“Expedition Condor” Adventures in Colombia

“Expedition Condor” Tours in Medellin, Antioquia - Colombia


A great video from previous tours throughout Colombia

“The Expedition Condor” tours in Colombia is designed to give participants a wide variety of adventurous activities along with a special attention to cultural integration for travelers to learn about the towns they visit along the tour routes.

NEXT EVENT: “Vive tu propia Expedición, Toda una Aventura.....!!"
What: The Expedition Condor Tour Group.
Host: Expedicion Condor de los Andes
Start Time: Saturday, June 20 at 7:30am
End Time: Monday, June 22 at 5:30pm
Location: Medellin, Antioquia.- Colombia
Tour Fee: $360.000. Colombian Pesos
Contact: Juan Felipe Meneses
Email: hastaelimite @ hotmail com

Tour Fee includes: transportation, meals, accommodations, equipment, professional and knowledgeable tour guides.

The tour is limited to the first 20 people who sign up.



La Expedición Cóndor de los Andes, como preámbulo a lo que será su travesía por 17 departamentos de nuestro país y respondiendo a los múltiples mensajes de las personas que integran nuestro grupo en facebook, a decidido programar esta aventura llena de adrenalina, en la cual podrás vivir al mejor estilo de la expedición, el vértigo y emoción que produce la practica de los deportes extremos.

Tu aventura incluye la práctica de deportes de aventura:

• Parapente
• Rappel
• Rafting
• Bungee
• Torrentismo

- Incluye alimentación:

• Almuerzo y refrigerio y comida del primer día
• Desayuno, almuerzo y refrigerio y comida del segundo día
• Desayuno, almuerzo y refrigerio del tercer día

- Incluye Además:

• Alojamiento del primer y segundo día.
• El transporte a cada uno de los destinos en los cuales se realizaran las actividades.
• Instrucción y préstamo de equipo para el desarrollo de cada actividad.
• Seguro de accidentes.
• Acompañamiento y asistencia en primeros auxilios.
• Guía acompañante
• CD con fotografías exclusivas de la Aventura

El valor de la inversión para un fin de semana inolvidable, lleno de aventura y adrenalina al mejor estilo de la Expedición Cóndor de los Andes, es de $360.000.

Los interesados deberán hacer consignación en la cuenta ahorros de Bancolombia No. 292 282 673 07 a nombre de Juan Felipe Meneses y hacer confirmación con sus datos personales al correo electrónico, hastaelimite@hotmail.com

Las primeras 20 personas en confirmar su asistencia y realizar la respectiva consignación, recibirán como regalo la camiseta oficial de la Expedición Cóndor de los Andes.

Recuerda que es Cupo Limitado......Te Esperamos....!!!

Medellin, Antioquia - Colombia Adventure Tours.... !!!

Colombian Author Evelio Rosero Awarded Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

"The Armies" by Colombian author Evelio Rosero

A brutal but beautiful novel about life in Colombia in the midst of the civil war which has ravaged the country for decades has won the Independent foreign fiction prize.

Evelio Rosero, a prize-winning author in his own country but hardly known outside it, this evening became the first Colombian author to win the prize, picking it up for a book which judges praised as "a beautifully wrought, gently spoken novel of love, war and grief". The Armies is set in a village in the remote mountains of Colombia, following the story of a retired schoolteacher whose wife disappears; as more people go missing and war approaches, the other villagers make their escape, but Ismael stays behind, becoming a reluctant witness to the violence that is sweeping his country.

"It's a stunning novel of the Colombian conflict – it's so beautifully told, it reads like a classic," said its translator Anne McLean. "Most of the events – the shock horror events in the novel – are taken from news stories. It's not a comfortable read, but it is a page-turner and he somehow makes it universal even though it's so Colombian."

Rosero, who speaks no English, said winning the prize had persuaded him to keep on writing. "This recognition comes as very welcome and timely news as I find myself halfway through a novel that I've been tackling for several months now," he said in a translated statement. "At the stage when one doesn't know whether to keep writing or run away, the Independent foreign fiction prize has encouraged me to opt for the former."

He also thanked McLean, an "unsurpassable translator of Spanish-speaking writers", for "the beautiful English she made out of my anguish and love for my country".


Evelio Rosero, Colombian author

Chair of judges Boyd Tonkin, literary editor of the Independent, said The Armies "not only laments the Colombian people's tragedy but celebrates the universal but always fragile virtues of everyday life and speaks of terrible events with a precision and humanity that earn the reader's affection as well as respect". McLean's translation, meanwhile, "captures every shade and nuance of this story in words that match gravity and grace".

