Today, I got tickets for the JUANES concert in Orlando next October. I am beyond exited to see Juanes in concert again. Juanes is a Colombian singer that has been called the "Latin American Bono" for his involvement with political causes and rock music. I love his music and he is the best good-looking Colombian!!!! Trust me, Colombian men do not look like Juanes! He is really our best export "product" after coffee and Shakira of course.
Juanes
Buying those tickets made me think of Bono and the upcoming U2 concert in Miami that I am NOT going. I'm still not over this subject even though it has been over 3 months that I got a refund from ticket master. For the 2009 U2's 360° tour, the only concert in Florida was in Tampa. I was lucky to live here and know the stadium and know that even if we had seat in the 3rd level we were going to have a good view. Two friends traveled from Colombia just for the concert. It was a great weekend. I love to plan trips with concert excuses. The concert was SPECTACULAR! The stage, sold out the stadium, and the lights were unbelievable. I had been to a U2 concert in 2005 and it was amazing but 360° concert was just too good, even for U2! The seats for the 2005 concert were incredible! We were only 10 rows away from Bono. We could even see what kind of shoes Bono was wearing. I will be eternally grateful to my friend to take me to this concert with her. She had this tickets given to her as a gift. Here are some pics from the 2005 show:
View from our seats! Row 10 from the stage!!!!
"where the streets have no name"
Sold out show
with our U2 shirts on! ;)
When U2 announced a second tour in 2010, I joined the official fan club to have access to the pre-sale code for the tickets. This time the concert was going to be in Miami. Great excuse for a weekend away in Miami with one of my closest friends... After paying $50 membership to www.u2.com and getting good seats for the Miami concert, Bono had surgery and the tour was postponed. I waited to see the new dates. The new date was a year later AND it was on a Wednesday night. With my heart broken, I asked for a refund to tickemaster. I have to say that I've always complained about ticket master and the monopoly that they have over event tickets but now I have real reason not to like them and no choice to get tickets somewhere else. It took me about 5 months to receive a refund from them when I was supposed to get it in 7 to 10 days. The concert will be June 29th and I need to have a plan for that night because I will be telling this story to someone who has probably heard it 10 times. My heart is still broken but I do not have a lot of vacation days to spend 3 of those precious days in Miami which I've been to many times. I am a true U2 fan but sadly I'm not going to see them. I have lots of videos to share from that night but I'm sure nobody cares to hear me and my friends "sing". I found this HD video, from the official 360° tour DVD, of "Walk On". The video is long but it has a moving peace message. Enjoy!
These are some of the pictures from the 2009 concert
ready to go in
first look of the "space ship"
View from our seats. Not as good as the 2005 seats but those were marketing tickets :(
360° stage
The stage transforming for "The City of blinding Lights"
These pictures were taken outside of Caddy's, a beach bar/restaurant located in Sunset Beach, Florida. I was driving towards St Pete beach but I took a wrong turn and found this nice place. It was in December and they had a snow man in the sand. I loved it since this was the first "snow" man that I've ever seen! During the summer Caddy's has live music and LOTS of people.
Winter in Florida
P.S: This was 2 years ago, I still haven't seen a real snow man!
I added a song to this post because I can't think of Colombia without the appropriate music. This is Jorge Celedon a famous vallenato singer. The song is about the many great things about Colombia and it is called "la invitacion" which means the invitation.
Parque Nacional del Cafe
(Km 6 vía Montenegro Pueblo Tapao, Quindío, Colombia)
During my last trip to Cali in December I knew that one of the things to show my boyfriend about my Country was the National Coffee Park. He is not from Colombia, and since he loves Colombian coffee this trip was a must in our itinerary.
The trip in December had been planned for months and even years with my family. We had all been back to Cali during the holidays after we moved to the US, but we never planned the trip together as a family. One of the reasons that we wanted to go back was "La feria de Cali". La feria is the end of the year celebration that happens every year from December 25th to December 30th. There are concerts, parades, the best full fighters from the world come to Cali, the country clubs have parties with the most popular singers and bands, and the whole City participates in a massive party.
