Colombia celebrates Christmas with both religious and cultural traditions. People light candles and decorate streets to get in the festive spirit. Families also hold novenas, meeting for nine days to pray at nativity scenes and strengthen family bonds. Various regions have their own Christmas customs, with decorations and celebrations making each location feel especially Christmas-y. Colombian Christmas blends religious observance with quality time with family and community.

1. A NATURE ADVENTURE: National Natural Parks in Colombia
By: Laura Samanta Ariza
Colombia is one of the
richest countries in the
world in biological and
cultural diversity. This
diversity is shown in many
areas; those areas are
preserved and have been
classified as national natural
parks and visiting natural
parks is the reason why
Colombia is one of the most
diverse countries in the
world. In Colombia, natural
parks are located
throughout the country and
they offer climates, contexts,
flora and fauna that vary
according to their location
with different environments
such as: mountains, beaches,
rainforest etc.
The Tayrona National Natural
Park is one of the most
important parks in Colombia;
that park is located in the
Caribbean region in the
Magdalena department near
Santa Marta city along the north
coast of Colombia that borders
on the Caribbean Sea and the
park has an area of 150 square
kilometers. In the center of the
park there is a place called
¨Pueblito¨ and the Tayrona
civilization lived there for many
years in Pre-Columbian times.
Park is at the foot of the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta and
these beaches are the preferred
and recommended sites by
visitors.
Another natural park that has a
different
environment
is
National Natural El Cocuy Park;
this park is located in eastern
Colombia, in the departments of
Boyacá, Casanare, and Arauca
where the Sierra Nevada del
Cocuy is the main attraction
because it has the largest glacier
in Colombia. In this park you can
find many waterfalls where you
can swim. It is possible to walk to
many of the places that make up
the Sierra such as Plaza and
Grande de la Sierra Lakes,
Púlpitos Del Diablo Rock, and
Pan de Azúcar Glacier. In this
park there are beautiful snow
landscapes.
The best attraction of the park is
the area of Cañaveral in which
there are very beautiful beaches
and many foreigners come to
visit the park to rest and enjoy
different natural activities. The
currents in that sea are
dangerous because they are
strong and when entering to sea
precautions must be taken. In
this natural park you can find
places to do hiking such as Cabo
San Juan, this place offers a
beautiful landscape. The Tayrona
the
park
there
are
Park has one of the best beaches In
in Colombia. Besides, Tayrona communities who come from
the highlands and lowlands
where they can cultivate and
work. There is also an Aboriginal
community called U’wa or
Tunebos, they are inside the park
and are dedicated to the
farming and fishing. They are
protected by the state and the
park is their home. This park has
many environmental problems
because it is affected by the
warming. What I mean to say
with this is Cocuy is in danger
because
the
glacier
is
disappearing and the park is
very important for our country
because is one of the icons of
Colombia
for
its
rich
biodiversity, its water reserve,
species and beautiful landscape,
so we must try to protect it.
Colombia had a large
biodiversity that includes all
climates and infinite cultures
that surprise by their
historical legacy. I invite you
to meet Colombia and visit
the natural parks because
those have different
environments that may be
the most beautiful you've
ever seen.

