As Colombiamoda comes to an end, La Feria de Las Flores gets ready to Launch

The planners and organizers of these two key events really put their thinking caps on this year.  Colombiamoda was originally scheduled for July 10th-13th but changed to July 29th-31st.  By doing so, it coincides with the beginning of the 51st annual La Feria de las Flores (Medellin Flower Festival) beginning on August 1st.  Why not?  You already have a city full of buyers, international press and visitors for the Colombiamoda.  Why not keep them in town for a few more days to enjoy the largest annual event in Medellin.

 

10 days of concerts, parades, events, partying and of course culminating in Cabalgata, the worlds largest ourdoor horse parade.

The Alcalde Medellins web site has a calendar of events and locales but there are a few “do not miss” events on the schedule;

- Desfile de Silliteros (Parade of Flower Carriers).  Large placards of flower arrangements can already be seen being prepared for the event. We have been told there are more flowers used for this parade than the Rose Parade but have not found any source to confirm the data.

- The Antique and Restored Auto Parade. There are some very impressive auto restorations in Medellin. It is quite the hobby and competition is very stiff for winning various categories.  Over 1.5 million people will line the 28Km route to view the parade and most will be partying.  So will the auto drivers themselves! Wait till you see the decorations inside the cars!

-Cabalgata. Posted as the worlds larget outdoor horse parade boasting over 7,000 entrants last year, this is a day long event on the last day of the Festival (usually a Sunday) and is genrally a giant street party of 2+ million people for upwards of 14-16 hours.  Lots of music, bands, food vendors, drink vendors, horses (of course) and eye candy the likes of which you have probably never seen before in your life.

If you do not already have reservations for a place to stay, you are probably out of luck for this years festival and better start making plans now for next years.  Most places charge a 15-20% premium for accommodations for this event.

Colombiamoda 2008 Medellin Colombia

It has finally arrived.  The much anticipated 19th annual Colombiamoda begins tomorrow in Medellin Colombia.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Date: July 29th to 31st, 2008
Schedule: 9:00 am to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday – Wednesday
Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Place: Plaza Mayor, Medellín – Colombia.

IMPORTANT: Tuesday July 29th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the trade show will only be open to buyers.

Buyers and Exhibitors have been seen arriving for the past few days.  Exhibition booths are being assembled in Plaza Mayor and the models are making last minute preparations on their hair, nails and body sculpting.

Colombiamoda is billed as the largest fashion show in Latin America. Having celebrated its 18th anniversary this past July, it is rapidly becoming known internationally as one of the most important fashion events to attend in the world.

Medellin is regarded by many as the largest textile center in Latin America so it is little wonder this event continues to grow in importance for the local economy.

Well attended you ask?:

450 national and international exhibitors.

1730 international buyers.

7260 national buyers and visitors from Alemania, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bélgium, Belice, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, España, United States, France, Guatemala, Holland, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Holand, Panama, Peru, Poland, Reino Unido, Dominican Republic, Singapor, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

60.000 meters of exhibition and services space.

400 national and international journalist.

The trade show

A place where you can find the new trends for formal, casual, jeanswear and sport collections for the feminine, masculine, junior, children and baby market. Ideal for wholesalers, chain stores, department stores, boutiques and distributors.

Business, fashion, sensations and brands is what everybody breathed this past year in Colombiamoda. It takes place every July.

This important business center that has become one of the most important in the Latin American textile and apparel sector is held at the Plaza Mayor Medellin, its Recinto Ferial, Centro de Convenciones and The Teatro Metropolitano.

**For visiting the catwalks you need an invitation, the Colombiamoda’s badge is not valid.

These invitations can be hard to come by but if you get lucky and snag a couple of tickets to attend a catwalk fashion exhibition it will dazzle your eyes with the beauty of the Colombian fashion models. Knowing somebody in the industry is always an advantage.

The general exhibition halls are open to the public on a daily basis. Entrance ticket purchase required. Eye candy is free.

Cancel the call to the animals…….

A day after posting the Ark Blog, the sun came out and shined all day. Not a single drop of rain for the first time in months.  Now, 6 days later, we are still having blissfully sunny days and no rain.  It looks like summer has finally arrive in Medellin and what beutiful days they are.

 

Just in time for the Flower Festival starting on the 1st of August. Remember to bring your sun tanning lotion!

Is someone building an Ark in Medellin?

We certainly hope so because the expected end of the rainy season in May has not come to fruition.  Normally, the rainy season for this time of year in Medellin is March, April and May.  It rained a lot in March and April but it rained exery single day in May.

The summer, sunny months are normally June, July and August.  Oh, you learn to expect an occasional light afternoon shower but “normally” most days are bright and sunny and are warmer but rarely ever hot (like Fla. summers).  Well, Junes  rainfal average in CM’s  was well above normal but darn it, so has July.  When is this daily rain ever going to stop? It is also keeping the temperatures well below normal for this time of year (although still very pleasant and comfortable).

 

I keep thinking I am going to see a man with a long white beard being followed by animals two by two parading through town some day soon.

