I wasn’t particularly drawn to Colombia. In fact, I only went there to meet up with a friend and photograph him for an ongoing project. That was my plan; full stop.

I discovered Tierra Bomba—a place of mystery to me. Outside of actually being there, I haven't been able to find out much about it. The locals were kind enough to fill me in on the folklore and history of this tiny island, 10 miles off the coast of Cartagena, but often times it was hard to know which was which. I heard story after story—it was a leper colony, a naval base, an island of runaway slaves from the old colonies. Mystery aside, a truth I experienced was that the people of Tierra Bomba are some of the most hospitable I've ever met.

Columbia cemented my belief that traveling shouldn’t be the action of checking things off a list. If you keep your eyes open, you might just see a tiny island that doesn’t look very interesting from a distance. But you might be surprised.