i completely forgot to include CLUB COLOMBIA ROJA. club colombia is one of the national beers, the premium brand if you will, and is a tasty lager. for christmas in recent years they have produced limited edition 'roja' which is a red lager and delicous, especially in the heat. i was so disappointed in january when it ws no longer available. however recently they have re-realeased 'from now until forever'! so iam enjoying while i can and hoping some boutique liquor store will stock them back home (and will no doubt pick some up duty free....)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
tasty treats i'll be missing...
as i am leaving colombia soon, to head back to new zeland and am unsure at this stage whether i will return, i thought i'd share a few of my favourite foods which i am going to miss:
LULADA
this is may absolute favourite thing in colombia. it is a drink made from the lulo fruit and is made using fresh lulos, crushed ice and sweetend condensed milk. lulos are quite tart so need the sugar to be edible, and while im not usually a fan of sweetend condensed milk, luladas are amazing. just the thing when you're having a down day or just want a tasty treat! and as far as i know, you cannot get lulos in nz or oz, in fact outside of valle they seem to be hard to find!
LULOS
the fruit used above, also great in crumbles, jucies with water or milk but no so great straight from the tree as it definately needs some sugar no matter how bitter/tart you like things. they are very tart, described in wikipedia as as cross between lime and rhubarb... not sure i quite agree but no idea how else to describe it!
CHICHARRON
this would probably have to be my secong favorite thing. it is basically crackeling, although here it comes with more meat and is not reserved soley for roast dinners! unlike like lulada i doubt there is any nutritional value but it is so delicious! also when one is hung over there is a place near us which sells what is basically a big piece of chicharron- it is pork leg, a whole leg that is roasted with skin and fat on!
PAN QUESO (calientico)
transalates to cheese bread (hot), but is so much more, it is similar to a crossiant and contains cheese in the center so when fresh and hot the cheese is melted. perfect for breakfast on the run and usually cost around quinientos-pronounced kin-yen-tos pesos (500 COP) each which is aproximately 25 cents! mmmmmm
CHONTADURO
very hard to explain. comes from a palm variety. known in colombia as very caleño and most people outside of cali and parts of valle dont like it. its reasonably dry (but when its very dry its awful) and is boiled and cooled eaten and out of the skin with salt and ocasionally honey. i have managed to find some in one of the supermarkets which are vacuum packedso will bring some back with me.
DIRTY BURGERS
sounds apetizing right? actually they are. they are burgers sold by street vendors in the evening until early hours of the morning, usually a little setup on the side of the road, or in front of a shop which opens during they day. as teh name suggests not all are good, or perhaps will return on you the next day. but i have two favourite spots here in cali, one which sells a mexican burger (loaded with jalepeños). as a rule they have either beef or chicken (or both) tomato, cheese, sauces, crushed crisps, pinapple (i request none).
BANDEJA PAISA
translates as paisa plate. paisa is a region in colombia, and it is a big plate of food containing the following:
chorizo, rice, avocado, mince, beans, chicharron, fried egg, arepa (flat corn bread) + patacones (fried green platanin)
PLANTANO VERDE
or green platanin. it is a variety of banana and looks identical to the common banana (which apparently is actually a 'dessert banana') but is larger. it can be eaten green or later on when it is riper (maduro) however i like it green. unlike the dessert banana it needs to be cooked in some manner, best is fried. fried it is similar, i guess, to potato fries or fried taro.
no doubt there are more but i cant think of anything at the moment! hopefully some i will be able to find back home (platano i am sure...) otherwise i will just have to wait til i come back!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
from las calles to the catwalk
so gus and i went to salento for the long weekend with friends, it is one of my favorite places in colombia, and we had visited briefly over christmas. it has a lovely old town, great artisan stores and some cool little bars. i managed to fit in a spot of shopping and my new prized posession is a carriel.
it is a traditional leather satchel, from the paisa region in colombia. they are used by los vaqueros (cowboys) and have a hidden pocket, as well as a place for a gun (you know, the one i always carry) but being well made and pratical, are now used by many men through out colombia these days. notice i said men. well i think thay are fantastic, except the touristy variety which tend to look a bit tacky. they are very well made, sturdy and i found one i think is beautiful. so while i cant use it here, for fear of odd looks and making myself look even more gringa, i can't wait to get home so i can use it! heres a peak:
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
sleeping tight(er)...
