Balzac has left 10 comments

Balzac comments on Calling Mail Experts!

Well, let's see...during by travels to Colombia, I hardly noticed any of the usual mail infrastructure one sees in other countries. I never came across a street side mailbox for depositing mail, never noticed any mail carriers; at my novia's apartment her mailbox only received utility bills deposited by private couriers-never any real postmarked/stamped mail. Funny thing was that the mailbox welded to the inside of the street level entry door served about five apartments and is about the size of a small lunch box, hardly the capacity of mailboxes I have seen in other places for one family, let alone five. Appears that there is little expectation of mail delivery. I more or less concluded that if there is a postal system of any worth in Colombia (Bogotá), then is was not evident in the estrata tres neighborhood I was staying in. From reading posts over several years on this site, it appears that some people do occasionally receive mail via a postal system. My observation is that it is minimally reliable at best and in general look elsewhere for correspondence/parcel delivery. Good options in the above posts by people who know how to get stuff delivered to and within Colombia.

Balzac comments on

Pardon, double post, not certain how to delete it.

Balzac comments on

Not sure about prune sources, so I used a local source of relief. Pitahaya or pitaya, not certain which spelling is correct, nonetheless the effect is the same. Not so much regularity as eruption, be careful. Believe these are commonly available, bought some at the Exito up in Suba (north Bogotá) once upon a time on the advice of an amiga. Worked like a charm. Pictured in link from Wikipedia below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Yellow_pitaya.jpg

Balzac comments on Two arrested with 138 grenades

Southwestern region of departamento de Santander, roughly 120 km southwest of Bucaramanga as the crow flies. Link to a detailed version of the story: http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-decomisan-130-granadas-era-transportadas-bus-intermunicipal The guy interviewed for the article did not say whether the grenades were destined for the guerrillas or the paramilitaries (like anybody would know or be willing to admit).

Balzac comments on Does anyone else feel the tremors in Medellin?

United States Geological Survey keeps an eye on seismic events worldwide. You can see the details about your tremors here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/S_America.php http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008qaax.php#details http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008qdbj.php There is historical data available as well. Unfortunately no crystal ball.

Balzac comments on Colombian Nikita

Thanks for the link. Jason Howe has some of his photos on his website. http://conflictpics.com/Colombia/index.htm

Balzac comments on Housing in bolivia

As regards foreign ownership of property in Bolivia, what laws are in place? Some countries restrict property ownership by non-citizens and some do not. In light of recent visa requirements for US citizens visiting Bolivia, has there been a similar tightening of rules regarding ownership of property, acquisition of long term visas and other restrictive measures?

Balzac comments on WEATHER FORECAST site for Colombia?

Might try this-for El Dorado Airport http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=bog&theprefset=PWSOBS&theprefvalue=0

Balzac comments on Departemento Maps

Mapping links Here you go:

First link is to a set of .pdf files (Adobe Acrobat Reader).

The second link is to a set of .jpg files, picture files.

Both can be downloaded, hope this helps.


Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi- archivos .pdf

http://www.igac.gov.co:8080/igac_web/contenidos/mapas_departamentales_flash.jsp?idMenu=185


Red Vial Nacional-Departamentos- archivos .jpg

http://www.invias.gov.co/invias/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=87

Balzac comments on A “Don� in Barranquilla, now back to a low life in NYC

Hear, hear... I second that.