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Barranquilla
Barranquilla, an industrial, portuary, and special district, is a city and municipality located in northern Colombia. The capital of the Atlantico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port on the Colombian Caribbean region and the fourth largest city of Colombia. It lies strategically by the delta of the Magdalena River, serving as port for fluvial and maritime transportation. It is also known as the cradle of Colombian aviation and as home to a very picturesque carnival.
History
It is known as Colombia's Golden Gate as well as La Arenosa (the Sandy City). While the city bears no established record of its foundation, its settlement or foundation can be traced back to at least 1629. However, its residents traditionally have come to commemorate the city's "birthday" as the date when Barranquilla was legally established as a village, April 7 1813. By 1834 Barranquilla had a population of 11,212 (official census), which made it slightly smaller than Santa Marta and not quite half the size of Cartagena.Nichols, Theodore E. (May 1954) "The Rise of Barranquilla" The Hispanic American Historical Review 34(2): pp. 158-174 As Barranquilla became an important port, it also served as a haven for immigrants from Europe during World War I and World War II, and for different waves of immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.
Barranquilla was Colombia's first port and is proud of its level of industrialization and modernity, which earned it the name of '''Colombia's Golden Gate.''' The first airport in South America was also built in Barranquilla, and the world's second oldest commercial airline doing business today was founded there, SCADTA (now known as Avianca). The Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport, the first airport built in South America (1919), is served by domestic and international flights.
In the 1940s, Barranquilla was the second largest city in Colombia and one of the most modern cities on the Caribbean and South America, but sadly later local administrations, given to widespread corruption, brought about a decline in the standard of living. As government investment increased in other Colombian cities, Barranquilla's national stature was surpassed. Barranquilla still being an important city of Colombia but as of the 2005 census, Barranquilla was Colombia's fourth largest city after Bogota (capital), Medellin, and Cali.
Barranquilla is first on the most populated city on the Atlantic cost of Colombia with a 2.6%, (1'112.837) [*], Santa Fe de Bogota (Country Capital)
Climate and Geography
The climate is hot and very humid. Daytime temperature usually remains around 32C (82F). Nevertheless, from late November to early April, the trade winds more or less cool it to a more comfortable temperature during the day. During the evening and through the night the temperature can change due to the strong winds it receives. The rainy seasons are from April to June and from August to November, when some streets flood producing "arroyos" (streams) that are very dangerous, given the lack of appropriate rain drainage in some sectors of town.
Barranquilla is a modern, industrial city, with approximately 1,700,000 inhabitants.
The city is also known as "La Arenosa" (The Sandy One), alluding to the fine sand occasionally present in the air, due to its proximity to the Caribbean beaches.
The city's topographical layout is simple: to the east, it's bordered by the Magdalena river; to the west, it's bordered by a bypass called Circunvalar. The city grid is divided in the typical Colombian way: calles and carreras . Downtown is located near the river, on the eastern edge of town. The two main axes of the city are Olaya Herrera Avenue, which goes from downtown to the western edge of town, becoming the highway to nearby Cartagena de Indias, and Murillo Street, which goes from the southern, working-class neighborhoods to the city's downtown. Upper-class and middle-class neighborhoods are to the west and north of the city.
Culture
Carnaval
Barranquilla's Carnival , which is celebrated four days before Ash Wednesday, is broadly recognized as one of the world's largest carnivals; residents claim it is second only to the carnival of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In November of 2003, UNESCO proclaimed it as one of 28 different "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" (1).
Famous Barranquilleros
Barranquilla was home to Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez during his early years as journalist and bears substantial weight on his literary production. Garcia Marquez's old bohemian hangout, La Cueva, has been restored and is open to the public as an artsy bar. It was here that the writer met with the Grupo de Barranquilla, an informal group of local writers and journalists.
Barranquilla is lovingly known as Curramba La Bella (Curramba The Beautiful) and those hailing from Barranquilla, like international recording artist Shakira and Detroit Tigers shortstop Edgar Renteria, are known as "curramberos" . The adjective for a woman from Barranquilla is barranquillera, while a man is a barranquillero.
In 2006, the city unveiled a massive six-ton statue of famous local Shakira after she attended the groundbreaking ceremony of a school she is sponsoring in La Playa, a depressed suburb of Barranquilla. [*].
Sofia Vergara, a Latino TV actress who works mainly in US-based shows and sitcoms, was also born in the city.
