The Five Best Cities to Live in 2009 if the Economy Keeps Tanking.
Hard times at home necessitate careful planning for successful live-abroad experiences. Here are a few destinations to weather the current economic downturn.
There are good reasons backing the hype. The weather is almost always delightful in the City of Eternal Spring. The nightlife, especially in La Zona Rosa surrounding Parque de Lleras rivals any in Latin America. The nightclubs further afield are worth the cab fare, though check with locals to find out which spot is currently in vogue. The increase in backpackers has led to many more hostels. Casa Kiwi currently claims the title for best party digs.
Closer economic ties with the United States should theoretically increase demand for English teachers, and though wages are generally low, so are the rents. Medellin is home to several major universities, and with the large student population there are always rooms for let in budget apartments. Entrepreneurs will find a can-do business climate and a people overjoyed to have the dark days of the cartels and the FARC behind them.
IDB 50th Anniversary Meeting to Showcase Medellín Urban Renewal by Anastasia Moloney - March 17, 2009
When 4,000 foreign visitors, top bankers, and member heads of state of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) descend on Medellín next week for the bank's annual meeting and 50th anniversary, they will encounter a city very different to the one it was two decades ago.
Medellín, Colombia’s second city and industrial hub, has transformed in recent years. From a city with the highest murder rate in the world in 1991 (a staggering 381 per 100,000 inhabitants) and once home to the world’s most powerful cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, Medellín has now become a leading example of urban regeneration in Latin America and a model for other cities in the region to follow.
Medellín’s makeover started with the then-mayor Sergio Fajardo five years ago. Fajardo, a mathematician and currently a presidential candidate, made a commitment to improve the lives of the city’s poor through a series of bold infrastructure projects and public works programs. He believes architecture is a tool that can bring about social transformation by bridging the gap between rich and poor. Fajardo’s signature idea is that provoking and cutting-edge architecture constructed by renowned architects gives people dignity and fosters respect, community sprit and civic pride. Moreover, architecture can build hope.
The results over a short space of time are impressive. Dotted across the city’s marginalized and once ignored slum areas are state-of-the art public libraries, landscaped parks, new schools, and kindergartens. Perhaps the most eye-catching improvement is the city’s much prized and acclaimed cable car transport system—MetroCable. The cable car, which resembles those used in alpine skiing resorts, ferries people living in poor neighborhoods lying on the mountain slopes to the city center. Garbage dumps have been transformed into thriving community centers and once abandoned public squares are filled with fountains and sculptures.
Medellín is also home to EPM, the country’s leading public utilities company owned by the local municipality. In tune with the progressive and visionary vibe felt today in Medellín, EPM has come up with a simple, yet effective, way to encourage poor customers to pay for their gas and electricity bills. EPM realized that to get low-income households to pay their utility bills, the company would have to adapt to the paying culture and patterns of marginalized neighborhoods. That means understanding that poor customers live precariously day by day and don’t have the means to pay a hefty utility bill at the end of each month. Instead of sending monthly bills, EPM allows its poor customers to pay as they go and top up their credit.Customers can pay via a slot telephone or place coins into a meter whenever they like. “It’s not that the poor are bad payers. They can pay, but just not in a lump sum at the end of the month, so we’ve adapted our billing systems to accommodate their spending patterns,” explained EPM’s General Manager, Federico Restrepo. In such a way, EPM has been able to attract thousands of new customers from low-income neighborhoods.
It’s initiatives like this and the city’s emphasis on urban renewal that is placing Medellín in the spotlight. The IDB assembly is being billed as the most important event taking place in Medellín for decades and an ideal opportunity for the city, and Colombia, to showcase its positive and progressive side. It’s hard to see visitors coming away disappointed.
Paragliding Tournament: Sopetrán, Antioquia, March 20-23, 2009
The skies over Sopetrán, Antioquia this weekend will see more than seventy of the best paragliding pilots from all over Colombia who are expected to arrive for the second national paragliding tournament this year.
The exciting sport of paragliding competition has gained much popularity in the country in the past few years, especially after the success of the San Felix tournament in 2007. Héctor Hugo Vásquez, Juan Cano, Daniel Vallejo and Liliana Morales, among others, stand out as some of the top paragliding pilots in Colombia.
The sporting event, which promises to be a festival complete with traditional Colombia food, music, and dancing, has been organized by the Cross Country Group and Halcones Clubs of Medellin, along with Liliana Morales, who is one of the most passionate paragliding pilots in all of Colombia.
Pablo Escobar encircled by a friendly crowd in Medellin.
THE ACCOUNTANT'S STORY: Inside the Violent World of the Medellin Cartel By Roberto Escobar with David Fisher Grand Central Publishing Hardcover Original Publication date: February 25, 2009
You Are Invited To Attend a Video Press Conference with Roberto Escobar;Brother of the Infamous Drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar and Author of The Accountant's Story
Roberto Escobar Will Be Speaking Live (Via Video) From Colombia and Will Be Available To Answer Questions About His Book, on Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 11:00AM To 12:00PM At The Core Club, 66 East 55th Street Screening Room
* Co-Author David Fisher Will Be At The Core Club For A Q % A.
RSVP: Jimmy Franco, Grand Central Publishing. 212-364-1321; jimmy.franco@hbgusa.com
The sign reads: This building never belonged to Pablo Escobar.
THE ACCOUNTANT'S STORY is Pablo Escobar's story in the words of one of his closest confidants, his brother Roberto. Written with David Fisher, Roberto shares the brutality of the Medellin cartel, the dicey nature of dealing with American DEA forces and the CIA, along with the problems the Escobars faced when going up against the Colombian organized mafia, even Pablo's moments of kindness and compassion towards less fortunate countrymen in Colombia. It's all here. Roberto knows it all because he was the accountant.
Arguably the most successful criminal operation in history, Roberto Escobar was present during the rise and demise of Medellin Cartel. At a rate of smuggling 15 tons of coke into the United States per day, Fortune Magazine once estimated the cartel to be worth in excess of $6 billion. Roberto recounts the times they spent $1000 a week just purchasing rubber bands to wrap the stacks of cash since they had more illegal money than they could deposit in banks; the purchase of six Russian submarines and thirteen 727 planes from Eastern Airlines, upon the company's bankruptcy, to aid in delivering the cartel's goods.
Pablo Escobar's grave is a popular attraction in Medellin.
As the keeper of the books, Roberto was there to keep track of every penny. Now in his 60's Roberto is free after serving 10 years in a Colombian jail to tell the story and offer insight into the harsh world of money, coke, and crime. Even to offer insight to the fact that although many people view his brother Pablo Escobar as a monster, thousands still visit his grave every year to mourn him, and revere him as a savior.
The home where Pablo Escobar was shot to death as he jumped out the window to avoid capture by the police, located at Calle 79a #45D-94 Barrio Los Olivos, near Estadio Girardot.
For the first time ever, Roberto Escobar, gives precise details from a unique perspective. The surviving brother of the infamous Pablo Escobar tells the real inside story of the Medellin cartel to set the record straight, once and for all.
The Accountant's Story by Robert Escobar, Available on Amazon.com
This short documentary portrays the duality of Pablo Escobar's character through the eyes of the people he helped out of poverty and through the eyes of the government who exposed him as a murderous druglord. Fabio Castillo, a journalist who has been investigating Escobar's life and story for the last thirty years shares his findings from Medellin, Colombia.
Frijoles Paisas is a common dish from my region of Antioquia. I’ve eaten it all of my life and it is definitely one of my favorite dishes. Few meals are as truly Colombian as this. We serve it over rice or as part of our famous Colombian dish “Bandeja Paisa” which is a huge meal including, paisa pinto beans, white rice, ripe plantain, Colombian chorizo, avocado, chicharron (pork fritters) ground beef and fried egg. This dish is served in most casual Colombian restaurants around the world. If you are on a diet, this is the best reason to break it. In this post, I included directions to make the recipe in a regular pot or in a slow cooker.
INGREDIENTS (6 SERVINGS)
3 cups pinto beans ½ pound pork hocks 6 cups water 1 cup shredded carrots ½ teaspoon salt ½ green plantain, cuted into ¼- inch
1. Wash the beans and soak overnight in cold water. Drain the beans and place in a large pot and add the water and pork hocks. Over medium-high heat, bring the beans to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the beans to cook until almost tender, approximately 2 hours.
2. When the beans are cooking, prepare the guiso. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, add the tomatoes, onions, scallions, salt, garlic, cilantro and ground cumin and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. When the beans are almost tender, add the guiso, plantains, carrots and salt. Cover and cook for another hour or until the beans are fully cooked. (Add additional water as necessary).
DIRECTIONS USING SLOW COOKER
For the slow cooker, use the same ingredients except use just 4 cups water instead of 6.
1. Wash the beans and soak overnight in cold water. Drain the beans and place in a slow cooker, add 4 cups water and pork hocks and cook on high for about 2 hours.
2. Follow step 2 in the regular pot recipe.
3. Add the guiso, plantains, carrots and salt then cover and cook for another 3 hours. Taste for salt and serve.
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"The Teddy Bears are purchased in the U.S. and are then distributed to the children in Medellin, Colombia.
Send a small gift to a child in South America, spread the joy."
