Colombian Culture, Colombia Adoption and Raising Colombian Kids

Colombia, which ranks second in the world for plant diversity, is home to about 45,000 different plant species. Only Brazil, a country which is 6 1/2 times larger than Colombia, has more distinct plant species (about 55,000). This means that approximately 15% of plant species world wide are found in Colombia. Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers to the world. (There is nothing like a Colombian rose on Mother's Day -- May 9th -- Hint! Hint!) One interesting statistic about Colombian biodiversity. Colombia makes up 1% of the planet surface, but it contains 10% of the world's entire biodiversity. Some of the more interesting plants of Colombia include: La Victoria (Victoria regia) which grows large enough for a child to sit on it and float. And the Frailejón (Espeletia schultzii) which grow in the páramo regions of Colombia. Pictures: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Victoria_regia_Kew_Gardens.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rossettenstauden.JPG

The 21 of May marks the official day of Afrocolombian celebration in Colombia -- more about the actual holiday on 5/21. However, I became aware of a House Resolution currently circulating in Washington D.C. that deserves our attention. As menitoned in previous posts, Colombia has the highest rate of Internally Displaced People (refugees) in the world -- even higher than Iraq. I wrote a post about this issue a while back. http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2009/07/greatest-number-of-internal-refugees.html In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that the government was violating the rights of the displaced persons and ordered them to fi the situtation. Unfortunately, the government has does little to comply with the court rulings. Now, " Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia and twenty-two other Representatives are sponsoring Resolution 1224 to mobilize U.S. government support for the work of the Colombian Constitutional Court and to urge the Colombian go...

Might I introduce you to a Colombian group called: Bomba Estereo. They formed in 2001 and released their first album in 2006. Last year, the release of their 3rd album -- Blow Up! -- rocketed them onto the international Latin Music scene. They call their musical style "Electro-Vacilon". But, to me it sounds like Electro-Cumbia. Anyway, they just played at the South by SouthWest Festival. I thought you might enjoy hearing their #1 hit -- I give you Fuego! In the song they mention some Colombian cultural icons -- Agua de Panela and the Pollera Colora.

A few days ago at work my husband had an interesting exchange with a colleague from the UK. They were, of course, talking about the World Cup, and my huband was giving his opinion about who should win in each group. His friend teasingly asked -- "How many Colombians will be playing the the World Cup?" My husband, knowing that his friend knew darn well that Colombia hadn't qualified asked, "And how many Brits will be singing at the opening ceremony?" The man looked at him as if to say WHAT? To which my husband responded, "Well, 2 Colombians will be there!" So, in honor of that Colombian vindication, I recently found out that the composition written by Shakira has been chosen as the official theme song for the World Cup. Her song includes the Afrocolombian soca, and is accompanied by the South African group -- Freshly Ground. In Spanish: Read more: http://bogota.vive.in/musica/bogota/articulos_musica/abril2010/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_VIVEIN-76...

When I first met my husband, I had just spent 8 months living in rural Mexico. I had a fabulous campesino Mexican accent. When we were married (4 months later), we went to Colombia to spend several months with his family. The first thing I noticed was that my in-laws sounded nothing like my friends in Mexico. While the grammar was the same, they used all kinds of new vocabulary and pronunciation. For example, my sandia (watermelon) became patilla in Colombia. My mantequilla de cachuate (peanut butter) became mantequilla de maní. And my cachucha (baseball hat) became a gorra . Just to name a few of the differences. Not only did various vocabulary words change, but the pronunciation of the same vocabulary word on occasion also changed. Like take the word for beans, Mexicans say fri JO les (stress on the JO). My in-laws in Boyacá say FRI jo les (stress on the FRI). Another big difference that I noticed was that there was a huge variation in accents -- depending on the region of ...

Playing professional soccer (futbol) is the dream of thousands of Colombian boys. For 50 boys who are currently in the ICBF system, this dream has taken one step closer to reality. Last week, ICBF signed an agreement with the professional soccer team, Independiente Santafe, located in Bogota. In this agreement, the team will provide training in their farm leagues for 50 boys, ages 8-18, who are currently under the protective care of ICBF. The boys that will participate were selected by 5 trainers from the professional team. The participants demonstrated not only outstanding soccer skills, but an ability to cooperate and work well as a team. You can read more here: https://www.icbf.gov.co/icbf/directorio/portel/libreria/pdf/BOLETIN_ACUERDOCONSANTAFE_14-03-10.pdf

This is a very common song, often sung through out the Spanish speaking world. You can play a "Duck Duck Goose" type game while singing this song. There are a few variations -- typically who the singer wants to marry -- be it a widow from the capital ( viudita de la capital) or a young woman from the capital ( señorita de la capital) or even an old woman from the capital ( viejita de la capital). The song that you can listen to below uses the young woman. There are also variations as to the things the woman knows how to do. The fact that she knows how to sew and embroider is pretty universal, however, the last thing listed has multiple versions. Here are the lyrics for the song that you can click on below: Arroz con leche Rice pudding Me quiero casar I want to get married Con una señorita To a young single woman de la capital From the capital Que sepa coser That knows how to sew Que sepa bordar That knows how to embroider Que sepa abrir la puerta T...