Shakira, singer
Nina Garcia, a fashion director at Elle Magazine and judge on the Bravo reality television program Project Runway, was also born in this city.
Also, Barranquilla is the birthplace of the Grupo Santodomingo (Santodomingo family), one of the major business conglomerates in Colombia.
A prominent socialite, Olga Pumarejo, widely known in Barranquilla and Bogota, and who often is mentioned and featured in the social pages of numerous Colombian publications, also hails from Barranquilla. She has been given the titles of Colombia's most elegant or best dressed woman in different occasions by several magazines.
Other local celebrities include Esthercita Forero, a popular composer and singer, also known as "The Bride of Barranquilla."
Marcos Coll, who scored the only Olympic goal ever scored in a FIFA soccer World Cup Game, is also from Barranquilla. He scored this goal during a match between Colombia and The USSR in the Chilean World Cup in 1962 against the best goalkeeper of that time - Yashin "The Black Spider". Colombia tied that game and almost beat the USSR also known as CCCP
(Con Colombia Casi Perdemos) (Spanish for "we almost lost against Colombia".
Fine Arts
The Teatro Municipal Amira de la Rosa is the city's main cultural scenario. Barranquilla is also home to the Cinemateca del Caribe, the Alliance Francaise (Barranquilla Chapter), the Centro Cultural Avianca, and the Centro Colombo Americano. Performances by touring bands or artists are usually held at the city's Coliseo Cubierto or within the facilities of the local Country Club.
December in Barranquilla
Starting in November , the city prepares for the end of the year festivities. Christmas (Navidad in Spanish) is not only a holy and special day but an entire season that goes from December 1st until January 6th. The city is filled with multicolored lights and most of houses are adorned with beautiful Christmas decorations being the Nativity the theme of the season, and the whole city is transform, not just with lights but the with joy and parties almost every weekend! The festive atmosphere floods the city and this is also reflected in the music played by radio stations, which is mostly related to the Christmas season. During this time of the year, the weather in the city is usually characterized as sunny and windy.
The most special celebrations dates are the Eve of December 7th (as important as Christmas), this festivity marks the "official" start of the "Navidad" (Christmas) season. On the night before the celebration of the Immaculate Conception ; usually there are more that one party that in you will be invited... A couple of hours before the sunrise of December 8th (Immaculate Conception Day), Barranquilla's citizens salute the Virgin Mary for her miracle conception by lighting their houses' porches with multicolored candles and lanterns. It is a beautiful event called "Las Velitas" (Spanish for "The Little Candles"), thousand of lighted candles could be seen in every street of the city.
Another important celebration on December goes from the 16th to the 24th, which is "La Novena del Nino Dios", which is the acknowledgement of the birth of Jesus, family and neighbors go around of the Nativity scene that could be beautifully made inside the home, a porch or even a park on the block, some people will also gather to do the "Novena" in the churches. The festivity usually start with some prayers, follow by a reading part of the Bible scriptures that tells the story of Jesus birth, then a prayer with a singing chorus and finalizing with Christmas choral; this is held every night for nine nights ending on Christmas' Eve with the giving of gifts to the children who participated on the 9 nights, and also traditional Christmas snacks are shared during this nine nights. []
Another important day is on December 28th, which is called "Dia de los Santos Inocentes" (Day of the Holy Innocents) is like the "Fools Day" in the United States, Barranquilleros are very creative on playing jokes, so you need to be alert and on guard for all kind of jokes that will be done to you at any if not all the 24 hours of that day. And may you have fun with jokes to others as well.
The most important days of December are Christmas' Eve and "Dia de Navidad" (Christmas day), it literally celebrates the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ; these days are very family oriented days, on Christmas Eve a great dinner is prepared, usually held at the oldest family member's home, the delicious meal has a lot of traditional food to choose from, great and loud music is also part of the festivity because the party start as soon as the dinner time ends (but not the food), in some families gifts are placed at the Nativity and open at midnight but traditionally the gifts have been hidden and only "found" at the Nativity in the morning of the Christmas day and the belief is that the Child God (el Nino Dios) is the One who brings the presents not Santa or St. Nicholas like other nations traditionally believe. On Christmas day you will see almost all the porches of the houses full of children playing with their new toys and outfits, in some and not rare cases the party has not finished from the night before, usually a "Sancocho" (a traditional soup) is prepared for lunch, which is great for the "hang overs".
