Well, here we are again....

[SydneyRover]

Sounds really good Bob, interesting stuff, thanks for that, Syd.

[SydneyRover]

SBS did a prog the other night with Catalina Florez who was born in Columbia but maybe very young when she left.

''La periodista de SBS Catalina Florez presenta el episodio de Dateline “Grow Chocolate, Not Cocaine”, una investigación desde Colombia sobre el impacto del narcotráfico, los cultivos de coca y los esfuerzos por sustituirlos con economías legales como el cacao, en medio de la violencia y la incertidumbre rural''

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline

Hopefully the above is not rude, my Spanish is non-existent. It is a good idea but a long haul.

[BobG]

The bad side of Colombia...

Last night, around midnight, one of my friends, a woman, came back from time with her sister comemorating the death of their brother exactly one year ago. She chose to return on a 'moto'. They are small engined motorbike taxis. They provide a helmet. And they are cheap. But this is a hot climate. Girls wear very few clothes. You can guess what happened. The bike driver is in a bad way. That's his job and his bike gone and medical bills to pay even though the local insurance, if you pay it, covers 70% of the cost.

My friend was bloody lucky. She has three terrible tarmac grazes, but they all just missed vital parts of her body. She has no insurance. So playing nurse all day today. She will recover, but it's hurting like mad ATM. Problem is we MUST be at Bogotá airport by 3 am Sunday morning.... It's a dubious objective now but the alternative is a chuffing disaster. Awful scrapes across an inner thigh, a bad one across her stomach and a nasty one on an elbow.

And it's been pissing down all day so visits to the farmacia have all been sodden.

Great day...


As for the journalist lady she's suggesting growing chocolate instead of coca. Sadly, fat chance.

BobG

[Usher wide.]

I wonder if Usher ever made it out of Butlins. Keep the  the updates coming Bob

I’ve never been to Butlins in my life, I have however been right up to the Isle of Skye…..TWICE!

[SydneyRover]

Sorry to hear about your friend Bob and the moto guy, hoping for full recoveries.

Cacao is being grown, promoted and subsidised as a substitute crop by the government, the prog was fairly light on detail so unsure as to how successful the scheme is.

[knockers]

I wonder if Usher ever made it out of Butlins. Keep the  the updates coming Bob

I’ve never been to Butlins in my life, I have however been right up to the Isle of Skye…..TWICE!

Oo-er missus!

[Usher wide.]

I wonder if Usher ever made it out of Butlins. Keep the  the updates coming Bob

I’ve never been to Butlins in my life, I have however been right up to the Isle of Skye…..TWICE!

Oo-er missus!

Never ceases to make me smile.

[Reg of the Rovers]

I wonder if Usher ever made it out of Butlins. Keep the  the updates coming Bob

I’ve never been to Butlins in my life, I have however been right up to the Isle of Skye…..TWICE!

Oo-er missus!

Cockermouth on the way up?

[Nudga]

I wonder if Usher ever made it out of Butlins. Keep the  the updates coming Bob

I’ve never been to Butlins in my life, I have however been right up to the Isle of Skye…..TWICE!

Oo-er missus!

Cockermouth on the way up?

Frequent visitor to Shitterton, Lickey End and t**tt

[Iberian Red]

Think he's been to Anus in France ,but probably never Muff in Ireland or Clit in Rumanía Nudga 

[Nudga]

Think he's been to Anus in France ,but probably never Muff in Ireland or Clit in Rumanía Nudga 

Nearly spat me Bishops Finger out then.

[Iberian Red]

I had to look that one up Nudga! Got a Polish friend who told us that they called it strangling the penguin! I asked him why and he said no idea as there are no penguins in Poland.
He also told us that anyone that wore a combination of pastel coloured trousers/shirt combo was called a donkey f@£ker. Thought that was hilarious

[Iberian Red]

Bob,hope you had a great time. Check out the Andy Kershaw thread. I remember many years ago on a great forum that Carlos the Jackal and Muttley ran,I put you onto MC. He toured Colombia on a train when it was a far more dangerous place. The song you liked was about Maradonna.
All the best,
Cabron(that was my moniker back then!).

[Usher wide.]

Think he's been to Anus in France ,but probably never Muff in Ireland or Clit in Rumanía Nudga 

Nearly spat me Bishops Finger out then.

Loving this more than I ought.

Sometimes (well actually most times in the case of knockers & Nudga) you don’t even have to bait the hook, they just ‘jump out at your feet’!

Next one please!

[BobG]

Bob,hope you had a great time. Check out the Andy Kershaw thread. I remember many years ago on a great forum that Carlos the Jackal and Muttley ran,I put you onto MC. He toured Colombia on a train when it was a far more dangerous place. The song you liked was about Maradonna.
All the best,
Cabron(that was my moniker back then!).

