Cartagena de las Indias is a city shrouded in the kind of third world mystery that serious travelers die for: an unknown place in an unknown country. It’s a combination of old-world, new life, and an unmistakable veil of the unknown that makes getting acquainted with its cobblestone streets all the more exciting.

I arrived on a muggy morning in mid-April and, in the process of finding my hotel, proceeded to get cruelly lost. Old town Cartagena’s labyrinth-like streets and picturesque balconies have a way of distracting, or rather seducing newcomers: hundred-year-old churches up against posh martini bars, busy central plazas and horse-drawn carriages. It is a place that is as beautiful as it is surprising. In search for my hotel, I stopped at a fresh fruit stand for a large cup of ripe mango. As with Cartagena’s empanada stands and ceviche shops and pastry carts, the street fruit vendors have mastered the art of presentation: everything looked scrumptious and in considering the pineapple, I figured my hotel could wait.

Taxis, like the one I hailed to help right my course, cost no more than $3: most were clean, new, and government regulated. While very little English is spoken in Cartagena, a simple “buenas dias” was often enough to win over the hearts of the city’s locals, all of whom were extremely, almost obsessively, welcoming to tourists.   Composed primarily of several new quarters (think skyscrapers) and an old district (think quaint European village on steroids), Cartagena is the most popular destination for foreigners in Colombia, a country of around 45 million people. Perhaps for this reason, it’s also the most expensive.

While a number of services (such as maids) were comparatively priced to other countries in the region, the average cost of living in Cartagena-proper was surprisingly high. Nouveau restaurants, of which there exist a glut, were priced similar to those in the USA. Boutique hotels, some of the most distinctive in the world, ran the gamut from $100 to $500 per night (converted from Colombian pesos). Tours to off lying islands, fresh fish on the coast, beers down quiet side streets; they all sat at the higher end of the third-world price spectrum, still less expensive than home.

Earning a slight sweat, I had finally found the right street, Calle Quero, and knew my hotel had to be close. The city’s climate is tropical, with days in the rainy season humid and days in the dry season close to breezy perfection. Cartagena’s men wear pressed slacks and button down shirts during the work week and the local women walk upright in formal dresses, a form of expression for what I came to identify as an extremely proud culture. Museums and theater, historic landmarks and musicians: the city also offers vibrant a love for the arts.

I would eventually find the large oak door to my Andalucian-style-mansion hotel and immediately contemplate extending my trip by several years. Cartagena as a destination seems to grow on visitors with time, tempted maybe by the very real prospect of becoming something more than just a tourist. Once ambiguous corners become unmistakable, secret little nooks are uncovered, and locals start to recognize your face. Outside of “el centro” there are a number of neighborhoods worth exploring such as La Boquilla (a rustic beach suburb), Boca Grande (California-like commercial strip), and La Papa Monastery perched on a regal cliff looking down on the masses.

The city itself is large yet manageable enough to get a grasp on, and in doing so visitors feel entirely safe. Stability has improved in Colombia over the past years under the leadership of President Alvaro Uribe. Working hard to rid the country of its numerous stigmas, Uribe’s term has been characterized by economic growth, increased tourism, decreased poverty/crime, and a focus on its investment sector.

Not unlike the feeling of discovering a new artist or stumbling on a good restaurant for the first time, departing Cartagena leaves you with the sort of bottled-up secret you want desperately to share with friends. It’s not a new city by any means (dating back to the 1500s) but there’s a sense of freshness and innovation that it imparts on first-time visitors. To the extent that getting lost is a pleasure in Cartagena, a city that may one day be found by the masses.