The business of America and the West is WAR; the business of China is BUSINESS and the business of Russia is PEACE. A world-wide collective of USA driven Socialist madness.

Dear friends and family,

We hope all is well with you - wherever you are - and that life is treating you tolerably well. We came across the following quote from Mark Twain which we found thought provoking and apt in the present climate of people being frightened half to death by governments hell-bent on achieving absolute control. There are two main avenues that have been and are being used to achieve this control. The first of course was Covid and the various draconian methods used by governments to mandate their agendas - whether by lockdowns, and/or travel restrictions and the jabs themselves - in some cases compulsory upon threat of loss of jobs. The health effects of all this are becoming very apparent - just listen to Dr. John Campbell on Youtube for compelling evidence of the vaccine's less than beneficial consequences. That's a euphemism!!

The other main avenue is of course "CLIMATE CHANGE", which is also outright BS. So much false "science" being used in conjunction with the World Economic Forum to advance its evil agenda which in a nutshell is destruction of the way of life we have all been fortunate enough to enjoy for all of our lives so far. Compulsory taking of farmland (already underway in the Netherlands) and forced acquisition of all private property generally, mainly through economic means. Just consider compulsory insulation of homes in the UK - many of which cannot be insulated effectively because of their age, So these houses will be demolished. And if you don't get rid of your old gas boiler, you'll be fined 15,000 pounds (COP 74 million!) under the new Energy Act. This legislation is already in place - and received Royal Assent from the traitor king. And in case anyone thinks we are just talking through holes in our heads, think again and read the many authoritative books and articles on the subject. More on all that later............

Anyway, here is Mark Twain's famous quote - "IN THE BEGINNING OF A CHANGE THE PATRIOT IS A SCARCE MAN, AND BRAVE, AND HATED AND SCORNED. WHEN HIS CAUSE SUCCEEDS, THE TIMID JOIN HIM, FOR THEN IT COSTS NOTHING TO BE A PATRIOT". This is as apt today as it was when Twain wrote it - perhaps more so today, given the outrageous threats, blackmail and censorship commonly directed at those who speak out against these spurious narratives.

Before we get into all this meaty stuff, here is our personal news since we last communicated on December 13th. last year. That's a record - over 10 months ago. One reason for this uncharacteristic lack of communication is that we have become somewhat discouraged by what has seemed to us over some time to be a complete disinterest in what we are doing and our experiences. Except for a very few hardy souls who usually make some comment or other!! We certainly don't expect all our readers to hang on every word, but it would be nice occasionally to have some reply with others' news, or even a disagreement with our political views!!! However, the other overriding reason for the blogs has always been as a personal record for us as the old memory is not improving with age!! So, as time goes on, they will continue. The following will not be in any particular order - 

Between early June and the end of July this year we had Jean's old friend, Sara, who now lives in Murwillumbah, Australia staying with us. And Perry and family came and stayed just before Sara went back to Australia. They were here for a week.

We took Sara down to Medellin early on and Jean took her on the cable-car to Parque Arvi while Jim had a business meeting with Alianza Valores S.A. with whom we have some investments. We all stayed at the Refugio del Jaguar in Poblado which had a very quirky interior designed to give the impression of being lost in the Amazon jungle. No snakes or Piranhas though - thank God. We had left the car with our mechanic - Alejandro of Greiautos - and after 2 days we collected the car and returned to Retiro. Sara stayed on for a few more days and explored Medellin on her own.

As a result of talking to the owner of Refugio del Jaguar, Sara decided to spend some time at a jungle resort not too far from Medellin just off the Medellin-Bogota road. She was very enthusiastic about the experience at a remote resort. It had a river running through it and lots of hiking.

We have to say that Medellin for us does not have the same cachet as before. The leftist mayor that was has let a once beautiful city to go to wrack and ruin with rubbish everywhere and cleanliness generally neglected. There is still some artistic graffiti, but also some of the other sort as well. So sad. We well remember on our first visit to Medellin back in 2016 we loved the place - so leafy and clean. And we even saw someone cleaning the outside of a stainless-steel bus stop! Couldn't believe our eyes, but we don't think that happens any more. But the example of leftist city administrations destroying their cities everywhere is well-known - just look at New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and many others. 

