Popayan, Colombia
El verdadero oro esta en nuestras raíces…
A large red dino, wades through a bay. He’s relaxed to the max, for the rest of the day.
Painted by AWESOME AMBAH!
Postcard #0104
Decoration flags for the Sub-20 Colombia.
Parque El Lago_Pereira (by Christ Montoya)
Two workers doing their work in Cartagena, Colombia.
Cano Cristales - Crystal River. River of five colors, as the locals call it, originates in the south of the mountain chain Macarena, Colombia,
Bogotل: La Candelaria (by zug55)
Colors in Colombia
nube_medellin2 on Flickr.
The most beautiful river on earth!
The Crystal River in Serrania de La Macarena, Colombia
Some of you might know that I am from Colombia and although I hate clichés and I fight REALLY hard for some of you to understand that my country is not full of shit and we are not all drug dealers and not everybody lives in the junlge surrounded by bad guys with weapons poiting to our faces, I have to admit that this is not a perfect country and we have issues. Bigger issues than most of you might even know about. Everything began a few 200 years ago when we declared ourselves a free country and no longer a colony for the Spanish kingdom. Back then the power fights and manipulations were not that obvious, and I might miss a lot of facts but the thing is that I don’t really care about then, I’m trying to make a point about now.
I was actually trying to deny the whole issue until a few days ago. I was having lunch with my mom and the lady that helps us clean our house because my mom has no time and I’m a spoiled brat so I barely even make my bed… The thing is, she is from a part of the coutry called Caquetá, which I’ve heard is really beautiful and such but I’ve never been there because it’s a red zone. What I mean by red zone is that is a place where the most prominent guerrilla here, called FARC which stands for “fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia” or “Revolutionary armed forces of Colombia” is located. The thing is there is not only FARC there, there are also paramilitares, which is another group of people, but this are more into drug traffic than actually fighting for a real government…
The thing is, I always knew there was an issue and I’m not only talking about armed forces outside of the law, I’m talking about the educational levels, malnutrition and poverty that is all over my country, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes more than once, because my father was always worried about my siter and I knowing the reality of the place we were born in, but that we also learnt to love it anyways… I think this had the opposite effect on my sister since she’s living in Argentina right now..
But I was ignoring what was right in front of my eyes, until this lady, she is called Ana, she was telling my mom and I her own experience with the FARC and the paramilitares and she was so weird about it, like it hurted but it didn’t really mattered ebcause there was absolutely nothing she could do to change the fact that her family was forced to leave behind their lives and their lands to move to Bogotá… But what bothers me the most is that she is not even closely the worst case scenario.
We have modern cities, we have people making more than a million dollars a month, but we also have raped women and children, we have kids dying in the streets, people being forced to leave everything behind and come to the capital city, Bogotá to wonder the streets asking for a little bit of mercy from the city people, and what’s worse, people taking advantage of this situation and posing as people in need to make an extra few pesos (money here).
I’ve seen it all. But I’ve also seen the smiles of kids that live by a river when we played with them, when we gave them a few candies. I’ve seen the kindness of some coutry people that let us stay in their back yards with our fancy tent and stove and air matresses when we were on vacation.
There is a load of bullshit happening here right now. But there’s also a lot of amazing things going on too.
I love my country, and though I don’t want to settle here when I grow up, I will never deny my roots because this is a beautiful place, even if some people out there refuse to acknowledge this fact and keep giving us the worst image ever in the rest of the world.
This is just me, talking about the place I was born, a place that I love with all my heart, and that I really, truthfully, have hope for.
I just wanna leave already
I’m trying to convince my parents to send me away to someplace for a few days or so for vacation. If this works out, and if I get enough money and stuff, I get to choose to go to either Colombia or Spain. Anyone help me pick? Which do you think sounds cooler?
Cartagena de Indias, Barranquilla and/or Cali, Colombia
Or
Palma de Mallorca and possibly Barcelona, Spain.
Fruit Market - Santa Marta, Colombia (by whl.travel)
Stan Kroenke, hideously rich.
The current holders of the MLS Cup are Colorado Rapids. An extra-time own goal by FC Dallas defender George John saw The Centennial State gain its first soccer cup since the now defunct Colorado Foxes won the APSL in 1993. It was also the first MLS Cup for the Colorado Rapids.
Owned by Stan Kroenke, the majority shareholder at Arsenal and owner of teams across all the major sports in North America, the Rapids play at the wonderfully named Dick`s Sporting Goods Park after five years at the now-demolished Mile High Stadium, followed by four years at Invesco Field at Mile High (home of the NFL`s Denver Broncos).
