductory cumbia classes as well as other dance class options.

Children dance at the Festival de Porro in San Pelayo ©
Luis Pérez /
CC by 2.0

Porro

Hailing from the Sinu River area of the Caribbean coast is porro, a subgenre of cumbia that, currently, lends itself to ballroom dance. This orchestral style was favored by popular Latin American bands in the 1960s, and while some say its popularity peaked during that era, a new movement is reviving it to its former glory. A large bombo drum guides the dance’s rhythm.

In Medellin, porro has been embraced by the younger generation and is taught in local dance schools like Dancefree. The city hosts an annual Festival Del Porro in the restored La Comuna 13 neighborhood, inviting visitors to practice their moves and keep the tradition alive. The National Porro Festival takes place in San Pelayo in the Cordoba department and brings together the most celebrated porro bands.

Salsa dancers rehearse for the Salsodromo parade in Cali © Luis Robayo / Getty Images

Salsa Caleña

In the 1970s, Cuban rhythms crossed the Caribbean sea and made a home in the Pacific region surrounding Cali. A new style of salsa was born form this migration: salsa caleña. Drawing inspiration from cumbia, pachanga and the boogaloo, salsa caleña is recognized for its rapid steps and generous spins. This style put Cali on the map as a worldwide salsa destination.

So embedded is the spirit of salsa in Cali that one need not go far to be swept away by its enchanting melodies. Salsa not only dominates the radio waves, but many hotels and hostels also offer free classes to tourists. Clubs like La Topa Tolondra have nightly opportunities to practice your moves, and Cali hosts a World Salsa Festival every September.

Champeta originated in the 1970s along Colombia’s Atlantic coast ©
FNPI /
CC by 2.0

Champeta

Champeta is a lively style of dance and music that was born in the 1970s by Afro-Colombians living in the Atlantic coastal regions around Cartagena, Barranquilla and Palenque. The dance is characterized by rapid hip movements, and the music seamlessly blends vocal, percussion, bass and electronic elements, making it easy to catch the rhythm even if you haven’t memorized the steps.

Champeta was rejected by mainstream culture for many years, categorized as the music of “thugs,” just as rap in the United States once was. Attitudes have since evolved, and you’ll now frequently hear champeta featured in commercials and on the radio. Songs lyrics celebrate the unshakeable spirit of Afro-Colombians and remind listeners of the genre’s once-controversial roots.

A trip to Palenque, the first free Black community in the Americas, provides a glimpse into Colombia’s African history, and visitors are often treated to live performances where champeta takes center stage. The popular Bazurto Social Club in Cartagena offers weekly live champeta performances and cajole locals into teaching you a trick or two.

The town of Palenque has a strong musical heritage © Danielle Dorsey / Lonely Planet

Salsa Choke

Salsa choke is a 21st-century take on salsa that was reimagined in the Pacific region of Cali, Colombia. Choke means crash in Spanish, a descriptor referring to how dancers’ bodies bump and grind in this sexy dance.

Less than a decade old, salsa choke mixes reggaetón, electronica and house music with rhythmic salsa loops for a uniquely Colombian sound. Most popular among younger generations, salsa choke is simpler than traditional salsa and doesn’t require a partner. The style earned worldwide attention during the 2014 FIFA cup, when Colombia’s team showed off their moves in Brazil.

If you’re in Cali, head to Tin Tin Deo on a Thursday night to see this musical phenomenon in person. You might also hear it played at the annual Feria de Cali that takes places every December and features dances, music, food and cultures from the region.

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If ever there was a place where Einstein, Edison or Eisenhower would feel at home it’s Cambridge, Massachusetts. When the autumn leaves begin to crinkle and fall, the city’s alumni return to this city within greater Boston, on the west bank of the Charles River, to start another semester. So many incredible brain waves occur here. So many eureka moments. And the center of this cerebral universe is Harvard University.

Joining Harvard’s ultra-exclusive alumni club, at an annual cost of around $60,000, is the privilege of the few. But with a cheat sheet on where to go and what to see, strolling its sprawling, stunning campus is gratifyingly free.

