Colombia... En Mi Corazon

kat1 (Moderator) says on Feb 23, 2005, 06:48:

* How if more than six people gather in a room together for longer than 10 minutes, then regardless if its day or night it turns into a party

I Agree

engage brain before opening mouth

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Miguel says on Feb 23, 2005, 10:42:

Great Thread I have many things to contribute, but "mas tarde". I will start with walking down a street, hearing the tiendas blasting vallenato or salsa.

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ColombianoX says on Feb 23, 2005, 11:31:

"* Concrete skyscrapers"

What's wrong with concrete skyscrapers?

"* Cockroaches
* Mosquitoes"

These are everywhere.


CX

ColombianoX 'Defensor de la Colombianidad'

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Feb 23, 2005, 12:01:

nope, ColX no cockroaches here. I agree with tinto, cement skyscrapers are hideous. I'm not so sure skyscrapers are that nice whatever the material they're built of. I haven't been in Bogotá in years (except the airport) but at least Cali could use some city planning and architectural embellishment. I'd build lower and prettier, using native stone and guadua, or just go colonial with red roofs and whitewashed walls, plenty of Moorish towers and arches.
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

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ARMacleod says on Feb 23, 2005, 15:04:

Rattlesnakes? Where the hell are they? The mosquitoes are the only thing that I hate worse than snakes and I never saw any of those in Bogota?

Loved your ideas on everything else. Nice one!

Being of unsound mind and dubious disposition, I cannot be held legally liable for any indiscretions."¡El diablo me hizo hacerlo!" But don't worry, be happy.

The brain is like a parachute, it only functions correctly when it is open. Pax vobiscum.

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Cockney Colombian says on Feb 23, 2005, 17:20:

Re: Good post! Thanks for the info Tinto, good call, I'm aware that sometimes it's all to easy to blame the USA for everything.

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Cockney Colombian says on Feb 23, 2005, 17:23:

Re: Rattlesnakes James, I lived in a small village in Departmento Cundinamarca. I only saw two snakes admittedly, but I'd not care to see them again.

As for the Concrete Skyscrapers there's enough of 'em here in London for me not to miss any from Colombia.

I'm interested for more contributions to the list in either category. Colombia is such a large country and I've only really knowledge of Bogota and a few towns and villages in Cundinamarca, plus a few visits to Cali and some towns in Valle.

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Lowell says on Feb 24, 2005, 10:50:

What I love about Colombia My Colombian wife and her family.
The music played by the garbage trucks as they make their rounds. The smell coming from the bakeries.
The local vendors, that daily bring varied things to buy. Especially amarillo arepas con queso (sp?)
A bottle of Poker beer or Pony Malta for 1000 pesos.
All fruits and vegtables all year long.
Fantastic fruit salads with some kind of sweet custard.
The way Colombians celibrate holidays, special days and birthdays.
Vallenato music.
The culture of Colombia.
The common man/woman of Colombia.
A more true/real way of living. Like it should be.
Colombia

Alfred E. Newman. "What. Me Worry?"

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Albatross says on Feb 24, 2005, 11:25:

Whaaat ?! The stench of corpses ?

Where the hell do you hang out... a morgue... or are you talking about roadkill ?

“Democracy - a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H.L. Mencken

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claudia82 says on Feb 24, 2005, 11:29:

What i love... Specially the poker beer!

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nanis says on Feb 24, 2005, 11:36:

* Loud Salsa music

This is me everyday I wake up every morning and one of the first things that I do is turn my radio on and put some salsa music loud it wakes me up and puts some flavour into my day ahead especially when I’m having one of those days, puts a smile on my face, works every time! Tho I’m not quite sure my neighbours see it that way they keep complaining how loud I play my music!

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Raleigh1590 says on Feb 24, 2005, 11:43:

Yo tambien! The louder the better.

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dwmte says on Feb 24, 2005, 18:15:

what about.... agua de guanabana and fresh potatoe chips in the street? oh! and chicharon? yum

dw

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Cockney Colombian says on Feb 26, 2005, 03:12:

Re: Stench of Corpses In the village I lived in the Cemetary was on a hill. Average daily temperature 32o C and you'd know which days they were breaking open the graves to remove the bones (I never understood this? Is it entirely Colombian, I've never heard of it occuring elsewhere)

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dwmte says on Feb 26, 2005, 05:34:

never heard of that one... i'm not sure i want you to elaborate. i'll stick to fresh potatoe chips and chicharon, thank you.

what about jorje baron and the show de las estrellas. is that still around? love it. he should be president. everybody loves and trusts him. too, i don't think he's for sale.

d

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kernow62 says on Feb 26, 2005, 06:08:

One weird thing my wife misses from Bogotá is the sound of dog's nails clicking on the floor inside the church during service. The church would be silent, the faithful all bowed in prayer and you would hear click, click, click as a few stray dogs who had entered to attend the services, wandered around.

