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Publishing the travelguide

Hi all,
I'm loving how the travelguide is coming together. My dream has always been to publish it as a book, a kind of competition for the classic travelguides (especially since the latest LP on Colombia sucks so much)... The idea is that we can write it together, it can be published without profit (using one of the self publishing services), it would probably end up costing about 10US$, and you could use it to travel around Colombia.

So what I'd love to do is to get the guide ready for a first ever, 2009 Edition of the Poorbuthappy travelguide to Colombia. I think we'd have to add more places, descriptions, hostels and stuff.. but it's pretty good already.

Thoughts? Who is interested? (Your names will all be in the book too of course, and if you write a lot I'll send you a free copy and pay for it myself)

By Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) on Nov 15, 2008, 10:34 in Friendly Talkzone.

Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 10:35:

And with the cookbook we may have TWO PBH publications in 2009! Rock and roll :)

Poor but snappy

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Bill Turley (Trustee board) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 11:41:

Count me In I will check out anything in the Valle de Tenza.

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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kat1 (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Nov 15, 2008, 11:47:

Me too i can included Villavicencio and its surroundings ::::

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 13:23:

This is great. Some people also have contacted me privately. I am thinking of starting a separate mailing list to coordinate (might be faster/easier than using the forums for it?) Or perhaps better on the forums... Or a separate forums...

Man I'm excited now :) We're gonna kick LP butt!

Poor but snappy

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medellinlodging (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 13:43:

Peter, we would be happy to help here in Medellin (sure you'll need many people here) and wouldn't mind knocking out Covenas and Tolu since we head out there often. Looking forward to the guide, being part of it, and putting it in our apartment/hostel for others to peruse!

Medellin Apartment or Medellin Hostel at www.medellinlodging.com! Medellin Hostel at www.apartahostelkatthias.com! Medellin Apartment at www.apartmentkatthias.com!

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 14:05:

I started a mailing list for the people that want to be closely involved, it's here: http://groups.google.com/group/pbh-travelguide-colombia

If you want to help out, just let me know, or go join that mailing list, we'll be talking about stuff there.

This is just so great, I KNOW that together we can make a better travelguide than the LP, and it'll be free and open as well (under the creative commons free-attribution-noncommercial license).

Also, I'd like to discuss what a better travelguide would look like> What would be in it? I have some ideas, what do you guys think?

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Darloup (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 14:21:

I'm certainly no expert, but anything I know on Barranquilla, I'll gladly share (I visited quite a few places, I also have a few good addresses, etc...)

I actually started a blog (in French) on Barranquilla (http://www.darloup.com/blog)

Nelly knows quite a lot about the Barranquilla carnaval (she actually was crowned Carnaval Queen in Santo Toma 2 or 3 years ago) and she'll happily share her experience too.

I don't know how you're going to organize all of this, but may I suggest that there be an overall knowledgeable NATIVE editor on each section/topic - responsible for the contents and the accuracy of the information supplied?

As far as Barranquilla is concerned, I nominate Strata2woman (la tigra barranquillerra) to be in charge of her city.

Better to have tried and failed than having regrets all your life about what you MIGHT have missed

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sloopskipper says on Nov 15, 2008, 14:40:

Please fix the edit button problem.

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Bill Turley (Trustee board) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 15, 2008, 16:17:

Peter are you familiar with the 2nd edition of LP that is a pretty good guide for format

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 16, 2008, 00:13:

Hey Darloup, join the mailing list here: http://groups.google.com/group/pbh-travelguide-colombia so we can discuss :)

Bill, I have most of the old travelguides for Colombia, 4 editions of LP :) I agree they have a good format, I want to evolve it though, make it our own... What should be in a "poorbuthappy" travelguide? For example, I personally think that there tends to be too much information on churches in the travelguides. I personally don't need that (but that may just be me). I'd rather have maps, and tips on things to do. In any case, we have to find our own voice...

