The dangerous world we live in

Hi to all,

In recent times we have been sending out podcasts that we consider particularly noteworthy and relevant to recent geopolitical events. 

However, rather than continue to bombard you with these, which can be time consuming, we have decided on a different approach! But we also take this opportunity to apologise for the length of this epistle - but there is much going on in the world as we all know.

We are appending a list of Youtube commentators that we consider worthy of your attention and we are also including a precis of recent world events as we see them. 

It is hard to know where to start!

First of all, a general comment. It has become more and more obvious that our hitherto benign attitude to the USA as a reliable ally and leader of the "Western World" is seriously flawed and that is a result of in excess of 70 CIA organised  aggressive covert "regime change" operations in various countries over the last 80 years and continuous bending of the truth to suit various propaganda narratives. We have all been consistently lied to by the US and its various allies for at least this whole period of time. Note that we were both born in Auckland in 1947 and we are now in our 80th. years and hopefully somewhat wiser as we age!!

This has engendered a growing feeling of betrayal and is reinforced by the actions of the current US president. Following Trump's first term from 2016 to 2020, and then his campaign rhetoric prior to his 2024 election, we felt that it was reasonable to expect that he would pursue a policy of peace and avoidance of  armed conflict. In addition he had very acceptable domestic and financial policies, which if pursued consistently, at least had a reasonable chance over time of bringing the US and by extension all of us, back from certain financial catastrophe, which had been largely caused by Presidents Obama and Biden and others before them. But now it is increasingly obvious that Trump himself has substantially increased the chances of such catastrophe, rather than alleviating them. 

One can speculate on the reasons for the otherwise inexplicable changes in the Trump Administration's policies, but it seems certain that it is largely due to the underestimated level of influence of the Zionist Lobby in Washington. It is often said that the Israeli P.M., Netanyahu, is the President of the USA with his standing ovations in Congress etc. 

The US and its murderous and unhinged "ally" Israel, have variously continued the Ukraine War and deceitfully started the American War on Iran. All of this when the US economy is collapsing under increasing inflation and ever increasing debt, now close to 40 TRILLION US dollars. Note that a Trillion is 1,000 Billion and a Billion is 1,000 Million. These numbers are unimaginable and stratospheric and the debt as it stands CANNOT be repaid.  

Now for some relevant detail - 

** There is a geopolitical development known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which has been developing and achieving significant importance for the world's financial systems and certainly has the ability to transcend any issues concerning Ukraine or Iran.

That is the rapidly growing (mostly peaceful) conflict between the Nationalist countries (BRICS led by Russia and China) and the Globalist countries (principally the USA, but also including Western Europe and the "white" countries of the British Commonwealth).

Globalists' ultimate aim is world government as epitomised by the growing political control of European Union member countries. Incidentally the EU is likely to economically collapse. If that happens, they should revert to becoming a simple trading bloc instead of all the more recent legal and political entanglements. Something like the forerunner of the EU, the European Economic Community (EEC) which was formed way back in 1973.  

By contrast to the Globalists, the Nationalist countries retain their individual sovereignty and work together with trade and financial cooperation as their primary focus.

The geographical focus for BRICS has naturally predominantly developed around East and West Asia as of course they are all connected by the same land mass. This has alarmed the Globalists who regard the growth of BRICS as a direct threat to the USD financial system established at Bretton Woods in 1944 and which came to include the Petrodollar which was established in the early 70's just after President Nixon took the US off the gold standard.

The American War on Iran has ironically become the catalyst for the further decline of the Globalist countries with the slow but steady growth of the BRICS financial system - CIPS - Cross Border Interbank Payment System. This includes over 190 participant countries, 1,600+ financial participants and 5,000 banking participant institutions. Payments are not made in USD; rather in the individual countries' currencies - or Petroyuan! And the Petroyuan is likely in the very near future to become gold backed in its own right.

The stakes are high as CIPS is creating a lessening of demand for the USD which in turn threatens the ability of the US to borrow with impunity as they have done in the past. This in turn will have serious ramifications relating to the current level of US Federal Debt and whether it can even be maintained at anything like current levels. Default might then be the only option.

This dire financial situation has almost certainly played a significant part in the US decision to accept defeat in the war against Iran. They seem to have also belatedly realised that they need to need to try and retrieve whatever is left of US reputation in the world. 

