Colombia does Carnaval [really well]

Carnaval is quickly shaping up to be my favorite holiday. Four days of music, dance, parades, costumes and street parties in some foreign local? YES, thank you! While I've never experienced the states' version of the celebration of excess in New Orleans, I've had the pleasure of donning a colorful outfit or two and taking to the streets in Spain, Brazil and now Colombia to celebrate the festival of debauchery.

Carnaval is celebrated in most predominantly Catholic countries for four days (or over a week) before the start Lent, the 40 days of abstinence leading up to Easter.

In 2009, I enjoyed my first Carnaval a la Española in Cadiz. The Spanish are really good at dressing up in group-themed costumes. They fully play the part of their outfits, whether it's a herd of cows of a fleet of cop cars; they push shopping carts around full of booze and sing and play kazoos.

In 2010 I upped the anti a little heading to Rio's world famous Carnaval. Worthy of its mantle as the biggest party in the world, there's nothing quite like the hoards of revelers who come to play in Rio's spectacular setting. However, with the high price of tickets to see the impressive parades in the Sambadromo and the sheer magnitude of the party, it could be a little inaccessible at times.

Last week's Carnaval in Barranquilla - Colombia's biggest party and second in size only to Rio - did not disappoint.

I wrote this bit on Barranquilla's Carnaval for Colombia Reports. previous to heading out.

However, when we arrived to Barranquilla we were in for bit of a shock to find that the apartment that eight of us had rented out, complete with three large bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a pool etc., simply did not exist. We were majorly scammed, as we had each put down about $80 USD as downpayment... and then we were eight gringos in a city during Carnaval with no hotel rooms available.

Plan B in full effect, a friend of a friend's parent had an office in Barranquilla. They bent over backwards to fix us up in their office, scrapping together fixings for eight beds to squeeze into the conference room. One room with AC, a kitchen and a bathroom, and we were back in business. Without any further hijinks the celebrating commenced.

Miss Molly, who had been working behind the bar of the Dreamer Hostel in Santa Marta (which is just an hour or so away from Barranquilla) was able to come and play before returning to the States. So good to play with an old friend in such a different time and space!

Barranquilla's parades were fabulous, a really impressive mix of the European, African and indigenous dances and traditions distinct to Colombia's Caribbean coast.

I got a press pass to attend the Bomba Estereo concert and wrote this article for a Medellin-based magazine La Arepa.

The thing that was so superbly special about Barranquilla's Carnaval (and this is what makes Colombia stand out from other countries as well) is the people. Barranquilleros, and Colombians in general are friendly, open and helpful. And despite the local or the decorations, its the people that make the party.

Where to next year?

Bogota b Bangin

OK, so I have to admit I'm a little obsessed with Colombia's capitol after last weekend's wonderful albeit wet getaway. The mission was LCD Soundsystem and objective was accomplished on all accounts.

LCD does NOT disapoint live. Super-charged with energy, the whole concert was riveting from Dance yrself Clean to New York I Love You...

The Royal Center was as legit of an indoor concert venue as they come, not hindered by the fact that we got in the primo section via free press passes. Spent the majority down front left if yaddidimean and the last bit up in the balcony taking in the whole scene and feeling like Colombia is on the up and up and Bogota is kind of leading that cultural catalyst train.

We kept the momentum moving by hitting up this underground after hours club RadioBerlin after the show. Two floors, great DJ, chill spaces, friendly people and rum... pretty much the makings of an after party. That is, until the cops broke it up because it's illegal for anywhere to stay open after 3 a.m. in Bogota. (!?!?)

Here's one thing Medellin does have on Bogota: the weather. Bogota felt like Portland pretty much, flashbacks of how it feels to have perma-damp clothing and use a broken umbrella. It's not the first time I've used plastic bags for socks and it probably won't be the last.

Other highlights of the weekend include some sweet cultural schtuff... tons of free museums: art, gold and my favorite, a photography exhibit showing Colombia throughout the ages. I know I can jabber on but WoW sometimes a photo really does say 1000 words or however many words they say a photo says without saying a word.

