This week on Colombia Calling our guest host Laura Brown is back and is talking to Janelle Gray, a Texan author living in Bogota, about her new book.

Entitled, "Echoes of the Struggle" Gray's work is about the civil rights movement in the United States. It takes the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement and places it in 2014 among the deaths of unarmed Blacks and racial divide.

According to Gray, this juxtaposition of injustice forces the conversations we should be having within our interracial communities thus fostering a better understanding of the effects our history continues to have on our present.

The author also touches on race issues in Colombia and how they can be compared to those in the US, while acknowledging that our host country is far more welcoming to foreigners than is the case in the US.

Read more about Echoes of the Struggle or purchase the book from http://www.echoesofthestruggle.com/

You can also join the conversation by contributing to the blog at the same address.

Hailing originally from the Yukon in the great Canadian North, Anna Vogt has seen more of Colombia than most Colombians and has gained an insight into this country that is both profound and appropriately sympathetic. We sit down with Anna in Bogotá and discuss her work with the Mennonite Central Committee and their Colombian partners and how she is here working, on the ground, on peace building, relief and development issues.

Dawson City to Mampujan in the Montes de Maria is a huge chasm to breach, but Anna first spent two years in the very heart of this community - not too far from Cartagena - which had been displaced from their ancestral lands by the AUC paramilitaries. Now she is based in Bogotá but enjoys frequent travel all through the region.

We discuss the issues facing Colombia in the future, the hopes we both have for this country and indeed the issue of conscientious objectors to the mandatory military service here.

Check out Anna's blog at https://thellamadiaries.com for more insights into her life in Colombia and the work performed admirably by the MCC.

When I first met Stephany, I knew she had a story to tell and I am thrilled to be able to have her on this episode discussing her family's departure from Colombia in 1998 and the circumstances around her return to this country to live in 2016.

In a frank and descriptive episode, Stephany talks of the hardships she encountered in moving to the USA, her upbringing in Houston and her search for an identity now in Colombia with her husband and two young children.

We conduct the interview in the Social Coffee House (http://socialcoffeehouse.com.co) which Stephany runs with her husband Alex...bringing a little piece of Austin style to Bogotá in the form of high quality coffee and great vibes.

So, I insist you head on down here for a brew either of coffee or craft beer (coming soon), check out their coffee tasting experience or perhaps some live music in the future.

This week we sit down with a good friend of mine from the UK who is also another veteran of 10 years here in Colombia and we discuss, from her perspective, the dating scene in this country we call home.

Perhaps you are heading over to Colombia for a holiday or to work, you'd do well to listen to Episode 173 and hear about some of the experiences encountered by one lady and her adventures in the dating arena. At the very least, the stories told may well prepare you for what may be in your future!

So, strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride of anecdotes, tall tinder tales, cultural nuances and hear all about the experiences of one foreigner here in Colombia in the turbulent waters which make up the dating game!