Perhaps the most recognisable face from their past is midfielder Carlos Valderrama. After a spells at Tampa Bay Mutiny, Miami Fusion, and then back at Mutiny, Colombian Valderrama spent his final year in the game at Colorado Rapids.
Hair Bear loses Bubi Bear and Square Bear in Wonderland Zoo.
Despite being slower than my friend Samuel’s letter from Afghanistan (that Canadian postal strike is getting a bit irritating), and questions over his best position, Valderrama represented Colombia 111 times, scoring 11 times. His international career, coupled with influencial performances for Montpellier HSC in European competitions and, in particular, a French Cup semi-final against Saint-Étienne, made him bigger than his hair. He was transferred to Montpellier on the strength of a performance against England at Wembley in 1988, and a 2-0 loss at World Cup 1998 to England, courtesy of goals from Darren Anderton (that clown got 30 caps!) and David Beckham, marked his last appearance for his country.
Colorado Rapids` first ever manager was Bob Houghton, a former colleague and compatriot in Swedish football with friend Roy Hodgson. Houghton has had nineteen managerial stints, taking him all over the world. His last job was with the Indian national team where he resigned in April after five years in charge. In his playing career he was a competent and traditional English forward.
Bob Houghton
There has been plenty of English connections in recent years. You can make the beginnings of a side with former Rapid players who are currently out of contract: goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, recently released from Wolves, spent two-and-a-half years in Colorado; Manchester United trainee Terry Cooke was at Rapids for four years and last played for Tony Adams’s Gabala FC in Azerbaijan; forward Junior Agogo, who has played for nine different English clubs, scored 11 in 32 games for Rapids; and former Charlton striker Shaun Bartlett (goal of the season 2000-01: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPTm0vrX-LU) played for Rapids in the MLS’s first season.
Former Colorado boys with English connections who are now retired include former Chelsea man John Spencer; former Arsenal, Everton and Birmingham midfielder Anders Limpar; and England international goalkeeper Chris Woods.
John Spencer at Chelsea
Nowadays, under the tutelage of Englishman Gary Smith, “firepower” of Caleb Folan (he isn’t scoring much in the MLS either), Aston Villa trainee Danny Earls, and twice-capped Scotsman Jamie Smith, Rapids are fifth in a nine-team Western Conference. They will look to redeem themselves after losing 4-1 at Columbus Crew when they face Houston Dynamo at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Sunday.
Monumento de los comuneros.
LA MUERTE DE MARCO RUIZ
Someone new to me: Gabriel Valenzuela, who plays Emilio ?onde in Telemundo’s “La Casa de al Lado”.
Nos llegaron nuevas camisas! 100% Algodòn con bordados en seda hechos a mano.
Campus Party Colombia 2011
Hotel Divanga - hostel with pool in Teganga, ( 4hrs from cartegena) colombia
Moderlandet. With love. #colombia
TransMilenio
(by CARLOSVEL)
Iglesia Santo Domingo.
He just walked into our room… lulzy. stare off brb.
ha ha he dragged me off the bed and down the hall.. my life
(by moshi moshi jonas)
Marcha de la diversidad en Medellín:Bonitos ;)
Mural de Lady Gaga en O-Bar-Medellin! Born This Way
untitled by moshi moshi jonas on Flickr.
| Luciferian - I am Perverse | Colombia | Black Metal
Taken from: I am Perverse | 2011
Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/luciferian666
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/luciferian
”El Metal no es para cristianos”, Si te gusta este concepto síguenos en facebook
_Blackened
empanadas and avena
Sangre&Fe // 7000 Robles
Colombia :)
Moda colombiana
Najla Said: An Open Letter to Shakira: We Are Not All Israel:Dear Shakira,
Since your trip to Israel this week was ostensibly one of “good will” and humanity, and since in your speech to the Israeli Presidential Conference you stated that you are “convinced…that investing in education is the best strategy for peace and global stability,” I am going to give you an education. In humanity and solidarity.
Let me start by saying that I was a fan of yours before your mainstream American commercial success. I loved your Spanish albums, and I loved you for seeming like a rebellious little punk who dyed her hair funny colors and sang melodiously along to crunchy “rock ‘n’ roll” guitar riffs about how messed up you were over a boy. You reminded me of the Spanish Alanis Morrissette. When you released your first English language album, I was a little sad that the whole world would know about you, but I was also excited for them to, because you loved to talk about being Lebanese. So even though your English lyrics were laughable and you dyed your hair blonde and became a Britney Spears clone like they all do, you were still you, shaking your hips and banging your drums and telling the world that belly dancing was in your blood, because you are Lebanese. And when Wyclef Jean said, “Let me see you move like you come from Colombia,” as you did your famous hip gyrations, a few of us who are also Lebanese cringed, but we got over it because we were proud of you.
