Problems in Colombia
Even with all the changes and problems in Colombia, Cali retains a homey charm, a personality different from other cities, an atmosphere you might expect to find in the Caribbean at times. Kathleen Romoli, author of “Colombia: Gateway to South America”, describes it well:
“The most striking thing about Cali today is not the Plaza Caicedo with it imposing government buildings and rows of taxis, along the avenues of giant palms, nor the suburbs with their modem villas, and churches, whose bells chime melodies instead of clanging as it Bogotá, nor the busy factories. It is the pervasive air of cheerfulness almost of gaiety- not that it is a city of many amusements; Cali is not gay by virtue of commercial facilities for organized diversion but by the grace of god.”
Cali Attracts Travelers
Cali attracts travelers from all over; tourists, businessmen, back packers, scientists, and students; and of course, salsa fans and salsa artists. Recording studios, “rumberias”, ”discothèques” and “viejotecas” abound in many sections of the city.
What is Cali’s appeal? The city’s buoyant atmosphere? The spectacular sunsets? The natural beauty of the soaring Farallones mountains? The vaunted beauty of its women? Perhaps it’s the climate where it’s always “June”. Or could it be its remarkable cleanliness? Many Colombian towns are clean, but Cali is so clean it stands out. Or maybe it’s the trees, greenery and flowers—the billowing crimson and purple bougainvilla that tumbles in profusion from the walls, the cup-of-gold that drips from the eaves, the waxy bells of the trumpet flow, the poinsettia bushes, gorgeous gardenias, the trees with magenta leaves and carmine flowers or others with feathery green—white blossoms or pale clusters of pink—the wild extravagance of blooms among which iridescent green-bellied hummingbirds flit even in winter.
Presently though, the city has temporarily lost some of its more charming aspects. Streets and thoroughfares lie muddy and broken as a new mass-transit system, the MIO, is being constructed. Nonetheless, residents hope that later this year, as the construction finally finishes, that the city will regain much of its beauty and friendliness.
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.
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2 comments:
It is a great honor for me to accept me as a visitor to your blog. I'm interested so much in the filed of teaching English as a foreign language. I'm Ahmed Ali, an Egyptian citizen; I'm studying in the department of English in Faculty of Education in one of the Egyptian universities which is - Ain Shams University. I'm still student in the final grade, but on this vacation, I'm studying TEFL course in my university- Ain Shams - and I aspire, after graduation, to teach English in one of the European countries, Italy, for example, I'm learning Italy, by the way. This is my dream. I don't know if I have the right for such a dream or not. But any way, I dream and aspire to become a techno-constructivist English teacher, but, in fact, in Egypt, there are lots of barriers which obstacle such an aspiration and don't respect creativity which I think that I have. For example, I'm thinking now to learn 3D Max so as to present one of Shakespeare's plays as a 3D Max play. May be I'm not the first one who think to do this. But in Egypt, I don't see such a thing. I have the aspiration to teach English and Shakespeare in 3D Max presentation – of course in the preparatory stage. But I'm confident that I'll face, after graduation, lots of barriers such as lake of computers in schools and the only 45 minutes of the lecture and so on. These barriers will obstacle my desire to teach English by using technology and this is the reason why I dream to teach English in one of the countries that respect the constructivist way of teaching language. I'm very very sorry for talking a lot, but I hope I won't interrupt you.
ahmedali_weka@yahoo.com
What a great article. I never knew there were two cities called Cali in Colombia. I wish that I had visited the one of which you write.
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