crime and assasinations have increased quite dramatically in cali this year, in comparision with past years which have seen decreases and last year which until december had been at an all time low.
possibly due to the change in government and a slightly laxer view on security while addressing other issues and no doubt not helped by the dispalcement of thousands of colombians due to the flooding. organised crime also seems to be increasing and consolidating its hold on valle de cauca (valle). valle , the department cali is located in is home the largest and most prominent colombian drug cartels while other parts of the department are plagued by FARC.
while i have no doubt crime has increades across the country as well as valle, the spot light seems to be on cali at the moment. between january to may 2011 there were almost 750 intentional killings in cali alone, 80 of these attributed to los rastrojos, one of the infamous cartels in colombia an regarded as the hiers to the cali cartel which came to a head in 1995 due to major arrests of the cartel heads amognst other things. there is also news of 'mafia war' type relacions between los rastrojos and los urabeños, another cartel whose turf is more towards the atlantic coast but as always there are overlaps.
this week 700 additional police have been brought into cali to help with security. with more forces to come. there has been mention of possible military personal as part of the new security plan as well, be at the moment i dont see any evidence of this.
the military are widely respected in colombia as, funnily enough, they are relatively free of corruption (well at least at the lower levels) unlike the police who, as in many countries, are largely thugs and here it seems they make most of their money from bribes.
certainly the sight of armed police and military is nothing new here, and something i have become very accustomed too, the military more often than not, carry automatic weapons.
possibly due to the change in government and a slightly laxer view on security while addressing other issues and no doubt not helped by the dispalcement of thousands of colombians due to the flooding. organised crime also seems to be increasing and consolidating its hold on valle de cauca (valle). valle , the department cali is located in is home the largest and most prominent colombian drug cartels while other parts of the department are plagued by FARC.
while i have no doubt crime has increades across the country as well as valle, the spot light seems to be on cali at the moment. between january to may 2011 there were almost 750 intentional killings in cali alone, 80 of these attributed to los rastrojos, one of the infamous cartels in colombia an regarded as the hiers to the cali cartel which came to a head in 1995 due to major arrests of the cartel heads amognst other things. there is also news of 'mafia war' type relacions between los rastrojos and los urabeños, another cartel whose turf is more towards the atlantic coast but as always there are overlaps.
this week 700 additional police have been brought into cali to help with security. with more forces to come. there has been mention of possible military personal as part of the new security plan as well, be at the moment i dont see any evidence of this.
the military are widely respected in colombia as, funnily enough, they are relatively free of corruption (well at least at the lower levels) unlike the police who, as in many countries, are largely thugs and here it seems they make most of their money from bribes.
certainly the sight of armed police and military is nothing new here, and something i have become very accustomed too, the military more often than not, carry automatic weapons.
Friday, June 3, 2011
snippets of culture...
music....
tonight we are going to see choc quib town, a colombian hip hop group from colombia i like. gus managed to get us some free tickets which is fantastic, although he wont be joining us as he has to work. the concert is being held in a bar in grenada, cali's ponsinby road or crown st if you will. an older area which has a whole lot of bars, restaurants and desinger stores.
here is a taste: http://youtube.com/watch?v=bZBA3Rq8VCk&feature=related
also during la feria (between xmas and new year) i went to 'el super concierto' a big concert which was held out a one of the football stadiums outside of the city. it went on from around 6pm until 4 am and featured many big colombian and latino artists alike. including rubén blades, gran combo de puerto rico, jorge celedón, silvestre dangond amoungst others. the set up was great because they all played mano a mano so two artists/groups would play 'vs' each other, one playing for a bit, the other for a stint and then the same again, so you were never left bored.
needles to say, as it was on a thursday night, by the time we got into town again it was around 5am so us girls went to a restaurant near the office which opens early (or would it be late?) and had a big breakfast before heading to work!
theater.....
i also recently went to el teatro negro (black light theater) who were visiting from prague, who put on a play which utilises black box theater and UV lights along with mime and expressive dance. it was held in the municipal theater which is deliciously old, and decorated with mouldings and ceiling murals and was heaps of fun.
film......
we also recently wathed los colores de la montaña, a wonderful colombian film about a small town in the mountains and the interaction between the towns folk and the guerrilla. centred around the children who attend the local school and their interactiong with each other when the adults arent present as well as seeing things from their view the film is therefore incidently at times rather amusing. i would highly recomend it, and will be bring back a dvd (with english subtitles) if anyone wishes to see it.
