Royal Hotel Ltda Barranquilla

It just doesn't stop. Following the parades, it's time to hit the street and meet the hosts of this amazing party, the local Colombians. The guests of honor, if you haven't yet figured it out, is rum and aguardiente. The parties continue until the wee hours in the morning when you need to make a critical ...

... a wee man in the street. After a quick stop at the supermarket for some booze, we were on our way!The sheer amount of people who gather here for Carnaval is impressive. It took us a long time to actually make it to our mini palco through the throngs of people dressed in a variety of costumes, drunk people (and it was only 11am by this point!), kids, vendors and various police barriers. The parade was spectacular - so many colours and ...

Yesterday was the holiday, "Dia de la Imaculada", and in Barranquilla that means two things: all night dancing and partying, and little multi-colored candle-lit lanterns on the sidewalks at 4am. I was invited to eat lunch at Lili's apartment, her mom invited me, to cook Arroz con Coco. Ohhh. I already wrote about this. Well, what Lili told me later, is that her mom has never invited any one of her boyfriends over for lunch before. Meaning she had never cooked for one ...

... surrounded with some other natural medicine kiosks and others selling other things. The market and the street was dirty, homeless men and women slept next to the church on the dirty floor. The wooden stands had all sorts of herbs hanging from it which smelled nice, and there were saints pictures, little soap boxes, with soap against "Evil Eye", called "Black Hen Protection from Bad of Eye", and against other evils. Another soap was called ...

... starting to perk up. Not before they'd butchered my right hand though. Turns out the needle slipped out of the vein and the solution went into the tissue, bloating my poor hand to three times its normal size so I had a grotesque sort of mitt attached to my right arm. All okay now though, I started eating proper food again today! Ok, gotta go but will write again when I reach Cartagena!

Its been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, following this wisdom, this entry is all about pictures and videos. Today Futbol con Corazon, with the help of two other organizations, organized the first ever event, called "Goles de Convivencia", which aimed to bring together the fuerza publica, like police, army, etc, and the re-insertados, ex-FARC fighters who have left the jungle to live a normal life in the cities. The transition of these re-insertados, and ...

... ex. we have to be wealthy to be happy, with a car, house, family, dog - or to be a real a man, one should not cry in public). But what should I do? Submit completely to a situation? If I don't have the expectation, for example, that all humans should be able to have the same opportunity to make choices, then can I fight for this idea/expectation? How can I have a positive impact in the world if I accept everything as it is ...

... called Bavaria, which also has a brewery here in Barranquilla, who is the leader of its social programs. After meeting with her, touring our current facilities, and meeting the La Chinita community, they have committed funds to our project, so we are going ahead and will hopefully have everything running by November 1st. The whole community is very excited, enthusiastic, and committed to helping us complete the ...

... applications, to develop a strategic plan and business plan for them, and to document processes. My other responsibilities are to assist with the business plan for the income-generating project, and generally to take the organization to the next level. I feel completely comfortable with what I am supposed to do, and am very excited to be helpful. The organization is doing great work already, but since they started with program activities in the La Paz barrio right ...

... He just wants to brush up on his English before an interntional summit he has coming up soon. So I feel very honoured that the university chose me! I've also been approached by a Colombian author to translate some of his books into English as he's trying to break into the American market. It's still pending price negotiations and whether or not he likes my style of writing, but I'm really hoping it works out as it will help kick start ...