BRICS though has become an unstoppable force and will pose a serious challenge to the former dominance of the US dollar.

** Ukraine - much has been written on this subject already, so we will try and not repeat too much! Suffice it to say that Trump promised to end the Ukraine War in a very few days after his taking office. It is now well over a year since then and the war has escalated to the point where Russia's patience is exhausted and they are now likely to destroy armaments factories in various NATO countries, which have been supplying offensive weapons to Ukraine for use against the Russian Federation. This action will be regardless of NATO's Article 5 which guarantees unity of all NATO members in the event of an attack on any of them. These European manufactured armaments are being continually fired into the Russian heartland from Ukraine and Russian restraint is rapidly ending. As a result they will finish the whole dangerous and unacceptable situation very soon now by destroying those armaments facilities, because NATO in its current impoverished state lacks the ability to retaliate against Russia, in spite of their childish threatening antics.

The cause of the war has been the continued encroachment of NATO (such as it is!) eastward in direct violation of many promises to the contrary to the Russian Federation ever since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. This includes the cynical and deliberate abrogation of agreements and treaties since 1991. The most recent and relevant were the Minsk Accords of 2015 which guaranteed Ukrainian neutrality and which the US and its allies signed, albeit with the full intent of reneging on those obligations.

This is exactly the same situation that confronted the US with Soviet Russian missiles being installed in Cuba - only 90 miles from the US mainland in 1962. That was resolved by some adroit diplomacy between President Kennedy of the US and Premier Kruschev of the USSR and the withdrawal of US missiles from Turkey which had been aimed at Moscow!!

But there is no such diplomacy or agreement today between Russia and the lunatic leaders of W Europe who seem to maintain a visceral hatred of Russia and a determination to confront Russia militarily. If this were ever to occur, which God forbid, Europe and possibly the world would suffer severe consequences. Instead, Europe needs to cultivate friendship and commercial agreements such as the re-inauguration of Russian energy supply to reinvigorate Europe's industrial capacity.

So, Russia has been entirely justified in invading Ukraine in order to secure their southern border in the face of Western intransigence, and that probably and justifiably includes advancing to the Dnieper River and taking the old Russian city of Odessa - founded by Catherine the Great in the 1700's. Contrary to the false US/NATO propaganda, Russia has NO ambition for or intention of continuing and invading Europe, or even West Ukraine. They want trade and cooperation, rather than the current European debilitating and dangerously aggressive behaviour. But hopefully there will be regime change quite soon now in London, Berlin and Paris with Starmer, Merz, and Macron deservedly out on their respective ears. Only then it seems will Europe adopt a congenial relationship with the Russian Federation that must occur before there is any real security in Europe or Eurasia.

** The American War on Iran - in late February 2026 the US and Israel cynically and deceitfully commenced this war with an air and missile attack on Iran with further on-going peace talks scheduled for the next day. One of the horrific consequences was the murder of 170 little schoolgirls when a Tomahawk missile slammed into a school in the southern town of Minab. This and other missiles were fired from a US Navy ship and clearly had satellite guidance, so there was NO mistake. No excuse for hitting a school, so the obvious conclusion is that it was deliberate. So, 170 little girls aged from 6 to 12 and some of their parents as well as their teachers were all vaporised in a single horrific second. On the same day missiles hit the home of the 86 year old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, murdering him, his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. You can only imagine the feelings of his son (who was also there and was injured), having witnessed the murders of his father, wife and children. He is therefore hardly likely to have any kind feelings towards the murderers - the United States and Israel. So much for regime change!! The son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is now the new Supreme Leader of Iran.

Iran has much superior weapons than a year ago, mainly courtesy of Russia and China, who as fellow BRICS members, will NEVER let Iran be defeated. Iran has  hypersonic missiles which hit their targets at a closing speed of Mach 10 and upwards. These missiles cannot be detected in flight, much less intercepted. They are also controllable in flight. Neither the US nor Israel has anything comparable. Iran also now has much upgraded air defense systems and has succeeded in shooting down USAF aircraft. At last count up to 40 US combat aircraft of many types have been lost during the war against Iran to date.

So, with the back and forth missile strikes since February, Iran has inflicted massive damage on US bases in the Gulf countries. The US Navy 5th. Fleet HQ in Bahrain has been pretty much obliterated together with a major USAF base in Jordan. These are just a few of the assets damaged or totally destroyed.

