San Andres, Colombia, a paradise!!!

Aruba, Jamaica, or Hawaii are just a few of the most popular places North Americans choose to have their vacations. The beaches are gorgeous, the sea wonderful and food excellent, but realistically these places are too crowded, noisy and expensive. If you really want to relax, save money and feel out of this world, consider visiting the Caribbean islands of San Andres. San Andres is an archipelago located 480 miles North-West of Colombia, 150 miles East of Nicaragua and 528 miles from Jamaica; it is made of the three main islands of San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina which  

are tiny islands surrounded by several islets, cays and banks that make your vacation a real heaven of peace and tranquility. The archipelago of San Andres is Colombian territory but it is distant from the country and from the main government in Bogota; it is safe, peaceful, and a very friendly island to enjoy a family vacation. The official lenguage is Spanish but the islanders also speak Caribbean English. www.sanandres.com 

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La Doncella...

Reuters

In Salta, Argentina and after eight years of study and preparation, the world finally can see La Doncella (The Maiden) the stunning mummy of an Inca girl who died more than 500 years ago in a ritual sacrifice. According to the archaeologist who found the mummified remains in Argentina in 1999, the girl and two other children, were left on a mountaintop in the Andes as offering to the Gods. Once there, the children succumbed to the cold, but their bodies were perfectly preserved through the centuries. The mummies of the other two children, remain in storage for further study, museum officials said. ©2010-2018 CafeJournal, NohraCeciliaLeschyson. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

Reuters

LOST CITY, SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA

Discovered in 1972 for treasure hunters, Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) is a Colombian archaeological site of an ancient city in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Being one of the most amazing discoveries of the world during the last decades, Ciudad Perdida it is believed to have been built by the Tyrona culture about 800 A.D.—Some 650 years earlier than Machu Pichu. The city is an astonishing complex of tiled roads, stone terraces and bridges, drainage systems, and small circular plazas set under steep rock walls rising up into the mountains. The local tribes, the Arhuaco, the Koguis, and the ARsario, have stated that they visited the site regularly long before it was widely discovered, but that they kept quiet about it since they consider Ciudad Perdida as a sacred legacy from their ancestors. It takes a six day trek through the Colombian Jungle to visit Ciudad Perdida, and the scenery is absolutely amazing. CafeJournalCopyright 2010-2018. NohraCeciliaLeschyson. All Rights Reserved. No part or totality of this site may be reproduced, copied, altered in any way without the written permission of its owner.

Transportation in Colombia

 Si, it is illegal, but no one says anything  and it's pretty normal to travel like this in the middle of  a busy street, and it doesn't matter if it's not safe. There aren't tickets for them because they are working, aren't they? In this picture the jeeps are not really busy, most of the time there are a lot of people on the top of the car, plus ten or twelve inside, plus the ones who are standing up in the back— many times there are more than six all together holding themselves trying to not fall off. 

 Here, "la chiva" (the way we name this funny bus) is the normal transportation in the remote villages in Colombia, mostly in towns that is very hard to visit because of the hard roads and distance from the big cities. It's the native transportation and almost always it is like in the picture, very crowded, and the natives not only bring their kids and stuff with them, but also chickens, turkeys, or even pigs (alive). In the big cities however, "La Chiva" is not a way of transportation, but an entertaining distraction for the locals and tourists.

 

 As I wrote in an older post about "La Chiva", inside of these buses there is a big screen playing the most popular Salsa orchestras, a nice dancing floor in the middle, loud music and a disc jockey who makes everyone feel happy and ready for the fun. Everyone drinks, dances, sings, and over all, we laugh till we cry. This is my favorite thing to do when I visit my family and friends in Cali. La Chiva goes around the city and for three hours we pay $700,000 pesos which is more or less $350 CAD. Some Chivas hold more than 100 people, but of course, we don't go on the top!

This is the modern form of transportation in Cali, and the rest of  the big cities of Colombia, nothing to do with La Chiva.

The "Smiling Bird"...

In 2005 the rare and believed extinct “smiling bird” was photographed in Colombia after 40 years of absence. The curving beak that gives the illusion of a “Mona Lisa” smile is what makes this bush bird an enigmatic and exotic species. Researchers found the bird in a 250-acre reserve and said that it was last seen before 1965. The smiling bird has also been seen in Venezuela, but always in very remote habitats. Colombia has the most wide and exotic natural sanctuaries in the world; a few years ago the “”Yariguíes Brush-Finch”  was also discovered there. It is a beautiful bird that has a large and colorful black, yellow and red plumage. The “smiling bird” photograph was taken by a Colombian conservationist who works for Pro Aves, a Colombian non profit organization. CafeJournalCopyright 2010-2018. NohraCeciliaLeschyson. All Rights Reserved. No part or totality of this site may be reproduced, copied, altered in any way without the written permission of its owner.

Nostradamus Prophesies...

Nostradamus was born on December 14, 1503 in St. Remy, France. At an early age, he was taught by his grandfather, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, and astrology. In 1529 he received a medical degree and it is said that he had extraordinary healing abilities. When he was in his late 40s, he started having visions of the future, so he began to document them and published his famous “Centuries” in 1558. His revelations have been always criticized by believers because they say his predictions came from the occultism and not from a gift, or inspiration from God. Nevertheless his prophesies are scary because they are extremely accurate; all that he predicted in the past has been realized. He even predicted his own death.CafeJournalCopyright 2010-2018. NohraCeciliaLeschyson. All Rights Reserved. No part or totality of this site may be reproduced, copied, altered in any way without the written permission of its owner.

Secret Societies...

Secret society can be described as a “fraternal organization” in which secret practices are performed by selected members. These practices are secret ceremonies ranging from the common to mythical, often with luciferian beliefs and weird rituals. These societies have existed since ancient times and always have been clandestine; among the most known secret societies are the Masons, Odd Fellows, Rosicrucians, and Skull and Bones, society that president Bush, and Massachusset’s Senator John Kerry,  have been said to belong to. Today secret socities still exist and all of them are very powerful; they have strong ties beteween members, and frequently have their rituals which outsiders never are permitted to observe. CafeJournalCopyright 2010-2018. NohraCeciliaLeschyson. All Rights Reserved. No part or totality of this site may be reproduced, copied, altered in any way without the written permission of its owner.