However, there have now been local body elections on the 29th of October, and there has been a definite change for the better in Medellin. It certainly seemed likely because Medellin (and Antioquia Province of which Medellin is the capital) is overall right wing, and everyone we talked to had no time for the incumbent. In the meantime a few weeks ago the leftist mayor suddenly resigned for reasons not clear - much like Jacinda Ardern in NZ after coming very close to completely destroying NZ's economy and democratic freedoms.

The local body elections here have now been held and it looks like a clean sweep to the right for Governors, Mayors and Councillors right across Colombia. This is a great slap in the face for the leftist president, which will definitely cramp his style. He has 3 years of his term to go, but fortunately will be something of a lame duck President. The right candidate for El Retiro, which extensively encompasses much of the rural communities around here as well, has also been elected. It's difficult for us to talk in detail about local politics, except in broad terms, because all the news is in Spanish and we just know what we glean from locals from time to time, but it's all very much more encouraging than previously when President Petro was elected last year.

Jean and Sara went to Santa Marta and Cartagena together. SM is about an hour's flight from Medellin. Totally different there on the Caribbean coast from being at 7,000 feet altitude in El Retiro!. MUCH HOTTER!!! Santa Marta is the oldest surviving European city in S. America and was founded in 1525 - nearly 500 years ago. They stayed in a hotel near the marina on the waterfront. Lots of history there. Santa Marta is where Simon Bolivar, the liberator from Spain of Gran Colombia which encompassed present-day Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, died in 1830 at the age of 47. He is buried in Caracas. On an earlier visit we saw the bed that he died in!! He is still very much revered in Colombia as he was mainly responsible for finally kicking the Spanish out of S America after all the depredations that they caused. Many statues of him on horseback and many notable landmarks named after him in various cities.. Even a whole country - Bolivia!!

Santa Marta is also a port city, like Cartagena and the city in between - Baranquilla - reputedly owned 100% by the mafia who control Colombia's northern coast. Jean and Sara travelled by bus from SM to Cartagena and stayed in a hotel in the Old Town where we had spent a night back in November 2021 before the vagabonds from Miami arrived! Again very historic with the fort being the main attraction. This fort was subjected to many attempted attacks, but always repelled them. However, later in the many tumultuous battles between the English and Spanish, the English finally dealt Spain a serious blow when the Royal Navy sank a Spanish galleon loaded with gold, silver and emeralds which had just sailed from Cartagena bound for Spain. The proceeds of this booty were to be used to fund King Philip's wars in Europe, and of course the loss was a serious blow to Spain. The wreck has only recently been located in very deep water and there is an on-going argument between Colombia and Spain as regards ownership. Not sure of the latest development in that saga! 

Anyway, Sara enjoyed her sojourn in Colombia and is keen to return for some more exploring. She walked every day around El Retiro soaking up the genuine Colombiana of this delightful town. People often ride horses around the town and one needs to be aware of horse deposits on the roadways. It washes away in the rain eventually! 

Travelling to any of the other towns and municipalities involves driving through countryside which reminds us so much of rural NZ. The roads are good, but in places somewhat windy and it is not possible to safely get much above 70 kms per hour, but everything is quite close so that is not an issue. Of course everyone drives (mostly!) on the right, but we are well used to that now. We have also become quite expert at catching local buses - particularly going to Medellin if we don't need to take the car. The trip down to the city is about 45 minutes and then it is a matter of using one of hundreds of local taxis which are still relatively cheap. Average cost of travelling around the city is 10-15,000 Pesos (NZD 4 - 6).

We never tire of the El Retiro old town and also of outlying areas such as La Ceja, La Union, where there is a cheese factory and an associated restaurant where we took Sara for lunch one day, and El Carmen de Viboral where exquisite hand painted crockery and dinner sets are manufactured. In addition other towns and areas are La Fe, Fizebad, Llanogrande and Rio Negro. The latter is a small city where anything can be found if it cannot be found locally. RN is only 30 kms from El Retiro. Food shopping in El Retiro is reasonably catered for with 3 moderate sized supermarkets, but if it is necessary for more extensive food shopping, then Llanogrande has 2 larger supermarkets and RN more than that. In between there are specialist shops - many butchers and a specialist fish shop, although being so far from the coast here, everything is frozen. Not what we were used to back in the Bay of Islands - in another life!  

Perry, Tracie, Carter and Nash arrived for a week at the end of July and it was good for Perry and Sara to meet again because it had been many years since they had last seen each other. Roughly about 40 years!

