Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

All too often perhaps we can allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the great lifestyle that one lives out here in Colombia and forget about the day to day realities of life. So, with this in mind we invited Briton Claire Austin back on to the show to talk about how it has been raising her son here in Bogota and finding out the reasons why, after just over three years, she will be returning to the UK. 

In a fresh and personal interview, Claire shares with us the trials of raising her son, her hopes and feelings about having to return home and indeed the issues raised by the UK government about trying to secure a visa for her husband Juan. Frankly, once you listen to the difficulties encountered by this young Anglo Colombian family. you'll immediately sympathise with Claire and Juan and their predicament which, I am sure you'll agree, is far from unique but all the same no less shocking. You can read more about Claire's experiences on her blog: https://clairejayne.wordpress.com/

As a future parent, this show is of special significance to me as well and I find myself wondering if I want my son to be raised here, to attend school here and thinking about other issues such as healthcare. These are things which I took for granted back in the UK and now, they are very real considerations. 

Tune in for a fantastic interview about the culture of the family and the issues of raising a bilingual child in Colombia with Claire Austin.

This week's show takes a different tack and instead of focusing on literary or travel stories we are plunged into the world of entrepreneurship and that of Startups here in Colombia. The term “startup” has been bandied around with increasing frequency over the past few years to describe scrappy young ventures, hip San Francisco apps and huge tech companies. But what is a startup, really? And what is the situation here in Colombia? How is the national government promoting a quiet revolution in aiding small scale businesses and individuals across the country to break into this new world of entrepreneurship? 

We sit down with Juan Novoa, an innovator and analyst for the Colombian Ministry of Technology and Information, to talk about several fascinating stories that have taken place here in Colombia. There are tales of failure and success and from every region of the country from the northeastern deserts to urban centers such as Bogota, Medellin and Cali. 

One thing we can all agree on: the key attribute of a startup is its ability to grow. A startup is a company designed to scale very quickly. It is this focus on growth unconstrained by geography which differentiates startups from small businesses and through the Ministry's focus and promotion and their website APPS.CO Colombia has become a leader in this innovation. 

Tune in to hear some good news stories in Colombia with Juan Novoa

This week we sit down on Colombia Calling with Briton Naomi Dalton, the author of the a fabulously informative website entitled: "How to Bogota." (www.howtobogota.com)

How to Bogota is divided into seven helpful categories including those of, Life in Bogota, Transport, Money, Enterntainment, Food, Shopping and finally, Safety, must be giving the guidebooks on Colombia a run for their money. Dalton writes it as she sees and experiences it as each entry and chapter is both instructional and personal making it an enjoyable page to read and indeed re-visit. 

This is a fascinating interview with someone making a life here in Bogota and who has set out her stall to help others in the same situation. You can read her pieces on how to procure gainful employment, the ins and outs and the bureaucracy of renting an apartment and how to avoid being a target for common crime in the city. 

Dalton's website is highly recommended and is a must read for anyone thinking of coming to Bogota for an extended period of time. I only wish that she had set this up back in 2007 when I had to take on all these challenges alone!

Finishing up the series and Episode 81 of Colombia Calling in Mompos, we sit down this week with Briton Chris Bell and discuss the finer things in Colombia such as the differences between birding, birdwatchers and twitchers, Radamel Falcao's move to Manchester United, traveling in Colombia and what 2015 possibly means for the peace dialogues. 

Hailing from rural Shrewsbury we discover what has brought Chris Bell to Colombia and how he became the editor in chief of the See Colombia Travel blog (www.seecolombia.travel/blog) - voted best blog of the Americas in 2014. The Colombia Travel Blog, the most visited travel blog about Colombia in English and Spanish, was created to smash the widespread and long outdated stereotypes about this astonishing country. Their team of international travelers are passionate about sharing their fresh perspectives about traveling and living in Colombia, traveling around the world and keeping you up to date with what you're missing by not being here.

So, tune in for a frank, enjoyable and amusing chat with Chris Bell.

Clearly, we are all aware that Colombia's Nobel Prize Winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez did not, in fact, hail from Ireland, but, in the first episode for Colombia Calling in 2015, we discuss with authors Victoria Kellaway (Colombia: A Comedy of Errors) and Caroline Doherty de Novoa (Dancing with Statues) a new collection of "Gabo" inspired essays written by Colombians and foreigners alike and due for publication in April of this year.

With submissions from all over the globe and with a number of heavyweight contributors, this new homage to Gabo will be launched at Bogota's Book Fair which runs from April 22 to May 4 2015, and be edited by the aforementioned authors and myself and published by Papen Press. 

Noting the change that is taking place in Colombia, the new year ahead and new challenges for the country, the three of us sit down in the garciamarquian setting of Mompos (www.lacasaamarillamompos.com) and discuss the inspiration and the reasons behind this new book, who it is aimed at and why it should appeal to anyone interested in Colombia. As yet, we are still sifting through the submissions but it is so interesting and exciting to have personal articles from a true variety of backgrounds, countries and contexts and all of which are very different from one another.

