A Journey to the Center of the World: Lessons from the Sierra and Its Guardians

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/03/12/viaje-al-centro-del-mundo-aprendizajes-desde-la-sierra-y-sus-guardianes Some journeys begin as a date on the calendar and end up anchored deep in the heart. That is what visiting Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta—the Sierra—feels like. For the Arhuaco, Kogui, Wiwa, and Kankuamo peoples, this place is the “center of the world.” Not because it is marked that way on a map, but because it is where the spiritual, the ancestral, and the natural come together in a harmony that can only be understood by breathing its air and listening to its silences.