We arrived December 25th and stayed until January 6th. I had planned the whole Feria week but for January we could just relax and recharge from the parties. On January 2nd, together with my family we rented a van to go to the Coffee park. Two and a half hours away from Cali is the Colombian Coffee Region. The Coffee Park is right at the heart of this region. This park is about the history and production of Colombian coffee and the culture, la cultura del cafe. I'm a coffee lover and I can drink it at any time of the day without problems with caffeine. I highly recommend this park for any Colombian and not Colombian.
The land where the park is located is beautiful as well as the scenery on the way there. I visited the park first when it first opened over 15 years ago. It has changed a lot since then. My favorite part is the "Sendero del cafe" this is were they teach you how the coffee bean is grown and you get to walk though thousands of coffee trees. I also liked the replica of the coffee region town. This is a beautiful part of the park, there is replica of the Plaza de Bolívar from the City of Armenia in 1926, a colonial church, and many houses modeled after the typical architecture of the small towns in the area. There is one show that nobody should miss. This is called el show del cafe and it is a folk dance show about Colombia and in a way they also explain how coffee is part of our culture. The end of the show is very moving for those that live out of the Country. The song ends with a line that says something like: this is my Country and why will I live somewhere else? and of course there were tears in our side. Pictures and video were not allowed during this show. Make sure that your ticket includes the show because this is extra.
The food court is in the middle of a replica of a coffee town
the plaza with the food court in the back
small coffee trees
raw coffee beans. This is how they are sold and exported
The view
Taking a break at Juan Valdez
Enjoying a cup of the best coffee in the world
The coffee museum was also a highlight of the day. The only thing I don't like about the park is the kids zone where they try to imitate an amusement park. I understand kids getting bored, but I think the beauty of this park is to learn about coffee not to go to the bumper cars. I do not see a reason for having mechanical rides for the kids when they can ride horses, train rides, walk the trail with all the myths from the country side, and many other things. I am not complaining, I just had to do a complete review including the things I don't like. I just stayed away from that side of the park and enjoyed my day!
Typical coffee region house in miniature
The jeep Willy's was an important part in the development of the Colombian coffee boom
This is how the coffee is stored and exported
The cost of this trip is approximately $100 dollars per person (including transportation, park entrance, and food). For more information visit: http://www.parquenacionaldelcafe.com/newpage/
Cali River and Intercontinental Hotel *Image from Wikipedia
After creating my wedding website and trying to put a list of activities for my guests I have a better idea about all the good things that Cali has to offer. This is the same city that had the worst reputation in the 1990's thanks to the drug cartels. Cali is a city that most people love not because it is the prettiest place that you have visited but because of its atmosphere. Cali is the salsa capital of the world. The night life in Cali is incredible and there are many bars and nightclubs for every musical taste not just salsa clubs. Cali has a reputation of having the most beautiful women in Colombia and that could be the reason why so many foreign and single men travel to Cali looking for a wife.
As the salsa capital of the world, Cali is very proud of having the best salsa dancers. Delirio is a show that combines the best dancers with acrobats. The performance is only once a month. The last friday of the month. If you plan to go, the tickets need to be purchased in advances because it is always sold out. This is a video from the official website:
Growing up in Cali was like growing up in a bubble. Maybe the bubble was created by my parents but the best memories of my life are in that City. What I remember most is how nice it was to go out of town on the weekend to country houses with lots of friends and family. Cali is located in a valley so you can either stay in the valley and enjoy the nice warm weather, or drive to the mountains for a cooler weather. There are many holidays thanks to all the catholic saints and their days. This is perfect for a nice long weekend at least once a month to get away from the routine. I have lived in the US for over 11 years, and I still miss Cali. I go "home" at least once or twice a year. The first thing I do after calling my friends is eat some manga biche. Manga is just a variety of mango, but the trick is to eat it while it is still green with salt and lemon.
My manga biche
For the tourists that need travel advise, I recommend them to go on the first night to the upscale restaurant and bar area is located in the Granada neighborhood. The area is located between the 9 and 9A avenue (north) between 10th and 18th street. I do not recommend going to the famous 6th Avenue (north) bars and clubs because there are insecure. Be careful while wandering around the streets at night and with your personal belongings.
