Biking Colombia (+ Food Words) 機車遊哥倫比亞

[Updated with maps on April 29, 2015]
[Updated with two travel videos on May 4, 2015]

Notice the unusual shape of the sea boundaries [a boundary (or border) is the line around a country]. Remember that before independence one hundred years ago, Panama used to be part of Colombia

Most people visit Latin America the traditional way: buy round trip plane tickets, make hotel reservations, pack a suitcase, and go. Some people prefer to do some homework first: they buy a few guidebooks, check out a couple of websites, and maybe learn some tourist phrases: "Hello! Good morning! My name is so-and-so. ..."

Alex Chacon decided to do things differently. Before starting his PhD, Alex sold everything he had and started the trip of a lifetime (19 countries, 250 days, 60,000 kilometers) riding his motorcycle alone through South America. More details are available on his old  (http://www.expeditionsouth.com) and new website, (http://www.modernmotodiaries.com)

Not much happens in this particular segment: Alex emphasizes that the best part of visiting Colombia is the friendly people. Yes, he says, drug gangs have often been in the news, but drugs don't affect ordinary tourists.

At the two minute mark, Alex sees a very unusual building (a little like a UFO: it doesn't seem to belong in South America). Why is this building here?

Alex only shows a little bit of scenery. He spent time on camera talking to a friendly woman, but we can't hear what any of their conversation. I wish he had shown us a little bit more how he interacted with these "wonderful" people. All in all, Alex's first video is a bit boring, but I did find something to get excited about: Colombian food. (more below)



At 3:00 Alex says it's desayuno time (basic tourist Spanish = breakfast).
He also talks about coffee. In Colombia, a very famous character called Juan Valdez represents coffee growers:

Escultura_de_Juan_Valdez_y_su_autor ("Statue of Juan Valdez and its sculptor")--CC BY Yimicorrea

Everybody knows that Colombia is famous for coffee, but what did Alex eat? Maybe he tried some of these dishes:

10 Traditional Colombian Main Dishes You Must Try (http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/10-traditional-colombian-main-dishes-you-must-try)

Tamales: similar to Chinese 粽子 (Gwoyeu tonal spelling = tzonqtz, Pinyin toneless spelling zongzi) but in Colombia the wrapping (banana leaves) and the filling are different.

tamale (Bogota, Colombia) CC--BY-NC  francois_thomas02

Food Vocabulary (Colombia)

Spanish grammar hint: Remember that in a Spanish noun phrase, nouns come first, followed by adjectives or other modifiers:

Sudado de Pollo [stew <== of chicken; chicken stew]
Pescado Frito [fish <== fried; fried fish]
Chuleta Valluna [pork chop <== "Valle" style]
Lechona Tolimense [leche = milk, and lechona = suckling pig <== "Tolima" style; Tolima Style Suckling Pig]
Arroz con pollo [rice with chicken; chicken rice]
Bistec a Caballo [steak <== on horseback; bistec is from two English words: bee[f] + steak]

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A timelapse video of Colombia shows us more of this lovely country.

Colombia - Timelapse from MB Films on Vimeo.

Paragliding is another way to see Colombia (here with a group of German tourists):


Colombian Dream -With paraglider through Colombia from final-dimension.de on Vimeo.

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What do you think of Colombia? Would you like to visit?

What is the unusual building that Alex saw? Do you know what it is called? What is it used for? Please leave comments below.