 

MTG

Medellin Travel Guide Portal

The original design concept for Medellin Travel Guide was to make it into a portal, a gateway if you will, to finding information about visiting or traveling to Medellin Colombia.  Inclusive of our rental apartments, penthouses and realestate for sale listings we have with our clients, the portal is now well over 180 pages in length.  Too big and too cumbersome for many surfers although our unique visitors continues to grow at a 20% month over month rate.

We tracked some data points, for the past 4 months, of which topics were of the greatest interest to our site visitors and decided to publish an easier to navigate more user friendly website with short snippets of information and links back to individual pages on MTG is there was interest in more detail on a particular subject.

 

It had a natural selection of about 5 main topics;

Accommodations;

Getting Here;

Realestate;

Things to do;

and, Services

 

From those broad categories, we took the top 33 most frequently visited pages/topics and created www.medellinvisitorsguide.com  In some cases, you will be taken to a specific page on Medellin Travel Guide but will never leave the Medellin Visitors Guide Site.  We used the KISS approach in determining if less intensive information would meet your needs for Medellin Information and just created new pages or whether the information on MTG was succint enough to just link you to that specific topic.

A splash or landing page was created about a month ago and we have been periodically working to complete the site.

 

Today, we have re-launched www.medellinvisitorsguide for your perusal.  We hope it meets your needs for information about traveling to or visiting Medellin Colombia.  You can always find more detail on many more topics on Medellin Travel Guide but you may just find what you need on Medellin Visitors Guide as well.

 

Thanks for visiting and helping to make Medellin Travel Guide the #1 English web site about Medellin Colombia on the internet.

 

Regards,

 

MTG

FARC Hostage Rescue

Wow!  Unless you have been hiding under a rock, the major news from Colombia has been the amazing rescue of 15 FARC hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and 11 Colombian Military and policemen in what has to be one of the slickest ruses in the history of the world and military operations.

Working with intel from inside the top FARC commanders circle, the Colombian Military intercepted calls and arranged for two helicopters to land where the hostages were being held, under the guise of transferring the hostages to the camp of the new FARC commander Cano.  They bound the hostages, put them in white, unmarked Colombian Military helicopters, took two of the FARC rebel guards on board and departed.  After being airborn, they overwhelmed the two guards and announced to the hostages, “we are the Colombian Army and you are all free”.

 

Ingrid Betancourt said, “we were all so elated, jumping up and down, we almost made the helicopter go down”.

These people have been in captivity, in depraved, cruel conditions, transferred from camp to camp, devoid of information from the outside world for anywhere from 6-10+ years. Imagine Ingrid Betancourts elation at being re-united with her children after not seeing them for 6 years.  She said she was going to be like bubble gum (a local Colombian idioma), meaning she was going to be sticking close to them.

Imagine the families of the three American contractors that had been in captivity for over 5 years, not knowing if their fathers, sons or uncles were dead or alive and feeling totally helpless in trying to rescue them.

President Alvaro Uribe (who held an 84% popularity rating just a month ago) will probably rise another 10% in popularity after this coup.  This man is the best thing that ever happened to Colombia.  He is Hell bent on bringing this 4 decade old insurgency to a close during his tenure of office.  He may just get re-elected to an unprecedented third term in office after this masterful stroke of genius.

 

The FARC were holding these key hostages as bargaining power for the release of hundreds of their powerful comrades in prison.  One FARC leader recently offered Betancourt’s release if Uribe would not extradite one of their leaders to the US for prosecution.  Now, all bets are off.  The FARC have lost their bargaining chips. Uribe’s government is now in a position to be able to negotiate a peaceful and non threatening peace accord with the FARC commanders instead of negotiation from a position of weakenss.

 

Hugo Chavez in Venezuela has denounced the FARC (at least openly to the media. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors?).  The FARC has lost three of it’s top leaders this year.  Thousands have deserted it’s ranks and taken advantage of government offers of re-instatement into society, jobs training, reduced prison sentences.  Many FARC rebels are taking advantage of bounties offered by the Colombian government for information related to the arrest of other FARC leaders.

Does this signal the end of the FARC in Colombia?  Probably not because of the immense wealth and power to be garnered from their illicit cocaine and drug trade globally will always keep certain facets of the group together.  Will it cripple their recruiting, numbers and visibility in Colombia? Probably, but only time will tell.  As their numbers dwindle, desertions increase, ability to outwit modern technology and eavesdropping capabilities they will probably become like snails or turtles.  Always able to move but able to withdraw into their shells whenever danger is present.

Was yesterdays event a major coup for the Colombian government?  Aces my friends.  Aces!

It is all anybody here can talk about everyday.  Smiles on their faces, pride and jubilance that one of their favorite countrymen (Ingrid Betancourt) is finally a free person again and that President Uribe has dealt yet another major blow to the FARC rebels.  Colombian flags flying on buildings, residences and government offices.  People actually believing there is a ray of hope on the horizon that this 4 decade old rebel insurgence may finally be coming to an end and that Colombia will finally emerge as a leading South American country that it deserves to be without all the fear and history that it has been saddled with in the press.

 

Major milestone in Colombias history.  Mark these words!