2. SOME UNUSUAL PLACES IN COLOMBIA
By: Daniela Aguilar
Colombia is a beautiful
country with wonderful
places. Some of them are
more common or better
known than other. And in
these places that aren´t so
known, we could find a lot
of interesting stuff. Some of
theirs are 3 unusual places:
Chaparral, Caño Cristales
and San Bernardo.
The first one is Caño Cristales.
This place is a river characterized
by the amazing colors that can
produce. When you see the
water in the landscape, you can
see different colors like red,
yellow, green, blue, black and
other colors that you can never
imagine!. These colors sensation
has been generated by fresh
water algae of different colors
that are in to the river. Caño
Cristales is located in the Sierra
de la Macarena in Meta.
The second place is Chaparral. In
this municipality of Tolima, you
can find amazing big caves. It is a
perfect place to practice caving
because there are caves with
many floors, so in some cases
you must craw on the water
because there are places very
strait, and in other cases, it is
necessary to climb big rocks to
can log in in other spaces of the
caves. Also, you can see
stalactites and stalagmites,
which are formations generated
by the precipitation of water and
other substances in the caves,
during many years. And we can´t
forget bats. There are a lot of
these everywhere.
The last one is San Bernardo. This
place is a real mystery because
for a many years, when after the
people have died and time later
the tombs have been opened
some surprising things have
happened. The corpses have
become mummies. And these
aren´t a few corpses, it has been
a lot of corpses. Different
hypothesis have been created to
explain this phenomenon: the
ground or the typical food that
have been eaten for the
community, like poor potato. But
no one until this moment has
explained
clearly
this
phenomenon. And in San
Bernardo you can find a museum
about that and you could attend
the exhumation and you could
be witness about the next
mummy.
Each one of these sites have
different characteristics: one
of them has beautiful
landscape, other is a really
good place to practice
extreme’s sports like caving,
and the last one is a really
unusual place because you
can find mummies. These
places are really interesting
and you can do unusual
activities or know unusual
places and the most
important, you don´t do the
usual tourism.

3. MARIANA PAJON
By: Laura Tatiana Reyes Cortes
BMX is similar to motocross,
but the stunts are done with
the bicycle. This is an
Olympic sport since “Pekin
olympics games” in 2008.
The athletes in this sport do
jumps, turns in ramps and
obstacles. In Colombia the
best example of BMX is
MARIANA PAJON, a girl of
only 22 who has a great
career as an athlete.
Mariana is called “Queen of
BMX”. She was born in MedellinColombia on October 10, 1991.
Her family is athlete; her father
and her brother are automobile
broker. Mariana started her
career at age 4 and at age 9 she
was "The world champion". She
has participated in many
championships
globally
in
Australia, China, Canada, Brazil,
EE.UU, Argentina, Francia, Peru
and many more countries. She
has shown a high performance,
she is a great opponent.
Mariana's
most
important
trophy was in 2012 at the
Olympic Games in Londres. She
competed with more than 98
opponents, and she managed to
win the gold medal having
perseverance and discipline. Her
family described as girl tender,
shy, sweet, feminine, with
self-improvement. She wants to
be a doctor but now she is
dedicated to her training in "The
school of champions Medellin”
accompanied
by
fellow
colombians and foreign.
In conclusion, Mariana Pajon
is a great colombian athlete.
She trains physically and
mentally. She says a famous
phrase: “First I win with head
and after I pedal”. She is a
very young person with
great charisma. She holds a
great career with the
support of her family and
colleagues.

4. Colombian Art
By: Angela Liliana Lagos and Angelica Pardo
One of the attractive
aspects in the Colombian
history is that it has a lot of
artist, internationally
recognized by innovation
works and unique style. In
this article we are going to
talk about some
contemporaneous artist of
the twentieth century.
The first one is Edgar Negret,
Colombian sculptor. He was
born on October 11th 1920 in
Popayan city. He studied at the
Escuela de Bellas Artes in the city
of Cali – Colombia in 1938. His
works used iron, aluminum,
pottery, gypsum nut and screw
but. He prefers to use aluminum
for his works. His styles of the
works are geometric abstract
sculpture. His sculptures has
been exhibited in the most
famous museum of the cities
New York, Mexico, Madrid,
Caracas. In Colombia we find the
sculpture in the most important
square of the city Medellin,
Bogotá and Cali. In San Victorino
Square (Bogotá) we find the
butterfly sculpture that is a
symbol of the informal shops in
Bogotá. He died in Bogota city
on October 11th 2012.
Omar Rayo was a painter,
engraver and sculptor. He was
born in Roldanillo Valle del
Cauca, on January 20th of 1928
and died on June 7th of 2010. In
1981 Rayo established the
museum of Latin American Art
and Engraving in Roldanillo. It
presents
two
thousands
paintings and engraving of Rayo.
The museum exhibit different
works of other Colombian artists
too. Rayo’s works was developed
in geometric figure, but it isn’t
abstract art. In his original style
with geometric-optical art was
based on squares, rectangles
and zig-zag lines and he
expressed with white, black and
red. He exposed in more than
200 countries, some of them are
Japan,
Hungary,
Poland,
Germany, Norway, France, Spain,
Italy, United States, Costa Rica,
Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil and
China. Some of his paintings and
sculptures were donated to the
country, and you find it in
Bogota, Pereira and Valle del
Cauca. His most painting
recognized is on the walls
building “Banco Popular” on the
corner of 19 street and Caracas
avenue.