Crikey IR! That train tour must have been a very long time ago. The entire network for public transportation was closed down in the late 1980's I believe. Thatcherite economics. There was a weekend only service between Bogota and the impressive underground salt mine cathedral at Zipaquira on an exceedingly rickety old line. But Covid put paid to that. The only trains in Colombia nowadays are a few private industrial lines and a damn good mass transit system in Medellin - where I am heading back to this Sunday.

I would not have liked to be here in the early 80's. There is a very moving monument in Medellin now to the 10,000 police persons who were murdered during those Escobar years. Funnily enough my visit this time is to show my son, who has a silly fascination  with Pablo, all those sites, and the stonking great el Penoñ de Guatape about an hour away by bus. As a side attraction there is a beautiful lake close by where the current Colombian goalie lives within bow shot of a ruined mansion that had belonged to guess who... It's some sight.

Cracking place Medellin. I could very easily live there.

As for the fool who clearly has lost, if he ever had, the ability to read and employ thought, well, his consistent display of moral decrepitude and monomania displays once again how we have no need to pay any attention whatsoever to anything he writes.

BobG

[Iberian Red]

That was Mano Negra in the 80's Bob.
 They had huevos enorme to do that in the 80's during the time of the cartels

[Usher wide.]

For anyone who has never been to Colombia but would like a true taste of its people, culture, scenery, infrastructure & public transportation I can thoroughly recommend the film ‘Romancing the Stone’.

[SydneyRover]

Hate to be the one to break the news but it wasn't filmed in Columbia.

[Nudga]

For anyone who has never been to Colombia but would like a true taste of its people, culture, scenery, infrastructure & public transportation I can thoroughly recommend the film ‘Romancing the Stone’.

In your haste to take the piss, you've just conceded a huge own goal there.

If you're not interested in this thread, why are you trying to derail it?

A lot of us are genuinely interested in Bob's travels. Maybe just give this one a miss eh.

[Usher wide.]

For anyone who has never been to Colombia but would like a true taste of its people, culture, scenery, infrastructure & public transportation I can thoroughly recommend the film ‘Romancing the Stone’.

In your haste to take the piss, you've just conceded a huge own goal there.

If you're not interested in this thread, why are you trying to derail it?

A lot of us are genuinely interested in Bob's travels. Maybe just give this one a miss eh.

Fair do’s.

I’ll get into my caravanette & drive off into the sunset.

Don’t hesitate to give this post a like if you’d care to hear about my adventures as I head off to Cornwall.

[BobG]

I had the luck to be able to go to a match between league leading Nacional de Medellín and mid table Bucuramanga on Monday night. An awe inspiring experience. I've never seen such support, or football, before.

As we were in with the Nacional Ultras at one end, we got the full benefit of the most passionate support I've ever seen. Reminiscent, I suspect, of that given by the famous German lot.

The flags, the banners, the flares, the brass band that led the singing and chanting none stop for the entire 90 odd minutes with only two breaks of about 5 seconds each. An unbelievable performance. Add in rockets launched skywards in a concerted volley and an entirely unexpected co-ordinated launching of a helluva lot of green and white smoke canisters at the Ultras end. It was mesmeric. The side issue was we all came home looking like the Incredible Hulk, covered in green residue.

As for the footer two good sides playing intricate passes and enormous numbers of very superior quality flicks and unbelievable ball control. It was high quality. Add in the Bucuramanga left winger who was not only direct but also the fastest thing I've ever seen on two legs. I thought Bucuramanga might get the lead because of him, but they didn't. Nacional hit the post instead. 0-0 at half time. During which I found around me an obviously passionate Dutch supporter of Nacional, a Pole and 3 Frenchmen. Circling overhead, throughout the game and for a good while before and after was what must have been a police helicopter. No idea why it, or the battalions of riot police, some looking like Robocop replicas, were there. It was a Monday night, Bucuramanga is 12 hours away by bus and how many Colombians football supporters can afford to fly? Not many. The away end was empty. And I mean empty. Still, I got a nice pic after the match of my son stood between two of the riot squad. Very approachable and human they were too.

Anyway, back to the second half. Nacional scored an intricately worked goal. The roar that went up, the flags, the passion were way beyond anything I've ever seen before.

Bucuramanga then had to attack. And they did. They managed to miss three good chances. And they paid the price 10 minutes from the end when Nacional scored a rapid breakaway goal. Joy unconfined - including our party I confess. I am now a proper supporter of Nacional de Medellín. It was the single best atmosphere I've ever been part of. As you know, I already really like Medellín. Now I support one of their two top league sides. Helluva experience.  It topped a brilliant day. I've got pics of my lad and I talking to a guy, close by the grave of Pablo Escobar, who has an absolutely frightening resemblance to the guy himself. A nice guy, but on first sight my immediate thought was 'Christ Almighty! He's come back'.

A brilliant day, a brilliant match and an even better atmosphere. We need some Colombians in our crowd. Bloody brilliant.


BobG

[Usher wide.]

Everyone seems to be standing in the picture. Is it an all seater stadium?








