King of the Mountains: Bicycling Colombia

Think of Colombia and you first think of...biking. Right? Perhaps the sport of cycling doesn't first come to mind when conjuring up images of this South American nation, but biking is a popular sport in Colombia, and Colombian cyclists have traditionally found success in some of the world's toughest bike races. While the 1980s might …

Story About Cocaine, Story About Colombia

Yesterday, National Public Radio broadcast a story about the drop in cocaine use in the United States in the past few years.   It was entitled "How Americans Said No To Cocaine After Years-Long Addiction," but as with most stories about cocaine, the reporters of course had to talk about Colombia. Sigh. From Blow to Pablo …

What is an American?

Map of North and South America, 1747.

In Colombian schools, students are taught that there are six continents. Do a quick run through (Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica, North and South America), and this seems a bit odd.  Most of the world totals the number of continents at seven, not six.  So what gives? Colombians, and many other Latin Americans, consider North …