tropicalshirt has left 309 comments

tropicalshirt comments on Rodallega

"I guess from your stats it says that there were only 69 Brazilians in North and Central America." Thats the statistics for the 2008 only, how many Brazilians were sold to those leagues in 2008. Whats the FMF? Mexican? Mexican league is a world to itself, a big league and all unkown but to Mexicans.

tropicalshirt comments on Rodallega

Hi uc You a big football fan right? We invented the game, just no good at it :-) I agree, Argentina always producing talent, and always producing skillful midfielder/strikers who can run with the ball or control the pace of the game. Players like Riquelme are very rare now in World football. Brazilians play all over the World from the Faeroe Islands to Brunei. There is a big cachet in having a "Brazilian" in your side, whatever the league or level. "Brazil sold 1,176 footballers abroad in 2008, a record number that beats last year's total by 8.4 percent (1,085), according to the Brazilian Football Association (CBF). Of the footballers who emigrated abroad, 222 ended up in Asian clubs, 762 in Europe, 105 in other South American countries, 69 in North and Central America and 15 in Africa." http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/soccer/12/23/brazil.transfers/index.html I think there are over a thousand Argentinian players abroad and I guess many more Brazilian players Football in Brazil is something else. The national leagues have problems, but the local appetite to play is huge. Where I used to live in the northeast you had pitches within 5 minutes walk in every direction, north, south, east and west. All ages, sexes, mixed etc. Always with someone as a referee. In Rio they have floodlit pitches with games going on at 3 am. Football in Brazil is a great topic, if you want to read some more this book can't go wrong: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-Brazilian-Life-Alex-Bellos/dp/0747561796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250884658&sr=8-1

tropicalshirt comments on Anyone been to Porto Alegre?

Hi pavo An idea: fly to Recife. Visit Recife and Olinda, lots to see here and best tasting agua de coco in the World. Go south along the coast to Tamandare, Japaratinga and Barra do Camaragibe, great beaches and easily accessible. Return Recife. Any advice wanted, please ask. Why not make a new post of it?

tropicalshirt comments on Rodallega

"Don't you think though that the massive influx of foreigners in the EPL is hampering their national team?" Sure, it makes sense that potential English football talent is not getting the chance to develop at the top level due to the amount of foreign footballers in the Premier League. That talent is either missing out or playing in the lower leagues. The problem is the lack of academies, managament and money being invested at developing talent which is due to... the problem of the the influx of foreign players as instant solutions! Pundits will say the best talent will always rise to the top but at some point this talent has to be given a chance when it is unclear that they will succeed at the highest level. But this is a problem that exists in all the major leagues which are flush with money. And if you look at leagues which have less money are they producing more national talent??? I think the bigger problem is having a production line that continually produces different kinds of football talent: strikers, player beating midfielders, etc This happens when football is an overiding passion that gets everyone playing, everywhere, producing all types of players. People don't play football like that in most countries today. Anyhow, I'm sure you know a lot of supporters don't really care about the national team, it's all about club football. England as a national side have only one current good striker! Good luck to Capello.

tropicalshirt comments on Rodallega

When the Spanish national team won the European Championship two Spanish Premier league players made the difference for them: Fabregas when he came on changed everything and Torres got their goals. The English Premier League was behind in technical ability, particularly after their exit from European football. Now that the technical ability is catching up the other strengths of English football are taking control of World football at the league level. For example, Barcelona are the best club in the World at the moment but if you saw the last semi finals of the Champions League you will know that Chelsea should of gone through. Their strengths were too much for Barcelona. Or look at the recent records of Barcelona or Real Madrid against Liverpool for example.

tropicalshirt comments on + BRAZIL BECOMES BIGGEST CONSUMER OF PESTICIDES AS GM ACREAGE EXPANDS

GM soya is covering an increasingly large parts of South America: Brazil, Argentina, part of Paraguay the size of Belgium. The problems are huge: mega farms displacing small farmers, toxins, lack of justice.

tropicalshirt comments on Rodallega

This year in the Premier league there will be 5 good teams (time will tell on this, so just wait thank you!) Liverpool Chelsea Manchester Utd Manchester City Arsenal At the moment Barcelona are playing the best football in the World. They are above the five good English teams. Four others? I don't think there are four others in the Spanish league? Rodallega was coming along OK at the end of last season. It seems having Martinez as coach may suit him very well from the opening day performance. He was involved in everything.