I got my hair did at this hip lil place that where I went when I was last in Bogota about a year ago. "La Peluqueria" is this totally inspiring hair salon/cafe/bar/vintage boutique/art gallery and venue. It is owned and run by all women and there's only one mirror in the whole joint so getting your hair cut there is kinda like driving blind, except you're letting someone else who actually knows how to drive take the wheel. The whole hair-cutting experience is transformed into an all sensory enjoyment kinda deal, which is right up my ally. I also happen to know a gaggle of hip women in Portland that just might know a thing a two about hair, art, music venues, bars, clothes etc. etc.

Wheels turning...

Ajiaco is maybe my favorite typical Colombian dish, and this awesome restaurant in Bogota's lovely/funky Candelaria neighborhood serves it up RIGHT. It's a thick potato based soup served with half an ear of choclo (big-kerneled corn), a generous helping of shredded chicken, cream, half an avocado, capers, and spicy goodness. One big bowl of hot loving goodness? Yes, thank you.

What else? A flea market which produced this awesome leather backpack that set me back about $5 USD. A gondola ride to a mountaintop cathedral overlooking Bogota. Hackey sack in the park. Beating up and old computer keyboard and taking the 'power' key home with me. A hookah bar and yummy rummy coffee drinks to escape the rain. Wandering around graffiti-covered neighborhood like buildings tattooed with art and words.

Thanks Bogota, hope to see you soon!

some fotos creds: Oliver Moss and Tom Heyden

Clips n' Snippets

I'd like to share a few bits n ' pieces of what I've been working on ...

The day to day continues to transform. From doing mostly translation work at first I've been able to take the time to dig a lil deeper on stories that interest me.

Over the past couple weeks I wrotten five stories that are of my own creation - either travel stories or human right issues - they are born from investigation, interviews or experience.

THIS was my first interview in Spanish: the "forgotten hostages."

A STORY that no one else is taking about is about this Peace Community who, in their attempt to remain out of the armed conflict, have provoked violence from all sides.

Read about the plight of journalists in this country HERE.

I have also written a couple travel stories, one on places to chill in Medellin and one about this ten-course gastronomic dinner experience.

Most of my time, attention and focus is directed at work and it makes me really happy. I don't think I've ever gotten such satisfaction from a job before.

That's not to say I haven't been enjoying Medellin's epic nightlife and Colombia's natural beauty. I've been discovering the coolest divey salsa bars and converted electro warehouses.

Miss Molly Mandelberg blessed me with her company for a week and we discovered this quaint lil town called Santa Fe near Medellin.

I took a weekend trip this amazing green river that cuts through a jungled granite canyon. Rio Claro was a natural playground: swimming, jumping, rope swings, zip lines, tubing, water slides, cave exploration etc.

I've got some pretty sweet upcoming trips and stories in the making so more to come!

Blessings.

The Dream of the '90's: the return of the fanny pack

Not like we haven't been hip to the hands-free movement since Burning Man 2008, but apparently the movers and shakers in the mundo of fashion have come around and will be sending the so-called "belt bags" down runways during New York's fashion week.

"You either love them and a make them a part of your life or you fight them 'til the end," Isaac Mizrahi said in a Wall Street Journal article. He is making belted satchels again for the first time since 1992.

Yvan Mispelaere, the creative director for Diane von Furstenberg is "considering" putting his "hands-free bags" on the runway for his February 13th show in NYC. They will sell for $325.

Hermes has given the classic nylon fanny-pack a luxury lift with its $4675 "Kelly Bandeau" waist belt set to arrive in stores in spring 2011.

One thing I love about the modern fanny pack (besides them getting love in general) is that it is fastened around the natural waist as opposed to being slung around the hips, giving a sophisticated shape.

One I don't love about the designer bags is the price.

Luckily Colombians love fanny packs and awesome fanny packs made out of leather, canvas and nylon are for sale everywhere. I for one am planning on swooping up as many as I can fit in my back pack.

I was way ahead of the curve on this one.

Taking requests now for Summer 2011 Utili-fannies :)

At least its not a 9 to 5...

