Last weekend I visited the home that my father grew up in. The slope-side building in Bogota's historic district of La Candelaria is a "hippie" hostel today. In the room that was once occupied by my family, a small TV entertains languid backpackers spread out on mats across the tiled floor. The ceiling is about …
Continue reading An immigrant story from the son of an immigrant country
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has found a convenient way to deal with the broad-based protests cropping up across the country -- pretend they don't exist. But with thousands of Colombian farmers and public service workers marching through Bogota, the capital, on August 29, to air grievances against everything from fuel prices to free-trade policies …
Continue reading Colombia’s Santos sparks ire and protest memes
Anthony Bourdain recently decided to visit Colombia, and with that CNN dropped me a line to pitch a "10 things you need to know" list to support his new show for the network: Parts Unknown. The snarky, say-it-like-is former host of the Travel Network's hit show, No Reservations, brings a large spotlight to the country …
Stepping out of the tower next to the Colombian Stock Exchange in northern Bogota, I walked in search of a bank down a clean-swept sidewalk seamlessly covered in mid-morning shade by a few of the columns of earth-tone brick buildings that so define the city’s skyline. I had been increasingly in need of an ATM that …
Justin Calderón 