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Feb 26, 2005, 06:18:

Kernow
That brings me memories. When I was about 10 years old I went to church with my sister and stray dog came in and walked towards the altar were the priest was giving the service the dog started going around the priest legs, you could see the priest trying to kick the poor dog out of the way, me and sister could no contain ourselve and started laughing, well the priest was not happy and got annoyed and told me and my sister off and sent us home. shame on me :=(

engage brain before opening mouth

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dwmte says on Feb 26, 2005, 06:57:

kat... shame on el sacerdote...

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utopiacowboy says on Feb 26, 2005, 10:14:

Geez, that is hilarious, Kat! Que risa! I can just imagine the dog trying to start humping the priest's leg.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Feb 26, 2005, 10:28:

It was very funny, but if you could see the faces of the other people they were very serious like ignoring everything, the priest told us off in front of everybody and we have to leave the church with everybody looking at us but it didn't stopoped us laughing as soon as we reach the door we have to run cos we were going to explode!.

engage brain before opening mouth

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utopiacowboy says on Feb 26, 2005, 11:51:

That is too much. What a funny story! I can just see the whole scene. What is it with adults? I think it's fine to try to maintain order and decorum but sometimes you just have to laugh. That's what I love about kids.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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Hunter says on Feb 27, 2005, 09:27:

kat1 Good for you.

Hunter

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Cockney Colombian says on Mar 31, 2005, 01:54:

Anymore to add to the list?

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Miguel says on Mar 31, 2005, 01:59:

Street Vendors Especially those that sell bags of salted ciruelas!

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2montoyk says on Mar 31, 2005, 05:55:

what about ... las papitas criollas, with salt and lemon ....
el mango en tiritas y mango biche...
and la aguapanela

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elmodefoque says on Mar 31, 2005, 07:35:

i miss Gina, the girl accross the street with the tight shorts and that beautiful big ass.

over 5 million colombianos in USA and only 27 barranquilleros, i'm one. CURRAMBA, EL MEJOR VIVIDERO DEL MUNDO!

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poco says on Mar 31, 2005, 10:43:

Made you decide move, No? Still one of the more insightful posts.
Chusos el carbon on a stick, an arepa de maíz speared on the top with a COLD soda.
Pato on the Barby

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

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Cockney Colombian says on Apr 10, 2006, 04:17:

Fruit Bats I find it interesting that on my original post I listed as fruit bats as something I miss. Of course at the time I originally wrote this I had not been back to the village for 8 years because it was too dangerous (I'm pleased to say it's no longer so, and not only did I go back last year, I'm going again this August).

As such I had let nostalgia paint over the reality and had these quaint memories of those deep purple dusks with the bats fluttering into the darkness.

Now if I were to write the list they would be bumped to the not miss list. Remember I said I (and my family) hadn't been back in 8 years, when we finally returned to our house all the external walls had been redocorated over the years with bat shit and bats had taken up permanent residence in the roof. Obviously having been abandoned for so long the house needed a lot of work anyway, and so one of the first major tasks was to repaint the entire house inside and out and that was a six week job!

My memory of bats now have been rewritten with the memories of hanging sheets over the open windows at night to stop them flying in, and patrolling the verandas before going to bed, shining the torch into any dark corner looking for those upsidedown intruders.

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gabo4ever says on Apr 10, 2006, 04:40:

Romance.. I thing the thing i miss the most, is the essence of romance. You see it everywhere, from the school kids to the old couple sitting in a parque! Las serenatas which can happen any day of the week, (and the drinking that follows).

But its the small things which makes such a difference, Los detalles, las credenciales,los chocolatines..those small details that made such a difference when we were growing up trying to 'conquistar' our vecina, to doing it know in our 'grown up' relationships.

