(Thank you Mindy Lampert for the image)
Our tour group participated in a Colombian ritual to plant a Palm tree in the Cocora Valley. “We give back what we take away.”
Ruth and I on a mile plus hike up the mountain.
Happy New Year
1
Making Campbell Soup In A Keurig K-Cup
For the last week, the topic of conversation has been coffee. It makes sense. I’m in Colombia, the home to some of the greatest coffee in the world. It’s so strange. Eliot and I love our Keurig Green Mountain coffee every morning. The people here do not consider that coffee
Now, we just learn that our favorite Keurig machine will also be able to make fresh-brewed soups. Keurig and Campbell’s Soup have developed the ability to make soups in the K-Cup pods. Each cup will only be 70-calories and are available in Homestyle Chicken Broth, Noodle Soup Mix, Southwest Style Chicken Broth and Noodle Soup Mix.
Many people in the tech business knew that Keurig and Campbell’s Soup were working on this product development for a few years. Well, it showtime. The product is ready.
You can read more about this topic in USA Today.
The food has been superb this week. I photographed a few to show you.
Farmer Cheese on Colombian bread.
Dressing up a hamburger.
Trout On Plantains.
Local fruit.
David Pogue, Tom Cruise, Pablo Escobar
What a day this has been. First of all, I got to announce that I secured the famous techy David Pogue to make a guest appearance in the New York show “39 Steps.” My friend, Doug Denoff, is the producer of the show, and together, we are going after lots of major personalities to join the cast for one night each in order to boost ticket sales. David studied music and theater at Yale so he is a natural.
Read my Facebook post above for more details. If you are at all interested, please send me an email –loisw@hwhpr.com. There may be some freebies.
Next case–Tom Cruise. I’m sitting in my hotel room in Medellin, Colombia when all of a sudden, a news flash comes across my iPhone screen.
“A plane crash during the shoot of Tom Cruise’s movie ‘Mena’ killed two and seriously injured a third person on Friday night in Medellin, Colombia.”
The movie is about Pablo Escobar and coincidentally, he was the focus of our tour today. The Colombians are proud that their country is no longer dominated by drug lords and want to the world to know that Colombia is very safe.
We went by boat to visit Pablo Escobar’s waterfront home.
The compound of houses all belonging to Escobar.
Senior Citizens of Colombia Become Country Ambassadors
I love when I see active senior citizens. It makes me feel that we are still important members of society. When we flew from Bogota to The Coffee Triangle a few days ago, I noticed many older folks on our airplane in uniforms. Our tour guide explained that the government and other benefactors sponsor gatherings around the country several times a year where senior citizens share items from their local communities and exchange ideas.
I was also reminded that when Latinos meet, there is always a lot of dancing. No one needs an excuse to party. I felt very fortunate to meet up with the ambassadors again in the town of Filandia. I have included a video of local politicians campaigning alongside the seniors and, of course, dancing.
A welcome to Filandia sign.
I inserted myself smack in the middle of one of the groups
Capturing the excitement on a Go Pro.
Selfies are contagious.
Colombians love color in their art and architecture.
Every house in Filandia expresses artistic independence.
Pastel colors are very popular in the square.
Two establishments compliment each other.
It’s amazing how each store front manages to attract patrons.
Not sure about this one but colors are sometimes used to support a certain political party.
i was told that the colors on each house are constantly being maintained.
Back To Nature in Colombia
We feel like we have been on a Safari. We are in the mountains of Armenia, Colombia (the Coffee Triangle). We are surrounded by the most gorgeous plantations and rolling hills. The coffee is superb and the Colombian people are among the most hospitable group I have ever met. This is truly an adventure. We haven’t seen any chain stores in days and definitely no Starbucks.
This is the lodge, Hotel Mirador las Palmas, we are staying at. Other than no air conditioning and crappy Internet, this place has been a treat. On to civilization tomorrow, Medellin. Not sure I’m happy about that.
The main house.
Where we ate.
The roof was magnificent.
The Infinity pool.
One of many paths.
Another path.
Guest rooms.
The Jacuzzi.
Outside the dining room
Overall view.
