President Uribe: a third term?

Most Colombians aren't opposed to President Uribe running for office for a third term. My position doesn't matter. Uribe should groom a potential President-to-be and leave the country running as successfully as it has been. I don't want to equate Colombia to Russia, but look at how over-involved Ex-President Putin is in Russia's affairs. President Uribe could step aside and continue to influence Colombia without endangering Colombia's already fragile democratic institutions.

Mr. Uribe's Choice

President of Colombia Seeks Replay of ’06 Vote

'Uribe debería decir a sus amigos que no desea un tercer período', dice 'The New York Times'

travel: parque nacional tayrona

Looking for an exotic destination to travel? Tayrona National Park in Colombia is the place to be.



Tayrona National Park in Colombia has always been known as one of the wildest corners of South America. Its swimming beaches are reached by a trail that dips and climbs through the forest over mounds of giant white boulders.

Who wouldn't want to swim in these beautiful waters? They are the fabled beaches of El Cabo San Juan del Guía.

Below, tourists make their way to a beach along a trail through the jungle. For years the park were a battleground between guerrilla and paramilitary groups, both of whom coveted the region as a base for cocaine processing and smuggling.

Below, a Kogui Indian boy in the park. The area is studded with archaeological sites left by Tayrona’s indigenous tribes — the Koguis and the Arhuacos — who settled the region in pre-Columbian times.

Below, a view from one of a dozen Ecohab rooms. Although these are luxury cabins, they are meant to resemble traditional Kogui dwellings.

In late 2003, the Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe, cracked down on crime. With the Sierra Nevada now largely safe, the government has set about promoting Tayrona as a tourist paradise. For $245 a night visitors today can stay in the Ecohabs resort, a complex of secluded huts built into the side of a jungled cliff overlooking the Caribbean.

Below, tourists dining in a restaurant inside the park, which is decorated with a mural depicting the Arhuaco Indians.

Below, Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, the butterscotch yellow hacienda where Simón Bolívar, desperately ill with tuberculosis, died on Dec. 17, 1830.

Below is a picture of the inside of the hacienda — a modest adobe villa set around an ocher-tiled courtyard. It still has the canopied wooden bed where Bolívar drew his last breaths.

To read the entire article from the New York times, reviewing parque nacional tayrona as a must-go-to place, click here.

gringos in Colombia: lauren davis

In the beautiful port city of Cartagena, with helicopters buzzing overhead and nine designers for as many bridesmaids, Lauren Davis wore mini, maxi and everything in between for her spectacular wedding. Lauren Davis is a socialite turned Contributing Fashion Editor for Vogue US. Her husband is billionaire Andrés Santo Domingo . They got married on January 8 in Cartagena, Colombia, the home country of her now husband.

wordless calm: las islas del rosario

cartagena: the colorful city

Click here to the read the article that Anthony Bourdain wrote about his travels to Colombia.

Below, an excerpt.
I can't think of another country where the No Reservations crew has been welcomed so enthusiastically everywhere we went. Absolutely everybody we met seemed delighted and proud that we'd come to point our cameras at them. And we were allowed and enabled, I should point out, to point them any damn where we pleased. Someone less...forgiving in temperament, less zen-like than me might feel tempted to point out to some other tourist boards the wisdom of letting us go and do whatever we want--no matter how uncomfortable the official organs might be about some of our interests--compared to the result when officialdom tries to "manage" what we see and don't see. . As it turned out, it was the uncontrollable elements, the poor fishermen, the inner city market workers, the residents of the neighborhood in Medellin with the very worst reputation who did their country most proud.

the lost city: santa marta

colombia: trade deal, a positive for both america and colombia

“Someone’s going to lose a job, but many more will gain one so, in the aggregate, the world is economically better off.” — Professor Kevin C. Kennedy

Free trade is a system in which the trade of goods and services between or within countries flows unhindered by government-imposed restrictions. Such government interventions generally increase costs of goods and services to both consumers and producers. Interventions include taxes and tariffs, non-tariff barriers, such as regulatory legislation and quotas.

The Colombian trade deal with the United States is at a stalemate. Even though it would benefit Americans more than Colombians, it will not be passed anytime soon due to silly politics and to the simple fact that politicians are doing anything they can to win over voters.

Below are some facts

• In the recent months, nearly 100 newspapers in the U.S. have endorsed the Colombian trade agreement. So have many top democrats, including Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago.


• At least 55 members of Congress, including two Democrats from the Senate and 25 from the House, have traveled to Colombia, in trips usually led by an indefatigable cheerleader for the trade pact, either Ms. Schwab or the commerce secretary, Carlos M. Gutierrez.


• The White House says Mr. Bush has called for passage of the deal 40 times, and Ms. Schwab and other cabinet members have given 145 speeches on it.


• The administration has lined up the support of Democratic mayors and members of the Clinton administration, and obtained endorsements from trade associations with ties to Democrats, including those for the movie, music and consumer electronics industries.


• By itself, trade with Colombia represents barely 1 percent of total United States trade volume. Imports from Colombia totaled $9.4 billion in 2007, mostly oil, spices, coffee and tea. Exports, of machinery, chemicals, plastics, corn and other goods, were $8.6 billion.

Some important links

• Cheap Shots over free trade


• McCain: Colombia FTA benefits U.S.


• U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement Good for American Jobs