Archive for the ‘Culture of Colombia’ Category
Attractions in Cali, Colombia
Cali is Colombia’s third largest city with over two million inhabitants. It is located in southwestern Colombia and is known as the world capital of salsa dancing. Cali is one of the few cities in the world where salsa is the main genre for all festivities and entertainment.
Cali’s streets are filled with salsotecas roaring seven nights a week. Other than being the mecca of salsa music, Cali is famous for its abundance of beautiful women. Other diversions are available in this lively destination.
Nightlife
Quick feet and loose hips are needed for a night out in Cali. Salsa dancing is king of the nightlife scene in Cali. Many clubs in the city are along La sexta (6th street). Restaurants, hotels and cafes are all there as well. Granada is another district downtown with many bars, restaurants and boutiques. Granada is good if you want to visit a bar without salsa dancing.
Juanchito, outside the city in the suburb of Rio Cauca, has one of the highest concentrations of discotheque and clubs in the country. Chango is maybe the one notable establishment there. It usually doesn’t get crowded until late at around midnight.
Club Discoteca Chango
Juanchito Vía Cavasa
+ 572-6629701
chango.com.co
Festivals
Feria De Cali (December 25 through January 1) is the biggest celebration in Cali. There is a salsa marathon, horse riding parades, masquerades, a beauty contest, athletics and dance parties. Bullfighting coincides with the fair at La Plaza de Toros de Cañaveralejo. Thousands of visitors attend the event each year. In early July, there is the week long Summer Salsa Festival. Bands from all over the world come every year. Salsa competitions and dance shows are held there as well. Soccer is a big deal in Cali and street parties coincide with soccer matches.
Outdoor Fun
There is no beach near Cali but residents compensate by swimming at the Pance river. It is the least polluted river in the city and maybe the only one suitable for swimming. Sundays are usually heavily crowded. Cali river is west of the city and is one of the more tranquil parts of town. It is surrounded by restaurants, hotels, and an art museum.
Shopping can be done outside at the traditional open air markets at Unicentro in the south and Chipichape in the north. However, the best bargains can be found from street vendors on 13th, 14th and 15th streets downtown. Visitors can go exploring and paragliding at Farallones de Cali national park if they wish to escape the urban environment. Farallones de Cali is a mountain in the Andes of Colmbia and is 4,100 meters in height.
Tags: Cali is Colombia's third largest city, Celebration in Cali, Feria De Cali
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Jul 29th, 2010
About Colombian Traditional Food
Colombia, located in the northwest part of South America has a rich multicultural heritage. The people have Native American, Spanish colonial and African roots. Colombia’s traditional recipes vary based on both the heritage of an area as well on its climate which determines the foods that are easily available.
Identification
1. Corn is a staple in all parts of Colombia. The ripe kernels are traditionally ground by hand into a coarse flour which is mixed with water to form a thick dough. This is cooked like a pancake until the outside is crisp but the center stays a bit mushy. They are called arepas and widely available.
Another traditional corn meal recipe is more elaborate when eggs and either sugar or spices are added to the arepa dough and then fried. The Colombians use immature or “young” corn also to make traditional recipes. The corn is pureed and then mixed with sugar, eggs, and salt before being fried in oil. This young corn is also commonly found in soups.
Geography
2. Indigenous Colombians and descendents of African slaves live on the northern coasts along the Caribbean Sea where the land is low lying, hot and close to the rain forest. Many modern Colombians continue the older culinary traditions by serving fried sliced plantains, called tostones, and using coconut and coconut oil.
They farm cassava, bananas, plantains, corn and beans and for meat they hunt all kinds of game. Peccary, tapirs, deer, turtles, monkeys and most birds are eaten. This area also produces a fatty ant which the people catch and fry. This dish is called culonas.
Features
3. The Cauca Valley of western Colombia has a semi-tropical climate, so bananas, cassava and plantains grow well there. One favorite food resembles a tamale but the spiced meat, green pepper, onion, olive, and raisin stuffing is folded into a green plantain leaf. Baked or stewed, this is called hallacas.