We have just recently joined a local country club - Hacienda Fizebad - which is about 10 kms from Retiro. Mainly for the reason that they have a heated pool, a necessary feature at this altitude of 7,000 feet! The old estate house, which is now used as an office, was built in 1825. Apart from the pool, they have 3 restaurants, tennis courts, a chapel mainly used for country weddings, accommodation for conference attendees and other guests, a conference centre and very extensive stables, as well as a 9-hole "chipping" golf course. Beautiful horses and lovely old stone stables. We organised some horse riding lessons for the nietos (Carter and Nash) and in all they had 3 lessons on separate days. All very well done and attention to detail impressive. They took careful note of the ages of the nietos and provided suitable horses accordingly.

The Club is also very family orientated with many children-related functions when schools are in recess.

We also went to a miniature motorbike circuit in Llanogrande where the nietos chased each other around the track. Then we went into the mall to a 10 pin bowling alley - way cheaper than in Miami apparently. We all enjoyed the bowling and, as yours truly had NEVER bowled in his life, he managed a creditable score.  

The saga with our old German chariot continues - nothing serious, but a series of frustrating outcomes as the typical Colombian attitude is - "if it still works why fix it"? No idea of preventative maintenance. Unfortunately we had a parting of the ways from our earlier workshop as we met the scion of a very well-known local Medellin family who are involved in many commercial enterprises, at a lunch and classic car meet at Hacienda Fizebad. He directed us to another workshop who he said would be better at diagnosing issues with non computerised cars - and Mercedes especially. We met Juan through Andy, our fellow New Zealander and renowned orchid breeder friend, who we had invited to the function with us and he effected the introduction. Andy had had an E-type In the US many years ago. He'd also had a 1930's Chevrolet back in Hastings in NZ in his younger days, so no stranger to classic cars.

There were some great cars there - a trio of Model A Fords which appealed to Jean as her father had had one in Wellsford many years ago (he also had a Humber Super Snipe), a 1960's Chevrolet Corvette which was gorgeous in red, another Chevrolet - 1957 Bel Air convertible - gorgeous also. There was a 1960 Buick Invicta and a couple of Mercedes among many others. And a Pontiac GTO as well as 2 Ford Mustangs from the 60's, and a number of others.  A great day out. The Club has many weekend functions - all sorts of concerts among many other things. The GM cars of that era bring back memories for Jim with the Canadian built Pontiacs and Chevrolets that we had in NZ from the mid fifties to the late 60's. And earlier than that the Armstrong Siddeleys for which we had the NZ agency until they stopped making them in 1959 with the Star Sapphire.  

Anyway, back to the 124 - we have been going to the new workshop now for a bit over a month and the first thing we discovered was that the main cooling fan had been installed back to front which of course meant that the air was being blown out in front of the car instead of back over the engine. No wonder we had cooling issues. The electric fans had been working overtime to keep the old girl cool, and largely succeeding. We also changed the timing chain - our guru in the US said that these M104 engines never had timing chain issues, but yours truly was very mindful of the experience with the 420 V8 back in NZ when a chain guide broke on start up and caused the bending of some valve stems in one cylinder bank. And our new mechanic said that at 105,000 miles we should definitely change it. We had already bought the parts from the US some time ago, so we had it changed - good for peace of mind. There have been some other issues as well - alternator which had been supposed to have been rebuilt at the previous workshop, but which packed up again resulting in a third trip on the back of a tow wagon down to Medellin. However, the car is now back again (we picked her up the other day) and it's never been better, so it seems that we are after almost 2 years finally getting on top of historical 30 year old issues! And 2 new Michelin tyres on the front; the old girl won't know herself!

We have also by default discovered that the model is an E320 (straight six), rather than the 300E which is on the original documents. We think that the capacity was entered on the documents when it was imported from the US to save tax based on engine capacity. Another example of Colombian corruption!  Although apparently in 1993, 320's sold in the US were badged and documented as 300's. And also confusingly, our car had been delivered without any badging on the boot lid, and they could be specified in that manner if ordering a new car. This was all discovered through a careful check of the VIN number. But fascinating to find all this stuff out. 

One more comment on the Colombian cost of living. Our living costs have risen during 2023 mainly due to local inflation which has been as high as 10%, but also the decline of the NZD and USD against the Colombian Peso (COP). Since the beginning of the year, the NZD is down 23% against the COP and the USD down 20%.    