Don’t get me wrong, Shaki, I don’t want you to go back to being your younger self. I am glad that you, like Alanis, grew up and discovered love, peace and happiness, but you might have thought a bit about what it means to be educated before you spoke publicly about how important it is. I don’t expect you to be “political.” I know you are an entertainer and it’s not your job to “be political.” But you made yourself political from day one by showing off your Lebanese-ness.
Here is the thing about being Lebanese or Arab; you kind of have to love us for who we are and what we feel as much as you love us for our hummus and our belly dancing because for the first time in a long time we are proud of where we are from and are able to speak out about injustices that have been committed against us and our loved ones for decades. And here you are, making us feel shitty and hurt. You weren’t an Orientalist before because you seemed to be one of us, but now, my love, you are.
The modern state of Israel shares geography, but nothing more, with the “Abrahamic” religions that may have originated there.As a UN goodwill ambassador, you maybe should have thought about the hundred or so (give or take) UN resolutions that the State of Israel has defied before hugging their President, Shimon Peres. You might have thought of visiting Gaza instead of one of the rare schools in Israel proper, where Israeli and Arab children, who are fortunate enough to be allowed citizenship, learn together. In 2006, you spoke out against the Israeli war on Lebanon, and called for an end to the fighting. In your statement, you said, “We do not need leaders who create dispute, anger and hate, but rather leaders who care about the people and their needs.” Well, your lips lied on that one, honey. Again, I need only to point to your ridiculous love fest with Peres at the Israeli Presidential Conference yesterday to prove my point. People who actually believe in peace and goodwill do not ignore half the people in the equation when they set out to perform acts of peace and good will. They don’t hug former military leaders (even ones who have a Nobel Peace Prize), and they don’t say things like this:
“I am very happy to be in Israel, because I believe this is the perfect place to talk about how urgent it is to make education a priority. Israel has been a great melting pot of cultures for so many centuries. It will continue to be. In my song ‘Waka Waka,’ I sang how we are all Africa. Today I want to say that as part of western civilization we are all the inheritors of an Abrahamic culture and a soul that has been forged here; therefore, we are all Israel, too.”
We are not all Israel, Shakira, and that’s the point. The modern State of Israel shares geography, but nothing more, with the “Abrahamic” religions that may have originated there. Some of us are Palestinian and cannot be Israeli. Some of us are from Gaza and cannot even go to Israel. Some of us are Lebanese and have been bombed by Israel. Some of us are Jewish and don’t believe in what Israel says and does. That doesn’t mean it has no right to exist; it does, but so do we.
And since you spoke of children and education, I’d like to leave you with something that Alice Walker said the other day about her decision to ride on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. It sums up everything I am trying to say much more beautifully than I ever could:
“I see children, all children, as humanity’s most precious resource, because it will be to them that the care of the planet will always be left. One child must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in speeches that circle the globe.
As adults, we must affirm, constantly, that the Arab child, the Muslim child, the Palestinian child, the African child, the Jewish child, the Christian child, the American child, the Chinese child, the Israeli child, the Native American child, etc., is equal to all others on the planet. We must do everything in our power to cease the behavior that makes children everywhere feel afraid.”
Thank you for your time, Miss Mubarak (Hey, come to think of it, are you related to the dude who ran Egypt for a really long time? Because that would explain EVERYTHING!).
Love,
Najla
Another long, loooong interview with Bolillo was published in Colombia today, this time in El Espectador. In this one, he talks a lot about the past, both his own and of the national team, and we get far more detail than such a profile usually includes. Again, definitely worth reading.
In the Crystal River in Colombia.
schweeeeet!
(by catalepsia)
“The chemical at the heart of the planet’s most widely used herbicide — Roundup weedkiller, used in farms and gardens across the U.S. — is coming under more intense scrutiny following the release of a new report calling for a heightened regulatory response around its use.
Critics have argued for decades that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides used around the globe, poses a serious threat to public health. Industry regulators, however, appear to have consistently overlooked their concerns.
”
Here I was at work, minding my business, checking out Twitter to get a hold of the most current news, and stumbling upon a Tweet by a Colombian-news site. So I went to the website to read a particular story more in depth, and saw this curious little widget right on the side:
playground times. san gil, colombia
(via GM marijuana problem growing in Colombia - Yahoo! News)
Islas del Rosario. Cartagena, Colombia.
COL-islas del rosario-0707-12-v1 (by anthonyasael)
Bro-ing out on Baru, Colombia.