5. Colombian Art
By: Angela Liliana Lagos and Angelica Pardo
Another artist is Alejandro
Obregon is colombo-spaniard
painter. He was born on June 4th
of 1920 in Barcelona Spain, his
father is a Colombian citizen and
his mother is Catalonian citizen.
His paintings have show form
and figure as many colors and
romantic style. His fascination by
the Colombian nature, He has
showed in his painting the
animals and the landscape of the
Colombian culture. The condor
has been the most recurring
symbol. Alejandro died in
Cartagena on April 11th 1992.
Other important Colombian
artist is Fernando Botero. He is a
painter, sculptor and drawer. He
was born in Medellin, Antioquia
on April 19th of 1932. The
Botero´s Museum is in Bogota,
neighborhood La Candelaria. It
was founded in 2000. This
museum has more than 150
paintings,
drawings
and
sculptures made by Botero. He
donated some of his personal
collection to Bogota and
Medellin. Some of his sculptures
are in the Botero´s Park in front
of the Antioquia museum in
Medellin.
His
works
are
recognized because he always
used fat human figure. His works
represent daily life of people,
their feeling, pains, relationship,
cultures and addictions. He
painted a lot of other recognized
painting, like The Monalisa and
Las Meninas, but always using
his fat style.
Finally David Manzur, Colombian
painter. He was born on
December 14th of 1929 in Neira,
Caldas. His paintings showed the
human body, portraits and
naked, that represent some
drama. He has participated in
some individual and collective
art exhibition. The famous mural
monumentally we find in the
Miami city, Bogota city and Cali
city. Actually He lives in
Mosquera town, and he
continues painting.
In conclusion, Colombia has
a lot of recognized artist,
they`ve contributed to
beautify the country, with
his sculptors and paintings,
and they’ve shown the
Colombian’s culture and
traditions. We invite you to
see works and visit the
different cities in Colombian
where the artist exhibit in
the museum, square,
galleries and parks.

6. BETWEEN FAIRS AND CARNIVALS
By Silvia Aponte
Our roots are diverse
because our ancestors are
Indians, Spanish, Moorish
and African and from this
combination was
Colombian culture born. In
this paper I will talk about
two very important festivals
in Colombia. I will show you
two regions of the country
and I will show their dances,
instruments and costumes.
Barranquilla’s Carnival
Barranquilla’s carnival is the folk
and cultural festival most
important of Colombia and the
second carnival of the world
after Rio de Janeiro’s carnival.
This city is visited by a million
people per year. This carnival is
a cultural event in which are
represented every cultures and
folk of the Caribbean coast, also
popular music and dance.
For its variety and cultural
richness, Barranquilla’s festival
was obtained two important
recognitions: Cultural heritage of
the nation and Masterpiece of
Oral and intangible of Humanity.
A fun form of participating in this
festival is to get a bull, tiger or
bear mask. You would dance
behind the floats and troupes,
you can’t lose the great stop
parades,
there
different
traditional folk groups are
presented. In this carnival there
that sleep a little because you
need rest and you can go to the
Joselito’s
funeral,
which
fortunately does not die forever
but every year. This festival is
celebrated in February or March
but it’s announced since January
20th.
different towns. The legend says
that Spain gave freedom to
black people in 1807 then
people went to the streets to
dance and they painted the
walls of black. With time this
party became a Carnival, where
people change their roles: black
people are become in white
people and the contrary.
One very funny aspect is to look
the Castañeda’s family with their
house
above
kitchenware,
Black and White’s Carnival
The carnival was declared clothes, etc. This tradition was
cultural heritage of nation in born in 1928 with the arrival of
2002, its celebrated every year in the peasant family to Pasto.
Pasto, a city located in south of
Colombia, attracting a large
Every year in these cities,
numbers of tourists from all over
making these festivals in
the country and foreign. Pasto
testimony of tradition
has been known as the meeting
folk-cultural of our regions,
point of intersection of roads of
contributing of the
construction of Colombian
nationality and have
become pillars of Colombian
identity in any part of the
World.
Be sure about that you ask
large vacations so you can
enjoy these beautiful
festivals. I hope you attend!.

