jaramillo has left 845 comments

jaramillo comments on "All we want is prosperity, not to destroy our people with military rifles," Uribe

The translation into "English" is appalling. What a piece of crap El Tiempo is.

jaramillo comments on Chavez changes tone, Colombia happy

Venezolanos are costeños and costeños don't like war. Ask Elmodefoque!

jaramillo comments on

Modefoque, I can always count on you for a good laugh. As a scientist, I think this is an excellent piece of work. I swear that with a little dressing up you could submit it to some Psych. journal.

jaramillo comments on URGENT! need advice

utopiacowboy, you read y mind.

jaramillo comments on URGENT! need advice

libby, I have not read all the postings since mine, but waiting for the sucesión to end is probably risky. For example, the woman collecting the rent could be greasing someone's hand at the juzgado to keep the process from being completed. I promise this is not an exaggeration. You need a lawyer and one with very good and trustworthy recommendations, not one from the yellow pages.

jaramillo comments on URGENT! need advice

I am sorry to tell you that you might never see a penny of that money. Your only hope is to find a capable and AGGRESSIVE lawyer. And by hope I do not mean the lawyer is going to get you that money, which is probably already spent. The idea is to get in the "juzgados" to speed up the "sucesión" process. Good luck.

jaramillo comments on

It is not a caribbean thing, but a Spanish thing. The spaniards say coño from King Juan Carlos to a beggar in the street.

jaramillo comments on Uribe displays eloquence and composure in Bariloche

Hi dwmte, aquí estoy sufriendo en un sitio terrible, Portland Oregon :) Just kidding, but I still miss Llanogrande. Sorry about the fridge charly, that's cruel and unusual punishment. Anyway, the question in colombia is not whether one is pro- or anti-Uribe. The issue is how the fuck did de country become so corrupted? I think it doesn't matter who is in power.

jaramillo comments on Uribe displays eloquence and composure in Bariloche

Obama got the majority vote, the electoral college and my vote. Charlysito, you need to come to terms with reality.

jaramillo comments on Example of Obamanism...

Buyer beware of simple truths.

jaramillo comments on you favourite "Refran"

Trabaja mas un costeño en vacaciones.

jaramillo comments on I like these type Spanish words

It is even more similar to Contiguous!

jaramillo comments on aloe vera

I had Asthma as a child. My old nanny (Tulia vieja) made me a syrup extract of penca Sábila. It tasted awful and did nothing for the asthma. I remember my father chasing we once with his belt, and me hiding under Tulia's skirt.

jaramillo comments on Gastric Bypass Surgery???

One simple fokin question, one simple fokin answer. Thanks Paisa 29!! Cost is 6 million pesos, that is under u.s.$3,000. (for gastric balloon method).

jaramillo comments on If...

How's Armenia these days? Anyone who thinks Bogota is too cold will find Manizales FRIGID.

jaramillo comments on WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME???

Imagine that after two days of searching you find it for $397. You've made 50 bucks a day. That's not great pay.

jaramillo comments on Legionarios Britanicos en la Gest Boliviriana

Right, tirofijo, I meant the British legion distinguished itself (I did not know about Riohacha). I had forgotten O'Leary's part in Cordova's death. The whole thing was pretty infamous and I think Bolivar denied having anything to do with it. But you can create a climate. It's like Cesar crying because the egyptians killed Pompey. Crying like a crocodile. The Irish in Spain might have been swayed by Catholic propaganda, or by Catholic conviction. They are not necessarily the same.

jaramillo comments on Legionarios Britanicos en la Gest Boliviriana

Bolivar's aid de camp was general Daniel O'leary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Florencio_O'Leary), Irish, and quite a character and an accomplished commander. In his memoirs he has a pretty unforgettable description of his boss. The story with Rook is that when the the tropps were ascending to cross the Andes (from los llanos) the suffering was great, but that Rook looked like he was on his way to an enjoyable picnic. His men's morale was highest. The Irish distinguished themselves, except for Rupert Hand, who hacked to death José María Cordova who was lying down injured (in a house) after the battle of Santuario.

jaramillo comments on Legionarios Britanicos en la Gest Boliviriana

This might interest you, if you haven't see it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rooke

jaramillo comments on Question about A/C Voltage ???

Where did you buy it, Platinum?

jaramillo comments on Question about A/C Voltage ???

