I’ll never forget the look on the face of that Colombian campesino man. My wife just explained to him in Spanish that what I am holding under my arm is indeed a surfboard, despite the fact that we were standing in a Colombian village that was located somewhere in the middle of the Andes Mountains, hundreds of miles away from any ocean. After hearing this news the man made a joke about us getting bad directions. He then flashed a smile that revealed a mouth full of rotten teeth. Soon after that he shook his head, tucked his hands into the front pockets of his hand-woven Inca style poncho, turned, and moved on down the only street in his town. When the man reached the center of town a gust of wind swept down the street and blew the black fedora hat off his head. As I was watching him chase after it through a cloud of dust, I thought to myself; “I gotta’ get to the ocean.”

I was beginning to feel like a fish out of water. Surfers cannot stay away from the ocean for too long, or they start to “dry out”. As I was standing on that dirt street in that dusty little town, I realized that I had not seen the ocean in over a month. More importantly, I had not surfed in it. Halfway through a two month excursion across the country of Colombia, in South America, we were on our way to a small Caribbean beach resort on the northeastern edge of the country for a much needed break from the madness we had experienced so far on that trip. We had spent the holidays traveling from Bogotá to Medellín, and then back to Bogotá again to meet and visit with various different members of my wife’s family. There had been some mishaps along the way involving pick-pockets and miscreants. Up to that point it was not fun, and we will leave it at that.

Traveling on a tight budget in a foreign country is the best way to experience the true culture of that country, but it can be quite taxing on your soul. We could not afford plane tickets to fly all over the country, so we had to take busses and taxis instead. Some of those bus rides took over two days to reach our destination. We traveled through some of the most remote areas of Colombia, changing busses and hailing taxis the whole way. Along the way we saw some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, and experienced some very interesting, intense, and strange things. Black magic and evil curses are practiced in many areas of Colombia, and I cannot say any more on that subject, for fear that you would think of me as crazy. There are things that cannot be explained in this world, and a lot of them happen in Colombia.

There were other things that happened to us that were even more terrifying than black magic. Let’s just say it’s never a good thing to have your bus stopped in the middle of the night by rough looking men with machine guns on a winding, dark, mountainous road. That is whole other story for another time.

Back to our main story; we were about four hours North of Bucaramanga, and waiting to board yet another one of those colorful busses. All I could think about at that moment was surfing and relaxing at this place called Tayrona. I was told you can sit in your own thatched-hut “choza” and watch the waves from your front porch. For those who are not familiar with the sport of surfing, that sounds about as good as it gets for a surfer.

It had not been easy carrying that surfboard all over Colombia. We landed in Bogotá in the middle of the country a month before, and I had been schlepping it around with our other luggage from one bus or taxi to the other ever since. It was like I was living my own little version of the movie
Fitzcaraldo, and my surfboard was the ship that was being carried for many miles across dry land. I was determined to make the effort pay off.

While we were waiting for our bus in that little mountain village we were inundated by the usual local people trying to sell us stuff. My wife, being a Colombian native did most of the talking for those negotiations. These little villages along the main roads of Colombia survive on money from people who are just passing through, or waiting for a bus. The local indigenous people sell everything from bags of purified water, to homemade “empanadas” (a meat and potato filled turnover made with corn-meal dough). My wife and I had been surviving on food and water provided by those people for most of our trip. Amazingly, neither of us had been sick yet. Albeit, most of this food had been delicious, you have to wonder about the cooking and cleaning practices in a town that has no running water. Something tells me that if the cook had a choice between using their last bucket of water to wash their hands before cooking, or having water to drink the next day, they’d forego the cleanliness. I tried not to think about stuff like that on that trip. I only thought about how much flavor those homemade items had with their homegrown ingredients.

People sure know how to cook in Colombia. Wow! The food in that country just seemed to have a lot more flavor than the food I was used to in the United States. We really experienced the authentic food of Colombia; “buñuelos, “pandebonos”, “arepas”, you name it and we tried it along
the way. We were on a budget, yet eating very good food. The people who made this food were as poor as one could be, but they could make food like no-one else on earth. The freshness, lack of pesticides, and the nutrient-rich soils also have a lot to do with why the food tastes so good in Colombia.

After we ate our share of “empanadas” that we purchased from a little old village woman carrying a hand-woven basket, we were ready for a freshly blended fruit smoothie. There were always several of these little smoothie stands in every town that we stopped at along the way, and we always made sure that we sampled at least one. No matter how small of a stand, the vender always had electricity to run their blender, ice box, and boom-box. I immediately ordered a couple of “tomate de árbol “smoothies at a nearby stand, and then we sat down on an old wooden bench provided by the smoothie vendor.

We were told by the driver of the last bus that our next bus should be along in “no time at all”. It had been my experience up to that point that this bus driver may, or may not be right. Sometimes the bus came right away and the transfer went smoothly. Other times we ended up waiting long periods of time between transfers. Those ones did not go so smoothly.