Types
4. The capital of Colombia, Bogota, is located in a more temperate, mountainous area where potatoes grow well so this vegetable is a staple ingredient of the region. Papas chorreadas are boiled potatoes covered in a cream sauce with onions, tomatoes, cheese, chiles and coriander. Another potato recipe is a chicken potato and avocado soup called Ajicao Bogotano.
Considerations
5. In the Orinoco River Valley of Colombia where there is rich grazing land, farmers raise cattle but the meat tends to be tough so traditional Colombian recipes for beef involve long cooking times and strategies to make the meat tender and flavorful. First the meat is cut into small pieces.
Then it is simmered for several hours before being roasted and basted for even more hours. If a traditional Colombian cook wants to roast a large piece of beef, she will stuff it with garlic, carrots, onions and pieces of bacon. First the stuffed roast will be simmered and then roasted until it is tender and all the flavors have spread throughout the meat.
Tags: Avocado soup called Ajicao Bogotano, Colombia, Colombia's traditional recipes, Corn is a staple in all parts of Colombia, Culinary traditions
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Jul 22nd, 2010
About Colombian Women
The social climate in Colombia brings troubled images of a country wrought in political strife, guerrilla wars, drug abuse and poverty. It’s a long-standing struggle for Colombians caught in the middle, especially women and children. Although there are crusades and campaigns helping to uplift women’s rights in Colombia, harsh realities still cloak the nation in continuing turmoil.
History
1. Colombia’s internal conflict, which started in the 1960s, has seen numerous administrations and paramilitary parties wage war against guerrilla insurgency. Along with the spoils of war, violence against Colombian women has ensued. The unrest has also brought about internal displacement for women who had to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere.
Victims of War
2. The United Nations has reported cases of violence against Colombian women in many forms, from slavery to domestic abuse. Women have been exploited as mere weapons of war, either as combatant or sexual servant. Being forced into prostitution, these women are also made to take harsh contraceptive methods. Indigenous women from the poor rural areas fall victims to these crimes.
Thwarted Voices
3. Colombian women freedom fighters crusading for rights and peace have been abducted, brutally tortured and in some instances, killed. Extreme rightists have prohibited women from organizing demonstrations; they threaten women activists with torture.
Effects
4. The crisis has led women to a marginalized state, with poor and displaced women having little or no access to education and health care. Victims don’t know where to turn to, ashamed and bewildered by the degree of violence in their lives.
Some Colombian women are also lured by a life filled with freedom, modern conveniences and a normal family. This dream brings them to join numerous online agencies operating matchmaking services to foreign men based outside Colombia. Likewise, there are many of these international marriage broker sites offering dates with Latin women, some of which are Colombian.
Advocacy Campaigns
5. Global nonprofit groups focused on women’s rights have organized programs to help internally displaced women, largely through awareness advocacy. Lectures and trainings teach local women the necessary skills and information to survive the ordeal. Efforts in constructing shelter and learning centers are also provided by organizations such as the UN, so that victims of gender-based violence can have a safe place to live and study.
Tags: Colombian Women, The social climate in Colombia, Violence against Colombian women
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Jul 19th, 2010
An ode to musical diversity of colombia
Colombia has a wide range of Ethnic and customs that have given rise to a lively, deep and big musical production has even managed to permeate into new genres.
In recent years, the fusion of tropical rhythms and traditional genres like pop and rock, performed by artists such as Shakira, Carlos Vives and Juanes have awarded the internationally renowned Colombian music.
One of the most popular rhythms outside the Vallenato, which has its origins in the Caribbean coast where the mixing of African slaves, European conquerors and indigenous native rhythms generated from various percussion instruments like the box and the drums, Accordion including German and flutes and pipes of Indian origin. To this area belong other rhythms like Cumbia, Porro, the Mapalé, the Champeta, the Merecumbé and puja, which are among its most famous interpreters Toto La Momposina and The Pipers of San Jacinto.