Enrollment in Harvard doesn’t come easy, but a stroll around the campus can be enriching if you know where to look © Roman Babakin / Getty Images

Harvard history 101

By anyone’s margin, Harvard is a long way from normal. The world’s richest academic institution, with a $42bn endowment, it is where presidents-in-waiting are tutored and future heads of state are inspired. Count eight US commanders-in-chief and 157 Nobel laureates over the years. Forty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners. One hundred and eight Olympic medalists. It’s an unstoppable return that has shaped world history on an epic scale.

The Harvard empire has been nearly four centuries in the making. Once a cow pasture, it was established in 1636 for the same reason many other Ivy League universities in New England were: to train puritan ministers and clergy. But it’s the stories on a perspective-popping walkabout of Harvard’s 209-acre Cambridge campus that truly set it apart.

‘John Adams, John Quincy Adams, George Washington: they all passed through here,’ says Trent Bryan, a 21-year-old psychology, neuroscience and philosophy senior who regularly leads campus tours. Past the gates of Harvard Yard, a revered hush falls and the college reveals itself as if a book flipping through its back pages. Georgian gatehouses and gardens retain centuries-old grace, while the storied mansion houses and memorial halls, best seen on approach from Johnston Gate, offer a lesson in colonial architecture and the American Revolution. At every level, the university bears the Harvard imprimatur: red-brick buildings intersected by leafy pathways and Ivy League charm.

The bronze of John Harvard isn’t exactly as advertised – though a rub on his shoe is said to bring luck © S. Greg Panosian / Getty Images

Must-see spots (and the secrets behind them)

An indication that Harvard has earned its place in the glamorous zeitgeist beyond the ‘nerdom’ is the popularity of the sculpted bronze statue of John Harvard. It is the third most-photographed statue in the United States, and every day, as clockwork as the hourly lectures, visitors queue at its base for a selfie with America’s most famous benefactor.

But what outsiders don’t realize is that despite Harvard’s Latin motto veritas, or truth, all of these visitors have been duped. Sculptor Daniel Chester French based its appearance on a random student, as no known image of Harvard exists. The date inscribed at the figure’s base is wrong, too. It should read 1636, not 1638. Also incorrect is the description of Harvard as the college’s original founder; that was actually the Massachusetts General Court. Be that as it may, a long-held superstition holds that if you rub Harvard’s shoe it’ll bring good luck. ‘If people knew what students have put on it over the years they wouldn’t dare touch it,’ says Trent matter-of-factly.

The Gothic Memorial Hall is one of Harvard’s most striking structures © tupungato / Getty Images

Everyone agrees you must see the lavish Memorial Hall, a Victorian Gothic basilica built for fallen soldiers during the Civil War. It’s Harvard’s spiritual antennae to the north of Bradstreet Gates, yet seems set apart from academia. A hard-earned silence exists inside the transept, and there are stenciled walls and stained-glass windows, which in the right light filter a spectrum of New England colors onto the floor. Maple reds burn and yellows glow. Next door, above the basement student pub, is Annenberg dining hall. The soaring, trussed ceiling of this impressive 1874 structure recalls Hogwarts, without the pointy wizard hats. It’s a student-only affair, but come at meal time for a glimpse into the realities of graduate life.

Anchoring the university grounds is the Widener Library, one of more than 70 libraries on campus. Skirted by steep stairs and braced by Corinthian columns, it’s the world’s largest private library and has been the preserve of America’s literati for centuries. The floors are a bamboozling warren of nearly 60 miles of bookshelves, although non-students are relegated to admiring the elegant facade. There are 3.5 million volumes in its collection, including a sheepskin-covered original Shakespeare and a priceless Gutenberg Bible. TS Eliot has borrowed books from its vaults, as has Gertrude Stein, who took philosophy classes at nearby Emerson Hall.

‘The library was named by Lady Widener after her son, Harry, who died on the Titanic,’ says Trent. ‘She survived, but he refused to leave the sinking ship until he’d packed one of his favorite books. That’s how obsessive a collector he was.’

Potted highlights from American history linger elsewhere. The Pusey Library, open to the public, holds America’s oldest collection of maps and atlases. Nearby, the Harvard Art Museums – a triumvirate of the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger and Arthur M Sackler museums – make up a miniature Louvre, with an encyclopedia of sculpture, watercolors and prints. The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, meanwhile, tells the story of North America’s indigenous peoples, from thunderbird-topped totem poles to Native American canoes.

