Colombian Culture, Colombia Adoption and Raising Colombian Kids

In the Department of Bolívar (as well as other Atlantic Coast Departments), there are two myths related to horses and riders. This makes sense because Bolívar's main industry is livestock. Both myths tell of scary emissaries of the devil. #1 The Caballo Cojo (Limping Horse) In villages in the Center and South of the Department of Bolívar, stories are told that on dark nights a horse can be heard whinnying and galloping across the countryside. The sound of the hoof beats are said to be terrifying and without equal. People who have heard the sound, have also often seen an amazing sight -- a black horse with penetrating, glowing, red eyes --whose presence leaves them frozen and dumb. It is in this frozen and mute state that they will then see the horse, which has only 3 legs, run past. Behind the apparition, will remain a nauseating smell of sulphur. #2 The Vaquero del Otro Mundo (Cowboy from another Word) In several of the towns and villages of the department of Bolívar, peopl...

Two years ago, a scene played out at a hospital in Quibdó, Chocó, which has repeated itself many times over the years. Here is what happened. An indigenous woman entered the hospital with a sick baby. Once the baby was being taken care of, the mother got up and in broken Spanish stated, "I no want baby. I no want baby." The baby had down's syndrome and was suffering from malnutrition. An article in the Colombian weekly magazine, SEMANA, reports that this scene is more common than one would like to admit. According to the author, in several of the Indigenous groups of Colombia there is a belief that having a child with any kind of deformity, a cleft lip, crossed eyes, missing limb or digit, mental retardation, etc. is a punishment of the Gods -- one which they cannot accept. They discontinue feeding the child and, without intervention, it will starve. In other past cases, prior to ICBF intervention and education, children were simply smothered at birth. Now, ICB...

Competing this week for the best Iberoamerican film at the Cartagena film festival is the movie "Los Colores de la Montaña". The movie is directed by the Paisa, Carlos César Arbeláez. It is his first movie. It has already won an award at the international film festival in San Sebastian. Read more here: http://www.sansebastianfestival.com/in/noticia.php?ap=1&id=1453 The story is about the friendship of 3 boys who live in rural Colombia and are surrounded by guerrillas. They love futbol (soccer), and one in particular, Manuel (age 9), dreams of playing as a professional goal keeper some day. Unfortunately, they lose their soccer ball in a field with landmines. You can see the trailer below. And, here is to hoping that it will eventually appear on Netflix :).

Within Colombia's Ministry of Culture is a small program known as the Program for the Protection of Ethnolinguistic Diversity. This week the program announced a tragic loss of Colombian cultural heritage -- the loss of 5 native Colombian languages, with 19 on the critically endangered list. For its size, Colombian boasts an inordinate number of spoken languages, with 65 native languages and 2 creole languages -- this is not to mention Spanish. More than half of those spoken languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. The most threatened language is that of TINIGUA, which as of the date of the report was spoken by only 1 indigenous person living in the department of Meta. The NONUYA language, from the area of Puerto Santander in the department of Amazonas, is next with only 3 speakers. Followed by CARIJONA spoken by 30 people who live in the department of Vaupés. Among the other 19 languages on their way to extinction is the creole of San Basilio de Palenque, a language ...

My series of 5 Songs Most Colombians Will Recognize turned out to be heavily slanted towards Salsa Music. For this reason, I decided to continue by adding to the list songs from other genres which I think also speak to the Colombian common memory. As with many others, today's song is a love story. Alas, a tragic one. It is based on a true experience from the life of Juan Manuel Polo Cervantes, born September 18, 1918, in Concordia, Magdalena, Colombia. Juan Manuel became a great poet and musician. To honor him, his friends changed his name to Juancho Polo Valencia. Juancho Polo being a cool way to say his name, and Valencia because that was the last name of the best poet in Colombia at the time (most likely Guillermo León Valencia, 1873-1943). The story goes that Juancho Polo eventually married his sweetheart Alicia Cantillo. She quickly became pregnant with their first child, but possibly developed pre-eclampsia. She was swollen, she bruised and bled easily, and was ver...

In the department of Atlántico, as well as in other departments, people tell tales of having seen La Patasola (the One Legged Woman). Like the Sayona and the Mancarita, it is one of the many myths that portray scary, monstrous women who are out to trap hapless men. When a victim sees the Patasola, they will see what appears to be an extremely beautiful and seductive woman -- from the waist up. From the waist down, she has one, single leg -- hence the word Pata (leg) sola (alone). In Black Widow type fashion, she is looking for mate that she can devour. Some stories say that she calls out to a passing man, begging for his help. Then, as the man approaches, he becomes enchanted by her beauty, and follows her deeper into the forest. As they walk, she begins to change. Her hair becomes matted and snarled. Her mouth large and teeth sharp and long. Her eyes look like those of a tiger and sometimes are reported to glow. The poor man, that is drunken with love, then becomes the helpl...

In case you missed it, this week the Colombian military in the department of Cauca seized a drug submarine. See it here: This reminded me of a Nat Geo special I saw a few years back (2003), and when I searched, I found it on YOUTUBE. You can see it in 3 parts: