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Post by onlyMark on Mar 11, 2022 18:00:10 GMT
You may spot the soldiers in one photo. That was because some dignitary was visiting. Not a normal occurrence for them to be out on the streets.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 11, 2022 23:29:39 GMT
Finally getting to sit down and really give this thread the attention it deserves ~ Backing up to the food, always a favorite subject, I was so intrigued by the posta negra that I looked it up on the site you used for the pictures. The recipe is most interesting, with that onion marinade like nothing I ever heard of before. (Note to the literal-minded about the size of the portions: those are obviously photos staged to make the food look appealing. And I agree with whomever staged the pictures that the heaped abundance makes for a better picture than would more reasonable portions with the plate showing between.) The hot heartiness of the food surprised me, as I expected something both lighter and plainer. There is nothing you showed that I'd reject, though. Are the arepas sort of like fried polenta? The list of fruit is dazzling. Some of them I've heard of, but never had, and many are completely exotic. I would love to try them. The one called zapote is one of my favorite fruits, although I know it as mamey. Zapote is a Nahuatl (indigenous Mexican) word for any soft fruit. For instance, the sapodilla here is called chico sapote, and a sapote negro is a type of persimmon. Obviously the word has reached Columbia & other parts of Latin America. A last food note is that I agree that usually plantains are the height of boredom. The better way to eat them is to wait until they're so ripe that they're black. Then they can be cooked be cooked with onions & some greens & are quite delicious. I also like to cook them with pineapple & season them as an accompaniment to pork. And on to some of the most beautiful landscapes you've shown ~ Your friends' place is wow, what views! Absolutely gorgeous. The trip to Mompox and your accommodations are beyond enviable, what a treat! All of that & the town itself just ping on my tropical-loving heart. Some of the pictures of Mompox, particularly the dreamy views of the river at dusk remind me of my trip to Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, although Mompox seems a bigger & more interesting place. Anyway, will stop babbling on, but hope you can tell how much I appreciate this report.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 6:26:50 GMT
Arepas/Polenta - I think polenta can be corn but can be most finely crushed grain. I think the flour consistency for polenta is a lot finer than used for arepas and arepas are only white or yellow corn. Polenta is in the family of African paap, sadza, ugali, nshima and I'm not keen on any of them. If I want 'mush' I'll eat mashed potatoes. The first time I was in Colombia I spent some time around a town/city called Pereira. Had to to do the paperwork to adopt the kids. Arepas come in all shapes and sizes and filled or topped with anything really, but the ones I used to have around Pereira where made with white maize and thin. When fried they were almost crispy and then topped with grated local white cheese. Really good. Since then I've eaten quite a few but usually thicker, yellow maize and somewhat dry and boring.
I admit to not trying all the fruits and juices but I am working my way through them when they can be found. I do still have the odd few thousand photos of the trip to weed down to a manageable level so I think there will be another post or two.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2022 7:28:10 GMT
I am not keen on hot and humid weather but I am very happy to see these photos of Mompox. That was one of the places I had hoped to visit but for which we didn't have time. And, of course, in 2009 there was no bridge yet, so it would have been really time-consuming.
The courtyard garden is lovely with those planters that look like baptismal fonts.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 9:30:21 GMT
I prefer hot and dry to hot and humid but I prefer hot and anything to cold and damp. I couldn't live in Bogota that's for sure. Never warm enough.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2022 12:10:15 GMT
People from Bogotà claim "it's eternal spring". I thought it was pleasant and it's similar to the weather in Quito.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 13:08:23 GMT
Don't know about Quito but what I do know is that the times I've been in Bogota is is fine enough for a few hours during the afternoon, but mornings, evenings and nights, and with poor heating and insulation, it always feels that cold damp type of atmosphere. Like you wonder when you get into bed why it feels damp, thought it might not be. Other things as well, but no, not for me. We finished off our trip in a finca about 45 mins away and they lit the wood fires in the common rooms in a morning and left them going all day.
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Post by fumobici on Mar 12, 2022 15:26:42 GMT
I'm pretty sure I'd prefer almost anything over tropical heat. I can add layers if I'm cold; not much I can do about heat once I'm down to a t-shirt. Except suffer.
The latest batch of photos are stunning, looks like a place well worth visiting.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 17:09:07 GMT
Just wait to get you get old fumo. The higher the temperature you start feeling cold at. It certainly is worth a visit. There's more to come on that place. I was just about to post a little more as it's in another two or three chunks. Keep coming back.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 17:16:45 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 12, 2022 17:22:34 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 12, 2022 18:41:58 GMT
I love the photo of Elvira's tomb, just as I like the whitewashed look of most Latin American cemeteries.
I'm sure that the family was very pleased with the photo that Mrs. M took. The man's hat is huge but perhaps appropriate for the sunshine.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2022 19:00:48 GMT
I like all the stray cats lying on the cool floors of the churches.
Something to put you in the Colombian mood:
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Post by tod2 on Mar 13, 2022 9:50:44 GMT
Mark I just love that "white" cemetery - It is beautiful even though some part seemed to be neglected. The brick pathway up to the church immediately directs ones eye to the simple style in all its whiteness. Of course there must be a number of stray cats in any cemetery and by the look of them they are well and truly a mix of each other. They are not wild so could easily be neutered...I wonder if they are. So kind of those ladies that have come to feed them - with proper cat food I see. Looking at your lunch/dinner I see spring rolls, stuffed gem squash halves, salad and thick cut French fries which we call potato "wedges". I cant make out what you are eating. Mrs M is a lady after my own heart. I can't count the number of photos I've taken for other tourists. I notice their facial expressions do not change before or after the photo session...No smiles except the little boy.