Colombian mains is 120V, 60 Hz. If the new appliance is 110-120V it will work. European appliances are made to 230V, 50Hz standards and won't work in Colombia without appropriate transformers. Typical U.S. appliances will work fine.

jaramillo comments on

The moment I read your post, guacharaca, I got nostalgic for la costa. Tolú, Cartagena, Santa Marta...

jaramillo comments on

My only qualification is that I am a 53 year old Colombian. The standard meaning in Medellin and Bogota (where I have lived) is a store. Usually reserved for the kind of small stores you could see in Junin or Chapinero. More rarely applied to a large store like Exito or Ley. Occasionally the ads will refer to Almacenes Ley or Flamingo, or Exito. So It can apply to a somewhat larger store, but more rarely. Almacen is not used for corner grocery stores (those are called tiendas). Technically, it is also used for Warehouse. However, since fewer people have contact with warehouses, the use is less common. Nonetheless, companies like Almagran refer to their warehouses as almacenes or bodegas, with bodega being the preferred term. BTW, unlike in New York, the term bodega is not used in Colombia to refer to a small mom and pop grocery store. Most common use:small store or shop.

jaramillo comments on The Return of Bogotá

It's relative, dear modefoque. I'll take Bogotás weather on a bad day over Curramba's any day. In fact I LIKE Bogotás weather!

jaramillo comments on Thank you PBH

Not going anywhere! I just have found myself coming here less and less, did not want to just stop without saying farewell.

jaramillo comments on

You need to look for a good Barbería in the yellow pages, assuming they still exist :)

jaramillo comments on Colombian URBAN LEGENDS!

dozens. most of what my parents believe are urban plus traditional legends. -swim after eating and you'll get "apoplegía" -brief exposure to cold air causes colds! (I'm screwed, it is 2F outside my house right now). -pereiranas are putas (!!) -the national anthem is the second most beautiful (after la marselleise)! -dozens of pious legends (pray to St. Helen for something lost, to Santa Barbara during storms, to San Antonio for a BF). -

jaramillo comments on Back in the good old US, and my bowl movements are back to normal.

It is a common occurrence with traveling. It may related to some of the things that you mention (diet, alcohol, etc.). Stress (airports, airplanes, less familiar surroundings, etc.) is also one of the culprits (activation of the sympathetic nervous system is not conducive to good digestion). Poop is an important issue. How's that for a signature?

jaramillo comments on Candle lighting ceromony

Yesterday was the eve of the Immaculate Conception celebration in the catholic world (yes, I attended mass today). It is a very catholic and an old Colombian tradition to open the Christmas season at this date.

jaramillo comments on

Extended families have lived like this throughout the ages. In some ways, the U.S. is the exception.

jaramillo comments on

Good luck Elmo. You always disgusted me, and in fact I think Bquilla is a shit hole. And yes, I will miss you.

jaramillo comments on Medellin to Santa Marta by road

Here's route, from a previous post by robbi66 robi666 says on May 4, 2008, 14:42: flag That's not the fastest route, jaramillo. You go Medellin, Barbosa, Cisneros, Puerto Berrio, Puerto Arauyo , San Alberto, Aguachica, Cienaga, Santa Marta. You can do it in 12 - 15 hours. Nothing interesting in the middle. You will just say... "oh, this is Macondo...", while passing 80 km per hour. You can make a detour to Bucaramanga if you're interested. Or to Valledupar. Near San Alberto, near a toll (cannot remember which exactly), there's a small restaurant which sells buffalo meat only and buffalo milk products. Best hamburger I have been eating in Colombia. Stop there for lunch. I use to leave 5 AM from Medellin. I'd probably go for some days this week. Coal trucks are the greatest danger from Cesar to Magdalena. Police uses laser gun in Cesar, but not anywhere else on the road. They got me three times in the last year. Last time I did not stop, hoping in their laziness, but they went after me with their motorbike. Tejasmarcos, who was with me, got speechless. They got me at a toll. I swore that I did not see them. The normal bribing tariff is 40,000.

jaramillo comments on

Basil leaves (albahaca) is not always easy to find in the colombian supermarkets.

jaramillo comments on Cedula good for 40 plus years

Ignore my post, please. I misread the question.

jaramillo comments on

Would you invest your money with this guy?

jaramillo comments on Cedula good for 40 plus years

I've had mine for 35 years, but I don't know if the law has changed.

jaramillo comments on What is "deadest" time in Cartagena?