dance.....
just before i come home we are gonig to be seeing delirium, the top salsa show in the world which i've been told is some what cirque de soliel in parts. they only perform the last friday of each month in cali and while its not cheap, everyone says it is a must see, colombians and foreigners alike, so really looking forward to it!
there is also an international festival of ballet about to start here in cali, however as we head away for the long weekend i am not sure if we will get to see anything, fingers crossed we can make something work.
tonight we are going to see choc quib town, a colombian hip hop group from colombia i like. gus managed to get us some free tickets which is fantastic, although he wont be joining us as he has to work. the concert is being held in a bar in grenada, cali's ponsinby road or crown st if you will. an older area which has a whole lot of bars, restaurants and desinger stores.
here is a taste: http://youtube.com/watch?v=bZBA3Rq8VCk&feature=related
also during la feria (between xmas and new year) i went to 'el super concierto' a big concert which was held out a one of the football stadiums outside of the city. it went on from around 6pm until 4 am and featured many big colombian and latino artists alike. including rubén blades, gran combo de puerto rico, jorge celedón, silvestre dangond amoungst others. the set up was great because they all played mano a mano so two artists/groups would play 'vs' each other, one playing for a bit, the other for a stint and then the same again, so you were never left bored.
needles to say, as it was on a thursday night, by the time we got into town again it was around 5am so us girls went to a restaurant near the office which opens early (or would it be late?) and had a big breakfast before heading to work!
theater.....
i also recently went to el teatro negro (black light theater) who were visiting from prague, who put on a play which utilises black box theater and UV lights along with mime and expressive dance. it was held in the municipal theater which is deliciously old, and decorated with mouldings and ceiling murals and was heaps of fun.
film......
we also recently wathed los colores de la montaña, a wonderful colombian film about a small town in the mountains and the interaction between the towns folk and the guerrilla. centred around the children who attend the local school and their interactiong with each other when the adults arent present as well as seeing things from their view the film is therefore incidently at times rather amusing. i would highly recomend it, and will be bring back a dvd (with english subtitles) if anyone wishes to see it.
dance.....
just before i come home we are gonig to be seeing delirium, the top salsa show in the world which i've been told is some what cirque de soliel in parts. they only perform the last friday of each month in cali and while its not cheap, everyone says it is a must see, colombians and foreigners alike, so really looking forward to it!
there is also an international festival of ballet about to start here in cali, however as we head away for the long weekend i am not sure if we will get to see anything, fingers crossed we can make something work.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
16..............again...
so...... i have a braces face again (or metal mouth, train tracks and so on!), yes and as everyone very kindly points out, i look like a teenager, the only positve to that being that i clearly dont have any wrinkles that have set in yet. medicine and orthodontic etc are all very advanced here and hae the added bonus of being a hell of a lot cheaper than the western world, margins arent as high and labour costs are super low. also gus's sister is an orthodontist so she will be making the adjustments for free.
i have fancy braces called in-ovations, and basically the difference is that there are no rubber bands as the brackets have these nifty clip (hence the expense) and so the wire can slide freely meaning less frequent visits to the orthodintist and faster results. i have had them on for a month and already (to the laymans eye) they are almost perfectly straight. ofcourse they need to stay on a bit longer to fine tune and for the teeth to get used to being there, but they certainly are much quicker than traditional braces. but here thay cost me around $300 instead of $7000-$9000!
i have fancy braces called in-ovations, and basically the difference is that there are no rubber bands as the brackets have these nifty clip (hence the expense) and so the wire can slide freely meaning less frequent visits to the orthodintist and faster results. i have had them on for a month and already (to the laymans eye) they are almost perfectly straight. ofcourse they need to stay on a bit longer to fine tune and for the teeth to get used to being there, but they certainly are much quicker than traditional braces. but here thay cost me around $300 instead of $7000-$9000!
NZ comes to Cali.....
so, as you may know, the new zealand sub 20 team has qualified for the sub 20 world cup to be held in colombia in july. all new zealand games in the intials rounds are to be palyed in cali at the newly upgraded stadium, so i have picked a lousy time to come home! but i have my friends words that they will suppport my team (well except ofcourse if they get through and play colombia at some point).
¡vamos los blanquitos!
¡vamos los blanquitos!
