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Sophistonauts Are Marching to Colombia

May 21, 2007 at 9:19 AM | 0 Comments

The latest issue of the New York Times Style magazine dropped this Sunday, and we dug in to find out where the beautiful people are maxing and relaxing these days. Turns out Cartagena is the newest hot spot for:

'sophistonauts' -- those wide-roaming urban nomads, often third-culture kids, expats or grown-up diplo-brats who tend to live outside their countries (plural!) of citizenship and bounce around a social web connecting them to equally geographically flexible, curious confreres

Pardon us while we stop laughing over this contrived trend. Now, we'll give some credit to Tim Parsa, who fancifully discusses Cartagena's past as a slave-trading center. He even talks to the mayor's press attache, who rips out some choice anti-U.S. government rhetoric: "You gringos give us these narco-problems because you love our cocaine."

Guess that explains all "sophistonauts" we meet in the article. There's the half-French, half-Mexican party princess from Buenos Aires. There's her friend, the Colombian who gets wasted, dances all night and hangs on the beach. And don't forget the Swiss-Mexican photographer who thinks the city's beyond chic.

Just remember, none of them are there for the Colombian Marching Powder--"cheap, pure and easy to procure." Got it?

[Photo: *L*u*z*a*]

Related Stories:
· Colombian Gold in Cartagena [NYT]
· Colombian Plastic Surgery Vacation Packages [Jaunted]
· Jaunted's drugs coverage [Jaunted]

Blowing Through Colombia

September 25, 2006 at 10:41 AM | 0 Comments



We're not sure if the Times of London is operating some kind of work release program or what, exactly, but they signed up Howard Marks to write about a trip to Colombia. Marks, for those who don't know (and we didn't) was busted in for smuggling 15 tons of Colombian marijuana into Scotland and spent several years in federal prison in the U.S. as a result. Yet, this was his first time to the country.

That said, this article disappointed us. A drug smuggler in Colombia, cool, but it's kind of dull without a least a few Hunter S. Thompson style tales of getting obliterated on pot, coke or even some strange local herb. The fact that Marks' has an eye patch wasn't enough for us, sadly.

However, we'd like to see some similar travel articles in this vein--maybe a seedy motel tour by Robert Downey Jr., for starters?

Related Stories:
·   Howard Marks in Colombia [Times of London]

What About Juan Valdez?

September 8, 2006 at 10:15 AM | 0 Comments



Colombia: Fantastic tourist destination, or great place to get kidnapped? Obviously the Colombian government hopes people will start thinking of the country as the former, and they've just launched a $4 million ad campaign to win hearts, minds, and tourist bucks.

The tagline--Colombia is Passion--is innocuous enough. It certainly worked well enough on Lonely Planet, who picked it as a top ten destination for this year. It didn't quite do the trick on the reporter in the Guardian covering the story, though. In the "Fast Facts on Colombia" section of the article lifted from the BBC, the three most famous Colombians are listed as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (not a drug lord), Pablo Escobar (a drug lord) and Manuel Velez (leader of the FARC counter-insurgency).

Well, if nothing else, all three of those men are certainly passionate.

[Image via Pablo.../Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Colombia launches tourism drive [Guardian]