CascadeBob has left 30 comments

CascadeBob comments on Why the hell do you Colombianas put all that crap on your HOTDOGS? Gross!

Oh, by the way, regarding dogs - just back from New York City where one of my goals was to savor one of those street dogs from the push-cart vendors. Tried two different ones and they were both shit. Give me a street dog off the push-wagon in Mexico or anywhere south anytime.

CascadeBob comments on Why the hell do you Colombianas put all that crap on your HOTDOGS? Gross!

When I first met my novia (now my wife) I just didn't understand all the squeezed lime juice and powdered chile that she and her family put on fruit (and damn near everything else). Now I can barely eat fruit without it and a meal without a plate of cut limes available just isn't acceptable anymore.

CascadeBob comments on

Yeah, I put her in my spam catcher and haven't heard from her since. Nice photos though (if there was any possibility that was really her).

CascadeBob comments on

Hey, I got that begging letter from the Nigerian princess too. You go first Noelito - let me know what happens.

CascadeBob comments on

In Mexico at least, mañana does NOT mean tomorrow. It simply means "not now."

CascadeBob comments on Colombians (Girls/Men) what's your first impresion when ...

Ah, the Mexican thing. Actually CENTRAL America is in North America also (north of the equater at least). We (my Mexican wife and I) keep hearing gringos in the U.S. complaining about all those Salvadorians from Mexico taking American jobs.

CascadeBob comments on Colombian cocaine entering the US is NOT a Colombian problem

I believe you are more right than wrong there henry, particularly with the "war on drugs." Where does the money orignate from to finance narco operations in Mexico, Central and South America the first place? Colombia, Panama, Mexico? Hell no, they're just the suppliers and transportors. The foundation to the whole drug trade are the distributors and traffickers here in the good ole' U.S. of A. So while Mexico is turning into a shooting gallery and U.S. financed operations are broadcast spraying the Colombian and Ecuadorian environment with really nasty chemicals(and to hell with anyone in the way), it's business as usual for the narcotraficantes in the U.S. Somehting is way, way wrong here.

CascadeBob comments on Visiting a Choco-Embera Village

sloopskipper, Quechua speaking guide for off the track places around Arequipa? I know this is a Colombia thread, but mind sharing your guide information for Arequipa?

CascadeBob comments on Have you met Juliana?

Met a aguy who named his kids, Primero, Segundo, Tercero, etc.

CascadeBob comments on Bathrooms etiquitte

ujay, I can see you know your shit, but I didn't see the projectile shit listed in your otherwise comprehensive list. Similar to the Beer and Pizza shit, but with an added component of high gas volume which imposes an element of unusually high velocity to an otherwise normal "day after the night before" shit. Typically, this results in an impressive splattering of the bowl similar to pumping drywall mud onto a wall for texturing. Occassional overspray can rsult and caution is advised.

CascadeBob comments on Bathrooms etiquitte

While white water rafting down the Tatshenshini River in the Yukon we shat into army surplus ammunition cases fitted with a toilet seat. Used toilet paper was burned in a coffee can provided for that purpose. Everyone was trained not to pee, but to shit only when using the ammunition cases (pee in the woods somewhere). Now that's a skill that's hard to acquire. Try it sometime. Low man on the guide totem pole was in charge of managing the ammunition cases including washing them out at the end of our ten-day trip (with fourteen people shitting into them along the way). God help you if you were in the cargo raft when it overturned in a rapid.

CascadeBob comments on Bathrooms etiquitte

At a party my friend snuck unseen into the ONLY bathroom in the house. Once safely ensconsed on the throne, a line a sweeties he had been hitting on formed outside the door. But, by then he had laid such an impressive line of cable that he had clogged up the camode and stunk the place up so bad that he had to escape undetected. So, he crawled outside through the 2 foot X 2 foot window in the wall, bruising himself up severely, then came back in the house through the front door, lined up with the ladies and started asking. "what's the problem up there?" The host unlocked the door to find the horror within, but could find no one to blame. My friend later reported success with one of the ladies that was the most vocal about the dastardly deed that had been done in the toilet that same evening. Sometimes you gotta think fast on your feet.

CascadeBob comments on Drug sub: New wave of crime

Ever see the first sub made for warfare? Confederate sub sank a Union ship in 1864. Propelled by a bunch of rebs hand-cranking a crankshaft connected to the propeller. Attached a keg of black poweder to a union frigate with a long pole sticking out the front of the sub and sank the sucker. Confederates killed a couple of crews training to operate the thing, but they finally got it to work.

CascadeBob comments on spanish

I've never used Rosetta Stone, but folks that have tell me it's expensive and over-rated. When I was first learning, I took a beginner's course at the local community college and used a book called "Spanish for Gringos" and its associated audio cassette. I found this to be a pretty good start. Then I married a Mexican national and immersed myself so my Spanish is pretty functional now. Other resources I've found: Larousse (sp) English/Spanish dictionaries, don't bother with anything else. The "Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs" by McGraw-Hill. This is by far the best organized and easy-to-use Spanish verb book I've ever found. Now that I speak rather fluent Spanish, I find understanding Italian, Portuguese, and French to be both easier and confusing at the same time. The languages are similar in the Latin base, but diverge significantly after that. An Italian friend traveling through southern Mexico last year had lots of difficulty communicating.

