SiV has left 531 comments

SiV comments on Any Personal Recommendations for Salsa Clubs in Cali?

Gotta be Tin Tin Deo or Zaparojo. . . best places in town, hands down.

SiV comments on Colombian music in London

Nearly went with friends to see a caleno grupo, la Mojarra Electrica, the other day in London (but didn't, in the end). Maybe they're still touring. Also, last NYE there was a traditional Colombian group playing cumbia, Pacific Coast music at a Latin pub, El Comandante.

SiV comments on FIDEL Castro Criticizes Obama for US-Colombia Deal

You've watched Rocky IV too many times. Nothing to do with socialists. . . it's all politicians that are hypocrites and have selective memories, irrespective of credence.

SiV comments on POLL: Is Alvaro Uribe A Puppet Of The US Empire?

Couldn't be arsed to read the opening post; but in answer to the question whether Uribe is a US puppet, well, yes obviously. Well, maybe not a puppet per se, but a definite yes-man.

SiV comments on FIDEL Castro Criticizes Obama for US-Colombia Deal

The thing is though, in a similar way, as JGB rightly says that, "Castro . . . almost started a nuclear holocaust by allowing the URSS to establish nuclear bases in the 60´s." is pretty much what Uribe is allowing the US to do. i.e. allowing a stronger patron state military bases in their territory to protect and further their interests, and destabilise the area. Almost ironic, coming from Castro.

SiV comments on What's up with those BLACK dudes ?????

Yeah, I don't reckon they went knocking on doors in Aguablanca, Cali!

SiV comments on New report ‘Climate of fear’ released today in the UK Houses of Commons

I think most Afghans are more worried about the Taliban's human rights record . . .

SiV comments on What's up with those BLACK dudes ?????

Only 4% black? Where? In Medellin, maybe. S' gotta be more elsewhere.

SiV comments on New report ‘Climate of fear’ released today in the UK Houses of Commons

Britabroad, whilst I agree that civil liberties etc. are being eroded it the UK and it's shit, I don't think you can compare that to what's happening in Colombia. When's the last time you heard of a trade unionist, journalist or human rights or social worker being killed in the UK, let alone by its own armed forces? No comparison- the UK, and any country with a better human rights record (i.e. most of the world) has a right to criticise Colombia's govt. for letting this shit happen.

SiV comments on Learning PORTUGUESE from SPANISH background-- pitfalls? suggestions?

Didn't know Brazil's pop was so high. On wikipedia, it says the IGBE: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística estimates Brazil's pop for 2009 at 191,241,714: 5th largest in the world. How many other Latin Amreican Spanish speakers are there? Including Central America, US, etc? Brazilian Portuguese sounds like slurred Spanish if you ask me. Get hammered on guaro and you'll sound like a native, justinio.

SiV comments on What's up with those BLACK dudes ?????

Hey, just found out the Raelians use the swastika to reclaim its original peaceful meaning (though there's is different to the Nazi's one). You are a wise man indeed, WhiteWidow.

SiV comments on What's up with those BLACK dudes ?????

WW, that's slanderous to the poor nutjobs! Raelians are a pretty chilled cult- nutters, not haters.

SiV comments on Colombian soccer players found dead in Venezuela

Actually, the digression is detracting from a really horrible story. What happened to those guys has very little to do with political agendas. . .

SiV comments on Colombian soccer players found dead in Venezuela

Americans and Communism . . . always good for a laugh. Columbia Law Survey Finds Confusion Over Founding Fathers vs. Karl Marx New York, May 29, 2002. Almost two-thirds of Americans think Karl Marx's maxim, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" was or could have been written by the framers and included in the Constitution, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by Columbia Law School. http://www2.law.columbia.edu/news/surveys/survey_constitution/index.shtml Go figure, as you guys say! And if you don't find that funny, there's always Rocky IV.

SiV comments on Overweight, socially inept, badly dressed gringos

tropicalshirt to kalder, "...who think that manhood is a question of paying someone else to do their fighting for them..." I am interested to know how common is this in Colombian culture? I think this is how where most Colombian sicarios earn their wage from, isn't it?

SiV comments on help with airfares :(

Erm. . . thankyou for everybody's help, or something. . . ?

SiV comments on Colombian Lizards

They're great little animals . . .They eat insects, small cockroaches, spiders. . .

SiV comments on Colombian Lizards

Salamanders are amphibians, I think- like frogs and newts.

SiV comments on help with airfares :(

Try http://www.vuelosbaratos.com.co/ Saw some around £850 - £950 on there for around those dates. You could also try the cheap AirComet, which flies out of Heathrow and doesn't pass through the US.

