The making of guava paste in Santander, Colombia (1980)

In Christmas 1980, I went with a group of friends to a farming area in the province of Santander in Colombia. The purpose was to spend time assisting a local priest (an American) in his mission work by visiting the campesinos in the countryside and celebrating Christmas in their parish church. The climate there was warm but not exceedingly hot: what is called "tierra templada" (temperate land). The other types of climates in the tropics, depending on the altitude, are "tierra caliente" (hot land), "tierra fría" (cold land), and "tierra helada" (frozen land).

Some of the campesinos made guava paste, which was formed into blocks, wrapped in banana or plantain leaves, and shipped to the rest of Colombia. This paste was what is known as the "bocadillo veleño." Bocadillo refers to the sugary guava paste and veleño means that it comes from the town of Vélez, which we could see from the top of the hill. One of our stops was one of these places where the guavas were crushed and mixed with sugar. I'm trying out the paste, which at that point was still hot and not yet formed. When I got back to Bogotá and told a friend there about my trip, he said that it was not a good idea to eat it hot because it caused diarrhea, but I don't remember suffering any ill effects from it.

Another highlight from the trip was tasting the foam that came out of the cow when the campesinos began the process of milking it. It was sweet, almost like a milk shake.

See my travel website for more information on Colombia.

More insights into Spanish words

Continuing with my theme of Spanish words, I have found the learning of the language a lifelong process. This is not to discourage anyone from learning, but rather to highlight the interesting things that come up as we're confronted with words that we don't recognize, or where our classroom or book learning can't prepare us for all real-life situations. I liken learning Spanish to what a friend told me about learning to play the guitar: "easy to learn badly but hard to learn well." Spanish throws a lot more at a person than the common misconception of Spanish being easy leads us English speakers to believe.

One example is illustrated on this sign that I photographed in Bogota two years ago. It is advertising a new apartment complex that will have two elevators, a garbage chute, and two social halls or community rooms that are also common in some apartment complexes here in the US. If I hadn't sounded out the word "shut" the way a Spanish-speaking person would, I never would have figured out that it meant "chute." "Shut" is the English word spelled phonetically in Spanish, though the "sh" sound does not exist in Spanish except in countries in southern South America such as Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, and where the sound does exist, it is never spelled "sh" except perhaps in a word borrowed from another language. 

Another even more important example is the word "muchacha," where not knowing how the word is used could create problems. If I had only paid attention to my high school Spanish textbook, I would have assumed that the word always meant girl or young woman. However, "muchacha" could also mean maid or servant girl, and maids sometimes dislike the use of the word when referring to them, preferring the terms "empleada doméstica" or "empleada de servicio" (female domestic or service employee).

See my language learning webpage for more tips.

Learning and re-learning Spanish

It's no secret that, with 21 countries that count Spanish as their official language, there would be differences between these countries regarding which words mean what. Take the Ferris wheel, for example. In Spain the word is "noria," but in Colombia it's called the "rueda de Chicago" (literally, "Chicago wheel") probably because the first Ferris wheel was exhibited in Chicago in 1893 (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel). By the way, the "noria" in the picture was taken at the April Fair (Feria de Abril) in Seville.

When I first studied Spanish in high school I learned that the word for socks was "calcetines" and the word for women's stockings was "medias," but when I got to Mexico the word "medias" was used for both, as it was in Colombia. I didn't get to Spain until 2006, and while conversing with a Spaniard on the return flight to Philadelphia, I used the word "medias" to mean socks, and he corrected me, bringing back that word "calcetines" that I hadn't heard since high school.

I found that people in Spain were not fond of Anglicized Spanish words or English words mixed in with Spanish. Another Spaniard I met corrected my use of "ok" in a sentence, something that I found common in other places I visited. They would probably cringe if I used the word "lonchar" for "eat lunch" instead of "almorzar", or "checar" or "chequear" to mean to check or review instead of "revisar." However, the Spaniards are not free of English or Anglicized words in their Spanish either. The word for "ticket" can be "boleto" or "tiquete," but in Spain you hear it called "el ticket." While in a restaurant in Seville I found that the waitresses were confused when I asked for "salsa de tomate," which is used in Colombia to mean ketchup, but they understood perfectly when I used the word "ketchup." I thought it was funny because not too long before that, there was a popular song called "Aserejé" sung by a Spanish female singing group called "Las Ketchup"! For more information on "Aserejé" or "The Ketchup Song, " see the article in Wikipedia. 

For tips on languages, see my webpage on language learning.

