If you are looking for an eye-opening, ‘real’, meaningful, and fascinating excursion that shares history, culture, music, dance, language, boxing, offers traditional healing, and a typical meal, I would recommend this excursion to anyone! It filled me with awe, admiration, and feeling hopeful, not an easy feat during these times we live in! Read on. The guide Wendy is also a lawyer and was professional, personable, attentive, helpful, knowledgeable, and patient throughout! Wendy also worked with a local guide named Faider who is from Palenque, studying law in Cartagena, and in addition to being a local guide for the community, Faider a cultural ambassador of Palenque. Faider was likewise professional, warm, knowledgeable, engaging, informative, and helpful! It was clear that both Wendy and Faider strongly believe in their work and in delivering the real history and stories respectfully from the voices of the locals in the community of Palenque. What a gift to hear and receive a true people’s historical and cultural experience! The tour included many stops and opportunities for conversation, connection, photos, and ways to support the local economy. Some of my favorite experiences and places included the traditional dances by the young local dancers, the traditional medicine demonstration and traditional medicine doctors, the boxing demo and gym, the museum of a typical home and the music studio, and the opportunity to play instruments and/or hear the leader of the professional, famous and local music group Kombilesa Mi’ play music with his young daughter. I especially loved hearing how their music is a combination of the struggles of the people of Palenque, Rap, and traditional rhythms in their Palenque language. The excursion was very informative, powerful, inspiring, and enjoyable! I would definitely recommend this memorable experience of Palenque to anyone!

Couldn’t be happier with my decision to book a tour of Bazurta market with the team from Beyond The Wall. David and Wendy were a joy to be around, and I learned so much about the history of the market + neighborhood. You could certainly visit the market alone if you speak Spanish (I don’t), but you’d be missing out on the history, as well as the unique experience within the market that BTW has curated. A must do if you’re visiting Cartagena. Thank you David and Wendy. I will never forget this experience.

El equipo de Beyond tha Wall Cartagena, esta comprometido con hacer del turismo en Cartagena su mejor versión. Están comprometidos con los locales y además generan oportunidades de crecimiento a los lugares que visitan. Y además su compromiso con conocer y mostrar la historia como es, le das un plus.

I went on a tour to Palenque, the tour was very historic and note exciting and note worthy. Our tour guide Wendy made the tour very special, as she took us there and back safely, her driving skills were excellent because we encountered monstrous traffic, however she was quite eloquent in explaining the history of Palenque and some historical facts, taking us through and back we met the locals saw the landmarks and got a history lesson of the language scrolled on the walls, we saw the museum and got a first hand chance to show how rice was made long ago, I enjoyed my experience to Palenque and hope others will as well, I was happy we had Wendy as our guide because she made the trip just that much more special.

The Palenque tour was amazing. I was running a bit late but Wendy was understanding. On the drive there, she explained a lot of the history behind the establishment of palenques and tied in the history of the transport of enslaved individuals from Africa. I learned a lot of valuable information. San Basilio de Palenque itself was quite charming and beautiful. Everyone was very friendly and knowledgeable. Any questions I had about the history was promptly answered by Wendy and her colleague in San Basilio de Palenque. Lunch was absolutely delicious. Even after the tour, it was raining so much in Cartagena that it would have taken me a very long time to get an Uber or a taxi so Wendy graciously offered to take me back to my hotel. Great service and I will book again when I come back to Cartagena.

Sin lugar a dudas la verdadera experiencia de un viaje a cartagena te la brinda beyond the wall unos cracks totales

Excelente servicio 😁

The tour to Palenque was phenomenal, and I am so happy that I was able to partake in this activity. Wendy was so knowledgeable and kind and just a joy to be around learning about the Palenque culture. The town itself was so beautiful and the relationship Wendy had with the locals was that of seeing family members come together and enjoy one another. The food was the best food that I’ve tasted while in Columbia and I can now say that I have a friend in Wendy that I can contact on my next trip out there. 10/10 just go ahead and book with the Beyond the Wall team already!