Córdoba · Colombia

Where the mangroves meet the drum.

An Afro-Caribbean village between the mangroves and the sea, where bullerengue still rings out at night and the elders keep the old stories.

Rooted in the river. Open to the sea.

Cristo Rey sits on Colombia's Caribbean coast, in Puerto Escondido, Córdoba: an Afro-descendant village held between the mangroves and the sea. Life moves with the tide. Canoes slip through the roots, coconuts come in from the family farms, and fish and plantain go on the fire.

Come nightfall, the drums start. Bullerengue, the song and dance of the Afro-Caribbean coast, passed from grandmothers to the children now learning it in the street. When the music stops, the elders take over, with the myths and legends of the coast.

Through YUKAFRO Tours, the community has trained in tourism and replanted the mangroves that protect its shore. Tourism is already their living, and they are ready for many more of the right visitors. That is what comes next.

The mangroves are their guardians.

Their roots hold the coast together, shelter the crabs and fish the village lives on, and slow the sea. Cristo Rey has been replanting them, one seedling at a time.

Come to the coast →

Jesús and the community

Meet Jesús and the community.

Jesús Alberto Ávila Mestra is a young dancer and activist, and Cristo Rey's voice in the School of Elevation. His family's coconut farm at Cascajo is a legacy he is proud to carry.

Behind him is a whole community: the cooks, the fishermen, the elders and the children learning the drum.

YUKAFRO Tours

Their journey so far.

Trained
Community members train in tourism through Colombia’s national programmes, ready to host.
Replanted
Around half of the damaged land along the río Yuca basins replanted, mangroves included, to hold back the sea.
2024
Elev-Eight comes to stay. The bullerengue nights, the mangroves and the elders are filmed and shared with the world.
Next
A living museum of memory, youth exchanges and a YUKAFRO craft line.
Their big vision →

Their big vision. A living museum of the coast.

A Museo Vivo de la Memoria: a place where the bullerengue, the stories of the elders and the knowledge of the mangroves are kept, taught and passed on. Around it, youth exchanges, films made by the community itself, and a YUKAFRO craft line.

Every visitor, every film and every piece sold helps keep the culture and the coast alive, for the whole village.

Cristo Rey leads. We turn up the volume.

Get involved

Your part in their story.

Every way in builds Cristo Rey’s own income.

Dance until
the drums stop.

We're shaping a journey to Cristo Rey with the community: the mangroves by canoe, the coconut farms, fish and plantain on the fire, and bullerengue under the stars. Be the first to hear when it opens.