24 April 2011

The Colombia Travel Blog Gang grows!

Hello all,

When I started this Colombia Travel Blog a little more than a year ago my intention was to reach as many people as possible to tell them about the beauty of my homeland and to encourage them to come visit us, during that process I met a lot of Colombia lovers both from Colombia and abroad ( travelers and expats) that had that same aim. Some time ago I met Paul and Ryan , a couple of Brits living in Colombia that decided to start a Blog called " Colombia Travel and living Blog" focusing mainly in the cultural differences of living in Colombia when you come from a place as different as the UK.

I'm very glad to tell you that as of today I'll be part of the Colombia Travel and Living blog ( very kindly renamed now as  " Colombia travel blog by Marcela and friends"  :)  ....  over there I'll post shorter more factual posts about Colombia's destinations in a more regular basis , while here you'll still be able to find my never ending rambling about my personal experiences in Colombia.

Click the link ---> to go to our new  collaborative Colombia Travel Blog.

Abrazos!

Marcela

8 April 2011

Rio Bogota ( Bogota River ) .... the second most polluted river in the world :(

Hello all,

This is a folow up post to the introduction to the Teqauendama Falls post I did a while ago, unfortunately this is not about the outstanding scenery of the falls  but about the extremely poluted Rio Bogota that affects not only what should be one of Colombia's touristic spotlights, but also - and more importantly -  represents a serious health hazard to the unprivileged people that live at its shores.

A phrase by The International Development Research Center, Canada says it all:

“The Tequendama Falls has the dubious honour of being the largest wastewater falls in the world…Liquid wastes from the city are flushed untreated into the Bogotá River at the lower edge of the sabana, a few kilometres upstream of the Tequendama Falls. Downstream from Bogotá, the river is filled with sewage…”

Besides promoting touristic destinations  in Colombia, my Colombia Travel Blog also wants to help create conciousness about how important is to respect the enviroment and our frail eco system when visiting a site. It is a shame that we have the doubios honor to have the second most pulluted river in the world , as supporters of Fundacion Rio Urbano ( a Waterkeeper alliance member)  we joined a group of Rio Urbakno members, See Colombia Travel staffers and an American friend I met in Bogota a few days before during a Trek . The objective was to realize how seroious the situation of the river is as well as help us understand the many reasons that have caused this eco tragedy.

Thanks to my friend Lee Pera for letting me reproduce her post, you can read her whole chronicle about our visit below ,  and you can find her  Bogota blog here: