http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/ The people I meet, the places I visit and the stories I write during my five-week journey to Bogota, Colombia. Copyright 2008 Sat, 09 Apr 2005 12:21:23 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This will be my last post from Colombia. I leave tomorrow with sadness in my heart. I made good friends during my five weeks in Bogota, people who helped me understand the way they live, the way their city works;... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/hasta_pronto_bo.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/hasta_pronto_bo.php Sat, 09 Apr 2005 12:21:23 -0500 After four days sunbathing in the Carribean, I'm back to Bogota, enjoying my last days in the city. I was in Cartagena, a beautiful town still surrounded by the same walls built by the Spaniards in the 16th century as... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/after_four_days_1.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/after_four_days_1.php Wed, 06 Apr 2005 14:51:19 -0500 My head hurt and spinned as I made my way back home at rush hour. It couldn't be the beer, I thought, for I had downed only one. Perhaps it was the pollution, the thick black smoke that spewed out... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/pollution_and_t.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/04/pollution_and_t.php Fri, 01 Apr 2005 12:19:54 -0500 The U.S. has spent close to $80 million to get Colombia ready to switch from a written, inquisitive judicial system to the accusatory system that starred in courtrooms in Bogota and a few other cities three months ago. It's a... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/yankee_justice.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/yankee_justice.php Thu, 31 Mar 2005 13:23:46 -0500 I have asked, but have yet to hear a convincing answer: Why are New York Yankees hats so popular in Bogota, a city where most know nothing about baseball? Why are thongs called Brazilian panties in Colombia when Brazilians do... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/ramblings.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/ramblings.php Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:54:45 -0500 Waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday for a five-hour hike through the woods how I usually start the weekend, but Marta wouls likely not have waited for me if I showed up late for our scheduled trip. We... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/five_hours_in_p.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/five_hours_in_p.php Sun, 27 Mar 2005 16:29:29 -0500 Lupe walked through the thick, sweaty crowd and stepped onto the small stage at Kabu, the "It" spot for gay bogotanos. Lupe was dressed like a diva: bright red mini-dress with a ruffled skirt and snug top, knee-high black leather... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/what_a_drag.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/what_a_drag.php Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:23:07 -0500 The walls glittered as we walked through the dark tunnels at Zipaquira, to the cathedral 180 meters underground, where the air is cool and smells the way the ocean smells in my hometown, the way seaweed smells when it dries... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/a_salt_sanctuar.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/a_salt_sanctuar.php Tue, 22 Mar 2005 12:04:22 -0500 The first thing I noticed when I walked into Fundacion La Fortaleza Thursday morning was the little girl who played with an inflated condom as if it were a balloon. La Fortaleza is home to 32 demobilized paramilitary soldiers, their... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/the_bad_and_the.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/the_bad_and_the.php Fri, 18 Mar 2005 16:01:23 -0500 I arrived at the police station in Usme, one of Bogota's poorest localities, around 11 a.m., escorted by Patrolman John Mejia, my guide for the day. Mejia is 25, has olive skin and beautiful green eyes. He has worked as... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/i_arrived_at_th.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/i_arrived_at_th.php Wed, 16 Mar 2005 18:33:00 -0500 Marta turned 39 yesterday, so we went out to celebrate with a few of her friends from Revista Semana, Colombia's lead news magazine. Marta is a festy reporter and an expert in Colombia's conflict, which she has been covering for... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/a_magazine_that.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/a_magazine_that.php Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:32:56 -0500 I heard that from Maria, a woman who gathered three of her eight children one night six years ago and escaped the bloody war that has torn apart her hometown, a place tucked in the jungles of southern Colombia, close... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/i_may_have_noth_1.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/i_may_have_noth_1.php Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:25:41 -0500 Don't try to reach anyone in Bogota between 12 and 2 p.m. The city stops for two hours every weekday to give workers time off for lunch. Bogotanos take their lunch seriously. They often walk out of office buildings in... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/lunch_time.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/lunch_time.php Fri, 11 Mar 2005 18:03:39 -0500 There's not one person I've met who hasn't warned me about Bogota's taxi drivers, so i'm obviously very suspicious of them all. The cabbies love to pry and they will interview you like an obnoxious reporter to find out as... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/who_am_i.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/who_am_i.php Thu, 10 Mar 2005 14:49:05 -0500 Diego Felipe Gallego Martinez is a man who likes to read. At a corner of his mahogany desk, within arm's reach, are two equally high piles of books. Harvard Business Review's "Liderazgo," or "Leadership," is a must-have management reference book,... http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/el_demonio_y_la.php http://www.reportersabroad.org/colombia/archives/2005/03/el_demonio_y_la.php Tue, 08 Mar 2005 17:42:39 -0500