The music of the Andes takes African and indigenous elements, but his greatest influence came from Spain, hence its typical instruments are predominantly of strings. The Spanish guitar, the treble, the four, the mandolin, sometimes accompanied by percussion instruments, elegant melodies give us Bambuco, Guabina, Hall, Whirlpool, vals criollo, and more popular as the carranga, the Lane, the guasca and partying.
In large cities, there are significant movements in genres like rock music, pop, funk, jazz, punk and metal. Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cartagena, is the epicenter of major artists are: Aterciopelados, The Hall Effect, Superlitio, the rock scene, Cabas and Fonseca on the pop, the pestilence in the metal, Diva Gash, are some internationally recognized names. Likewise, there are many scenarios to show the new talents, such as the Park Rock Festival, one of the most important in Latin America dedicated to rock.
Tags: Colombia, Colombia's culture, Gendre Of music in colombia, Kind o, Kind of music in columbia, Music of colombia
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May 30th, 2010
Colombia: cultured and cosmopolitan
Colombians love the good life in our cities and a dynamic culture manifests itself in line with international trends. This is indicated by the International Film Festival and the Hay Festival Cartagena, Manizales Theatre Festival, International Book Fair and the Festival de Jazz de Bogota, the International Poetry Festival of Medellin. Our capital cities are in the circuits of the best DJs in the world. Our museums have significant collections of world art, fashion events enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide and proliferate gay nightclubs and fine restaurants.
The academic excellence of our colleges and universities and the presence of hospitals with high-tech equipment, staffed by international specialists, are increasingly attracting foreign visitors. The physical infrastructure of large cities has been modernized with efficient mass transport systems, wide boulevards and large parks that provide a natural lung for the enjoyment of all.
Bogotá has become an attractive tourist destination. It is a modern city that offers an excellent quality of life. Medellin is the epicenter of the designer and manufacturer of textiles, a reference point of fashion and is recognized by the friendliness of its people and the beauty of its women. To the south is Cali, cheerful and salsa. Their women compete in beauty with the charm and Medellin.
Tags: Columbia culture, Columbia habits, Cosmopolitan in columbia, Night in columbia
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May 12th, 2010
The country of creators and parties
Our handicrafts are appreciated throughout the world: the backpack Arhuaco of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, hat vueltiao the plains of Cordoba, San Jacinto hammock in Bolivar, lacquer objects of Pasto in Narino, ceramics Ráquira Boyaca, are examples of popular creations compete in beauty with the works of art called worship.
Colombian music has enormous variety. The Andean region, of Hispanic heritage, is based on the tones of the guitar, tiple, and mandolin, but south of the country is enriched with flutes and drums of the oboes.
In the Caribbean coast has been imposed for decades on the vallenato ancestral rhythms like cumbia and bullerengue and Santa Marta, Barranquilla and Cartagena champeta gaining strength, and reggaeton.
The Afro of the Pacific region, with its currulao and hymns, bases its strength on drums and marimba, with a melancholy tone of indigenous origin. Indigenous groups in the Amazon have flutes and drums yurupari maguarés, both sacred.
Tags: About columbia, Columbia Arts, Columbia culture, Kind of music in columbia, Music of columbia
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May 9th, 2010
Tradition and Avant-garde
A great diversity of cultures inhabited our territory before the Spanish arrived, some so advanced and sophisticated as those that produced the statues of San Agustin in Huila, the tombs of Tierradentro in Cauca, or the Lost City (Buritaca 2000) in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
With the conquest and colonization, the white Europeans came from Spain, who in turn brought slaves from Africa. That is why Colombia is a multiethnic and multicultural society, where each region has its own characteristics that distinguish it from its neighbors.
