Theme Week Colombia – Bogotá

24 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  19 minutes

La Candelaria, the historical district © flickr.com - Pedro Szekely/cc-by-sa-2.0

La Candelaria, the historical district © flickr.com – Pedro Szekely/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bogotá, officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (lit. ‘Holy Faith of Bogotá) during the Spanish Colonial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the largest cities in the world. The city is administered as the Capital District, as well as the capital of, though not part of, the surrounding department of Cundinamarca. Bogotá is a territorial entity of the first order, with the same administrative status as the departments of Colombia. It is the political, economic, administrative, and industrial center of the country.   read more…

Theme Week Colombia – Cali

22 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  14 minutes

Cali as seen from Christo Rey Hills © David Alejandro Rendon/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cali as seen from Christo Rey Hills © David Alejandro Rendon/cc-by-sa-3.0

Santiago de Cali, or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans 560.3 km² (216.3 sq mi) with 120.9 km² (46.7 sq mi) of urban area, making Cali the second-largest city in the country by area and the third most populous after Bogota and Medellin. As the only major Colombian city with access to the Pacific Coast, Cali is the main urban and economic center in the south of the country, and has one of Colombia’s fastest-growing economies. The city was founded on 25 July 1536 by the Spanish explorer Sebastian Belalcazar.   read more…

Theme Week Colombia – Medellín

21 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Downtown Medellin © JIMENA MARTIINEZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

Downtown Medellin © JIMENA MARTIINEZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

Medellín (officially the Municipality of Medellín; Spanish: Municipio de Medellín) is the second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central region of the Andes Mountains, in northwestern South America. According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics, the city had an estimated population of 2,508,452 according to the 2018 census. With its surrounding areas, encompassing nine other cities, the metro area of Medellín is the second-largest urban agglomeration in Colombia (in terms of population and economy), with more than 4 million people.   read more…

Theme Week Colombia

19 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  14 minutes

The Axis of Peace and Memory, a memorial to the victims of the Colomibian conflict in Bogotá © Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Axis of Peace and Memory, a memorial to the victims of the Colomibian conflict in Bogotá
© Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-3.0

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country mostly in South America with insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest. Colombia is divided into 32 departments. The Capital District of Bogotá is also the country’s largest city hosting the main financial and cultural hub, and other major urbes include Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Villavicencio and Bucaramanga. It covers an area of 1,141,748 square kilometers (440,831 sq mi), and has a population of around 52 million. Colombia is the largest Spanish-speaking country in South America. Its cultural heritage—including language, religion, cuisine, and art—reflects its history as a colony, fusing cultural elements brought by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with those brought by the African diaspora, as well as with those of the various Indigenous civilizations that predate colonization. Spanish is the Official language, although English and 64 other languages are recognized regionally.   read more…

Curitiba in Brazil

18 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  6 minutes

Federal University of Paraná, the first university in Brazil © Thomoesch

Federal University of Paraná, the first ever opened university in Brazil © Thomoesch

Curitiba is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city’s population was 1,963,726 as of 2021, making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil’s South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area comprises 29 municipalities with a total population of over 3,731,769 (IBGE estimate in 2021), making it the ninth most populous metropolitan area in the country.   read more…

Easter Island in the Polynesian Triangle

30 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

15 standing moai at Ahu Tongariki © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

15 standing moai at Ahu Tongariki © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui; Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.   read more…

Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília

15 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

National Congress of Brazil © flickr.com - Marcelo Jorge Vieira/cc-by-sa-2.0

National Congress of Brazil © flickr.com – Marcelo Jorge Vieira/cc-by-sa-2.0

Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Plaza) is a plaza in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. The name is derived from the presence of the three governmental powers around the plaza: the Executive, represented by the Palácio do Planalto (presidential office); the Legislative represented by the Congresso Nacional (National Congress); and the Judiciary, represented by the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Federal Court).   read more…

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

29 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  16 minutes

© flickr.com - Sergio Luiz/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Sergio Luiz/cc-by-2.0

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese: Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent; it is considered the biggest carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets. The first Carnival festival in Rio occurred in 1723. The typical Rio carnival parade is filled with revelers, floats, and adornments from numerous samba schools which are located in Rio (more than 200 approximately, divided into five leagues/divisions). A samba school is composed of a collaboration of local neighbours that want to attend the carnival together, with some kind of regional, geographical and common background. There is a special order that every school has to follow with their parade entries. Each school begins with the “comissão de frente” (meaning “Front Commission”), that is the group of people from the school that appear first. Made of ten to fifteen people, the comissão de frente introduces the school and sets the mood and style of their presentation. These people have choreographed dances in elaborate costumes that usually tell a short story. Following the “comissão de frente” is the first float of the samba school, called “abre-alas” (“Opening Wing”). These are followed by the Mestre-sala and Porta-Bandeira (“Master of Ceremonies and Flag Bearer”), with one to four pairs, one active and three reserve, to lead the dancers, which include the old guard veterans and the “ala das baianas”, with the drum line battery at the rear and sometimes a brass section and guitars.   read more…

Theme Week Guatemala – Antigua Guatemala

30 October 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Santa Catalina Arch and Volcan de Agua © flickr.com - Chad Davis/cc-by-sa-2.0

Santa Catalina Arch and Volcan de Agua © flickr.com – Chad Davis/cc-by-sa-2.0

Antigua Guatemala, commonly referred to as just Antigua or la Antigua, is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala known for its preserved Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture as well as a number of ruins of colonial churches. It served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Antigua Guatemala serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. It also serves as the departmental capital of Sacatepéquez Department.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top