Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
What does an Australian ex accountant do when he comes to Colombia? Why, set up a food appreciation experience of course! This week we speak to Loon Lio of the highly recommended www.bogotafoodie.com website and talk to this stranger in a strange land about his new venture into the world of Colombian cuisine. 
 
Out to prove that Colombian food is anything but bland or insipid, Loon gives us an insight into how he came to create the Bogota Foodie website and indeed the Bogota "Food Safari" for the discerning visitor to the city. 
 
This "Food Safari" is described as offering something different say, "Anthony Bourdain with a dash of James Bond." We put Loon to the test and talk to him on Colombia Calling about how he came to appreciate Colombian food, why and how he is converting others to join the cause via the safari. 
 
Get in touch with Loon if you are interested in a fun-filled gastronomic journey through Bogota, the city's culture and cuisine.  
Direct download: RCC-2015-05-25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

I have to be bluntly honest and say that I knew almost nothing about Creative Mornings, but now, having had the opportunity to sit down and chat with one of the organizers of the Bogota chapter (www.creativemornings.com/cities/bog), Maria Linares, I am hooked. 
 
Well, to keep it short, Creative Mornings was started in 2008 by Tina Roth Eisenbery out of a desire for an ongoing, accessible event for New York's creative community. The concept was simple: breakfast and a short talk one Friday morning every month. Every event would be free of charge and open to anyone. 
 
The Bogota chapter was created in February 2013 and has gone from strength to strength encouraging people to come each month to an interesting venue to participate and listen to creative people. That Bogota should have a chapter is more than appropriate as the city is full of young enterprising and altruistic people and speaking to Maria Linares, one gets a feel for the potential here. 
 
Linares herself is an established musician and has composed for a vast array of projects including film, documentaries, theatre and television. She'll also be releasing her own album soon. Get in touch with her here www.marialinaresmusic.com/
Direct download: RCC-2015-05-18.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:45pm EDT

Why the change? Well, to keep it brief it would be facetious to interview myself and so along with my two co editors I am interviewed by guest host, author, diplomat and former interviewee himself (Dec 2014) Ian McKinley. 
 
What is the interview about? Well, Ian gets to pose a number of questions to Victoria Kellaway, Caroline Doherty de Novoa and myself about our recently released book, the collection of non fiction stories entitled: "Was Gabo an Irishman?: Takes from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Colombia."
 
So, hopefully this interesting take on Colombia Calling freshens things up and just maybe the powerful and insightful questions asked by McKinley might make us squirm uncomfortably, but this is the game and we are playing it! You are bound to enjoy it!  
 
Hear all about our book which sold out at the Bogota Book Fair, has been featured in the Colombian and international press and which is available to buy on Amazon (http://goo.gl/zfR60Q)   

 

Direct download: RCC-2015-05-11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:17pm EDT

This week we sit down once again with British Risk Management Consultant Ben Hockman (first interviewed on 1/9/14 http://goo.gl/xJG1ue) here in Bogota and discuss the implications for security in Colombia should a peace agreement be reached with the FARC guerrillas. We explore the significance of the recent spate of bombs placed by the country's second guerrilla group, the ELN, in Bogota, the support networks that both guerrillas retain in urban areas, the possibility of a bilateral ceasefire now since the dialogues with the FARC have been on-going since November 2012. 
 
Of course, no discussion of this nature would be complete without addressing the savage attack on a military outfit in the southwestern department of Cauca by the FARC two weeks ago that left 11 soldiers dead and placed the dialogues under severe strain and led to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to lift the suspension of aerial bombing on the FARC. Does the guerrilla group actually want peace? 
 
And finally, if a peace agreement is reached, how is Colombia prepared for a post conflict period. We discuss what took place after Guatemala's peace accords and the fallout from these poorly executed negotiations. 
Direct download: RCC-2015-05-04.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:21pm EDT

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