Cockney Colombian has written 32 posts
Unreported World - Cocaine Country
This Friday in the UK on channel 4 at 19:35, as part of the Unreported World series, will focus in the relation between Colombia narcotraffickers and Guinea Bissau in Africa as their opening into Europe. ...
Kurakaku
One thing that always sticks in my mind in those long evenings on the veranda is the rather distinctive warbling sound one of the birds makes. Everyone calls it the Kurakaku (sp?) because of the noise but I was wondering if anyone knew what the proper name of the bird was? ...
Bogota Blogger
Anyone know what happened to Bogota Blogger?
Carnaval Del Pueblo 2007
Sorry if this is a repeat (I did look through the first five pages or so put didn't see anything). Anyone else going to the Carnaval del Pueblo tomorrow in Burgess Par?. I don't usually go but then that's because I usually go to Colombia instead! But as that's not happening this year, it'll have to do as a substitute! I'm sure some PBH folk will be there. I will be wearing a novelty t-shirt (hmmm that won't narrow it down), and a Colombian football hat (hmm again doesn't narrow it down) ...
Candles
It's funny how something can trigger nostalgia. Just the other night, a friend mentioned something about candles and it conjured up such a nice image in my head, flickering half light and silhouettes and it made me think back to when I lived in Colombia as a child, early 90s and electricity rationing. It made me think of eating dinner in the shadows, one candle burning in the middle of the table, the bright red glow of the flames from la cocina. We (us kids ie me, my sister, my cousins and ...
Embuelto [sp?]
When I was last in Colombia I used to have with my breakfast something called embuelto (I'm not 100 % with the spelling or the name). I'm guessing it was of the banana family, but I don't know.
Anyone help me out? ...
Jet Chocolatina
My favourite Colombian chocolate bar is Jet. It's a dark milk chocolate, a little bit bitter like real chocoate should be and perfect for those like me with a sweet tooth. Whenever I come back from Colombia I always bring a couple of boxes with me.
I can still remember the very first time I had one, isn't it odd that I should have such a vivid memory of something insignificant that happened 18 years ago?
It was in the house at Santa Maria De Lago, I must have been a ...
History In Schools
Out of curiosity what is the content of history lessons taught in Colombian schools? Is it the same across the board (I don't know enough about the education there to know if there's a cohesive national curriculum) or varies from region to region. Is it a cumpulsory subject? (In the UK it's optional and can be dropped at GCSE level). ...
Carnival
Colombia is famous for having 365 carnivals or festivals, one for each day of the year. Is there anywhere with a defintive (or at least mostly comprehensive) list?
And if not, then THIS can be the place to make such a list, surely between us all we can start to build it up.
I will start us off with a few:
Bogota Birthday (6th August): Celebrating the founding of the city of Santafe de Bogota. I was there for the 465th in 2003, there was a big festival ...
I guess you could call it "Speeding on the HIGH Way!"
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A truck loaded with cocaine flipped after taking a curve too fast, spilling nearly a ton of the drug across a Colombian highway.
Police said the drugs were hidden in the truck’s walls and roof, which ripped open Thursday when the vehicle overturned in Medellin, 155 miles north of the capital, Bogota.
The driver escaped injury but was quickly arrested.
Police said the cocaine was destined for the northern port of Uraba, a majo ...
The Adventures of a Cockney Colombian
This is a number of very short videos that I caught with my digital camera in Colombia last year. I'm going again this August and I'd like to take much more of the scenary and of the house. In the meantime here's a little flavour of (my) Colombia.
********
Making Arepas
IBAGUE, Colombia (AP) - A young paramilitary fighter races across the field toward a foe he's battled many times before - a leftist rebel. When he feels he's close enough, he takes the shot.
"And it's another goal for One-Arm" the commentator screams over the public address system, his words echoing off prison-yard walls. The man who deftly put the soccer ball in the back of the rebels' goal indeed is missing his right arm. Police blew it off as they were arresting him.
< ...