tropicalshirt comments on + BRAZIL BECOMES BIGGEST CONSUMER OF PESTICIDES AS GM ACREAGE EXPANDS

Brazil marches on... The Real continues from strength to strength, global investors are throwing money at Brazil. These farms are not small concerns! And I remember a couple of years ago a statistic that half of Brazil does not have a toothbrush. I'm sure that hasn't changed. o melhor do brasil é o nordeste e o melhor do nordeste é...

tropicalshirt comments on Good place to stau in cucuta? quik replies please

sirwhale Cucuta cheap hotel - Republica Bolivariana with fan. Avenida 6, nos 11-77 just block south of Parque Santander. You got the situation right. Good luck.

tropicalshirt comments on Peso-Pound Sterling exchange rate

kat 3,500 to a pound is not so bad; colombia is still cheaper than countries like brazil. if its drops to 3,000 or below i think its very bad then. anyway, you don't look so sad! i'm just laughing at thinking how happy you must of looked at 5,000 to a pound!!! :-)

tropicalshirt comments on Peso-Pound Sterling exchange rate

kalder like you say the pound has been diving for a while against the bigger latin american currencies. back in 2003 the pound hit 6 brazilian reais to a pound, now at 3.2. its come off about 25 per cent from pretty much all of them now: peruvian soles, paraguayan guaranis, honduran lempiras, nicaraguan cordobas... maybe they sound like economic basket cases? try changing libras in sul america... its like holding embassy fag vouchers. not so bad against mexican peso though.

tropicalshirt comments on Challenge to the mods

miguel sorry for my recondite post when i was a student only the most intelligent person in the class could ever understand what i was saying... never found out if that was because what i was saying was so difficult, or that you had to be a bloody genius to translate the dumb chit i said!!! ha ha ha i know what your saying about crap agendas that Colombia is so dangerous that gringos should stay away. i'm with you on that 100 per cent.

tropicalshirt comments on Challenge to the mods

man utd 4 - tottenham 2 man u come back from 2 nil down with a dodgy penalty THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH LIFE! TOO FOKKIN PREDICATBLE! miguel you wite, The Daily Reports are Alarmist and Fear-Mongering at its finest. these reports are about areas foreigners are not reccommended to go to. these reports are about areas foreigners do not go to. these are reports about areas that who is interested in? locals? who are they going to be alarmist to? the recent news reports on the bbc about two colombias emerging make me question what is going on. keep the majority in the cities all quiet and good and let the rest continue in a hell that suits someone? i dont know. life is too predictable. regards

tropicalshirt comments on Challenge to the mods

fok it! i got tropical socks! maybe i change my name! ha hah ha!

tropicalshirt comments on Challenge to the mods

ujay i got photos comin soon! but i got no white socks, not one pair... i got orange, green, blue and yellow, whole fokkin rainbow though, i like my socks ;-)

tropicalshirt comments on Challenge to the mods

uc, raay some of us are waiting for the next reality check and what it is highlighting. these are small towns with a huge problem. a problem that has been highlighted in recent news reports as representing two colombias, an improving security situation in the cities with the opposite outside of them. raay you write, I don't suppose that the intended purpose of this site was to have a place for people to only post positive and good things about Colombia. Neither do I suppose it was for people to post only bad things. your right in the above but wrong about relating that to uc. uc is only one person, he is not writing everything on PBH, he is not making the site into a place where people post only bad things, he is one person with one set of views. personally, i find these posts interesting and i would find them even better if there was more discussion behind them rather than the one liners and my own inexperience.

tropicalshirt comments on Reality Check - 04/23/2009

Tierralta, south west of Monteria, population 27,155, is very bad with the FARC and paramilitaries in your latest update. I think this is where the AUC was formed and they agreed to be relocated to after demobilization? The cradle of Colombian paramilitary forces. A familiar story for the locals. http://nacla.org/node/5307 Not somewhere to get into a starring match.

tropicalshirt comments on Reality Check - 04/21/2009

miguel sincelejo came across as a peaceful colombian town of 236,780 people. but... in the recent colombia footprint handbook, foreigners staying is not recommended, why? its a town that is/was under heavy paramilitary influence and has suffered a resulting surge in crime from the demobilized paramilitary and new armed groups that have formed. of course its not a town which foreigners have much reason to visit, and really there is nobody to put off visiting from this forum? i think you would agree the law situation is different there to other places. i think the crime situation could quite possibly be the same. regards

tropicalshirt comments on Reality Check - 04/21/2009

real good meat in sincelejo, all that lush grass! que rico... if anyone is in town i would reccomend the grill restaurant just at the bottom right hand corner of this pic.