The mountain roads and leftist guerilla laden areas that these busses travel through can cause long delays, to say the least. Hanging out in that small town in the middle of nowhere in the foothills of the Andes Mountains waiting for a bus was quite nerve-racking. The local people of those types of towns were always very suspicious of anyone that stayed behind after a bus came through. Most people just passed right through. They were especially suspicious of a Gringo with a surfboard and a Colombian wife. There was a war going on in that country. Everywhere we went everyone wanted to know whose side we were on. As we were sitting in that dusty, one-horse town in a remote area of Colombia, I knew we were in for a long, harrowing wait.

By: Michael Connelly

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A rough guide for dating online, and avoiding fraud.

Welcome to the world of online dating. The Internet romance and match-making business has existed since the early days of the web, but only in 2000 did the industry become a major global industry. Internet dating website services have gone from an emerging market in 2000 to a full-blown competitive corporate industry with well over $2B USD in revenue at stake annually, as of 2006. As Internet usage and access continue to increase worldwide, as well as a decline in barriers to entry for new competitors, the industry is expected to continue to grow and attract new customers worldwide and maturing in 2010.

Who are the players in this market? Many names have done well establishing their brands early, such as Match.com, eHarmony, AmericanSingles, LavaLife and FriendFinder. Smaller and niche dating market sites continue to enter the game, as more and more Internet users are becoming more comfortable online, and therefore more comfortable with the idea of meeting someone special via the Internet. Success stories are out there, and so are the cases of fraud, international scams and big financial losses. More than ever, people are getting involved emotionally with someone they’ve never met, or someone who lives in another state or country. With this less personal contact comes the need for a professional background check from a confidential firm.

Buyer Beware: A few of the warning signs

Be skeptical and exercise caution if the individual:

1. Claims to be working, traveling or living in Nigeria.

2. Falls in love quickly, too quickly without reason.

3. Suddenly has an emergency, requesting financial aid.

4. Requests assistance with visa, airfare from Russia.

5. Requests financial assistance via Western Union.

6. Sends pictures that appear to be from a magazine.

7. Claims to be from S. Africa, Ghana or the Philippines.

Recommendations: The Basics

These tips could save you time, money and heartache:

1. Don’t rush; take your time getting to know someone online.

2. Never give personal information to somone you’ve never met.

3. Never send money to anyone you have never met in person.

4. Use caution: Philippines, Colombia, Russia, Ghana, Nigeria.

5. If appropriate, use the phone to get to know the person.

6. If meeting the person, always meet in a public, safe place.

7. If progressing, obtain a professional background check.

Finally, the industry provides more options for more individuals around the world to find friends, romance and meaningful relationships. In this view, online dating is clearly beneficial to consumers. With this new market, however, comes new risks and safety concerns. There are many success stories that have helped fuel the growing trend of Internet dating. Unfortunately, this growth has also been equalled in the number of criminals and professional scammers seeking monetary reward. We stress the need for caution, and if progressing, to obtain the services from a reputable firm such as Wymoo International for assistance.

All the best and happy hunting,

A. Hathaway

Copyright © 2005-2007 A. Hathaway

By: A. Hathaway

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There are many single people in today’s Society, and this is mainly because nobody has enough time to go out Dating anymore.

If you’re single for a long time, then your friends and family are unlikely to be very understanding. Perhaps when you first lose your girlfriend or boyfriend, and they will offer their support, but you will find this will disappear quite quickly.

Most people are not single, because they choose to be, actually the vast majority would love to meet their Soul mate, but there are a number of factors, which hinder people when looking for their Date.

Modern lifestyles are frantic and hectic at the best, and very few people have enough time to go to the Pubs and Bars in search of their perfect match. Most people actually hate looking for Dates in the normal venues, as they find it humiliating and stressful.

Online Dating is one way to find your perfect Date, while still keeping up with your day to day obligations. However Online Dating does not allow you to meet people face to face, and have a Chat with them. Speed Dating allows you to have a fun time, and also meet people face to face, and it takes up a certain amount of time, that you can adjust your schedule for.

Speed Dating differs, but the general process goes like this:

You register for one of the Speed Dating events. You receive an ID tag, Scorecard, and Rules. On the evening you have between 3 & 10 minutes to Chat to each Date. Tick “Match” if you are interested in seeing this person again.

There are many people and Companies, which will organise Speed Dating events throughout the country, and you can register with one of these Companies often in Person or by Phone or Internet. Once you have registered, the Host will organise the venue and notify you.

You will receive an Identification tag that you should wear, so that people will know who you are, when filling in their Score Cards.

You will also receive your own Score Card, and this is for you to note down exactly what you think of people. The Score Cards are collected at the end of the evening, and the results are collated. If two people both say that they would be interested in meeting one another after that night, then they will both be given the contact details.

When you meet the Dates, you will typically have between 3 and 10 minutes to get to know each person, and once you’ve decided you then mark your Score Card accordingly. Once your time is up normally a bell will ring, and then you should move onto the next person.

