Travels. Books. Explorations.
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 …
Continue reading "King of the Mountains: Bicycling 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 …
Continue reading "Story About Cocaine, Story About Colombia"
¡FelÃz dÃa de Independencia! July 20th is Colombian Independence Day. A day in Colombia to get off work, drink some Aguila beer or some aguardiente, and to appreciate the history of Colombia. July seems to have a disproportionate number of national holidays celebrating an independence day. There is of course the U.S. American Fourth of …
As I continue to edit my book and work towards a publication date (fall 2013 is likely at the moment), I want to invite you to take a look around the website. I will continue to post every week or so on news events about Colombia, about my writing process, and a few things in …
National Public Radio ran an interesting profile of the city of MedellÃn today. It is in some ways a reflective of Colombia's changes as a whole - not without its problems with poverty and violence, but leaps and bounds over what MedellÃn was like in the 1990s when it was the "Murder Capital of the World." …
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 …
An agreement on land reform policies has been reached at the ongoing peace negotiations between the FARC and the Colombian government. Land reform is one of the major issues dividing the rebels and the government and could be a big step forward towards an official ceasefire or disarmament. From the BBC: "Colombia and Farc rebels …
Continue reading "Progress at FARC – Government Peace Talks"
Bryanna Plog 