Thus, one can speak of Andean culture, which feels more strongly the European ancestry; of Caribbean culture, an amalgam of indigenous and African heritage, of Pacific culture, rooted in Africa and the culture of the Orinoco and Amazon, essentially indigenous.
This complex mixture is expressed not only in the traditions, crafts and cuisine of Colombia, but also in the arts from architecture, painting and sculpture to literature, film and photography, through music, dance and theater.
Colombia is home to more than 87 indigenous peoples who use 64 native languages belonging to 22 language families, too, of several million Afro-Colombians; over 30 million mestizos, of 12 000 Roma and immigrant centers in different regions. In the archipelago of San Andres and Providencia, mostly native islander population speaks English.
Tags: Avant garde in columbia, Culture, Habited in Columbia, Tradition In Columbia
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May 6th, 2010
Culture Package
So cold, the winter … The short days, the temperatures in the basement, the times yearns hectic – especially in this time of year for something to change, according to culture and inspiration for the beautiful things of life. COLUMBIA Hotel Rüsselsheim has in this sense can figure something very special for its guests: a cultural package at its finest.
The highlight is a tour of the critics and press alike acclaimed exhibition “Natalia Goncharova – between Russian tradition and European modernity” in the Rüsselsheim Opel Villas. Some 70 works – works in oil and drawings – the artist, regarded as one of the most colorful and influential Russian avant-garde artists, there are still up to 24/01/2010 to admire.
For art lovers almost a must! But the enjoyment of art itself is not all. To the ambitious program of COLUMBIA Hotels also includes an impressive tour of Rüsselsheim – past landmarks such as the Adam-Opel-monument, the fortress of Rüsselsheim and the late Romantic-inspired Verna Park – and an impressive tea ceremony in the Seven C’s Bar 4 stars Hotels.
And here begins the aspect of recreation and enjoyment in the first place. The cheapest package (three nights you pay only two) in addition to a sumptuous breakfast buffet, the use of the swimming pool and Finnish sauna included. A beautiful mood for an enjoyable evening in which we, for example, at the Brasserie XO pamper you with regional specialties or in the gourmet restaurant with delicious food Navette class can.
Tags: columbia hotel, cultural package, European modernity, Planning a Trip to Columbia, The cheapest package, Tradition In Columbia
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Apr 7th, 2010
The Best Food in Colombia
It’s actually a miracle that Colombians have managed to be a nation. A country with similar ranges in 2007 and where it is still doubtful whether one can pass through the line, what would in the past? Moreover, the process of mestizaje has left the region with a different ethnic identity. Maybe if we managed to come together thanks to some great leaders who have managed, with everything against him, to unite people and make us feel very proud to be Colombian.
Today people travel more. The security that the current government has made us access to the country as never before. Took six years of constant travel of at least three days in the week see the wonders it has to offer Colombia and abroad. There are few places where I have not arrived. There are few foods that I have not tried. Each trip is a pleasure and an appreciation of all the good that we have.
One of the most difficult to visit the Pacific. It is as long and as thin as Chile and has an excellent kitchen. I dare say after many travels.
The region was known in the nineteenth century. The French, who had invested a large percentage of its GDP in the first Channel Pamaná to protect its huge investment geopolitically, opened the region with trade centers on the coast to dominate and had a tremendous impact on the cuisine. In some villages there is a culinary fusion between the native and French.
The nine villages of the Pacific Coast have much more in common among themselves than with the departments to which they belong. Today is the country’s least known and with a huge potential in tourism and as a center of gastronomic excellence.
And all that in huge contrast with the poverty of the region. Unfortunately, government after government has promised a radical change but it never arrived. And meanwhile life goes on. Hopefully death by starvation of forty children in the Chocó was a fact that would help change the future.
The local cuisine is based on the ingredients that surround people. Obviously, the sea food is very particular. Provides quality and freshness. By currents of cold water, especially near Tumaco, that quality is achieved, the best in the country. Recently I took advantage of my many trips to Cali to visit different places of the Pacific coast. Those who have impressed me most are Tumaco and the islands of the bay, although it has a poor reputation for export only footballers.