Recommended Restaurants in Granada
Trattoria Faro el Solar (Italian/International)
Clle 15 Nte # 9N 62
This is my favorite restaurant in Cali. The food is amazing and the live music in the patio make it the perfect place to feel the weather. I think that Cali has the perfect weather: hot but not humid during the day, and cooler at night.
This is THE BEST place for ice cream in Cali. The best Ice cream with a hot brownie that I've ever had!! and I love my hot brownie with vanilla ice cream in many places. This is still the best. There are several Ventolinis around the City. My favorite is the one in the west side of town. One of the prettiest landmarks of the City is the cat in the picture below, el Gato the Tejada which is right across the Ventolini Cafe.
This is one of the best restaurants in Cali. It used to be in Granada but it is now located a few blocks from there. It is next to the Centro Comercial Centenario, one of the City's newer shopping centers.
I've been spending a lot of time looking for the perfect details for my wedding. I've always been very creative and I used to be very proud of my skills. However, my results are not as good as they were 10 years ago. My mom is a great painter and she has always encouraged me to practice. The lack of practice has made me be a mediocre artist. I have a good eye but my products are not so good. After high school the only thing I've done is scrapbooking and I want to get more into photography. The guest books that I found are plain and ugly so I'm working on making our guest book. I still have a few pages to do but I love how it is coming out. Since the wedding will be at an hacienda outside the city I want everything to look rustic and tropical at the same time. I also want to do a lot of things myself. I had my mom do a painting with his friend who happens to be one of my favorite painters. We will take this painting and print it as a banner background for fun pictures almost the size of a door. The painting is about Cali, the city where we will be getting married and also my hometown. For the cocktail hour, we will be giving lulada, empanadas, mango biche and chontaduros. All of that is typical food in bite size portions. I really love the idea of sharing this with the guests since most of them are not from Cali. Maybe some of the guests will consider this as being cheap but I really want to share that food with the out of town guests. Plus it tastes REALLY good and it might be the only chance for them to try it.
I don't know what to do with this bicycle but i love it
still looking for the perfect pillow for the rings.
some fun for the photobooth
not really a photobooth but i love the arrow
I love silly pictures and I hate posing "pretty" so these lips are perfect
I got about 20 pairs of old navy flip flops for the guests. I always end up dancing w/o shoes so I think most of the ladies will appreciate this
I got lots of kisses and M&Ms in red. I need to get the serving spoons
I love these type of pictures. It is the main reason why I'm wearing red shoes
I found this on etsy and I love the idea of this picture to send thank you notes
I also found this on etsy. I need to do a sign but i need to know where to put it first before making the arrow
This is the entrance to the reception site. I picked those flowers for the reception decoration.
This is my favorite flower. I had originally planned for the whole wedding to have them but I wanted something red to match my shoes. I will use them for my bouquet and the ceremony decoration. This picture was taken by the photographers that I hired. I need to ask them to take the same picture for me :)
This picture is the only proof that I have that I have seen snow!! I do not remember since I was about 2-3 years old. This was in an active volcano in Colombia that had a BIG explosion a few years after our family trip. Someday I will take a trip to the mountains to sky or snowboard. I will probably be the oldest person taking the classes but it is in my bucket list to visit the Alps and Colorado for a winter trip.
My sister and I (1984)
My cousins and sisters at the Nevado del Ruiz
(Sorry for the bad quality but these pics were rescued from a box of forgotten pictures)
The sunset pictures from today's post were taken in Laguna Beach, California. This was a short trip that I took to California in 2006 for my 25th birthday. I spent some days in Washington DC and then flew to LA for 4 days. As a birthday present, my sister gave me a plane ticket to Los Angeles. She lives in northern California and met me in LA. We stayed with my friend who had recently moved to Laguna Beach. The plan was to go to the roof top restaurant of the Hotel Montage, but there was a private event that day. We walked towards downtown Laguna and watched one of the best sunsets I've ever watched in my life.