7. The Christmas in Colombia
By: Gabriel Osorio
The Christmas is celebrated
around world in a lot of
interesting ways, but in
Colombia you can find out
some that have done it
special, since you can
combine the Christmas
spirit and religious vocation
of Colombian people with
beautiful places decorated
for the season without
forgetting the dishes’
diversity.
On day they usually light candles
and lamps around of the streets.
It continues with the “novena”
where people have nine days to
meet in family in from of a crib
and to pray to god. While days
pass, these customs help people
to dedicate time to fraternize
and improve familiar’s links.
The Christmas environment in Consequently the Colombian
Colombia is given by cultural Christmas is a part of the
customs of the people. New and Colombian people culture.
old customs are linked always in
a very festive and religious Besides of the Christmas
atmosphere. It begins all with environment, Colombia has a
the candle day where people bunch of places where you can
celebrate
the
Immaculate have an excellent Christmas.
Conception of the Virgin Mary. Each place has a unique
characteristic that make it
special. Furthermore, a lot of
money has been invested by
cities to invite the tourists to pass
the Christmas. The cities are
decorated with lights and they
put
Christmas
decoration
everywhere. Also, the cities have
events like great “novenas”,
walks, concerts etc… As a result
there are a lot of reasons to
choose a Colombian city to enjoy
Christmas.
tastes. Clearly Colombia is a
multicultural country therefore
it has a lot of foods to give. For
the “novenas” the Colombian
people get used to eat
Doughnuts, cookies, dessert,
snacks, custard and a variety of
candies. They also afford to have
a great Christmas Eve dinner,
their main dishes depend on
city, but most well-known plates
are Ajiaco in Bogotá, Frijolada in
Medellín and others like Tamal
and Sancocho. In brief in this
With each city there is a list of country there are a bunch of
the different foods to try dishes to try in Christmas.
because Christmas is received by
Colombians’ homes with a lot of
In conclusion Colombia is an
excellent place to
experiment the Christmas
season because in this site
there are cities decorates
beautifully with several
good customs like “novenas”
where you can try delicious
dishes.

8. Places to go sightseeing in Colombia
By: Jony Zambrano
Colombia is a great country
that has several beautiful
places known for their close
relation with the nature and
polite people who stay
there. Each place is
characterized by a group of
cultural features that are
very interesting. All of these
will make a tourist feel
welcomed and happy.
practice watersports, go to the
beach and practice diving. This
magic island is one of the most
popular places to do sightseeing
and
ecotourism.
Another
beautiful place that every tourist
has to visit is Barranquilla. This
city is located in the Caribbean
zone of the country and is the
place where a lot of Colombians
and people of the entire world
celebrate the Barranquilla’s
carnival. This carnival is the most
important carnival in Colombia
and is one of the biggest in the
world, after the Rio’s carnival
(www.colombia.travel.co, 2008).
The celebration lasts 4 days and
shows a collection of the
cultures in the Caribbean zone
through music, dance and
happiness.
Some recommended places for
tourism are San Andres, Santa
Marta, Cali and Santander. The
first one, San Andres is an island
located near the continental
coast of Colombia. This place has
a great history, the Spanish,
English people and the pirates
influenced the culture of the
place
that
the
island. This place is perfect to Another
Colombian people like is Cali.
Known as “la sucursal del cielo “
is a city with great places for the
tourism,
downtown
is
characterized by its theaters and
a lot of ancient places that
represent the history of this city
and are a big attraction for the
people , these places are ideal for
www.colombia.travel.co. (2008).
the cultural enrichment of any
person. The zoo and the
museum of modern art “la
tertulia” are the most popular
places to visit in this area. The
Cali’s fair is the most important
event in the city, this fair is
celebrated from December 25 to
December 30, in this fair the
people do a lot of interesting
activities among which are the
taurine fair , the beauty contest
and the Superconcierto. This is a
great event full of dance and
happiness.
Finally, if you want to visit
one of the Colombian
marvels you have to go to
the canyon of Chicamocha
in Santander, is an
spectacular marvel where
you can experience some
extraordinary moments.
As can see in the text,
Colombia has a lot different
places that make it unique,
its a good idea go and visit
this place because its worth
it and can be a wonderful
experience.