Just yesterday talking to my girlfriend about what it was like for both of us growing up in Cali - Colombia, and she mentions a time when a guy in her sisters class fancied her, and used her sister as the messenger to send the love poems and credentiales, only to discover her afterwards, that he had also sent bombones and chocolatinas, which her sister mistook for 'messenger fees' jajaja

Y por si se atreven: Watsamatamaracuya?

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Cockney Colombian says on Apr 17, 2006, 11:43:

Romance Yeah I can definatly agree with that one.

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Cockney Colombian says on May 21, 2006, 02:49:

Scraps of Bread I was shopping yesterday and I was hungry and it reminded me of those big department stores in Bogota (Like Exito or Carrefoure) and that in the bread section, they'll just have this huge tray full of scraps of fresh bread, so you can try before buying.

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Cockney Colombian says on May 31, 2006, 03:57:

Orchids (It was their mention in the Colombia Es Passion video which reminded me)

Also El Dorado Airport, strangely enough

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Cockney Colombian says on May 31, 2006, 04:18:

And on the don't miss list - trophy poodles!

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gringolondinense says on May 31, 2006, 04:50:

Oi! Cockney on your list you mention Jaguars. Do you mean the cats? What they roam wild out there? blimey! where could one go to see one of these beasts?

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s_bla says on Jun 9, 2006, 19:02:

...quiero conorze mas sobre colombia (medellin!) I just wannna make sure that you said colombian sky can't be azul? you mean the whole country? (so including Medellin?)
another Q is: Is hammock very common in Colombia? Are Colombians always do siesta in hommock?

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Cockney Colombian says on Jun 10, 2006, 07:16:

Jaguars, Llamas, Hammocks. Oh My! Other omissions from the list

Llamas
Butterflies
Frogs (Did you hear the news this week that a species they thought were extinct has been rediscovered?)

The 'Que Mas' - when the farmers burn the fields in August.

But more importantly and perhaps rather simply... Colours!

Colombia is such a colourful country. It's a rainbow explosion. Red, gold and blue predominates of course, but every colour is there, just watch those Colombia Es Pasion videos, it almost starts to hurt your eyes in technicolour glory.

On then to points raised:

Jaguars - Do they roam free? Well, considering the Amazon spills over the south of the country I imagine a great fair do, yes. I however was referring to seeing Jaguars in the zoo, Colombia is the only country in which I have seen them, when I went to a zoo in Tolima. Tigres Mariposos, such an apt name for these beautiful creatures. Imagery too of the Jaguar is bound up in the conscious of the Americas, in the same way that the Lion owns Africa and the Tigers are synonymous with India.

Impossibly blue skies - Simply meant such a contrast to the grey skies I'm used to in London. Whenever I'm out in the countryside in Colombia I'm always in awe of how magnificent the sky looks, almost to a point where it looks like both it and the mountains are painted backdrops.

Hammocks - Bear in mind that this list has to juggle the line between personal and generic. Colombia is a huge country, varying from region to region. My own experience comes predominatly from Bogota and a number of towns and villages in Cundinamarca, a weeks holiday in Cali and a day trip to Tolima. As such the list can only be representative of my experience. It's why I asked for other people's contributions, I know nothing of Medellin, or the Caribbean coast, of many other regions.

From my own experience I would have to say that yes, the hammock is a staple of the siesta. When I think of my family the images conjured in mind is more often than not of them swaying in a hammock. Mi Abuelo used to fall asleep in the hammock and snore so loudly he'd scare the dogs. When I was younger my cousins and I all used to pile into a massive hammock, the record was six of us and one dog before the fateful day in which we broke it. Needless to say Mi Abuelo was not amused and he chased us into the street with a stick.

Whenever we went for picnics down by the river it was inevitable that a hammock or three would be brought along and slung betwen the trees.

The only other rival to the hammock was the rocking chair. When the heat became too much to stay in the house, we'd drag the chairs outside and slumber in the street alongside the neighbours.

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Cockney Colombian says on Jun 17, 2006, 02:34:

Choco Pics This one is I imagine less Colombian-centric and more specific to me.

I miss choco pics.

I know that breakast cereals aren't eaten that much, from what I've seen, and don't get me wrong I love caldo and fresh arepas and embueltos and any left over meat for breakfast.

But I'm also used to having breakfast cereal in London and more when I'm Bogota than in the village, I like a bowl of choco pics in the morning.

I think choco pics might be international, although we don't have them in London, I seem the remember seeing them in Portugal.

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