Colombia: Playing the game of "tejo" (1987)

Because of the difficult terrain, not many railroads were built in Colombia. One that was built was converted into a tourist train that leaves the north of Bogotá and proceeds to the towns of Zipaquirá - the town where the salt cathedral is located - and Nemocón. In the areas surrounding Bogotá, including Nemocón, there are many places to play the game of tejo (TAY-hoh), a game going back to the pre-Columbian days, which is similar to horseshoes. Here I'm throwing the disc (it reminded me of a shot put cut in half) toward a target that is a raised platform, filled with tightly packed mud or clay, with four pouches filled with gunpowder surrounding the center of the target. The goal is to hit the center target and make one of those pouches explode. Tejo is associated in people's minds with beer, because plenty of it is consumed during the tejo matches.

Visit my webpage on Colombia.

Philadelphia: Mexican group at the International Village Fair, 1987

An incredible event took place in Philadelphia in July 1987 called the "International Village Fair," which commemorated the 200th anniversary of the US constitution. It took place in the vicinity of Independence Hall, where the National Constitution Center and the Independence Hall Visitor's Center (both of which hadn't been built) now stand. Each day featured performances representing different parts of the world, though there were stands representing the whole world throughout the week, and a commemorative booklet was issued. This event was well-organized, showed evidence of ample funding, and featured a lot of talent brought in from outside the city, such as the Mexican Veracruz trio in the picture. The roof you see in the picture was temporary and came in handy when the rain came down later in the day. I only had one criticism of the event: it came and went without any follow-up activities in what I consider the ongoing task of sharing other cultures.

Visit my webpage on Latinos in the United States.

Panamanian pollera on display on mural in Philadelphia

Thanks to Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, the images of some of the artists who have promoted Latin American culture in the region have been captured on the walls of the office of Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas ("Latin American Cultural Roots"), a nonprofit arts organization that I co-founded in 1991 along with Yolanda Alcorta. One of these is Elba Dormoi, who came to the United States from Panama at an early age and promoted both the folk dances of her country and the popular salsa and merengue dance rhythms for over 40 years in conjunction with her husband, the late Ted Dormoi. This mural shows her wearing the beautiful pollera, the dress most identified with Panama. If you're interested in seeing this mural firsthand, go to the corner of 5th and Somerset Streets in North Philadelphia and walk a half block east along Somerset Street to see the full mural. Elba's likeness appears at the back of the building facing Orkney Street.

This description of the pollera comes from the book Festivals and Dances of Panama by Lila R. Cheville and Richard A. Cheville:

The pollera is spectacular from a distance, but closer observation reveals a folk art of exceptional skill and complexity. Almost every part of the dress is made by hand, from the attractive embroidery on the blouse and skirt to the delicate ornaments tucked around the gold combs in the hair. Visitors should not hesitate to approach the lady empollerada to examine the craftsmanship visible in each flower, the delicacy of the stitches in the gathers, and the painstaking skill reflected in the handmade lace decorating the ruffles. She is proud of her pollera and genuinely pleased to display her dress and her jewelry.


One of the most satisfying things for me is to have seen this organization grow and establish a presence in the Latino community in Philadelphia, promoting the culture of the entire Latin American region through the collaboration of all those who have performed, displayed works of art or given workshops over the past 18 years, as well as those who have coordinated or done the less glamorous administrative work. You can go to the Raices website at www.raicesculturales.org to learn more about the organization and its programs.

Bahamas: Harbour Island and its Beautiful Pink Sands Beach, 2008

On our recent vacation to the Bahamas, we only had a few hours to check out Harbour Island, a small island to the east of Nassau. The ferry ride took two hours and passed by the small island of Spanish Wells before landing at Harbour Island. This island has become a high-end resort with what could be called an understated charm, but retains its traditional look in the buildings in the village. At the dock people are there waiting to rent you a golf cart (it cost us $50/day) to get around the island. If you go up the hill and park at the end of the narrow road, you can walk down the hill and encounter this marvelous pink sand beach, which stretches the entire 3-1/2 miles of the eastern shore of Harbour Island. The beach has been rated among the best in the world. Our time there was way too short (only a four-hour layover before we had to board the ferry to return to Nassau), but we took advantage of every minute.

Visit my webpage on the Bahamas at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/caribbean/bahamas.html

Other websites:

Caribbean Folk Arts Network (Caribfolk) - Caribbean cultural network: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribfolk/

Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas (Latin American Cultural Roots) - a nonprofit organization I founded in 1991 that presents Latin American cultural shows, exhibits, and workshops: http://www.raicesculturales.org/

Raicesnews - Latin cultural events in the Philadelphia area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/raicesnews