Two weeks into life in the city of eternal spring and I really am loving this place more every day. I chilled in my lovely home tonight, moon bathing on the patio and just taking time. I watched the first episode of Portlandia on YouTube while cuddling with Tornillo-kitty who is attacking my typing hands right now. I'm listening to the newest LCD Soundsystem album, getting stoked to go see them in concert in Bogota next month. Life seems to take on normalcy no matter how much you shake it up. I'm enjoying settling into a routine without losing the awe of the moment and of this place.

I wanted to give a quick update on what I'm actually doing here on a daily basis. I work a legit 8-4 shift Monday through Friday for Colombia Reports, writing articles about Colombia in English for anyone who cares about the moving and shaking of this turbulent country but doesn't speak Spanish. The 'newsroom' is the living room of my apartment. I've only been late to work once.

When I begin the day it's usually just me and a researcher (a Colombian who scores over local media to flesh out what stories we want to write about). The two other reporters (an American and a British guy) and a couple people working on advertising come in by 9 and then we map out a plan to get the top stories done on time.

We try to have a new 'front page' which consists of the four biggest stories of the day by 8 am, 12 pm and 5 pm. My editor, Adriaan, does the morning stories and then he passes the baton after 8. I get coffee and get going on the first article. The researcher gives me a story (i.e. FARC hostages get released or Shakira breaks up with her boyfriend) and a source for it - usually a Colombian newspaper article. I then research the story, looking for additional sources to get more context and check the facts of the original article I'm drawing from.

For the most part there is NO other news in English about the goings on in this country. That means lots of translating. I've learned to trust myself over online translators and I'm coming to love playing around with both languages so the essence is the same, even if the words aren't.

Then I write the story in English, add some links and a photo and pass it on to my editor who will then 'publish' it. I get through about six stories a day.

And I'm loving it. I love learning about this country, I love learning Spanish and about words and about the different topics I am researching. I think my lil gemini self likes this whole journalism gig 'cause I am constantly changing my focus, learning about something new. I love the people I work with, the fast pace of a newsroom, arguing about grammar. I love that on my lunch break I can walk outside and I'm in the heart of this crazy living organism that is Medellin.

These small joys make me happy in a new way on a daily basis. I got to trek out to the mountains outside this weekend when I was invited to a birthday party at someone's country home. I've been exploring different neighborhoods, trying on the night life for size, discovering new restaurants, making new friends and smelling flowers the likes of which I've never...

It fits. Or I'm being molded. Either way it feels good.

THIS link goes to every story I've ever written for Colombia Reports.

Where am I?

I just got back from a lovely Sunday evening performance in the park... a dowdy drag queen, beloved by her people, puts on a raunchy spectacle every week in the Plaza Bolivar just a few blocks from my place. The unlikely celebrity performed surrounded by a ring of fans including families, gay couples, and pot-smoking teenagers. The comedian told bawdy jokes and ranted on in political satire; this week her target was the church. All this in the shadow of the Catedral Metropolitana (the building which boasts more bricks than any other in the world), in a country where more than 95% of the population adheres to Christianity. This seemingly contradicting situation is typical as I endeavor to better understand the city I live in.

El centro, the downtown area where I live, is a cluster of sky scrapers in the middle of the expanse of Medellin. During the day it is this thumping thriving organism composed of colorful people in constant motion; selling, yelling, bustling and hustling. At night it largely clears out as most of the paisas working in the city live in the outlying wealthy suburbs, or in the poorer neighborhoods that climb up the mountains that border the city on the east and west. It's dirty and gritty and rife with poverty and desolates. My tour of the neighborhood included what streets to avoid after dark, where the prostitutes are, where the tranny prostitutes are, where people sell and buy drugs, where thieves lurk etc.

photo credit: Andres Alarcon

With that being a grim reality, there is also a shiny side to that dirty peso. Medellin boasts the only Metro system in Colombia, and probably the cheapest one I've ever been on (under 75c for a ride) which shadows the river and connects the city north to south. A few blocks from my apartment is the metro stop of Parque Berrio which hosts several large bronze statues by beloved Colombian artist Fernando Botero. The Museo de Antioquia, situated across from Parque Berrio displays a collection of contemporary Colombian art including many by Medellin-native Botero, which I enjoyed free of charge as a holiday treat from the governement. Another holiday treat put on by the city is the majestic festival of lights which lasts until January. Along the river the festival is a sort of combination between a light show and a carnival. I enjoyed micheladas (iced beer with lime, rock salt and hot chile sauce) and fried potatoes on a stick while watching the trippy laser light show on a impressive fountain, set to the music of Shakira.