Emeralds (Contains Photos)
An extract from The Colombia Diary 2003
Tuesday 5th August
We had an early lunch and then headed into the town centre to go shopping. We went round the commercial district near Plaza de Bolivar, full of markets and independent traders. Wares of every imaginable kind can be found in this area. Mami and Liz are looking for jewellery mainly.
Liz wants a typical Pre-Columbian figure, and specifically one with an emerald. She also wants a ring, and Mum ju ...
All The President's
I've just recently purchased the Dictionary of Kings & Queens of Britain, which is a decent sized mini encylopedia on this countries rulers stretching back to a couple centries BC and also including a chapter on unproven or mythical figures such as Arthur, Lear and Cole.
There are short paragraphs for pre-conquest Kings, a good page or two for each ruler, more for particularly prominent ones like William the Conqueror, Henry VII, Queen Victoria etc etc.
It prompted ...
Streets of Bogota
An extract from the Colombia Diary 2003
Monday 4th August
Tio Jaime had errands to run this morning, so I decided to go with him. It was a warm sunny day outside. We went to the Social Office to get his pension, then to the bank to pay some bills and get some money out.
Things seem to take place in Colombia with the maximum of fuss. Again this is the spoilt Brit talking, but everything seems to take so much effort. The queues in the bank stretch out ...
Sitting Amongst the Clouds
An extract from The Colombia Diary 2003
Sunday 3rd August
Tio Ricardo arrived on time, we unfortunately aren't completely ready so he hangs around whilst we finish getting washed and dressed.
We have cappuccino at his apartment and wait for Don Alvaro to turn up. Tio Ricardo has two taxis, he'll be driving one, Don Alvaro, the other. Mami, Abuela and Juan Sebastian go with Ricardo, Liz and I go with Victoria and Laura Juliana in the second one.
...
Fotografias
Things I Miss About Colombia # 9: Fotografias.
Allow me to explain for those of you thinking "Dude, fotografias is just Spanish for photos, don't you have photos in England?".
I've noticed in a lot of Colombian homes, not just of my family but people I've visited, the fotografias. A work desk or a vanity unity will have it's surface covered in a montage of photographs, which in turn is covered by a protective plane of glass. The desk is still used as it normally wou ...
A Street In Chapinero
An extract from The Colombia Diary 2003
Friday 1st August
I woke up extremely tired and in pitch darkness. The little light on my watch told me the local time was 3 am. The theory goes that it takes one day for each hour difference to adjust when crossing time zones so six days then.
My bed is quite hard and there are cupboards right above my head, so I'm scared I'll forget in the morning, sit bolt upright and brain myself. The plus side is the bed i ...
Flavours of Colombia
I'm going to Colombia again for a month this coming August and I'm greatly looking forward to it.
I took a gazzilion photos the last time that even six months later I haven't finished uploading the best ones onto my Photo Blog.
I took quite a few movies on the camera as well, though having gone through them, not that many of the scenary or of everyday life, something I want to rectify next time.
But in ...
The Vanity of a Metaphysical Woman
I've seen this little survey that goes around the blog communities and I always have fun doing them. The usual way is to pick your favourite musical artist and answer using their songs but I decided to add a novel (pun intended) approach and chose to answer using the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I hope it amuses.
1. Are you male or female? The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World
2. How old are you? A Very Old Man With Enor ...
Monopoly
I've just finished reading Do Not Pass Go by Tim Moore which is an eccentric travelogue of the stories and histories through the streets of London as dictated by the boardgame Monopoly (Great read I have to say)
But anyway, the point of this post was that I wondered, also being a fan of the game as Mr. Moore evidentally is, whether a Colombian version of Monopoly exists? ...
Content
I´m sitting in an internet cafe in my home village. Outside it´s 30o C and the sweat is trickling down my back. I´ve got a view of the village square, sun baked stone seeking shelter beneath overhanging trees. Nearby there´s the river and a Mountain backdrop covers the sky, shimmering in the heat. The air is that unmistakable smell, of which I can only describe as a weird combination of dust, manure, chickens, passion fruit, woodsmoke and roast meat. Sounds disgusting when I write it like th ...