Your photo essay is lovely. I am so impressed with the places you visited.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 13, 2022 12:21:53 GMT
They are not wild so could easily be neutered...I wonder if they are. Didn't look. I'll nip back and find out. I cant make out what you are eating. Difficult and I can't remember, that's why with the food post I put up better ones from the internet. I am so impressed with the places you visited. If I'm not away or planning to go away I get bored and fidgety.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 14, 2022 6:09:54 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 14, 2022 11:59:05 GMT
Lots of good scenes of daily life and architecture. Even though that cat can go wherever it wants, it is still scowling as though in prison. So maybe it wants to get into the room behind the shutters.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 14, 2022 13:12:24 GMT
I think the cat wanted to remain anonymous so wasn't happy about the photo.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 15, 2022 6:48:41 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 15, 2022 6:50:31 GMT
This you’ll recognise from a photo I posted when I was there. I was told he/she/they comes and sits on the wall at the same time every day, because he is fed by a shopkeeper nearby. It’s a routine - There has to be a story behind this. It is a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Royal Enfield, a British motorcycle manufacturer since 1901, partnered with a company in India (Madras Motors) in 1949 to make under licence, motorbikes and assemble them from kits exported from the UK. In 1967 Royal Enfield in the UK cease production and all their tooling goes to India. The bikes are manufactured from scratch there and over the years are very popular. New models are brought out to update their range and exported back to the UK and elsewhere. In 2016 they bring out this model for adventure riders. Somehow it has made its way from India to here. It could have been bought in Europe though, but still, it’s a long journey. It has Colombian plates - To finish off the day we went for a boat trip to see the sunset -
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 15, 2022 6:56:47 GMT
I had a colleague in Paris who had a classic Royal Enfield shipped back from India.
The round tower between the church and the chapel (?) seems quite unique in its style.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 15, 2022 10:07:57 GMT
Church of Santa Barbara. In old photos it was all white. Nothing much to be found about it other than, "The Santa Bárbara Church is one of the best-known and most important churches in the city. Completed in 1613, the church has a baroque bell tower with a balcony. It is decorated with moldings of palm trees, flowers, and lions. The tower's dome is equally baroque, and the church's three altars are heavily gilded."
Also, "Santa Barbara is the most surprising church of Mompox, with its emblematic octagonal tower, of Moorish baroque style. Its ochre color is very photogenic, even at night, with a beautiful illumination of the temple. Built in 1613, it is the only church in the country (and one of the few in the world) to have a balcony."
For many, many years the bikes made in India didn't conform to European emissions and safety standards. That's mostly changed now though and I could buy a new one in Germany at the drop of a hat. I wouldn't though. I'd still go Japanese.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 15, 2022 21:10:04 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 16, 2022 4:45:37 GMT
More great stuff from your great trip! Before I forget, let me comment on the really interesting pictures of the sugar-making, which I believe I forgot to say anything about before. I've seen the finished product here -- although in cones, not in cakes -- but never saw it being made.
I do love a good cemetery, & the one you all visited was world class. It reminded me of New Orleans in the best kind of way. The Korean War vet's grave was a surprise and Elvira looks as though she was every bit as sweet & good as her family says.
The selfie challenged people are a hoot. They're looking at Mrs M as though she just delivered a death sentence.
It would be interesting to know what the seed butter from those fruits is like. The wine or juice didn't look tempting.
St. Barbara's is indeed architecturally unique. Also unique & interesting are those big chairs which seem carved out of single tree trunks.
I'd like to sample the seafood on that menu. Really, I'd love to walk around that lovely town. You got so many good pictures of the place, plus bonus bits like the kitty-cat and the yellow bike.
Sunset cruise would be so nice, but anything would be improved if they'd just leave out the damned music!
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Post by bjd on Mar 16, 2022 8:14:54 GMT
What kind of birds are those huge flocks? Their shape looks like cormorants but I don't know that cormorants roost in trees.
Speaking of noisy Colombian music, we spent a week in Taganga, just next to Santa Marta on the coast. Starting about 7 am, every house would have its door open and vallenato music would be playing. Our daughter-in-law's brother told me that it used to be worse, with each neighbour turning up the volume to try and drown out the music next door. It's already a kind of music I don't appreciate, but at full competitive volume, it was sometimes unbearable.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 16, 2022 9:36:24 GMT
Don't know what the birds are bjd. I can obviously relate to you noise problem. It was happening in places we were as well.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 16, 2022 12:37:20 GMT
I got out my birding guide and from the silhouetted shape of those birds it looks as if they could be Reed Cormorants. The other birds with a tail as long is also the Darter but it's neck is a bit too thin comparing it with your photos Mark. They are definitely not Herons or Egrets because in their case they have short cropped tails.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 16, 2022 15:32:18 GMT
Well done. That'll do me. Thanks.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 16, 2022 16:49:09 GMT
If it were sunny, we'd be having sunsets like that, but as it is, all we have is all of the red Saharan dust from the sirocco. The snow in the Alps has turned orange.
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Post by lugg on Mar 16, 2022 21:33:11 GMT
I am so far behind Mark apologies but I will come back to this thread - I had no idea that Colombia was so varied and so beautiful. And the food .... my idea of heaven. My god-daughter spent some time there some years ago and she told me how amazing it was but seeing your photos and reading about your travels has made me re -think what I thought I knew.
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