Ahh, Cartagena: a sweltering Caribbean city that lives in the romantic imagination, all palm trees, blossoming flowers, and candy colors, with a colonial Old Town that proudly wears its history on the imposing stone walls that encircle it. Filled with vendors selling everything from coconut water to fake Botero paintings, the streets are lively by day and quiet by night, when everyone packs into bars and salsa clubs for cold cervezas and fast rhythms (except, of course, when the music spills onto the street). Seafood is king of la comida costeña (food of the coast), but don’t overlook the buttery street arepas, sweet coconut rice, and smooth local rum.