Another important day is New Year's Eve. Another party goes on and it is tradition that every neighborhood burns a doll, representing the old year that ends with all the problems occurred during that year. It also familiar to see a baby doll being passed around representing the new year. Barranquilleros are very friendly all year around but at midnight do not be surprised to be hugged by smiling and happy strangers wishing you "Feliz Ano!!" (Happy New Year!!), and it won't be strange to see some people walking around the block with suitcases because it is the popular believe that by doing that they will travel in the new year!
Barranquilla will looks like a ghost town on New Year's Day, you will normally see people around in the afternoon or night time just because the party from the night before ended on that late on that first morning of the year.
The end of the Christmas season is on January 6th, on the Epiphany of Our Lord
So in other words the best time to visit Barranquilla are in December and on the "Carnaval de Barranquilla" time, which start each year 4 days before Ash Wednesday. To check Barranquilla's carnival dates go to [*].
Education
Barranquilla is home to a number of universities, like the Universidad del Norte, Universidad del Atlantico, the Universidad Metropolitana, the Universidad Autonoma del Caribe, the Universidad Simon Bolivar, and the Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. There are also many bilingual schools, such as Marymount International School Barranquilla, Karl C. Parrish, Altamira International School, Lyndon B. Johnson, Deutsche Schule Barranquilla, and the British International School, generally accessible to the city's elite. Barranquilla is also home to a number of more traditional Catholic schools, like Colegio Biffi La Salle, Liceo de Cervantes, Colegio Sagrado Corazon, and the Jesuits' Colegio San Jose. Other schools include the Colegio Hebreo Union (a Jewish school), and Presbyterian academic centers like the Colegio Americano. The city is also remarkable for having one of highest literacy rates in the country: 96.4 percent and also one of the most bilingual young rates [*].
Economy
Barranquilla is home to a thriving trading industry, as well as to a number of staples of the Colombian economy, such as Bavaria S.A., Carulla-Vivero, Monomeros, Olimpica y SAO, Expreso Brasilia S.A. and Cementos Argos. The city is the birthplace of Grupo Santo Domingo, one of the major business conglomerates in Colombia.
Media
The city's two main newspapers are El Heraldo [*] and La Libertad. Other dailies include newspapers of nationwide distribution, such as Bogota's El Tiempo [*]. The local TV channel is Colombia's Caribbean regional network, Telecaribe.
Local radio includes the customary assortment of tropical music and news. The two main highbrow alternatives, Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia and Uninorte FM Estereo, broadcast on 640 AM and 103.1 FM, respectively.
Sports
Though baseball is popular, the locals fervently follow Barranquilla's soccer team, Atletico Junior. The team plays at the Estadio Metropolitano, one of the largest soccer stadiums in the Americas.
Transportation
Land Transportation
Public transportation in Barranquilla mainly consists of buses and taxis. The main bus terminal is located near the southern edge of town, at the end of Murillo Street. A bus rapid transit system called Transmetro, similar to Bogota's TransMilenio, will begin operating by late 2007.
Recently, an illegal form of transportation denominated mototaxismo developed. A regular motorcycle is used to carry a passenger for a lower fare than a bus or taxi. This unregulated and potentially dangerous practice has led to protests by the legally operating transport companies and drove many of them into bankruptcy.
Air Transportation
The city's airport, the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport, receives domestic and international flights. Domestic flights are mainly operated by Avianca.
Fluvial and Maritime Transportation
The port of Barranquilla is located by the Magdalena River, and accessible to ships coming from the sea thanks to dredge ships, that constantly make way for the ship canals, named Canal de Acceso (Access Canal).
Famous people from Barranquilla
Shakira
Sofia Vergara
Nina Garcia
Edgar Renteria [*]
Sister Cities
Sister cities of Barranquilla include:
Tampa, Florida
Nanjing, People's Republic of China
Kaohsiung City, Republic of China
External links
Alcaldia de Barranquilla Municipality Page
Carnaval de Barranquilla Official Page on the Carnival
Terminal Metropolitana de Transportes de Barranquilla (main bus terminal)
Uninorte FM Estereo (online broadcast)
Zoologico de Barranquilla Official zoo page, small section in English
[http://www.colegioaleman.edu.co/ Deutsche Schule (German School) Website
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Barranquilla