By contrast the US has heavily bombed Iran, including civilian areas of Tehran and other cities and has also deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure assets - even desalination plants. But Iran has instead not hit these types of assets elsewhere, although if desalination plants in other countries were struck by Iran, it would be catastrophic for those populations. For example, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, has just one huge desalinator serving the entire population of Riyadh. If that was hit, the entire population of 7 million would need to be evacuated - a logistical nightmare.

Another logistical nightmare has been the on again off again proposal for a US invasion of Iranian territory. We won't go into it in detail - suffice it to say that it is most likely that whatever conveyances were used to place troops in Iran, would be destroyed en route before they ever made it to Iran. Then there would be the problem of keeping troops supplied, even if they did reach Iranian shores. The end result of such a hairbrained scheme would be massive casualties. It would put the British and ANZAC Gallipoli campaign in 1915 completely in the shade!

Iran's main armaments, its extensive missile systems, are largely undamaged and fully functional and have been used very successfully against military targets in the Gulf and in Israel, which are now heavily damaged. The Iranian missiles are in the main buried deep underground and unassailable.

Many analysts have been saying that quite definitely Iran had already won the war and of course holds the huge advantage of absolutely controlling the Strait of Hormuz by means of anti-ship missiles embedded in the cliffs overlooking the Strait.

And now, all of a sudden, we have been greeted with the news that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Iran has been agreed, thanks to herculean efforts on the part of the mediators, Pakistan, and will be signed in Geneva on Friday the 19th. of June. It is not clear whether in fact the MOU has already been electronically signed. There have always been deep areas of disagreement which have been extensively chronicled. So, it remains to be seen whether in fact an agreement following the MOU within 60 days and acceptable to Iran and the US can actually be finalised.The fact also remains that Israel, true to form, has been doing its damndest to sabotage this "agreement" as they have always done in the past. However, Israel has now been slapped down fairly hard as the US is desperate for a lasting agreement as they are facing shortages yet to come, and that includes oil. Not to mention the dire US financial situation.

Israel still clings to the delusional agenda of "Greater Israel" which necessarily would involve the complete destruction of Iran as a sovereign state and the complete subjugation of all countries and lands between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers.This harks back to the bloodthirsty Old Testament, which in the main advocates horrific destruction of all civilisations and peoples who are not the current "God's Chosen People". This is ALL fiction, but very cleverly written and presented back in the day, and now used as justification for Israel's continued genocidal and murderous attacks on its neighbours, which hopefully will be stopped, at least in the short term.

In addition, the US and Israel have now fortunately just about exhausted their supplies of offensive and defensive missiles and other ammunition, so this fact alone is probably a significant factor in forcing the US capitulation.

The economic damage that the American War on Iran has caused world-wide is so far incalculable, but is immense. That is in spite of the advent of the MOU as the effects of the war will be felt for months yet. Much of the economic damage has yet to be felt in many countries, so far cushioned against most effects. In the US for example the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being depleted at a faster rate than anticipated and is at its lowest level since 1983. It is not expected to last until the end of July, let alone any longer. And the US is NOT, contrary to popular opinion, self-sufficient in petroleum products. Then there is petroleum derived fertiliser, the lack of which has already caused the beginnings of food shortages in some countries, Helium used in chip manufacture and Sulphur used in a variety of industrial processes to name just a few. It will take several months, if not years, to restore full production of all these products from the Persian Gulf. As much as anything, it will depend on the level of destruction levelled on petroleum assets of the 4 Gulf countries, and Iraq and Saudi Arabia, all of whom either are or have been allies of the US. The Gulf countries are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. They have been justifiably targeted by Iran, mainly because they were hosting US military bases and other assets on their soil, from which offensive operations had been launched against Iran. Many of these assets have been completely destroyed. 

One of Iran's red lines in the MOU was the continuation of operation of these US bases in the Gulf and other allied countries. Therefore a condition of the MOU is complete withdrawal of US military assets and personnel from these countries.

But once again, there is no doubt that Iran has won the war and so holds all the negotiating cards. And they are quite capable of maintaining the war if the US and/or Israel are stupid enough to try and continue. No guarantees!! 

The US has suffered a strategic defeat on a massive scale and sheer desperation in the end was the driving factor. At this point the heads of the Neocons in Washington are exploding and it remains to be seen whether they and the Zionists are actually able to derail the present fragile situation.

