Fiction, Essays, and Other Things

  From inception Disneyland was a shifting entity. Conceived in the early planning stages as an abutter to the second incarnation of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, the Happiest Place on Earth began its story as a blueprint for a modest infusion of Griffith Park and icons of Walt’s childhood (a Main Street that could find a home in any American small town, a railroad which would take guests around and other emblems of America at an industrial and agricultural cross-road which had always been the soul of Walt’s vision), christened Mickey Mouse Park. However, as concepts were added and ideas grew it became clear that the space adjacent to Walt Disney Studios could not house the dream and so, over the next few years, as this Mickey Mouse park grew into Disneyland, Anaheim was chosen as its new home where it opened in July of 1955 with most of the original plans intact. Since then Disneyland has been in a constant state of transformation, culminating in the opening of a new park in...

 Quindio’s Parque del Café gives visitors what they want from a visit to a coffee plantation but, unfortunately, it doesn’t stop at that and turned what could work on its own as an educational experience amongst the rows of foliage into what can not unreasonably be called an amusement park with a farm in the background. A good starting point and one keeping with the nature of what a visit to the coffee plantation should be is the Coffee Museum. This quick but well organized and informative self-guided museum strikes the balance between the educational and engaging with many interactive exhibits such as one in which visitors act as coffee farmers filtering bad beans from the basket. Even better is the ensuing walk down Coffee Process Path where guides stationed throughout the walk explain (often with hands-on opportunities) the trajectory of the coffee bean into a morning stimulation.  Typical Colombian coffee truck seen in the park There are other peripheral sights throughout ...

       If you are going to visit the Valle de Cocora know that there are two ways to see this national park. The first is a trek through fairly undisturbed nature, which you can do either by horseback or on foot. If you choose horseback the ranchers will meet you as you enter the parking area and help you select the right horse for you off the open stalls that line the entrance. If you go on foot you will likely see more but know that horse feces will inevitably get into your shoe crevices. In either case, the area is about a day’s direct journey to the Nevados.      We arrived with the intention of riding a horse and our driver set to work negotiating an animal. The rate the ranchers quoted and would not budge from he judged too high and advised me not to take it. I never learned the rate but was not bound to either mode of transport. I decided to give up negotiating to start the journey and decided that better exploration could be done on foot anyw...

  It is perhaps futile to question commercializing nature as it seems the natural next step in our evolution as a species ever since our primitive ancestors mended the wilderness for survival. And yet, decades after learning that the fabled Old Man of the Mountain had long been held together by wiring before its collapse among other artistic licenses taken with nature, I still could not help but feel a bit dismayed with the Termales Santa Rosa de Cabal, hot water pools produced by the volcanos of Los Nevados rich in telluric and alkaline. It is perhaps futile to question commercializing nature as it seems the natural next step in our evolution as a species ever since our primitive ancestors mended the wilderness for survival. And yet, decades after learning that the fabled Old Man of the Mountain had long been held together by wiring before its collapse among other artistic licenses taken with nature, I still could not help but feel a bit dismayed with the Termales Santa Rosa de Ca...

  If I must be negative I prefer to do so in the beginning. Pull the stinger out and then apply the ice. Colombia is thus far one of the few countries of which I find the food unremarkable. Maybe because I was told to set my expectations low, I found even the dishes in Cuba more appealing. Of course, in certain countries where the local cuisine is beyond the point (Canada comes to mind), I have no memory to compare. Be that as it may, Colombia has on the whole left me unimpressed in its culinary aspect. Quindio, the area I travelled through, is known for its chorizo and I like a good chorizo, but I failed to find one that was not bland. If anything I found the chicharron in these parts a superior component of the bandeja paisa dish. Instead, what stole my heart in Colombia is the relationship between the people and the land. Agriculture is the pulse of the nation and her people have come, out of necessity, to value the earth. In many ways Colombia is a global example of the pro...

  If the bugs that make your room a constant home at the Hotel Reserva Monarca are a warning that you are now on nature’s turf then the sunrise is nature’s way of compensating you. Let it be said that the sight of the mist-covered mountains in their multi-hued glory is more than enough of an apology for a few crawlers under your bed. There are no better morning greetings than the sounds of birds and other animals meeting the rising sun with you. Of course, Hotel Reserva Monarca is surrounded by natural majesty and breakfast is served in a veranda overlooking the forest. Here your companies are not so much the bugs that crawl into your room through the gaps in the screen door but butterflies that seem to know the hotel was named in their honor and lizards. Breakfast here consists of chorizo, scrambled eggs or a calentado (a “warmed up”, consisting of rice and beans) and assorted fruits accompanied by coffee or hot chocolate. I tried to alternate each day. The first time I tried L...

My first impression of Periera was of a typical Colombian city, although it was already colder than the ones I had visited. I knew I was in the foothills of the Andes, however, and in the center of the so-called Coffee Axis. One of the advantages of hiring a driver is the opportunity to observe the city that will be your home for the short amount of time ahead of you. I had arranged for the driver I had met briefly last year in Bucaramanga (about a ten hour drive from Periera) to meet me at Matecaña International Airport and we had little trouble finding him. Periera, the capital of Risaralda, is the largest city I’ve visited in Colombia (apart from a drive through Bogota in 2012) but it maintains many of the subtle features of other Colombian cities and towns. Before reaching Hotel Reserve Monarca in Salento we made a stop at Victoria, one of three shopping malls in Periera. It is a three-level building with a movie theater, casinos, arcades and a food court offering the standard fa...