Archive for August, 2018
Holiday in Colombia (5): Coffee Region
August 31st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Today we left the capital Bogotá and flew west to the city of Pereira – a flight of only 30 minutes – where we were met by our second local guide, a young man called Christian who illustrated his provision of information with an iPad. The local company for which he works is called Living […]
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Holiday in Colombia (4): Bogotá (part 2)
August 30th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
For Silvia and me, Wednesday evening should have been a quiet farewell to Bogotá after a short visit to the capital, but we had finished the afternoon alone in the city centre while the rest of our British group took an optional cable car ride. We needed to return to the hotel and find somewhere […]
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Holiday in Colombia (3): Bogotá (part 1)
August 30th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Our one full day in Bogotá started at 9 am when we were collected from our hotel in the north of the city and driven into the city centre for a museum visit, a walking tour, and another museum visit. There was so much traffic that the journey took three-quarters of an hour. First call […]
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Holiday in Colombia (3): Zipaquira
August 29th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Tuesday was a light day in terms of tourist sights since essentially we were travelling from the town of Villa de Leyva (which we left at 9 am) south to the capital city of Bogotá (which we reached at 5.15 pm). We broke the journey three times: a comfort break where we had breakfast on […]
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Holiday in Colombia (2): Villa de Leyva
August 28th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
After a difficult night’s sleep because of jet-lag, today was spent around and in the town of Villa de Leyva, with a morning trip west to two interesting locations outside town and an afternoon walking tour of the town itself. The valley in which all these places are located is some 7,000 feet (2,144 metres), […]
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Anti-corruption referendum in Colombia
August 27th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is major year for voting in the South American state of Colombia. In March, there were elections to the Congress (both House of Representatives and Senate) and in May and June there was voting in the two stages of the presidential election. Now today – coincidentally the day I arrived in Colombia for a […]
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Holiday in Colombia (1): arrival
August 26th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
My latest overseas visit is with my sister Silvia on a tour of Colombia organised by the company Cox & Kings. In my 70 years, it is the 73rd country that I have visited – the 13th in Latin America. Now, if you travel outside your own continent, there are bound to be challenges, […]
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An account of my recent visit to Cyprus – before a new trip to Colombia …
August 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This year, my foreign travel seems to be to countries with names all beginning with C: China fourth time), the Czech Republic (28th time), Cyprus (first time), and now Colombia (another first time). As I’m about to set off to South America for my latest overseas trip, you might like to check out the account […]
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What happened to change the whole world in 535 AD?
August 22nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The extreme weather events of 535–536 were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2000 years. The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil, possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption in the tropics, or debris from space impacting the […]
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Remembering the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
August 21st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia today, there is massive media coverage of the Warsaw Pact invasion of the then Czechoslovakia – at the time, being liberalised by Alexander Dubcek – on the night of 20/21 August 1968. I remember the event very well. I was 20 at the time and becoming very interested in […]
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