tropicalshirt comments on Reality Check - 04/21/2009

johnny i was in sincelejo, loved it! its just up from the coast from the beach town of tolu, about 30 miutes or so by combi. never stayed long though, never saw another gringo, a real experience visiting, one of those places that you really feel its an experience! very interesting story from there also... Two brothers from Sincelejo, tired of being one of the many unemployed on Colombia's Caribbean coast, decided to set up a brothel. In this tropical brothel you won't find a variety of luscious mamis though. Thirty donkeys are available to fulfill the randy man's needs. http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/trivia/1913-donkey-brothel-fares-well.html

tropicalshirt comments on How to Post Images to PBH

tropicalshirt comments on

elmodefoque loads of colombians here; also bolivians, ecuadoreans, venezuelans, etc most of all though, brazilians, in london 60,000 , in britain 200,000 to 300,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_British every cleaner i meet seems to be from south america, cheap labour, from one poor situation to another. but i've never met a mexican here ;-) Notable Colombians in the United Kingdom Carolina Herrera, Singer and guitarist Jorge Castano, Professional wrestler Phil Manzanera, Guitarist Sonia Uribe, Journalist, Television personality and actress Hugo Rodallega, Premiership footballer

tropicalshirt comments on Best caption - Obama & Uribe

help! darloup's gone/getting mad/madder!

tropicalshirt comments on Best caption - Obama & Uribe

OBAMA: You get that drinking your piss idea from pow wow???

tropicalshirt comments on Best caption - Obama & Uribe

unbelievable! that french bloke hates everyone and thinks everyone loves him.

tropicalshirt comments on British pensions - crossed cheques

de nada they get it payed in by direct debit to a freinds account by the government. as it is only a few pounds a year it is sent on once a year.

tropicalshirt comments on British pensions - crossed cheques

if it is practible for you she can have it paid into the bank account of a person she/you trusts in the UK (family, friend etc) they can then forward it to you via an easier method. i know a foreign resident how recieves a british state pension of a few pounds a year for the time they worked in the UK and this is what they do.

tropicalshirt comments on

"Not related to anybody (almost anybody). " I mean like not Estonians or maybe Hungarians, I mean from the lost tribe days like? if anybody?

tropicalshirt comments on

from the other side of the urals, don't see anything wrong with a little mongolian blood. who is almost anybody desi?

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

minina i have to agree with you. talking generalisations people from all over the world who don't have the same opportunities are going to look at those who do with some desire. but which life would they actually find more enjoyable?

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

MONGO I think your struggling to understand.

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

MONGO tropicalshirt, if you are really a gringo, than why is your spelling and grammer so poor? THEN NOT THAN... HMMMM...

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

MONGO tropicalshirt, if you are really a gringo, than why is your spelling and grammer so poor? GRAMMAR NOT GRAMMER...DOPEY

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

sorry bob, I speak Portuguese! falamos amigo!

tropicalshirt comments on

yeah el perico! all the time HA HA HAH HAH HA HA LOL AND ALL THAT INTERNET ROLLING AROUND ON THE FLOOR

tropicalshirt comments on

As a rolo told me today at work in London, everybody here thinks Colombia is a war torn, dangerous hell hole like everyone in Colombia thinks London is full of cold, blonde, blue eyed gringos. elmodefoque you just have to remember stereotypes of this type are just patently untrue and exist from total ignorance. ps elomdoefoque, if you visit Londres dress warm, dumb rolo just wears a t-shirt! pps nobody ask you about la perica? you Colombian no???

tropicalshirt comments on Colombians love GRINGOS!

OK so the chicas are better looking.

tropicalshirt comments on Bucaramanga - Rooms to Rent

thanks saintanna, appreciated.

tropicalshirt comments on Thinking of Going to live in Colombia REAL SOON!!!!!!!

naujiiti Your advantages, no work visa needed perhaps? Your disadvantages, long list... costalad got it right. thats if your a local, or will you be a gringo? maybe you could be a half local/half gringo? is that possible? half a pinche gringo? Why not think about FMCG? good luck

tropicalshirt comments on Thinking of Going to live in Colombia REAL SOON!!!!!!!