This Widener Library has one of the world’s finest academic collections © Petersprio / Getty Images

Famous people and places

Pop-culture fans are also drawn to Harvard, thanks to its many famous past students and connections to cultural moments. ‘Matt Damon was a member of the class of ’92 and he wrote the script [for Good Will Hunting] in Matthews Hall,’ says Trent, pointing to a red-brick dorm. ‘John F Kennedy lived in Winthrop House, but his room was destroyed by the installation of an elevator. You know, Harvard can still shaft you after you’ve left!’

Billionaire Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard before becoming one of the world’s richest men. Satire magazine National Lampoon was born at the Harvard Lampoon Building. And you if you walk past Kirkland House, you’ll see where a social media phenomenon was born. ‘I live in Kirkland, just above the room that Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in,’ says Trent, pointing to H33, a ground-level dorm barracks. ‘He and Bill Gates are the only two to receive honorary diplomas without graduating.’

Understandably, a place like this inspires scholarship. But it’s not always an empirical and rational place, as an insight into the realities of late-night student life shows. One such notorious ritual is the Primal Scream, a midnight run through the Yard on the last night of reading period before final exams. Needless to say, it’s a lowbrow combo of streaking and stripping, making as much of an impression on a visitor as any of the college’s more virtuous traditions.

An aerial view of the Harvard campus © Steve Dunwell / Getty Images

Make it happen

Self-guided walking tour maps, offered in nine different languages, can be picked-up from the Harvard Information Center. And for an undiluted view on the student experience, the one-hour tour is also wonderfully free. All buildings except the Widener Library and, of course, student dorms, can be viewed by the public, although the dining hall is closed to visitors outside of guided tours.

Mike MacEacheran travelled to Cambridge with assistance from Visit Massachusetts. Lonely Planet contributors do not accept freebies in exchange for positive coverage.

So you’re planning a visit to the City of Angels, and you’re a bit daunted. We hear you. At about 4,000 square miles, LA County is larger than some US states, and with over 10 million inhabitants in the greater metro area, it’s far and away America’s most populous county. There are more people here than in many European countries and they are all packed into a space one-quarter the size of the Netherlands.

While the sheer size of Los Angeles seems unruly, the diversity of its neighborhoods offers a little something different everywhere you go © Andrew Kennelly / Getty Images

So our advice to you: just as you wouldn’t try to take in a European country all at once, don’t try it with LA either. Divide ‘The Big Orange’ into slices, and you’ll find it a lot more digestible.

Downtown Los Angeles

No LA neighborhood has seen more dynamic change over the last decade than ‘DTLA.’ Until the mid-Aughts, it was a virtual ghost town after the office workers went home from its skyscrapers. Those days are gone. Now it’s hipster central with an ever-evolving cultural and nightlife scene, including some of America’s top museums, spectator sports and ethnic neighborhoods filled with eats and shopping.

For high culture, try the Broad Museum or the Museum of Contemporary Art, which straddle Grand Avenue near the Music Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Pop culture gets curated at the Grammy Museum, while the Arts District by Little Tokyo practically bursts with galleries like the monumental Hauser & Wirth. You’ll also find boutiques that feel like galleries and an energetic population to keep them busy.

The newly re-opened Angel’s Flight funicular will take you from Grand Central Market up the hill to the MOCA © Sabine Reig / Getty Images

On the dining scene, it seems there’s a new opening every week or two, but fun and historic showplaces include the Grand Central Market and Clifton’s Republic (though truth be told, we like the latter’s over-the-top décor better than the food). The lanes of Olvera Street, LA’s original settlement from the 1780s, are packed with taquerias and kitschy gift shops, and a few blocks away Chinatown mixes dim sum restaurants with Asian bowl cuisine at Chego and killer spicy fried chicken at Howlin’ Ray’s.

After dark, survey the scene from a rooftop bar like Spire 73 or the bar at the Standard Hotel.

Downtown is also the hub of LA’s transit network, with subway and light rail lines for easy access in almost any direction.

Cross the Arroyo Seco Bridge in Pasadena for a taste of pure Americana © S. Greg Panosian / Getty Images

Pasadena

Pasadena is for more classical tastes. The look of this city is pure Americana: stately homes and a low-to-the-ground downtown of brick-faced storefronts.

The star attraction is the Huntington Library and Gardens, with 120 flowing acres of themed gardens (Chinese, Japanese, desert, rose, etc) and museum installations of art, literature and decorative arts.

