Cartegena is it Colombia or not?

I found it intresting that when we got to the beach in Santa Marta our tour guide stop us before we entered the beaches and walk through the jungle, in a not joking matter, that everyone must respect this place.  He went on to explain to us how we would appreaciate if someoe used peed in our house how would you feel or threw trash in your house.  After about 10 min of that he gave us a stare and we got to move on.  When we got to the Cartegena i did not see that same fire about the beaches, in fact he went on to explain to us how the taxes of Cartagena never see the rest of Colombia. the poor have been pushed to the outskirts of the city and corupt poltics have kept the high dollars of tourism in Cartegena. The real Colombia is around the cites that are still in poverty.