Winning the prize for a second time – McLean first picked it up in 2004 for her translation of Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas – was "unbelievable", the translator said. "I was so shocked that both my books made the shortlist, so to have actually won is really flabbergasting."

McLean, who also translated the shortlisted The Informers by another Colombian writer, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, said there was "a lot of good fiction coming out of Colombia". "It seems to be a good time for Colombian fiction," she said. "Evelio Rosero has won all the major prizes in Colombia but this is only his second novel to be published in Spain, where he's been a revelation – everyone's saying 'who is this guy?'"

Antonia Byatt, literature director at the Arts Council, which runs the award in association with the Independent, said the choice of The Armies as winner illustrated the importance of fiction in translation. "Who would want to miss such a poignant and powerful book? A book that not only tells us about how life is torn apart in a country wrought be war, but also adds to our understanding of the human condition," she said. "I am delighted more novels in translation than ever were entered for the prize this year, proof that we are waking up to the hugely rich quality of fiction written in other languages."

"The Armies" available on Amazon.co.uk

Happy Mother's Day From Colombia

Mystery Solved: Why Moms Really Love Flowers on Special Day

For over a hundred years, mothers in the United States have been honored on Mother's Day, traditionally celebrated with beautiful bouquets of flowers. New research suggests that the positive power flowers have on feelings may be the real reason mothers prefer to be given beautiful blooms on their special day. According to a behavioral research study conducted by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, when fresh-cut flowers are in the home, people feel more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety and feel less depressed.

"Without question, mothers appreciate flowers for their natural beauty," said Augusto Solano, president of Asocolflores, the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters. "And beyond the emotional excitement of receiving flowers, there are proven benefits that flowers provide on human behavior. Moms have long recognized the power of flowers, and now we know why! For over-stressed moms, it's no wonder they look to flowers for a proven pick-me-up."

Solano suggests treating moms to flowers not only on Mother's Day, but throughout the year. Flowers are not only great to look at, but have powerful "attitude-adjusting" qualities that can be enjoyed by busy moms, too.

Just in time for Mother's Day, millions of flowers will be shipped to the U.S. from Colombia, The Land of Flowers. Two out of every three flowers sold in the U.S. are grown in Colombia's rich, fertile soil and the country's beautiful year-round climate.

And a majority of those fresh cut red roses come from Medellin, Colombia the "city of eternal spring."

The first person I called from my hotel room on my first trip to Medellin was my mother, which I called to not only tell her I was safe because she worried about me traveling to Colombia, but I wanted to tell her that everything she had heard about Medellin in the US news was all in the past.

Discover The Transformation of Medellin, Colombia (click here)

Fonseca Honors The Great Vallenato Singers

Juan Fernando Fonseca, Colombia's red hot singer-songwriter

What a coincidence. The biggest and best music stars from Colombia go by one name: the pop-rock icons Juanes and Shakira, salsa legend Fruko and now, the rising star known as Fonseca.

Since he burst on the international Latin music scene with his critically acclaimed hit disc "Corazon," Juan Fernando Fonseca has been an artist to watch.

"Corazon" (2005) became the biggest-selling disc in Colombia that year, outpacing Shakira's "Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1"/"Oral Fixation, Vol. 2." It also racked up several awards, including a Latin Grammy for best tropical Latin song. His followup disc, "Gratitud" (2008), just won three Premios Nuestra Tierra (a Colombian music award). And six of the eight stops on his current U.S. tour, dubbed "Gratitour 2009," have sold out.


Juanes, native son of Medellin, Colombia rocks the stage.

Perhaps most important, building on the work of Shakira, Juanes and others, Fonseca has helped to spur a movement rooted in the traditional folk music of Colombia.

"Shakira and Juanes have been so kind and encouraging to me," said Fonseca, who performs tonight in Chicago. "They have helped to open many doors. About 15 years ago, musicians began looking inside to the typical folk styles of our homeland. We started fusing our roots with the electric guitar, and it gave our music a special sound. Juanes built his style around guasca [a kind of folk music from the northwest state of Antioquia]. I've tried to do the same with vallenato."

A distinctive accordion-driven style, vallenato developed along the Caribbean coast. It has undergone a revival, thanks to Colombian pop-rock star Carlos Vives, whose landmark disc "Clasicos de la Provincia" (1994) paid tribute to the great vallenato songs of the last century. Fonseca regards Vives as a mentor. "I am a student of his, and I really love his music."

When he discovered "Clasicos de la Provincia," "it blew my mind," said Fonseca, 29, who grew up listening to American rock (Metallica and Guns 'N Roses) and British pop (George Michael). "This was the first time I heard vallenato and realized it is not just old-time music of my grandparents' era, but it is music closer to my generation."