A few miles away, the refined wood and stained glass work of California craftsman architecture is on full display at the Gamble House. Called one of the 10 most significant residences in the US, this 1908 home was built by Charles and Henry Greene for the heir to the Procter & Gamble fortune.

You’re a short walk away from the Norton Simon Museum, one of America’s best for Renaissance, impressionist and 20th century art, plus Buddhist and Hindu sculpture and a garden inspired by Monet’s Giverny. Alternatively, Kidspace Children’s Museum is 3.5 acres of SoCal sunshine-kissed indoor and outdoor science and nature exhibits, plus creative activities for the littlest visitors.

Take a walk down Hollywood Blvd or check out a new release at the Chinese Theater © Robert Landau / Getty Images

Hollywood

First things first: there are two Hollywoods, really – Hollywood the neighborhood and Hollywood the industry – and they don’t overlap much geographically. But even if your chances of celebrity-spotting or stumbling on a movie set are scarce here, ‘Hollywood’ as shorthand for showbiz, pervades the neighborhood.

Hollywood Blvd is the main thoroughfare, and it’s been on a steady if slow climb from bedraggled to bedazzled. Historic movie palaces like the Chinese, Egyptian and El Capitan line the Walk of Fame at the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave (site of the Metro Red Line subway station). In the Chinese Theater’s forecourt, compare hand and shoe-sizes with generations of screen legends’ forever imprinted in concrete. Southeast on Sunset Blvd, the Arclight Hollywood cinema has a more modern feel and a higher star quotient.

If your grandma had an attic full of movie memorabilia, it would probably feel a lot like the Hollywood Museum. Imagine four stories crammed with props, costumes, photos, posters and more. The building used to be the studio where Hollywood makeup impresario Max Factor turned women into leading ladies.

About a half-mile away, the Hollywood Bowl is one of the world’s largest natural amphitheaters. At nearly 18,000 seats, it’s the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and just about any performing great you’ve ever heard of has played here. Movie buffs also flock to summer weekend screenings at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Guest DJs spin while attendees picnic on the lawn before enjoying a film on the wall of a giant mausoleum. It’s not nearly as macabre as it sounds.

WeHo plays host to nightlife hot spots and stylish shopping © Chiara Salvadori / Shutterstock

West Hollywood

Then there’s West Hollywood. ‘WeHo,’ as it’s known to its many friends and admirers, is its own city in both geography and attitude. Along Sunset Blvd, the iconic Sunset Strip has been nightlife central for nearly a century thanks to venues like the Whisky A-Go-Go, Comedy Store and Chateau Marmont Hotel.

Downhill, Santa Monica Blvd is the thumping, muscular heart of SoCal’s LGBT community in dozens of restaurants, bars, clubs, gyms and shops. Just beyond, the three soaring pavilions of the Pacific Design Center are only the largest of WeHo’s interior design venues. And be sure to check out the trendy fashion shops of Melrose Ave and Robertson Blvd.

For beachfront entertainment head to Santa Monica or Venice Beach © nata_rass / Getty Images

Santa Monica & Venice

LA’s easiest access to oceanfront, at the end of the Metro Expo light rail line, these neighboring districts have fun and flair to spare. The city of Santa Monica condenses many of the best parts of the vast metropolis into 8½ square miles: wide, sandy beach complete with surfing schools, paved cycling path and a pier topped with an amusement park; three distinct shopping districts – Third Street Promenade, Main St and Montana Ave; and some of California’s top hotels and restaurants.

South of Santa Monica, Venice has morphed from hippie central to tech magnet in the space of a generation. Even if the quality of offerings has changed a bit on any given block you’ll find both cultures coexisting – more or less peacefully.

If Santa Monica’s beachfront is classic, the Venice Boardwalk is a funky collection of street artists and performers, skateboarders, basketball players and iron-pumpers in public courts and gyms; all in all a general beachside carnival, especially on weekends. Head just inland for more sophisticated pursuits: boutique shopping along Abbot Kinney Blvd and strolling the Venice Canals. These water ways were dug over a century ago and are connected by graceful bridges and lined with all kinds of homes from bungalows to mansions.

Whichever coastal neighborhood you choose, be sure to head to the beach at the end of the day. A sunset over the Pacific is one event loved by every local and visitor.

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