Closed For Lunch
I didn't really know which Forum to stick this in, as it's a piece of (unfinished) fiction, although like all fiction it's semi-autobiographical.
Five days until I go to Colombia and I very much hope that with the time to relax away from my regular job, I'll be able to concentrate on my writing.
Like I said, this is unfinished, but I hope you enjoy it and perhaps I'll get the chance soon to finish it.
Closed for Lunch
...
Two Weeks
Two weeks until I go to Colombia, and eight years since I've been able to go to mi Mami's home village.
I kept a diary last time I went and did consider sharing it here on this website (Decided against as my life certainly isn't very exciting) and this time I hope to use the time I'm there to relax and really concentrate on my writing.
My job pays the bills but it isn't what I want to do in life. Alas, paying the bills all too often comes first.
One d ...
Feeding The Sharks
Recently I've been reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez' autobiography Living To Tell The Tale and I've been intoxicated by his tale of Colombia during the banana boom and of his vast extended family. Colombia and my fascinationwith my familial roots also shape some of my own writing I feel, though I'm not sure why I feel the need to point it out, after all, all writers are merely sponges, soaking up everything that happens around them are regurgitating them anew in a web of countless new sto ...
Santafe de Bogota?
I was reading a book on Colombia where the introduction explained it's use of Bogota to refer to the countries capital, as it had been in common parlance since 1819 and acknowledged that whilst the name had official been changed to Santafe de Bogota in 1991, it would continue to use Bogota for brevities sake.
But on another website (Possibly this one) I seem to recall reading that the Santafe de Bogota thing wasn't true.
I apologise for the uttely pedantic post but ...
Portrait of A House
It's been eight years since I was in Macondo*. The political situation has eased somewhat making it now possible to go back, assuming of course nothing changes within the next eight weeks until my holiday.
I think it will be very strange to go back, now that Abuelo is no longer with us. When I think of the village, I think of him, the two are almost synonymous in my mind. And it will be strange to go back to his house and not see him; alseep in the hammock, his mouth hung open in ...
Photo Blog
I really enjoy looking through all the photos that people have posted on this website. Colombia is such a large and diverse country that my images of the country will be different from someone elses, I only know Bogota and Departmento Cundinamarca, plus a few trips to Cali.
I'm going to Colombia in eight weeks time and I shall be taking photos of simply everything and I'll be sure to share them on this great website when I come back.
In the mean time I also have ple ...
Gran Colombia
You're all such creative types here on this forum so come with me a moment as we step into the world of science fiction.
Imagine if El Libertador had been successful in his dream of a unified nation comprising what we today call Colombian, Venezuala, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama. Imagine that rather than imploding into civil war and ego struggles, it had survived as a unified whole after driving back the Spanish Empire.
What would the world be like today if Gra ...
The Colombia Diary 1989
I was clearing out my room recently and came across a raggedy exercise book that was falling to pieces and which turned out to be the earliest diary I ever kept, when I was seven years old, about the first visit to Colombia that I could remember.
It's filled with pictures of stick figures wearing straw hats and smoking pipes and it took me a while to decipher the phonetic spelling but I present to you here rural Colombia in the late 80s as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
Puerto Wilches
Does anybody know anything about Puerto Wilches? More specifically it's history. I've never been there, only seen it on maps but it has intruiged me as the family name for my Colombian half of the family is Wilches.
Thanks in advance for any info. ...
Colombia... En Mi Corazon
Things I Miss About Colombia:
* My family obviously, but more specifically having them around me, being able to see them every day
* Being surrounded by lush Mountains
* Impossibly blue skies
* The weather
* Swimming in the river every single day
* The ever present whine of the grasshoppers song
* Exotic birds in the trees
* The Quebrada
* Caldo for breakfast
* Having dogs
* The ringing bells of the gasoline tru ...
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