By the way, it’s raining in Truro.

[BobG]

It's all seater. But absolutely everyone stood on their seat for the entire match.

I failed to mention that not once did I see anyone, on either side, dive, claim to have a head injury, pretend to be dead, or, commit a nasty foul. There were no drinks breaks either - yet we're almost on the equator here. Yes, a couple of Bucuramanga players got booked, but they were nothing much offences really. Ref was good too. He only aroused the ire of the Ultras once - when the word 'puta' suddenly became very popular.

The lack of recent messages though is down to an illustration of a different side of Colombia.

About a week ago was the first anniversary of the death of one of my friends brothers. She went to her sisters' place a couple of miles away to commune basically.

Coming back, about midnight, she got a moto taxi to bring her back. Small engine motor bike taxis. They give you a helmet.

Not sure of exact details but either they drove into a car or a car drove into them. The car driver immediately drove away. As normal here, because it's pretty warm, like all the locals, she wasn't wearing very much. She ended up with horribly nasty grazes on her elbow, across her stomach and her left leg. None are small. Also a sore shoulder/neck and a generalised internal stomach pain.

Even if she had the local health insurance, which she hasn't, she'd still need to pay 30% of the medical fees. So, I've been playing nurse. She got infections in all three, but a very helpful local chemist has been helping me out. We're getting on top of the infections but by gum all three are nasty scrapes. Parts are now scabbing over, but wound dressing continues.

The rider of the moto was in a bad way. So now he's got serious medical bills, no bike and no job....

My friend was lucky in one way, but not in another. She can walk, slowly, and some scabbing has now formed. But it's the infections that are bothering me.

I kept telling her not to use a bloody moto, but she still did. She won't ever again. But the damn things are cheaper than normal taxis.

BobG

[BobG]

Evening chaps

Tonight we went to see Independiente de Medellin - the other Medellin top flight team v  Boyacá Chapo. Mid table v bottom end. Because of a concert at their normal home, shared with Nacional, the game was moved about 20 miles south to Itague, which although it has the status of a town, is really a suburb of Medellin. The lights there were stupendous. Too bright really. The ground has a running track round it and stands on only two sides but there were plenty of people there. Once again we were in with the Ultras. And once again the support was stupendous. Permanent music from their band leading the singing and chanting. As far as I could make out the songs were pretty vulgar about the opposition.

Again the flags, banners and impressive show as the players came out pretty much put all English clubs to shame.

As for the game Independiente had most of the play even though Boyacá are no mugs. Again, no dying goalkeepers, no dives, no malicious tackles and no time wasting. They didn't even pinch a few yards at throw ins.  A proper game of football. I didn't think about that the other day when we saw Nacional - though I can't remember seeing anybody pinching 10 yards then either.

Once again the plod were there in serious force even though it was a Wednesday night and Boyacá is 9 hours away. But most importantly, where we were was proper terracing! Lovely.

The final result was a deserved 2-0 win to Independiente.

Another cracking night, proper, skillful football with astounding support from the locals. Brilliant. I really like Colombian footer.

Sadly, all my pics of tonight are over the 600 kb threshold and I'm not clever enough to reduce them on this local phone. Maybe when I get back.

BobG 

[andy didcott]

Really am enjoying reading about your travels over there, brings back memories of the time I visited Cartagena during my stint in the navy many moons ago. How much for a match/ season ticket.?

[BobG]

4 tickets today, in with the Ultras, 12 quid each for a brilliant experience and proper, no cheating, high quality footy.

Fantastic!

BobG

[BobG]

I mentioned Pablo's ghost a bit higher up the thread.  Well, here he is.....

If you look at Paola's left leg you will spot evidence of her crash on that moto a bit over a week ago. Her stomach is worse. Her elbow damage is smaller but more vicious. You'll also spot she's carrying some of the moolah. For 10 years that guy Pablo made, on average, 67 million dollars a DAY, 365 days a year. And they were 1980's dollars and prices. He used to buy elastic bands by the lorry load.

In the war he launched against the government, because it refused to cancel the extradition treaty with the USA, the citizens of Colombia faced 631 bombs, the death of 3 Ministers of Justice, a Supreme Court judge, a presidential candidate, one fully loaded Avianca airliner and 48,000 people all told.

The second pic is of the roof where the war ended.

BobG

[Usher wide.]

Hope Paola’s infections are abated soon. In that climate open wounds would be rife for infection.

Hope you’re able to get some antibiotics down her.

[BobG]

Yep. Thanks Usher. I've been buying antibiotics, some weird water thing that allegedly kills infections and tubes of antibiotic cream too, just to be sure. She's a helluva lot better and she can walk pretty ok now, but there is still some infection. I have become a genuine nag. She thinks cleaning it all and using the cream and weird water stuff only needs doing occasionally... She's a pleasant girl so she doesn't scold me in return, but I can see her thinking 'Oh DO shut up!'

BobG