SiV comments on Colombian Lizards

They're lagartijas not lagartas. . .

SiV comments on Failing Horribly...Should I call it quits or is there something I'm missing?

You could go back, do a teaching qualification (CELTA, Cert.TESOL- actually maybe you could do one of these in Bogota with the BC or IH). . .after that you shouldn't find much trouble finding a decently paid teaching job if you decide to give it a second shot- especially if you have Colombian citizenship (no problems with visas laborales, proporcionalidad at the universities).

SiV comments on Top Colombian judges threatened as they investigate lawmakers

"Bogotá, Colombia - Three motorcycle police escorts zip through Bogotá's evening traffic jam, siren lights flashing. They stop cars at every intersection so the bulletproof SUV carrying one of Colombia's most threatened men can speed through. Inside, Supreme Court President Augusto Ibáñez sinks into the back seat, weary from a 13-hour day." Why do all reports about Colombia start in this hackneyed present tense commentary style? Apart from that, though, a good article.

SiV comments on mining and logging firms are pushing farmers off the land by force or trickery

This has been going on for years, and like your aunt, not that many Colombians really know that it's going on . . . I think the Colombian journalist Hollman Morris has done some reports on this, if you want to search Youtube.

SiV comments on Big shock: Colombia is No.1 for homicide

What are you talking about? Is that English!?

SiV comments on Landowners in Honduras hired Colombian paramilitaries

I thought he was just wanting to carry out a referendum with the aim of changing the constitution to extend (his) political tenure (something Uribe has tried twice, no?), not actually changing it outright without consultation.

SiV comments on Big shock: Colombia is No.1 for homicide

Can we stop this macho s~~t and engage the brain before posting? All this posturing just gets tiresome. . .

SiV comments on Landowners in Honduras hired Colombian paramilitaries

He was democratically elected, wasn't he? And the military ousted him in a non-constitutional coup d'etat . . .I thought that the US was supposedly a promotor and upholder of democracy, especially in its backyard.

SiV comments on

Nah, the stats show that Colombia overall has gone down from 66 homicides per 100,000 in 02 to 36 in 2009, and that's great- why would anyone not want it to decrease? Even so, Colombia lies in 10th place according to the most sympathetic of sources. . And do you really trust the govt. not to "massage" the figures?

SiV comments on

Uribe fiddles some crime statistics and markets the country with Colombia, Passion, and all of a sudden people think they're living in Japan or Scandanavia . . . Get real. It's still one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Fact.

SiV comments on Big shock: Colombia is No.1 for homicide

It's the same all over the world, isn't it? Big cities are always more anonymous and dangerous than small towns and villages. Apart from Palmira, that is. . .

SiV comments on Colombia - United States relations - historical background

The Colombians were neutral until they joined the Allies in 1943. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II There was also a Colombian Batallion (allied to the US) in the Korean War. As for Panama, $10,000,000 the US paid, wasn't it?

SiV comments on Colombian Dying Tribes

Darwin's theory's fine- when applied to the natural world. Actually, I find it quite amusing that in the US there is serious rebuke to this by the intelligent designers, but they are usually the ones supporting free market capitalism- economic Darwinism. Go figure. (I give you more credit, by the way- I hope it's not displaced!) The government protects and provides for us (even you in the US!) at all levels- police, emergency services, school. Indeed, governments (including the US) have always intervened on an economic level to provide subsidies, tax breaks, laws and regulation to favour their own economies. The US is not and never has been a true free market economy. Now, on the other side of things, cost can not only be measured in economic terms. There are social costs, environmental . . I'm sure you get the idea. Returning to the original thread, I'm sure many of those endangered indigenous tribes lived reasonably enough, until some "entrepreneur" saw $ when they looked at their lands for palm oil plantation, logging, cheap beef production. There's more to life than a buck.

SiV comments on

No, to be honest, the article, though OK, doesn't say anything new at all- I've read loads of similar ones. I was commenting on a few posters' attitudes.

SiV comments on English speaking University

Foreigners can study at Colombian universities. I, personally did a couple of postgrads in Cali, at the Javeriana and Icesi. Don't know what the requisites for a normal degree course are though.

SiV comments on English speaking University

Are there any in the US with classes in Spanish? No, seriously, I think some of them do. The Externado and Javeriana in Bogota do some modules in English. Google their websites.

SiV comments on

So, Colombia is beautiful beaches, wild rainforests, happy people dancing the night away, beautiful women with welcoming arms, fragrant flowers wafting on a warm breeze in a golden sunset. . . . . .and anyone who see or says otherwise, or wants and works for positive change hates Colombia and is anti-Colombian? In the words of Vic Reeves: "I'm right ignorant me, but I'm happy."

