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 Have you got any bananas? by alza
My most interesting conversation was with a shoeshiner and his customer. School kids ran over to the bench where I was sitting and were acting crazy, shouting "Hello Speak English? Wa Wa Wa Baby Yeah!" and speaking an unintelligible garble. I told them in Spanish that I did not speak English but French and that startled them. The guy having his shoes shined told them that they were not making him proud and that they could speak to me in Spanish, to make a more favourable impression. They all behaved normally after that.
And I went on talking to shoeshiner and customer for a while. The Spanish in Cartagena was easier for me to understand than anywhere else in Latin America. I bought two books by Colombian writers and there too, I found the language to be of a high quality. That helps, believe me!
All this time, it was already 9.30 a.m. and I hadn't found a single cafe with terrace to read my newspaper and have a good coffee. I learned that such places are not that popular in Cartagena, for morning coffee. Most nice terrace cafes open after 10 a.m.
My fondest memory is that day at 10.01 a.m., when I had two large coffees in a row at a terrace cafe.
The pic was taken while I was sipping quietly, the two women walked by just across the street and stopped to chat. Not everyone is dressed as they are but it must not be that unusual to see such colours because I was the only one who grabbed my camera. Leave a Comment
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 Cartagena by AndreSTGT
But i've seen only a small part of the country and i'm longing to go back one day and explore the rest.
For now i can only hope that peace will finally come to Colombia, the people deserve it, they have suffered enough.
Sorry, but that's private (he,he...) Leave a Comment
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 by depresnoLeave a Comment
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Colombia’s coffee is among one of the best in the world. Though Colombian themselves don’t have much chance to drink their own A+ coffee (most of the highest quality ones are exported to Japan!!)
Anyway, for the B-B+ grade coffee is well…good enough (way better than Starbucks – guaranteed!!) Just ask the locals where to get it, but be a little careful, only buy it from people you can trust. Since coffee exporting always comes with drug trafficking, the coffee’s smell is the best way concealing cracks and everybody knows that. The police will not let you pass thru the immigration upon their suspect, they might even rip your bag apart. Before paying for your coffee, just ask the retailer to pack it good, if possible ask for their company’s logo stamped on the package or a valid name card will do it.
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Born in April 1932 in Medellin, Fernando Botero is a Colombian neo-figurative artist who has won the first prize at the Salon de Artistas Colombianos in 1959. He has been a prolific painter and a sculptor. His sculptures are found in the main square of Medellin, as well as in many cities all over the world, and his paintings are displayed in many exhibitions .
It includes still-life and landscapes but his most famous element is the exaggerated proportions of his human figures and animals. He chooses to use these obese figures because he says beauty doesn't have a definite shape and that's what attracts him. He published his first illustrations at the age of 16, which helped to pay for his high school in Medellin. He later moved to France to study arts.
In 2005 he produced a series of 50 paintings representing the controversial Abu Graib incident, expressing the rage and shock he felt. This exhibition was presented in Rome, Germany and Greece and finally in New York City.
Today his “fat people” are known all over the world and he is considered unique in his kind.
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I love flowers! I seldom pick them. I like taking photos of them and smelling them. Flowers are the smiles of Nature!
Colombia is privileged with a mild climate that favours the growth of beautiful colourful flowers many of which are also seen in the Mediterranean parts, where I come from.
Some verses:
A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books - Walt Whitman
If you have never been thrilled to the very edge of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, then maybe your soul has never been in bloom...- Audra Foveo
A flower- so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect!- Adabella Radici
Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed the soul... - The Koran
The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks!!! - Tenessee williams
Pluck not the wayside flower; It is the travelers dower. - Willliam Allingham
Click on photo
View my Travelogue Flowers of Colombia
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 Columbia From the Air by frqtflyr
Cartagena de Indias is legendary both for its
history and its beauty. It has been immortalized on
countless canvases, glorified in hundreds of books
and had its every detail photographed a million times
as Colombia's most fascinating city, it deserves every
one of these tributes.
The walled old town of this fortified Spanish colonial
port is a gem. It's packed with churches, monasteries,
plazas, palaces and noble mansions with overhanging
balconies. It pays to just wander through the "old town"
seeing some of the more interesting highlights like,
The Palacio de la Inquisición; The colonial mansion
Casa del Marqués de Valdehoyos; and the lovely port
of Cartagena on the Bahía de las Ánimas.
The less touristy Getsemaní, the outer walled town,
also has charming pockets but is not so well-preserved.
Nearby, there are a handful of impressive Spanish forts,
like the 17th-century Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas,
undoubtedly the greatest fortress ever built by the
Spaniards in their colonies. The Islas del Rosario, 20
miles offshore southwest of Cartegena, has magnificent
coral reefs and abundant marine life. The peninsula
south of the old town, contains the upmarket holiday
resorts of Bocagrande and El Laguito. Most budget
travelers stay in Getsemaní.
Other highlights of Colombia's Caribbean coast include the
town of Mompós. The beautiful beach of Parque Nacional
Tayrona, and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta; the
tallest coastal mountain range in the world. Leave a Comment
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 by depresnoLeave a Comment
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 by depresnoLeave a Comment
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 by AndreasK
Driving down the Cordillera from Bogota to spend weekends on a finca in the countryside. It's amazing how the climate and the vegetation change within a two-hour drive from Bogota! You suddenly find yourself in a tropical world, so different from Bogota... Leave a Comment
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