Loving Colombia
Celebrating our coffee tasting degree ,San Alberto Plantation, Buena Vista, Colombia.
Coffee Tasting Degree.
The Jeeps we took to get to the plantation.
i have to try this at home sometime.
The pickers weighing the coffee beans. We got lucky catching them in the act.
One of the coffee bean pickers with his iPod.
Our Jeep driver, one arm and one eye.
Back To Basics
I am now in the middle of the Coffee Triangle, Pereira, Colombia, South America. Very slow to no internet in the guest rooms at the hotel, Mirador las Palmas. The connections in the common areas are intermittent. I will try to grab wifi wherever possible. There are cats and dogs loose everywhere. My friend Howard told me they keep the nasty creatures away. The hotel is very primitive. I hope this post goes through. If there is a way to be connected, I will find it. If you don’t see a post in the next few days, you’ll know why.
I will be climbing lots of stairs in the next few days trying to figure how to stay in touch. The good news is that I will be drinking a lot of great coffee.
I am well aware that there are worse things in life than not being fully connected. No lectures. I get it.
Wish I Had The Poloroid Snap Camera On Our Trip
I’m not embarrassed to admit that sometimes I wish I had the old Polaroid instant print camera when I travel (we are in Bogota, Colombia, on a tour) or when I’m at a party. I love taking pictures of people and immediately handing them a print. I know you probably think this is a nutty thing for me to say, since I’m such a proponent of senior people using the latest and greatest in technology.
The trouble is that most people (youngsters too) take their sweet time responding to digital photos. I can send folks a picture of themselves via email and it can take weeks to hear their reaction. I like immediate gratification. It would be more fun to take a picture, hand it to someone and watch the response.
This morning we went up to Monserrate, a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogota. 10, 341 ft above sea level.
Eliot rarely sees pictures of himself. He is always snapping his own.
It would have been nice to hand a print photo to this group so they could have celebrated the moment.
Meanwhile, a number of friends who attended the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany a few days ago, (a consumer electronics trade show), told me about the new Polaroid’s Snap camera that prints instant photos without ink. They said it was the talk of the show. Targeted to sell for $99, the 10-megapixel Snap camera looks like a toy but the quality of the prints are supposed to be the best yet.
Features include: a big red shutter button and a self-timer button for selfies, a button to switch between modes for color, sepia, and black and white. The prints come out of the right side and the left side has a Micro USB port. I looked online and found a video that explains all of the features.
The camera should be available in a few months. I may be first on line to buy it.
At Our Age
It’s amazing. We’ve been on this earth for so many years and we still mispronounce certain words. People are always correcting me. That why when I read about the 50 most frequently mispronounced words in Ragan’s PR Daily, I decided to share it with you. In the world of digital, you are not suppose to cut and paste an entire story. So all you have to do is click here to see all 51.
Here are the first few ….
1. aegis—The ae in this word is pronounced /ee/. Say EE-JIS/, not /ay-jis/. In mythology the “aegis” is associated especially with the goddess Athene. It is her shield with the Gorgon’s head on.
2. anyway—The problem with this word is not so much pronunciation as the addition of an unnecessary sound. Don’t add an s to make it “anyways.” The word is ANYWAY.
3. archipelago—Because the word is from Greek, the ch is pronounced with a /k/ sound. Say /AR-KI-PEL-A-GO/, not /arch-i-pel-a-go/.
.
Jimmy Kimmel’s Hate Mail
If you were worried that your children, or grandchildren, spend too much time playing video games, now you have a whole new couch potato sport to be concerned about. The new pastime is youngsters, watching other youngsters, play video games.
I know it sounds absurd but now kids sit at their computers watching complete strangers play video games. I want to be sure you get the picture. The younger generation is using their computers to zero in on other video gamers playing video games.
Jimmy Kimmel found this so absurd that he joked one night during his monologue that the next big thing would be kids, watching other kids, watching video gamers, play video games.
Apparently, he really upset the community of video game spectators. To understand how ugly it really got, watch the two videos. Bottom line, Jimmy is questioning the role of parents today. Is it funny or pathetic?