Listen in here to an exclusive sneak peak of "Was Gabo an Irishman" and whet your appetite for a fresh look at the magic realism of Colombia.

Jim Davies is the kind of person I want to sit down with and buy a beer or three and listen to his tales of derring do here in Colombia. The incongruity of it all is almost too much to fathom as he regales us in this week's episode with stories about his new friendship with the one and only Faustino Asprilla, his facebook friendship with Dania (of secret service fame, you know who I am talking about!) and further notbale personalities in Colombia. 

But, the real reason we have invited Davies on the show is that he is yet another foreigner in Colombia doing something for Colombia. Every conversation one has with Davies is punctuated with mentions of social projects that he has planned, has executed or has underway. Tune in to hear about the photography inspired workshop which produced proceeds for the more down at heel barrios of Soacha in southern Bogota, about his plan to start a "sponsored rubbish bin" drive in Cali so as to increase cleanliness and environmental awareness. 

Why Davies and why Colombia? How does a picture editor at one of the UK's most prestigious newspapers end up in Cali. Hear it all on this show "An Englishman in Cali."

Forgive me for saying this from the off, but I am particularly pleased with this show for you with Julia Symmes Cobb. It has the perfect balance between history, Colombia, journalism and quirky eccentricities of the past. So, get this, I met Julia - a freelancer in Colombia for Reuters and the Washington Post - through another journalist and over the months we have become friends, in fact her parents even came down and stayed in my hotel in Mompos...but this was all part of their research into a long deceased relative who travelled the Magdalena River exploring towns and tributories in this region on a search for gold. 

So, Julia's great grandfather was in this very area of Cartagena, Barranquilla, Magangue (all Caribbean areas of Colombia) and even further adrift back in 1900 and until 1902. The diary is a wonderfully embossed collection of letters about his travels and travails with a beautiful turn of phrase that you would expect from an educated individual of the era. We never really learn how the gold dredging business fared for this adventurer but what we are treated to is an unrivalled insight into Colombia during the initial phases of a conflict. References to Conservative forces and Liberal forces litter the text and there are even carefully drawn maps of the river and indeed of Barranquilla. 

Be sure to tune in to learn about a little known period of Colombian history all told through personal anecdotes placed in a treasured diary.

Doing his first ever media interview as a writer here on Colombia Calling, we take the opportunity to talk about Colombia and his new novel The Gallows Gem of Prallyn with Canadian diplomat Ian McKinley. 

As always, the interview takes the form of an interesting exploration of the experiences people encounter as they move through Colombian life. And indeed as his new direction in becoming a published author! Perhaps most interestingly, we ask how is it that a career diplomat writes a fantasy novel!

So, tune in to enjoy a free flowing discussion of Ian McKinley's development as a diplomat who writes, from absorbing the atmosphere of the situation of civil war in Angola, to missions to the peace negotiations in San Vicente de Caguán in Colombia, from Guy Gavriel Kay versus Tolkien, to the publication of The Gallows Gem of Prallyn. Check out the book here: http://northernfire.net/

The e-book version of The Gallows Gem of Prallyn is easily obtained through either Kobo or Amazon so be sure to check it out on either of these pages. (http://goo.gl/eZg8kt)

Imagine our surprise to find out that the sumptious elixir that is a British cider could be found and enjoyed here in Bogota. So, after attending a launch party hosted by Julian and Emma, the brains behind the importation of Cider to Colombia, I knew it would make for an interesting show to have a sit down with them to hear about their inspiration and the process of importing to Colombia. 

In this show you will enjoy a warts and all description of what it takes to import something of this nature into Colombia and of course a celebration of all things cider, in particular Aspall Cider which dates back to 1728 in Suffolk, England. Check out their website here: http://www.greatbritishciders.com

After a lengthy tour of all the most important and indeed conspicuously de rigeur nightspots and events in Bogota to promote their product, we get together with Julian and Emma and talk about the idea behind importing cider to Colombia. As Julian says: "It's a win win situation, if the cider does not catch on here, then I have a great amount of cider to enjoy for myself!"

Join me in appaluding their decision to take this leap and wishing them all the best in the creation of a cider culture in Bogota.

Addressing some serious issues of cultural differences and what it is like to be of asian descent and in Colombia, we take the time to sit down with Jessica Wong, the author of the blog www.onechineseincolombia.com. 

In a frank and often amusing interview we learn about Jessica's adaptation to life in Colombia, why she is here, what she is doing here and how she is liking life in Colombia. Given that asian people are certainly exotic here, Jessica has found herself stopping anyone of asian origin in the street to see if she can chat to them in her native tongue, unfortunately, more often than not these unknowing participants in Jessica's quest end up often being from Korea. 

It has not been easy and you'll hear about some of the challenges that Jessica has faced here, not least the irate Colombian commentors on her blog, perhaps riled up by a foreigner being able to make an observation or two that is too accurate!

So, lest we forget that Colombia is a diverse land with a great deal of cultural nuances, this show is designed to remind us of just that. Tune in and hear about Jessica and Colombia.