Not city restaurants. The cuisine is more of a commercial economy of survival, with very small businesses and few sales. A successful post sell about $ 180,000 per day. What is not sold, the family is eating. Do not miss a thing! The cooking liquid is coconut, so each day begins with a grating. It is a hard work but it is the secret of success of the dishes. In the few restaurants in Bogota where they serve dishes with coconut, use canned or frozen coconut milk.
There on the coast, that would be unacceptable. Like all cultures half gourmet poor, have to look around in search of sources of animal protein. In Tumaco leave the mountain to look for animals that can eat. In places it is common to find rabbit bush (guagua lapa or in other parts of the country), fox and mountain (very popular in the city, but the presence of his claws, tail and head with a ferocious teeth makes no such interesting to people outside).
Another surprise is that there are many products smoked. There toyo, skate and tuna. There are too many shells. Salted products are common. Beef mountain is almost more common to fresh meat.
Guide to Pacific Kitchen
Soups. It is the most common foods, especially those that are served as main dish with the name of sancocho, leading cassava and plantain or yam. They have the advantage of being cooked in one pot. But the soups are generally input.
Guiso. Many dishes start with the stew. Skip long onions, tomatoes, red pepper and sometimes garlic. Always salt, pepper, color (using the left and now used annatto Color King), and often throw a cube of chicken stock, which has to be Maggie.
Empanadas. Nearly all are stuffed with seafood or fresh fish or smoked. There is a very interesting, the bullet, which is made with dough and banana is delicious.
Rice Atoll. Although it is a dish that we associate with Cali where we prepare very well, is much more liquid than the Cali and the forgiveness of my friends in Cali, also much better. Almost always prepared with seafood, shell fish or shrimp or smoked. The more liquid goes by the name of Mama Linda is a soup and rice and seafood.
Carapace. Used shell crab or crab, which are among the most common ingredients. The secret is to remove all the strands of meat, casseroles and put it in the form of a shell with root and fried it is not very common to have a furnace in the Coast.
Encocado. The most common is the crab, frankly spectacular. Prepares, in addition to crabs, Pastusa with potato, stew and thick coconut milk and banana is also pintón.
Tamales. Unlike the other sites of tamales in the country, the dough is made with green plantain. The version of the tamale with piangua won the National Prize of Gastronomy.
Piangua. Clam harvest black women is mangroves. One of the major products from the coast, and has a taste and smell of the sea. It’s like the kiss of a siren.
Pata de burro. Much larger version of piangua.
Muchelau. Shrimp is a large river of fresh water, much celebrated in Peru as one of its major products. The Seine was very kind to organize the trip around
Tumaco. One of his professors, Colorado Patricia, took us to different places to try the wonders of the ladies who prepare retaining the native tradition. The Sena is behind this movement. There will be a day when many more people could visit the area and prove the country’s best regional food.
Tags: Food in Colombia, The Best Food in Colombia
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Jan 20th, 2010
The Gold Museum
Perhaps it was the height of the Colombian capital, Bogota (2592 m), which is The Gold Museum, or perhaps the scope and beauty of the museum’s collection, but the truth is that he looked at you out of breath. Although only the light less than 15% of the 30,000 artifacts from the museum, the sophisticated work of exhibits and the sheer magnitude of the collection are stunning.
This is a collection unique in its category that largely dispersed any doubts about the treasure of El Dorado. An extraordinary accumulation of masterpieces that represent all the pre-Colombian cultures of the region.
A series of small gold figures exposed a great pleasure playing birds, masks, frogs, insects and human beings “?
The Gold Museum is located at number 15-82 of the Carrera 6, in the Parque de Santander, and is open Tuesday through Sunday. The price of admission is $ 3.
Tags: Bogota, Colombian capital, The Gold Museum
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Dec 22nd, 2009