9. THE MOST IMPORT PLACES IN COLOMBIA FOR PRACTICE EXTREME SPORTS
By: Marlly Tovar
Have you ever practiced
extreme sports? To practice
sports in Colombia is very
easy and cheap; people find
a lot of Exotic Destinations
and paradisiacal landscapes
that can’t be found in other
countries. So in Colombia
you can practice different
sports and enjoy the
experience that lives in
Colombia. Some of these
places and cities are
Santander, Cundinamarca,
and Bucaramanga, and now
I will explain which sports
that you can do in these
cities.
Rafting The most popular
extreme sport in Colombia. You
can explore and know well
Santander. The adrenalin lovers
can try the force of the many
rivers close to Santander. The
average rafting trip in Sangil
takes about one hour, guided by
experts in Extreme Sports in
Santander who give important
tips and guide you to enjoy the
landscape of water, sprinkled
with waterfalls, turbulent water
and stuff like that.
experience is amazing Also, In
this park you can practice
extreme sports like rafting in the
Chicamocha river and canopy.
Fly over sky and enjoy
paragliding you can do this
activity near to Bucaramanga (10
minutes by car) in the road to
Florida Blanca. There is a place
called "Alto de las aguilas". The
Enjoy Horseback Riding and
have
a
pleasant
trip
accompanied by animals. Not
really considered an Extreme
Sports in Colombia, for some
time it has become very popular
in Cundinamarca, tourists can
become passionate about the
history, culture and biodiversity
Riding along extensive trails and
fills your lungs with pure air of
the region accompanied by the
family. The Horseback Riding is
an activity for children, youth
and adults. If you are
inexperienced, you can find and
horseback riding lessons and
guided tours that make the
routes more enjoyable and safe.
Finally if you want to travels
don’t forget do these
activities in Colombia. I
suggest enjoying their
biological diversity and
climate makes it a sport
become a spectacle, and
unforgettable experience for
your life.

10. COLOMBIAN CULTURE FESTIVALS
By: Lady Caterine Rojas Vanegas
In Colombia there are
different Kinds of festival,
some of the most
interesting ones, are the
culture festivals. In this
article you will find short
information and facts about
some of the most important
festivals in Colombia,
which are:
International film festival of
Cartagena: Held in March at
Cartagena city this is located in
the caribean coast of Colombia.
Cartagena is called La Heroica
and for foreign people is one of
the most beautiful city in South
America. The festival was
founded in 1960 by Victor Nieto
and its purpose is show the
different
movies
and
tv
programs in Latin-America. Like
in Oscar awards there are a
man-shaped
statuette,
in
International film festival of
Cartagena
there
are
a
woman-shaped statuette, this
figure is a tribute to an Indian
called Catalina.
Ibero-American
Theater
Festival of Bogota: Held in April
every each year, was founded by
Fanny Mickey who is the Icon of
the Colombian theater. This
festival is recognized as the
largest of the world for the
number of companies and
groups who participated, in just
three weeks, more than 500
plays of more than 50 different
countries are presented.
Bogota International Book
Fair: Held in April of every year,
this fair is the largest and most
important fair of this type in all
latin America, with more than
500.000 visitors of the region.
Every year there is a different
guest country who has the most
important place in the fair, some
literature novels prize had been
in the fair as special guest.
As you have seen, if you visit
Colombia you can find
different festivals, these
three are the most
important and recognized of
all, but , without doubt you
will find more amazing and
interesting fairs, festivals
and events around the
country, because remember
the only risk in Colombia, is
that you want to stay…