"...If someone would consider growing themselves some balls, realising that it ain't Disneyland here and being prepared for some hard work then I'd happily throw some money at someone. I just don't see it happening though" hmmm.... HOLA! Johnny I'm your man! 1. Fast moving consumer goods no problema. You buy them, I sell them! You want discount, I get you discount! You want promotional piece of naked gringo running out of duff chinese batteries for his razor at unopportune time and visiting Johnnys Mil Peso Land in the starkers, I do it! "apenas mil pesos! gracias signor! oh mi ropas!" 2. I have balls, with more use, it is true, they grow bigger! 3. No, I know its not Disneyland, but I am not El Raton Mickey! 4. I work hard, believe me Johnny, I make the Duracell bunny look like the workshy. Johnny I will be available in 3 months. Hope to here from you. I have one question, I know you picked your words carefully and I understand, but is your potential opening open to Colombians too? Regards

tropicalshirt comments on Bucaramanga - Rooms to Rent

but if you got something to sell why not give the price? ★★★GIVE US THE GRINGO PRICES★★★

tropicalshirt comments on Hip Hop Choco style reposting for Breatheasy

fantastic! somos pacifico! hip hop with smiles!!! makes a change from listening to steady b and schooly d back in the DAAAAYYY...

tropicalshirt comments on

never saw Cupuacu in Colombia? is it there?

tropicalshirt comments on Colombia can be SO SHALLOW sometimes!

"The problem is Colombia is one big mafia. People in power who work for the government or who own businesses are really gangsters." This is a problem that is spreading around the World. Is the importance of money and consumerism growing year by year? Whether you go to the Supermarket or the Library everyone talks like a lawyer and the underlying reason is cash. But I understand what you mean in Colombia and it being different circumstances.

tropicalshirt comments on Medellin or Buenos Aires - which is the best place to live?

papa Buenos Aires - much better comidas, much more grand, much more work/leisure options, much bigger. Medellin - much easier to mix with the people. I would pick Medellin, Portenos like Italianos to me. If your still on the fence vai para nordeste do brasil.

tropicalshirt comments on "Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Colombia"

Thanks mariacventanoski Any comments on the book? This one was out Jan 2009. He has a few on Colombia including, "The People Behind Colombian Coal: Mining, Multinationals and Human Rights." Never gonna be a bestseller with that title! But I applaud his work even if I don't agree with it or if I do. The title of the first, "Beyong Bogota..." and the second, suggest he is covering subjects not ordinarily published by the media and ones which we show little interest in. Yes he is a foreigner in a foreign land but English books covering Latin America have been few in recent years. http://www.colombiajournal.org/books_leech.htm

tropicalshirt comments on Shakira in Choco

IT DOES NOT SAY SHE IS FROM CHOCO IT DOES NOT SAY HER ROOTS ARE FROM CHOCO IT DOES SAY... "Hundreds of miles away in Barranquilla, the singer's hometown, a ceremony is taking place to inaugurate another school she has built (she used $4m of her own money and coaxed £2m more from Howard Buffett, son of America's billionaire investor Warren). " I LOVE YOU!

tropicalshirt comments on

hmmm... are those curved beaks naturale or plastica???

tropicalshirt comments on Why Colombia is poor

dwmte7 RIO! RIO! RIO!!! Forget Rio! Its not Brazil, its no good! That cristo looks down on a city that is 100 times faster than Cartagena, has 100 times the sin of Cartagena and 100 times the scams of Cartagena. It makes Cartagena look like a village full of hicks. Its a unique place, the locals (Cariocas) are interested in one thing, there is no other city in the World where the people think the same. And they want to get the money for that life which dosen't involve working 9 to 5. When you feel that samba beating up through the ground of Lapa and when the next day comes and you can still feel it though the music has stopped you are close to feeling the African soul of Brazil, but in Rio nothing more. The real Brazil is the northeast, on the coast and inland. Go to Joao Pessoa, Recife, Sao Luis, Teresina, visit the beaches of Ceara and Alagoas, go inland to the Sertao and eat bouchada de bode and take in Juazeiro do Norte. Keep going west. I've said this before on this board. But dwmte7 I IMPLORE YOU!!! NORDESTE DO BRASIL e que mais, minais, amazonas e mais!

tropicalshirt comments on Why Colombia is poor

dwmte7 Colombia sounds good like you write it! But I am saddended by your view of Brazil. Its not true. I hope you find out. Siempre nordeste meu amigo, e siempre nordestinos! The best.