Week 28: Colombia

This is a very special GOTD because one of the co-authors of this blog (me Michael), lived in Colombia for a time as a child. Ah to be a 7 years old and a drug mule... but that is a story for another time.

Colombia was one of the most advanced areas in South America, ironically, until the Europeans showed up and slaughtered all that progress. Since then the country has had its ups and downs, but mainly downs. The difficult jungle and forested areas are perfect for guerrilla and narco-terrorism operations. Even with US aid, corruption and violence was endemic throughout the 80s and 90s; assassinations, kidnappings and bombings against infrastructure were common.

President Alvaro Uribe was elected in 2002 on a platform of security and has weakened the narco-terrorists significantly. Weary and unable to seize control of the government, these paramilitary groups have been in decline and many have left the ranks. Currently, Colombia is facing another problem. Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, who is no friend to the US, is saber rattling over Colombia's plans to allow the US access to 7 military bases. Meanwhile, Uribe is accusing Chavez of supporting cross border rebel operations.

Sounds nasty. What doesn't sound nasty is our yummy Colombian dinner!

For our recipe we made a traditional Colombian dish called Ajiaco. We used a modern recipe as the traditional version is extremely hardy. We took the recipe from the Bitchen Camero blog (coolest name ever), who in turn borrowed it from Food and Wine magazine May 2009. The stew was a lovely combo of textures and flavors.



I have always wanted to visit the place I lived in Colombia, but it is in a unsafe region. The State Department discourages travel there in general and issues strident warnings about traveling to rural areas. Unfortunately, I lived in the remote town of Albania, Guajira where my father was part of the Cerrejon coal mine project. Those time were idyllic in my mind but the coal mine, a pit some 30 by 5 miles, has destroyed the local environment and displaced indigenous peoples (more information here).

I found this sentence on the wikipedia page for Albania:

"Albania was previously an exclusive enclosed camp site for the Cerrejon coal mine workers and their families." - Wikipedia: Albania, Guajira

One of those families was mine!