CascadeBob comments on A Russian conflict sails in the Caribbean

Not to defend Bush/Cheney, how could I, but their race is run - they're out of office (al fin)! With the U.S. economic disaster unfolding in their faces, I really doubt they'll start another war now. Just leave the mess they made for the next guy to clean up.

CascadeBob comments on Spanish for professionals

Depends on your level of Spanish. If you are a beginner, don't bother inflicting your practice on your Colombian friends, they'll soon get tired of struggling to talk to you. Go to class, learn the basics, memorize the most commonlu used verbs in simple present, future and past tense, THEN you're ready to start practicing. Intermediate? Push yourself to the next level (verb exceptions, imperfect verb tenses, expressions, accent, and slang)

CascadeBob comments on

I think yankee still carries a little more of a derogatory connotation than gringo does. I've never been called a yankee by a Latino, but I've heard Americans in general referred to as yankees.

CascadeBob comments on

So, it sounds like no one really knows. I don't resent being called gringo either in the U.S. or out of it since I've never heard the term used derogatorily (unless qualified, like pinche gringo or worse). Mostly, I just get called güero anyway which could also be taken negatively or positively depending on inflection and context.

CascadeBob comments on

iliveinmedallo esta corecto, Theories I've heard (from my Mexican familia politico) is that gringo may have evlolved from the greek "griego" which is unlikely. Most likely is as iliveinmedallo says, from the Mexican/American war the term refers to the green uniforms owrn by marines at the time that landed in Veracruz and advanced to Mexico City. verde = green and sacar = go or get out, so the Spanglish "green-go", or "you green guys get out of here" became gringo which used to be an offensive term used for anglos in general, but Americans in particular. Nowadays it just means American, not particularly offensive in Mexico at least. That leads to an even more elusive term for Americans, . . . "yankee" (or yanqui). This one is supposed to come from Dutch origin referring to the Dutch people that first settled in the northeastern U.S. It was a distinctly derogatory term. But now the term depends on who YOU are and who YOU are referring to. For thos living in the western U.S., a yankee is anyone from the east. For a southerner a yankee is anyone from the north. To the rest of the world, a yankee is anyone from the U.S. For residents of the northeastern U.S., a yankee is anyone from Vermont. So, go figure.

CascadeBob comments on retirement, retirement, OH the pain of retirement

You guys are driving me nuts. Got a little over four years to go for me till retired. Then it's Colombia or Ecuador for me. Regarding the ability for cooking, building houses, etc - according to Henry Ford, "whether you think you can, or you can't, . . you're right."

CascadeBob comments on CascadeBob

Yeah, was out there a long time for that one.

CascadeBob comments on Over the past few years I have met many good friends

Lucky dog. I'm still a couple years out from "retirement" if I can last that long.

CascadeBob comments on west coast to bogota-pretty decent fares (american airlines)

That's real good. Where did you get the ticket - (KayakAir, GorillaAir, Orbitz?) How did you get the ticket - (flying on week days, willing to fly from other airports in the area? flexible dates? One-way?) So, what's the secret?

CascadeBob comments on The staring question

Are you off the tourist route? Had this happen a couple times in remote parts of Mexico (yeah, there's still a few parts of Mexico where they rarely see gringos). Trying to make a phone call on the pay phone in a small logging town way up in the Siarra while all the local kids surrounded me to listen. Said they didn't get to hear English and were curious.

CascadeBob comments on Un Mexicano que se enamoró de Colombia

Younger sister is already "gringo'ed up." In fact, he and I are the only gringos in the family (besides, my esposa has more fire).

CascadeBob comments on Xoom Money Transfers

OK, thanks tabla. Guess that doesn't help us Yanks much.

CascadeBob comments on Un Mexicano que se enamoró de Colombia

Thanks dwmte7. One thing I've got going for me is her younger sister just came back from 2-months in Colombia and said it was great, wonderful people, and she could live there.

CascadeBob comments on Xoom Money Transfers

tabla - a Nationwide Flex card? What is that exactly.

CascadeBob comments on Un Mexicano que se enamoró de Colombia

Simon, gracias para tu ensayo. Soy casado con una Mexicana, una norteña, y quiero ir al Colombia y Ecuador, posible para vivir allá, pero mi esposa quieria vivir en Mexico solamente. Gracias para su punto de vista a Colombia desde un Mexicano. Mexico tambien es un pais marvilloso, pero creo Colombia ofrece mas. Creo que las montañas, selvas, playas, menos desarrollado, el gente esta mas tranquilo, hay mas espacio para vivir. Vamos a visitar Colombia en el proximo año y vamos a ver.

CascadeBob comments on Buying Property

GringoSpy, Thanks, good advice. What I found from searching was (at medellininfo.com): Under Colombia Law, your right to own real estate, including buying, selling, or renting, is the same as if you were a Colombian citizen and you may return sale proceeds to your country of origin. So, what I get from that is, for a foreign national to buy real estate in Colombia there is no residency requirement, any particular visa status, etc.