I am originally from Barranquilla Colombia, a city in the northern region of Colombia. The reason why I want to start the story about my trip to Israel talking about Barranquilla is because being the biggest port of Colombia during the 19th and mid 20th century, Barranquilla received immigrants during the two World Wars from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The city has received great influence from many different cultures, so it is a "melting pot", in the sense that the development of the city happened after the independence of Colombia and no much influence of Spanish colonialism exists in Barranquilla. In the city there are two synagoges, a Jewish cemetery, a mosque and lots of Catholic and Christian churches.
Anyway, growing up in Barranquilla, I knew these things about Israel:
I want to thank the Jewish National Fund and Media Watch International for the opportunity to visit Israel and learn about the country, the culture and its people.