WE are also in the process of joining an informal Spanish-English-Spanish language group. Mostly made up of locals wanting to either learn or brush up their English (and we can help with that), but also there should be a spin off for us to learn more Spanish.

One more item of personal news - arguably the most important. We have in the last month or so, commenced our applications for Permanent Residency of Colombia. Our lawyer friend, Astrid Melendez, is assisting us in this process which will take us to the next level before citizenship. These things are usually fairly long-winded, but we have the time as our present visas don't expire until early June next year. So far we have been here on 3 year migrant visas - 2 so far. 

And now to the inevitable geopolitical comments, which we cannot ignore, particularly as the world is in such turmoil. We'll try and keep them as brief as possible - 

** Ukraine - we have already commented extensively on this subject. Suffice it to say that if anyone had taken the trouble to research recent history, particularly from the 2015 Minsk Accords onwards, they would conclude that Russia was entirely justified in invading Ukraine in early 2022. The Minsk Accords, which provided for Ukrainian neutrality as a buffer state between the Russian Federation and the US and its NATO allies, were cynically and deliberately broken by the US and its NATO allies in its continued efforts to promote war with Russia over Ukraine. These people are MAD - don't they understand what nuclear warfare means? This of course is to benefit the military/industrial complex in the US. Congress authorises the taxpayer funds which then enable the production of the lethal weapons, and they get sent to Ukraine from where there is a clandestine export trade to anyone who wants them and can pay exorbitantly for them. Many US weapons originally sent to Ukraine have now been found in Lebanon and Gaza in the hands of Iran-backed anti Israel terrorists. How ironic is that!! And never mind the 88 billion USD worth left in Afghanistan when the crooked Biden cabal withdrew. In addition, Congress authorises cash payments to Ukraine from where most is pocketed in back-handers to senior Ukrainian politicians. How else does Vladimir Zelensky come to own a very expensive estate in Florida? And of course the Bidens, whose corruption is being continually exposed by the Republican House on a daily basis. Impeachment soon, we earnestly hope. The guy is a traitor.

Russia can no more tolerate missiles installed in Ukraine aimed at Russia than the US could tolerate Russian (USSR) missiles in Cuba in 1961 and aimed at the US mainland. Or the possibility of Chinese missiles in Mexico aimed in the same direction. So Russia had to deal with the problem. Russia has now effectively and deservedly invaded Ukraine and won the war against the NATO-backed Ukraine with commendable restraint. 

But Ukrainian casualties amount to in excess of 500,000 DEAD and at least 50,000 wounded - mostly AMPUTEES. This horrific consequence can be laid directly at the doors of Zelensky and Biden & Co. They have cynically continued to hurl ineffective "counter-offensives" at the Russians in order to justify more weapons' shipments from the US, thus further lining their own pockets and increasing the Ukrainian casualty count. The Ukrainian secret police have been press-ganging anyone remotely capable of holding a rifle and sending them into the meat-grinder against the Russian defensive positions which have no hope of being breached. The leadership of the US, NATO and Ukraine are thus continuing to commit war crimes on a massive scale. They might be diminishing now, but that's only because there are hardly any men, or women of military age left in Ukraine.  

Russia is now almost certain to keep all of what was eastern Ukraine and Crimea and Odessa on the Black Sea. All of these areas are traditionally Russian anyway. Ukraine has effectively been destroyed with horrific population loss due to massive refugee migration to neighbouring countries and of course the wartime losses as detailed.

We rely for our Ukrainian news on the decorated U.S. Col. Douglas Macgregor who often has a Youtube slot with Judge Andrew Napolitano. 

** The US/Mexico border - the Biden Administration has continually done their best to actively allow massive increases in illegal immigrants into the US heartland and no-one has any idea of where these people are now, or whether some of them may be potential terrorists. And of course Chinese Fentanyl continues to pour over the border into the US where it is causing at least 100,000 deaths per annum of mostly young Americans. Just lately some Border Patrol people were caught cutting razor wire on the border which the state of Texas had installed in an attempt to stem some of the immigration. This is criminal sabotage on the part of the Federal Government and, along with all the other administrative border crimes, will certainly result in prosecutions when the Republicans re-take the White House in early 2025. And Trump has said that he will immediately institute mass deportations of illegals back into Mexico. But it will take many years to undo the damage that Biden & Co. have caused. 