Shakira, the queen of Colombia.

In between his U.S. tour dates, Fonseca returned to Colombia in late April for the 42nd annual Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata in the city of Valledupar, the Ground Zero of vallenato. "This was the third time I was invited to participate," he said. "It's an honor to be at the center of vallenato music. They like what I do, and I admire them so much."

Even so, Fonseca admits he's often asked "why a guy from Bogota" -- Colombia's most cosmopolitan city -- "sings vallenato. Of course I am not a pure vallenato artist," he said. "I take some things and add others. Especially all the music I grew up with. I try to experience every kind of music I love."

That's evident on "Gratitud," which further develops the jazz-pop vibe heard on "Corazon." "This time I wanted to explore these three roads: vallenato, pop and jazz," he said. "I wanted to take more liberty to do completely different things within one album."

He also sings in English on "Gratitud." "When I was writing 'Beautiful Sunshine,' I realized that it would work better in English," said Fonseca, who studied in Boston at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. "On 'Catalina,' when I switch to English, it was like I was joking in that part. I like to mix up English and Spanish."



For "Gratitud," Fonseca wrote or co-wrote all but two songs. He discovered one of the covers, "Perdon" by an unknown Colombian composer named Alejandro Bassi, by chance. "I was a friend's house, and I put an iPod on shuffle, and this song turned up," he said. "I really liked it, so I decided to record it."

Later, Bassi showed his "Gratitude" by making a YouTube video in which he thanks Fonseca for recording his song. "It's a great story," Fonseca said, laughing.



Meanwhile, Fonseca will soon reach another milestone. He turns 30 on May 29. "I feel grateful for everything I've achieved so far," he said. "Every year that you can have another birthday, it's a happy day. I want to keep on singing and writing like the artists I admire. Bands like Radiohead. Or Cafe Tacuba. And Juan Luis Guerra, I've been a fan of his since I was 7 years old. He's such a great guy, he's been so many places and had so many experiences. And yet he is so down to earth. I'd like to turn out like that."

BY LAURA EMERICK lemerick@suntimes.com

Discover The Transformation of Medellin, Colombia (click here)

"The Expedition Condor" Travel Adventures Throughout Colombia

“The Expedition Condor” tours in Colombia was developed with a wide variety of adventures sports activities along with a cultural integration to learn about the towns they visit on the tours. This is the first program of its kind in Colombia.



The Expedition Condor successful, “Colombia Is All An Adventure” expedition covered more than 10,000 km and 50 municipalities throughout Colombia.



This expedition gave the many participants the opportunity to face many exciting challenges along their travel adventures which included climbing mountains, whitewater rafting, paragliding, hiking, exploring caves in the emerald mines in Muzo Boyacá, and even a ride overlooking the beautify countryside on a helium balloon.



The primary goal of the “The Expedition Condor” tours is to promote Colombia as a tourist destination for adventures travelers looking to explore the culture, history, routes, and most importantly, its people.



At the present time “The Expedition Condor” is developing the program for the next travel adventures through Colombia which the group plans on visiting the departments of Guajira, Bolivar, North of Santander, Sucre, Amazon, Nariño, Huila, the Cauca, Goal, in addition it will again travel through Antioch, Cundinamarca, Casanare, Magdalena, Santander, Valley, Quindío, Tolima and Boyacá as they search new extreme adventures in to promote Colombia at national and international level.





La Expedición Cóndor de los Andes es un proyecto de carácter deportivo y de integración cultural, sin precedentes en la historia de nuestro país. Esta travesía recorrió en la primera etapa de su Fase Uno, “Colombia Toda Una Aventura” más de 10.000 kms y 50 municipios del territorio nacional.

Dicha aventura que inició el 18 de febrero de 2007, dio al grupo de la expedición la oportunidad de enfrentar entre sus retos, altas montañas, ríos caudalosos y hasta las profundidades de la tierra en las minas de esmeraldas en Muzo Boyacá.

Su objetivo principal es mostrar a Colombia como un destino turístico de aventura, ideal para la practica de deportes extremos, el cual además por características como su flora, su fauna, sus paisajes y lo mas importante su gente, posee un gran potencial y proyección a nivel internacional.

En estos momentos se realiza la pre-producción de la segunda etapa de aproximadamente 3 meses. En dicha etapa el grupo de expedicionarios tiene proyectado visitar los departamentos de Guajira, Bolívar, Norte de Santander, Sucre, Amazonas, Nariño, Huila, Cauca, Meta, además recorrerá nuevamente Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Casanare, Magdalena, Santander, Valle, Quindío, Tolima y Boyacá en busca de esa Colombia



For more information: Travel Adventures in Colombia