SiV comments on Colombian Dying Tribes

Thanks for the reply, JB. Though I don't share your faith in Smith's belief in free market capitalism's "invisible hand", (I read Wealth of Nations whilst studying for my Political Economy degree, though not Hayek). A constant criticism of Smith has been his naivity in believing social justice and (totally) free market econimics can be reconciled. I'm sure you're aware of J S Mill's Principles of Political Economy (can't remember the year, but a wee bit after Smith) as a criticism. Deregulated capitalism has unerringly shown that it is open to abuse: exploitation corruption, in-trading, etc. not to mention the rather dubious ethics of economic Darwinsm and systematic flaws such as instability, sustainability, environmental subordinacy . . . . Also, I can't comment on the US, but here in the UK and Europe there's been a huge amount of controversy about one of your points: rewarding failure. Here the banking top brass received the super-annuated bonuses despite losing billions. And dereuglation allowed Madoff to pull off his Ponzi scam . . . Surely, you've got to admit that some things have got to be regulated? Or is it everything goes and put blind faith in things will sort themselves out for the best?

SiV comments on El Estado colombiano, condenado por pasividad ante una matanza paramilitar

Was it Chengue where the Paracos lined up "suspects" along the main street and smashed their heads in with rocks? God, it's such a beautiful place up there. . . sad and ironic that such a paradise can be turned into hell by greed and senseless violence.

SiV comments on Colombian Dying Tribes

"Freedom from regulation and excessive taxation creates the environment necessary to increases the wealth of the country." Hang on, wasn't it over-deregulation in the banking system that was largely the cause of the financial collapse?

SiV comments on The Minga - walking in Great Britain whilst authorities implicate widow in husband's killing.

Plenty of muntas, too!

SiV comments on Big shock: Colombia is No.1 for homicide

Interesting stats, Darloup. The fact that Cali's -where I lived til a year ago, and no doubt will go back to- murder rate stands the highest at 71.5, as well as being the country's leader it pretty much all the categories of violent crime saddens me. Why is this? Oh, and let it be known: I love Colombia, but pretending it's not a dangerous place and everything's just fine is just ridiculous.

SiV comments on Fast salsa songs

Some of my other good fast salsa: Merecumbé (I forgot who sings this), but it's really fast and good Varios songs by la La 33 (Pantera Mambo, La 33, etc.) Varios songs by Orquesta La 8

SiV comments on French First Lady angers Colombia with cocaine lyric

Judging by the kids hanging out near my local estanco, it's Colombians, Simon.

SiV comments on Poverty in Colombia: Wikipedia

Sociologists generally define 2 types of poverty: 1) Relative Poverty: being below a relative poverty threshold. For example, households with an accumulated income less than 50% of the average income is often defined as a measure of relative poverty. Obviously, this depends: if you're comparing households in Beverly Hills, somebody with 3 cars, one maid and a semi-Olympic pool could be described as suffering from poverty. In Cuidad Bolivar, Bogota, a house where everyone has there one bed, and a fridge, but very little else could be described as above the relative poverty line. 2) Absolute Poverty: quantifies the number of people below a poverty threshold independent of time and place, i.e. the same in different countries, cultures, and technological levels. Indicators like the UN's 8 Basic Needs Index uses this concept:- Food: Body Mass Index above 16. Safe drinking water: Water must not come from only rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way). Sanitation facilities: Toilets in or near the home. Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy. Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay. Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read. Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home. Access to services: Eg. education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services. I don't know what indicators the DANE uses to define poverty and absolute poverty. Anyone else?

SiV comments on Chavez Ends Support of FARC Rebels; NO MAS!

Well, it's good he's (at least publicly) removed his support. I imagine most of you are right, and he's out to save his skin, but it's a step in the right direction.

SiV comments on Poverty in Colombia: Wikipedia

I read recently in Amnesty's 2007 report that official DANE statistics state that, "45% of Colombia's population lives below the poverty line, and 12% in extreme poverty. Displaced persons are the poorest of the poor." Uribe himself has quoted these figures in 2007's report to Santa Fe de Railito, sorry, Congress.

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

How much was the PADI course, by the way? Does the dive school have a website?

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

Satena fly Quibdo-Nuqui or Medellin-Nuqui: www.satena.com/

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

Careful going to Juanchito, it can be pretty lawless there. Go in a group, and preferably with some known Colombians.

SiV comments on PORQUE MEXICO TIENE QUE COPIAR TANTAS NOVELAS COLOMBIANAS?

Porque a ellos tambien les gusta basura barata!