Monday, May 30, 2011
...hard path of change....
ok well first i want to mention, my spanish grades, luckily, were not reflective of how i felt the exam went, in fact, i got a lovely 4.5 of 5.
now this entry has a few points to it, the fist being that it marks a mile stone for me. i watched a documentary recently and understood a good 90% of what was said/discussed. For me this was as fantastic as the topic was sickening.
the programm is called 'espiciales de pirry'. the programme is colombian and pirry is the guy that investigates and presents the show, similar to the likes of 60 minutes etc. the subject of this particular episode was luis garavito.
garavito is a colombian serial killer who has possible the most viticms of any killer in the world, other than war criminals.
while having only admited to crimes comitted to just under 140 victims, he is being investigated regarding another 172 and the authorities and other belive there to be be many more than this. garavito is aptly known as 'le bestia' or in english 'the beast'.
he is one of the worlds worst peadophiles and his crimes involve raping, tourturing, killing and then dismembering children betweens the ages of 6 to 16. his victims were mainly poor children or street children, and he would lure them with small amounts of money or gifts.
so while he is a horrendous human being my issue is the following:
colombian law has not 'life' term and states that you can only be sentanced for the worst of the crimes comitted. therefore, while he has admitted to 140 killings, which in most other countries would earn you 140 sentances to be served end on end, he only recived a sentance for 30 years.
on top of this, as he helped the police in locating the bodies of these vicitms and many of the addional 172 he is being investigated for, he had his sentance reduced to 22 years. furthermore tit is likely he will be released in 3 years due to good behaviour, having served less than 15 years.
due in part to pirry's investigation this has lead to a change in sentancing laws here and while this is a step in the right direction, ufortunately will not affect garavito as colombian laws are not retrospective.
pirry spent many months preparing for the interviews for this episode in part with the hope he would get some new information which would be able to be used to charge garavito for new crimes as double jeporady means he cannot be re-tried for the same crimes more than once. however to my knowlege nothing new surfaced.
everyones worst fears are that he will return to previous habits once freed. pirry's documentary showed garavito to be void of any compassion or acknoldgement of what he did was wrong, he even mentions he wishes to run for government on his release. he takes no responsability for his actions and blames the children, and his own experience of being a victim of sexual abuse, although there are many out there who have been victims and do not go on to rape and kill over 300 children.
all expert opions, agreed that he is not reformed and that it was almost impossible that he ever would be.
the only saving grace is that here in colombia, there is no doubt he will be shot once released, i don't even think it will necesarily be by a family member of a victim. he is loathed here by all.
now this entry has a few points to it, the fist being that it marks a mile stone for me. i watched a documentary recently and understood a good 90% of what was said/discussed. For me this was as fantastic as the topic was sickening.
the programm is called 'espiciales de pirry'. the programme is colombian and pirry is the guy that investigates and presents the show, similar to the likes of 60 minutes etc. the subject of this particular episode was luis garavito.
garavito is a colombian serial killer who has possible the most viticms of any killer in the world, other than war criminals.
while having only admited to crimes comitted to just under 140 victims, he is being investigated regarding another 172 and the authorities and other belive there to be be many more than this. garavito is aptly known as 'le bestia' or in english 'the beast'.
he is one of the worlds worst peadophiles and his crimes involve raping, tourturing, killing and then dismembering children betweens the ages of 6 to 16. his victims were mainly poor children or street children, and he would lure them with small amounts of money or gifts.
so while he is a horrendous human being my issue is the following:
colombian law has not 'life' term and states that you can only be sentanced for the worst of the crimes comitted. therefore, while he has admitted to 140 killings, which in most other countries would earn you 140 sentances to be served end on end, he only recived a sentance for 30 years.
on top of this, as he helped the police in locating the bodies of these vicitms and many of the addional 172 he is being investigated for, he had his sentance reduced to 22 years. furthermore tit is likely he will be released in 3 years due to good behaviour, having served less than 15 years.
due in part to pirry's investigation this has lead to a change in sentancing laws here and while this is a step in the right direction, ufortunately will not affect garavito as colombian laws are not retrospective.
pirry spent many months preparing for the interviews for this episode in part with the hope he would get some new information which would be able to be used to charge garavito for new crimes as double jeporady means he cannot be re-tried for the same crimes more than once. however to my knowlege nothing new surfaced.
everyones worst fears are that he will return to previous habits once freed. pirry's documentary showed garavito to be void of any compassion or acknoldgement of what he did was wrong, he even mentions he wishes to run for government on his release. he takes no responsability for his actions and blames the children, and his own experience of being a victim of sexual abuse, although there are many out there who have been victims and do not go on to rape and kill over 300 children.
all expert opions, agreed that he is not reformed and that it was almost impossible that he ever would be.
the only saving grace is that here in colombia, there is no doubt he will be shot once released, i don't even think it will necesarily be by a family member of a victim. he is loathed here by all.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
...lost in the floods...