Most Speed Dating events last a couple of hours, and after this time any matching parties are notified.
You should be quite selective, when deciding which Company to book your event with, and it’s a good idea to go with a reliable and well established Dating Company. You don’t want to go to a poorly organised Event, so it’s best to stick to people that have done it before.

Even if you don’t meet Mr Right, it’s still an opportunity to have some great Fun! Plus it gives you something to talk about with your friends!

By: Morten Hansen

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Many people want to gain dating confidence but don’t know where to begin. You may be among the many who want to meet singles with self-esteem, gaining new relationships. However, worry can make you lose your focus on a date and this can lead to a loss of you confident frame of mind.

Building Self-Esteem Using Hypnosis

The core problem can be low self-esteem. You may be so self-conscious and worried about what others think about you that you can’t step out of your own mind. When you have esteem issues, you are less likely to be able to interact with others openly, leaving your date experiences a little flat and shallow.

You can build confident thoughts using hypnosis. This can work for you if you want to gain dating confidence of if you want relationships self help. Hypnosis is particularly effective because it helps you rethink your self-consciousness. It also reprograms your mind to respond differently in dating situations.

Troubles with Self-Consciousness

When you are self-conscious, you are self-involved. You are unable to focus on the other person in your relationship because your thoughts are all wrapped up in how you are being perceived. It is as if you mind is saying, “Enough about me thinking about me. What do you think of me thinking of me.”

Your consciousness is too involved with you to be really focused on the person you are with. You are unable to listen well and this makes your responses stilted and odd. Your thoughts are betraying you as you try to make a connection. You can’t connect if you can’t stop thinking about how you are perceived by others.

Breaking the Thought Cycle

You can break the cycle of thought that leads you to be self-conscious. Self-hypnosis can help you retrain your thoughts to gain dating confidence. This involves entering your subconscious mind to reprogram your pattern of thought.

You know that you want to make a strong connection and develop a deep relationship but you don’t have to panic over it. Being yourself is the best way to enter a relationship with another person and you can choose which aspects of yourself you want to share.

Your hypnosis will help you ease into a relaxed state that allows you to focus on your situation instead of on how you think you might be perceived by others. When you open your mind through subconscious programming, you begin to see things clearer. There are no more self-conscious thoughts holding you back.

The ability to listen, relax and laugh is very important if you want to gain dating confidence. A relationship involves two people and you need to listen and respond to the other person openly and genuinely in order for the date to be a success. You can gain dating confidence to help you make a great connection.

By: J Seymour

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Colombian tourism cannot be separated from its real roots. Colombia and Colombians are ranked among the happiest people in the world (3rd happiest people worldwide). In spite of Colombia’s violence issues, the country seems to be in a constant estate of celebration. Colombian music is a big part of its culture. Music seems to bring everyone together in one strong sentiment of patriotisms and pride.

Colombian tourism focuses in an entire culture, beyond food and gorgeous views of the country and coastal side. Colombia enjoys several trends of folk music that energize the entire country. Salsa, Merengue, and Reggaeton are rhythms that are well know worldwide.

These musical trends are not original of Colombia, but they are favorites among young people. However, typical and regional folk music is a favorite of just about everyone who lives there. Among its different musical rhythms, Cumbias, Música Llanera, and Vallenatos are especially favored (the last one being a national trend).

Vallenatos (music from/of the Valley) has become a significant favorite of the Colombian culture in the last 15 years. The lyrics are deep and usually convey a message of love and/or deception. This music usually lends itself to slow dancing moves where people can both sing and dance along.

Traditional Vallenato is usually characterized by its instruments, which is a diverse mixture of musical instruments from different continents. Traditional Vallenato has La Guacharaca (musical percussion instrument usually made out of the cane-like trunk of a small palm tree) from South American, the drum (from Africa), and accordion (from Europe, of German origin).

Perhaps the most recognized item of Vallenato, which has spilled over the entire Colombian culture, is the use of the Sombrero Voltiado or Sombero Volteado (Colombian Spanish for hat with laps). Most Colombians wear this sombrero with a clear intention to show national identity.

If you visit Colombia and go to different night clubs, you will see what I am talking about. You will most likely see men and women singing several songs while wearing distinctive looking hats. The rhythms and dancing; however, can become addictive and one of the most enjoyable parts of visiting this beautiful country.

Music is a critical part to understand Colombian tourism and culture and its roots. Colombia is indeed a beautiful country with some shortcomings; however, the culture makes Colombia one of the best places to visit in South America. Not only you will be amazed with the diversity of people, food, fruit, and different climates, but you will be immersed in a musical adventure that will show you how Colombians have a good time.

Remember that to listen and see Vallenato first hand, you do not necessarily have to be in the “valley.” Vallenato has spread all over Colombia. If you would like to be in a place where Vallenato is more prevalent without being far from Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, consider traveling to http://www.VillaDeLosCaballeros.com/ in Mariquita Tolima, about 3 hours north of Bogotá, where the weather is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit all year long, and people enjoy this musical genre.

By: Hector Quiroga, J.D.

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