Take the metro north and you will find yourself in the upper-class neighborhood of El Poblado, with fancy restaurants clustered around plazas, boutiques lining shaded streets and trendy bars and nightclubs thumping the night away. I went there at night to meet up with a couple Canadian girls I had met and ended up taking on the night with a raucous crew of Colombians and Brazilians. The Colombians proudly led us to a fancy shopping mall, which housed a club inside. Complete with velvet ropes, the bouncer informed us it was full, that you had to have a reservation, until someone called someone inside who came outside and eventually we were ushered into a large, dark, thumping discoteca. Fog machines, lasers, big screen TVs, bottle service and a typically South American mix of American Top 40, reaggaton and salsa. Not exactly my ideal venue but I'm not going to lie, I was stoked when Jay Z's ''New York'' came on and danced 'til 4 in the morning.

Take the metro south and you can get off and use your same metro ticket to ride a gondola (called a metrocable) up staggering heights into the barrios that perch above the city, like the favelas of Rio. Historically the poorest neighborhoods in Medellin, the metrocable was constructed in 2004 to help connect the isolated communities to the city center. The metrocable is part of a larger plan implemented by the government to bring opportunity to the lower classes after the wake of destruction caused by the drug wars of the late '90. Since drug lord Pablo Escobar's death in 1993, the crime rate has dropped dramatically and Medellin has sought to reinvent itself through a building boom of parks, housing, schools, libraries and new public transportation.

An impressive reminder of this effort is the Biblioteca Espana, a looming set of three black buildings that stand in stark contrast to the dilapidated stack of homes made of stucco or brick that make up the historically poor and dangerous barrio of Santo Domingo, high above the center of Medellin. Constructed in 2005, the library and community center is more than just a much needed public facility in a densely populated area, it is a point of pride for the impoverished neighborhood and a symbol of change for the entire city.

Access to the city center, the Biblioteca Espana, and influx of tourists that arrive on the metrocable for the breathtaking views of the city and the Aburra valley, have helped transform the barrio into a thriving community. I spent my Sunday afternoon there, watching children playing, women gossiping, old men playing chess, and young couples flirting. I leafed through books at the library, ate arepas (a typical colombian fried cornmeal patty) and sipped coca cola out of a glass bottle while taking in the expanse of the city I now call home.

Unyielding Desire

"...encourage women to dress up in their everyday lives..."

Now that's a motto I can get behind.

I was introduced to the work of Alexandra Grecco through my friend Laura, whose sister knows the 26 year old designer.

She pays tribute to luxurious ladies of the past... channeling silent film stars of the '20's, burlesque dancers and pin-up girls of the '50's. The shapes and materials flatter the female physique and the attention to detail and sweet accentuations are enough to make any girl feel like a star.

Check out her website HERE and be sure not to miss her video which draws from her ballet roots (and in my opinion pays tribute to Feist) to further show off her exquisite designs.

I especially love the delicately feminine underthings and flattering onesies that epitomize the balance of function and whimsy of her designs.

Alexandra Grecco's BLOG is as aesthetically pleasing as her sumptuous line, drawing inspiration from her travels and natural beauty.

Check out her line at The Magic Hour, an independent boutique in Portland, OR on 2730 E Burnside Street. (The only place in the US outside of NY that carries her designs!)

The shop has a pretty nifty fashion blog of their own: Magic Hour

Here's to beauty, sensuality, form and function and the discovery of inspiration to dress up everyday for the sake of loving the look you live in!

BESOS