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Bill Turley (Trustee board) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 16, 2008, 04:43:

OK Peter
For Colombians the churches are a central part of their lives. I am a Protestant and maybe the only one in this area. The church here is the visual focal point of the town, as they are in Guayata, Guateque and Manta. Here the wooden church is older than the USA, and the site has been a church for over 500 years. There are others that are very important like in Chiquinquira. I know that when my wife and I visit different towns she wants to always see the church and she is not at all religious. I agree that long descriptions of every church in cities like Bogota and Cali are superfluous
In my opoinion we must include altitude and mean temperature and market days

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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Bill Turley (Trustee board) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 16, 2008, 04:52:

Have you ever seen the booklette El Papaporte? It was published by the Department of Boyaca ( a major producer of papas). It lists every community and gives statistics for each one. Included are area, Altitude, temp, and population in achart format. If we could get a simular document from each department we could make charts for each department that would be unique and helpful for those who like to get off the beaten path. A realistic discusion about safety also would be important

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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Elmin says on Nov 16, 2008, 17:17:

Great idea, on my first trip to Colombia i bought the most crappy lP guide ever (and my last).

Would be nice too see more pictures on the digital version (of the hostels, rooms, locations etc).

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600rrcol says on Nov 16, 2008, 20:46:

How do i add a city on the travelguide map thats posted

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 17, 2008, 00:33:

You can't currently add cities on the map.. sorry!

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sandman0011 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 17, 2008, 04:23:

Peter,

Be happy to help out with anything relating to Medellin. Feel free to copy and paste anything posted on our portal. If we can research any other items of interest, all you need to do is ask!

www.medellintravelguide.com www.medellinofficerentalswww.medellinlanguageinstitute.com

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Darloup (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 17, 2008, 07:50:

Sandman, please register in the Google group!

Better to have tried and failed than having regrets all your life about what you MIGHT have missed

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corporalgator (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 17, 2008, 22:07:

A question, why in the main section when describing the three big cities, Bogota, Medellin, and Cali, does it say Cali is more black? I have no idea what this means. Also, I don't think that is the place to degenerate the city if the attempt is to call Cali dirtier or more dangerous especially without providing empirical evidence of such. I know a lot of people have a low opinion of Cali, but I don't think it's fair to call it "black" on the main page. Or does it simply mean there are more blacks there? In either case, it should be removed or clarified.

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rhydewithdis (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 03:27:

count me in!

They said I couldn't play football I was too small / They say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall / They say I couldn't play baseball at all / And now everyday of my life I ball.

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pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 07:55:

I added a chapter on driving in Colombia: http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/travel/guide/driving-in-colombia/

que nota!

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viajero123 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 08:22:

This is a great idea, I will contribute on what I can.
I also have a suggestion, I just added a place to stay in Rio Claro, but I didn't find the way to add camping as an option, only Privates and Dorms were available as options to add on the guide.

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jonas says on Nov 18, 2008, 09:22:

I have started to put some comments with pictures on Casa de Nelly in San Augustin.
Would it be possible to not let the edit button disappear so one could change later to adjust prices or add something missed out. I think there is no reason why one should not be able to make changes at a later time on the travel guide comments.

Mi alma se la dejo al diablo

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viajero123 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 11:20:

Something on Los Llanos would be great Kat! I will be heading there sometime soon and can't figure out how to do it on a shoestring!

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 12:43:

Viajero: for camping, just put it in the text.

Corporalgator: if you see something like that, feel free to edit it.

Kat: Los LLanos would be great, it's totally off the maps.

Jonas: travelguides/places/hostels can be edited forever. Comments can't.

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 18, 2008, 12:44:

ps: it's going well, lots of improvements to the guide. Also remember you can print out the ENTIRE guide on one page, it's pretty cool :)

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jonas says on Nov 18, 2008, 12:47:

I guess I will stick my comments into the hostel info then. Maybe you want to look at that. It is casa de nelly in san augustin. cheers.

Mi alma se la dejo al diablo

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