Glen David Short-Author

CartagenaInfo has been a friend and admirer of the work of Glen David Short since the year 2000. His short stories about Cartagena bring an insight to the subject matter that is unique, interesting, and really fun to read. As a long-time resident (working as a teacher and author) of Cartagena, Glen's love for this great city is obvious when you read any of the following Cartagena "Short" stories:
 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HIS BOOK, 'AN ODD ODYSSEY'

Glen David Short's new adventure travelogue, An Odd Odyssey: California to Colombia by bus and boat through Mexico and Central America is available direct from Trafford Publishing.

 
 


Short writes about Cartagena, Colombia

Here are a list of short articles written by Glen David Short. They consist mainly of historical and anecdotal stories about Cartagena de Indias, on the Caribbean coast of the Republic of Colombia. Click on the title to read the story.

Vanessa Mendoza and the Miss Colombia 2001 fairytale. About the cult of the Beauty Queen in Colombia, and how a girl from Chocó defied the odds.

The Corralejas... not for the squeamish Although the bull is not killed in a corralejas, the human participants sometimes are.

Quique Medina, Chelsea Clinton and Shakira The Rastafarian selling beads in Cartagena's Plaza Santo Domingo has had dealings with the rich and famous from all over the world.

Cartagena's Strangest Monument. The concrete slab facing the Caribbean is possibly the world's only monument to a book. But it is also a monument to an incredible story of survival, betrayal and the fall of the Rojas Pinilla dictatorship. It involves a shipwrecked sailor - Luis Alejandro Velasco - and the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Facts stranger than fiction: the story of Don Blas de Lezo The only reason that the heroic story of Admiral Lezo has not been made into a Hollywood hit movie could only be because it is so incredible.

Who were Pedro Heredia and La India Catalina? Who indeed? Most people from the English-speaking world have never heard of them, yet they played a major role in the clash of cultures that erupted with the coming of the Conquistadores.

25 Tips for Cartagena Tourists How to avoid rip-offs, scams and petty crimes common in Cartagena.

Meeting Mr President and Queen Noor of Jordan How I was lucky enough to talk to and get photographed with Colombia's President Andres Pastrana and Queen Noor of Jordan.

Harry Belafonte turns 75 in Cartagena. On the 1st of March 2002, Cartagena's picturesque Plaza de la Aduana was echoing to the beautiful sound of Island in the Sun. In the audience, celebrating his 75th birthday, was none other than the great Harry Belafonte himself.

Maestro Enrique Grau visits Colegio Británico About the day Colombia's most famous living artist visited our school.

Justice... Colombian style Being lynched by an angry mob isn't the worst punishment metted out by Colombian vigilantes. Seeing your name on a mano negra poster is much worse.

A Cruel Trade. The men acting suspiciously on the street corner hid their contraband when a motorcycle cop passed by. But they weren't selling marijuana, they were selling something even more ilicit... iguana eggs.

Cartagena's 14th Annual Folkloric Festival The variety of songs, dances and costumes in this extravanganza were only surpassed by the grace and fortitude of two 70 year old women.

Rigoberta Menchú visits Cartagena. About Rigoberta Mench?s visit to Cartagena and the agenda of President Pastrana at the 3rd World Environment Summit.

Luís Felípe Jaspe - Cartagena's architectural genius Nearly all of Cartagena's beautiful buildings and monuments are linked to this man.

Villa Babilla: a nature wonderland. This eco-tourism nature park just outside Cartagena contains boa constrictors, iguanas, parrots, monkeys, sloths and some very hungry babillas - caimans.

The Four Riders of the Apocalypse The bizarre figures galloping towards the Plaza de la Aduana came all the way from Sydney. David Clarkson's Stalkers had arrived.

The Casa de Rafael Núñez All about Cartagena's most famous house and a brief biography about its most famous occupants: poet and four-time President Rafael Núñez, and his wife Soledad Román.

38 things to do in Cartagena Want to play chess in Cartagena? Inspect an historic mansion? How about visiting the bones of Cartagena's very own Saint? A comprehensive list of visitors' activities.

The historic tall-ship 'Gloria' Sailors and aficionados of sailing ships visiting Cartagena should take the time to visit the tall ship Gloria, usually moored just a few minute's walk from Cartagena's historic Centro district.

Manga's Cementerio de Santa Cruz: an unusual attraction Notable people as varied as Jose Nieto and Captain Robert Watson have tombs in Manga's historic graveyard.

Un Solo Circulo Un Solo Recorrido: Cuentos Inspirados en Textos Nativos Americanos. Cartagena's Gold Museum was an apt venue for the launching of a new book by Carlos Torres. Among the pre-Columbian gold and ceramic treasures exhibited inside Carlos unveiled something perhaps even more valuable: an anthology of Andean myths and legends that Carlos researched over many years, condensed into seven short stories and presented in this his first volume, which translates as 'Only a Circle Only a Journey: Inspired Stories in Native American Texts'.

Cartagena's Gold Museum The Museo de Oro contains more national treasure than the priceless gold artefacts displayed in its strongroom. One only needs to look at the map and aerial photographs on display of the incredible half a million hectares of canal waterways that the Zenu Nation built.

San Pedro Claver Pedro Claver was an early cleric opposed to the Caribbean traffic in African slaves. The true story of a man so dedicated to their plight he became known as "the slave of the slaves".

The mud volcano of Totumo Just a short drive from Cartagena are the mud volcanoes of Totumo, the tallest in the world. My visit to them proved to be a day to remember.

Paco's: a tourism success story Cartagena's Santo Domingo used to be a poor suburb, until an enterprising Englishman called Nick Beeson started playing Caribbean classics like Guillermo Portables' El Carretero. Then people like Fernando Botero, Robert de Niro and the Kennedy children started to drop in.

Sailing To Cartagena The guerrillas and malaria in the Darien Gap stops many adventurers from crossing between Central and South America. One solution is to sail on a yacht via the Gulf of Darien. If you are wondering how to hitch a lift on a boat from Colombia to Panama or vice-versa, this story tells you all the different ways, and their pros and cons. Includes photos of the beautiful San Blas Islands.

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