Ok, so first an apology. as pointed out (yes by you paige!) i have been less than attentive to my blog, me thinks i got a bit washed away in the wet season here, on record as the worst ever, with hundreds of thousands displaced and millions of dollars of damage. so the first thing i have to share with, which follows on nicely from my last post, is my latest spanish exam.
well it didnt go quite as hoped, in fact after having completed it (and several times during) i hung my head in my hands in absolute shock and shame. now, while the exam really isnt all that important, i still wanted to do well for myself and to have hard proof that my spanish actually was quite good (as i had been telling myself) however it looks like i was perhaps a bit ahead of myself. the 'listening' which i was dreading, was infact a lot better than i thought, and then 'grammer and vocab', much worse. the 'writing' was as always my favourite, but didnt have as much time as i would've liked, and the 'reading comprehension' sort of just sat itself in the middle, not sure i hated it, not sure i loved it. and ofcourse at this stage it really is all speculation, and one (being me) can only hope that perhaps it wasn't all that bad, and and really, my spanish is very good........ this one i will defintely update you on (unless ofcourse i was right and it was as much of a disaster as i thought).
secondly, we have no had our 'new' puppy for a good couple of months, possibly another reason i have let the blog slide, far more fun to play with a super cute beagle named puku than try and think of something to write which will hopefully be amusing (very hopefully) and informative. he was gifted to us by the man (name unknown..... likely to be andres, jose, juan or something to that nature) who house the fighting cocks, chicks and hens at our place. lukily puku has passed he stage where he needs to knaw on something (anything) continuosly, and he now sticks to the odd rumble with junior (the big dog) or terrorising our other dog (whom i call 'puppy' or 'the other one' or 'the middle one' as his name seems to be unknown, or perhaps i just foregt it) and the new kittens, also gifted from the same unamed man perhaps a month ago. His other favourite past time is sleeping in the wardrobe on my shoes, which up until last night was ok, then he threw up on them, now hes very much in the dog box and out of the wardrobe!
well i will be blogging again shortly, honestly, but int he mean time its back to work.....
well it didnt go quite as hoped, in fact after having completed it (and several times during) i hung my head in my hands in absolute shock and shame. now, while the exam really isnt all that important, i still wanted to do well for myself and to have hard proof that my spanish actually was quite good (as i had been telling myself) however it looks like i was perhaps a bit ahead of myself. the 'listening' which i was dreading, was infact a lot better than i thought, and then 'grammer and vocab', much worse. the 'writing' was as always my favourite, but didnt have as much time as i would've liked, and the 'reading comprehension' sort of just sat itself in the middle, not sure i hated it, not sure i loved it. and ofcourse at this stage it really is all speculation, and one (being me) can only hope that perhaps it wasn't all that bad, and and really, my spanish is very good........ this one i will defintely update you on (unless ofcourse i was right and it was as much of a disaster as i thought).
secondly, we have no had our 'new' puppy for a good couple of months, possibly another reason i have let the blog slide, far more fun to play with a super cute beagle named puku than try and think of something to write which will hopefully be amusing (very hopefully) and informative. he was gifted to us by the man (name unknown..... likely to be andres, jose, juan or something to that nature) who house the fighting cocks, chicks and hens at our place. lukily puku has passed he stage where he needs to knaw on something (anything) continuosly, and he now sticks to the odd rumble with junior (the big dog) or terrorising our other dog (whom i call 'puppy' or 'the other one' or 'the middle one' as his name seems to be unknown, or perhaps i just foregt it) and the new kittens, also gifted from the same unamed man perhaps a month ago. His other favourite past time is sleeping in the wardrobe on my shoes, which up until last night was ok, then he threw up on them, now hes very much in the dog box and out of the wardrobe!
well i will be blogging again shortly, honestly, but int he mean time its back to work.....
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