** And now we have the horrific murderous attack by the Palestinian Hamas from Gaza against the state of Israel on Oct. 7th.. Some 1,500 Israelis Including over 200 at a music festival were murdered in the most unimaginably awful fashion. In all the emotion it is difficult to talk about this but it does seem that babies were decapitated in front of their mothers before or after the mothers were raped.

We try and leave the emotion out of these comments, but it is difficult. Israel is thankfully ignoring the feeble and deranged pronouncements of Biden and have gone into Gaza and apparently have largely succeeded in destroying some 300 miles of Hamas tunnels under Gaza - and particularly under hospitals and schools - which is Hamas' cowardly MO. Israel's aim is the total destruction of Hamas, their infrastructure and their evil leadership - an aim in which we wholeheartedly concur. Otherwise the  75 year old state of Israel will be itself destroyed

There seems to be a great deal of historical ignorance of the Jewish entitlement to occupy what is now largely the state of Israel. One thing that needs to be understood is that the Judeo-Christian religion and history in the region goes back centuries before the time of Christ. On the other hand the rise of Islam did not occur until approximately 400 years after Christ (AD). And Muslims have ever since promulgated death and destruction against not only Jews, but also against Christians. They cannot be allowed to prevail in their evil agenda. Israel is one of the most capable military states in the world with a string of impressive victories behind them. They will prevail against Hamas, Hezbollah and the terrorist enablers - Iran. In spite of the Biden liars.

We can only hope that the war does not spill over into a wider regional conflict and, God forbid a World War from which there will be no survival for any of us.  Along with Ukraine, the Biden criminals have really steered the world close to the abyss. If President Trump had not experienced the blatant cheating which deprived him of a continuance of his first four years - NONE OF THE ABOVE WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

** The UK deserves a mention with their mindless obsession with "net zero" Now they have the Energy Act which has just received Royal Assent from King Charlie Boy - that paragon founder of the World Economic Forum. This means that local authorities can break into peoples' homes and if they discover that the occupier is still using a perfectly good gas boiler, they can slap a 15,000 pound fine on the hapless occupants. Along with 15 minute cities, the UK is sliding into the ignorant pursuit of "CLIMATE CHANGE" - and to hell with the consequences. And Hell is where the UK is heading, along with the pursuit of fraudulent "climate" money!! Watch Richard Vobes and/or Nigel Farage for verification of the above.

** And now political events in NZ. We were very encouraged to view the final election result - after the specials had been counted. The fact that National and ACT are now totally dependent on NZ First to govern at all, raises a great cheer in our hearts and minds. In particular, we hope that NZF will succeed in demanding a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Covid "pandemic" and the way in which that was dealt with in such a draconian manner. We don't trust National - and Luxon - any further than we could kick them. Mainly because Luxon has been in bed with the WEF from way back and needs some strong restraint and oversight. The immediate concern is that no later than Dec.1st., the draft WHO agreement whereby the WHO would totally take over NZ's health system in the event of another "pandemic" - which is already in the planning stage - would take effect. This is another avenue the World Economic Forum (WEF) can use to control the NZ population. NZ First will almost certainly oppose ratifying that obnoxious agreement, but we wouldn't put it past Luxon to request sufficient votes from Labour (with whom they have not coalesced - YET!) to pass the necessary legislation. It's even possible that National and Labour will formally coalesce together, in the event that NZ First might not accept their possibly half-baked coalition agreement. This would give National/Labour over 80 seats in the Parliament - don't worry NZ - this was suggested long before the election. It would be a powerful argument against Winston getting too uppity - the election, and its consequences, is a long way from being over yet. NZ could finish up with a National/Labour coalition well and truly aligned with the WEF. Unlikely, but a possibility and horrific to contemplate.

In summary, the world is a chaotic place and has never been more dangerous since the 2nd World War - especially since a number of countries now possess nuclear weapons. And all thanks to those ideological traitorous clowns in the White House. If we all survive, their comeuppance will be swift and severe.

On that sober note we must leave you. We would very much appreciate hearing from you with your news and even severely opposing comments relating to our steadfastly held views!! The essence of democracy is the free and frank exchange of views as long as they are expressed respectfully.

With lots of  love from us in El Retiro, Antioquia, Colombia,

Jim and Jean  

  

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