Thanks guys!

jaramillo comments on How do you eat a sandwhich with fork and knife???

My colombian father was shocked to see my gringa wife eat fries with her hands!

jaramillo comments on

Eternal, leave eternally. Please.

jaramillo comments on

manINred: Temperature changes in the body, for example, are cyclical and natural, but a fever of 42 C will kill you. Global warming and cyclical fluctuations are not mutually incompatible. Ask Venus.

jaramillo comments on

I grew up in Medellin, nbenjamin, and I can tell you the rain patterns today are substantially different. Of course, whether this is a consequence of global warming is questionable. What appears not questionable is that the permafrost border has migrated southwards at an extraordinary rate in the past 25 years (this is just plain data). All that stored carbon is, all of a sudden, available to microorganisms. Whether it will produce a positive feedback loop in carbon release is not well established.

jaramillo comments on

I respectfully disagree. As you know well, science is not the realm of "knowing" something for certain. Are you a skeptic with respect to evolution? The existence of the atom? Anyway, I'm glad we agree that reducing greenhouse gases is a good idea. Native peoples in Colombia are very worried by the changes in weather patterns they are seeing. Best wishes.

jaramillo comments on

Thank you, tomtom33. I’d like to hear your arguments, and to reply to them to. Let me begin with “The globe is warming. Before that it was cooling. Before that it was warming”. That is not an argument. Of course we know that the climate has fluctuated in the past, and this is entirely normal. We also know that were mass extinctions during some of those periods and that is also entirely normal, and from my perspective, undesirable (extinction is significantly up). If a patient goes to the hospital with a 105 fever, the doctor should not say, “sometimes his temp is cooler, sometime it is warmer, this is natural”. He has to address the risk, and treat the fever. The threshold for action depends on the risk. What do you think is the probability of global warming being real? Since you're a skeptic, let’s say you put it at 10%. That is a huge risk that demands action! So the “sometimes warmer some times cooler” argument does not hold as an excuse for inaction. Regarding the flatulence of cattle, this is true and a direct consequence of the use of fossil fuels. The number of cattle in the world is unsustainably large and driven by fossil fuel intensive corn production and nitrogen synthesis. The methane that is produced is also a green house gas, and much more potent that CO2. The fact that fossil fuels is also contributing to global warm in these less direct ways is a pitiful consolation. Some argue that the sun’s cycle is contributing to global warming. The more the reason not to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. People use greenhouses because they are causal, right?

jaramillo comments on

Thanks, mr. On this matter you will hardly find a skeptic among scientists (they think the evidence is too compelling), and scientists are trained to be skeptical. Personally, I am not skeptical about this one.

jaramillo comments on

Same question for you, mranderson...

jaramillo comments on

Pedro, I see you are an agnostic about global warming being man made, or even existing. Out of curiosity, do you have a science background?

jaramillo comments on Why I Hate America

In understand your bet codyntl, and my money would be on Colombia. The U.S. and Colombia are very different teams: The U.S lacks talent and Colombia lacks organization. I remember Argentina in the 60s and 70s; They had AMAZING talent, but no organization and they went to loose everything. That changed in the 80s (Maradona helped too). The Germans are all about strength and organization and they are damn hard to beat. Colombia needs organization and planning and discipline. The U.S. needs talent. I go to intercollegiate soccer games in my College here and it is a sorry sight. These kids are what we call "Troncos" in Colombia. They have two left feet (damn fast, though, and well conditioned). You need to learn to play in the street like Messi, or Ronaldinho. You have to have a decent feel for the game by the time you are 8 or 10.

jaramillo comments on Why I Hate America

codyintl , as monoke says, the reason Colombia makes it less often to the World Cup is that in our region we have real competition (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, etc.). The U.S. "competes" with Trinidad, Jamaica, Granada, and the rest. It's a joke, U.S professional soccer is awful. They seem to think that running makes a good team.

jaramillo comments on

I missed you utopiacowboy. Glad to see you haven't changed.

jaramillo comments on

Born and raised in Medellin, lived in NYC 6 years and loved it. This one is tough; if income was no object, I'd pick NYC. Otherwise, life in Med can be comfortable and fun. I miss a lot of things from both, and I hate plenty in both.