So, there we are. The only reasonably sure thing arising from this discussion is that the MOU will either have morphed into a legally binding agreement in 60 days time, or Israel will have been successful in sabotaging the deal.

We really hope for all our sakes that the former option comes true and that the world can then look forward to a more secure future free of US and Israeli bullying and hegemony.

So, all this is happening against the backdrop of BRICS and its payment system - CIPS - which is directly challenging the hitherto financial hegemony of the United States. The world order is changing and we believe that the rise of BRICS, together with the increasing decline of the US Empire, is really behind all these seemingly unrelated conflicts. And ironically BRICS is growing faster than expected because of the bullying militarism of the United States 

and its vassal, Israel. The reputations of these two countries are in tatters after aggressive murderous adventures in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Venezuela and (soon?) Cuba. It's time the US concentrated on fixing its own degraded infrastructure instead of pointless foreign wars.   

We hope that everyone is well................

With lotsaluv and all very best wishes from us in El Retiro, Antioquia, Colombia,

Jim and Jean

P.S. The crazy world financial situation is having a result that is adversely affecting the cost of living here in Colombia - 

A year ago 1NZD was buying 2465 Pesos and now it's buying 2009 Pesos. That's a decline of almost 19% and - 

a year ago 1USD was buying 4101 Pesos and now it's buying 3480 Pesos. That's a decline of 15%.

The cost of living here has therefore increased!!! 

ADDENDUM of useful contacts for news of geopolitical events - in our opinion!! All available on Youtube and other channels.   Not in any particular order:

** Mario Nawfal - a Lebanese entrepreneur, geopolitical commentator and interviewer.

** Lt. Colonel Dan Davis (US Army Rtd.) - military expert and entertaining and geopolitically knowledgeable interviewer.

** Judge Andrew Napolitano - retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge and host of Youtube Channel "Judging Freedom".

** Clayton and Natali Morris - Clayton is an ex FoxNews anchor and they are both hosts of "Redacted" - an in-depth interview and investigative journalism channel.

** Nima Alkorshid - Iranian/Brazilian Youtube interviewer and Professor of Civil Engineering at the Federal University of Itajuba in Brazil.  

** Danny Haiphong - American journalist and Youtube host of Vietnamese descent.

** Lena Petrova - C.P.A., researcher in international relations, political economy and presenter of financial analysis on Youtube 

** Glenn Diesen - a professor at the SE University of Norway and a specialist in Russian politics.

** Peter Schiff - a well-known US fund manager and strong critic of the current state of US Government finances.

** George Galloway - a Scot by birth and a former British M.P. Leftist but knowledgeable and informative. His monologues are worth listening to in their own right!

** Colonel Douglas Macgregor (US Army Rtd.) - a military historian and probably the most knowledgeable concerning world affairs and their histories that we have heard. An appalling lack of knowledge of history is one significant reason for the foreign policy incompetence that we are seeing today.   

** Professor John Mearsheimer - international relations scholar and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

** Colonel Lawrence Wilkersen (US Army Retd.) - former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell when Powell was Secretary of State. Former helicopter pilot in the American War in Vietnam. His reasoned comments are a breath of fresh air.

** Larry Johnson - retired CIA analyst with excellent contacts and very good detailed knowledge of affairs as they develop

** Professor Jeffrey Sachs - Economics Professor at Columbia University and financial advisor to many foreign governments. He was present in Moscow in 1991 when Premier Yeltsin announced to the meeting the cessation of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Russian Federation. Sachs is very critical of US foreign policy before and since those days.

** Professor Seyid Marandi - Iranian born in the US. Professor of English Literature at the University of Tehran and fearless commentator even during the worst bombing of Tehran. He was a volunteer during the Iraq-Iran War and suffered nerve gassing carried out by the Iraqis with technical assistance from (you guessed it!!) - the United States. He liaises with the Iranian military and is a great source of information re Iran.

** Alex Krainer - Croatian by birth in the days of the Iron Curtain over Yugoslavia. An excellent investigative journalist, always well researched.

** Yanis Varoufakis - ex Greek Finance Minister very knowledgeable and critical of Greece's treatment a few years ago at the hands of the bureaucratic and controlling EU.

** Scott Ritter - American and ex Marine Intelligence Officer. Also ex UN appointed nuclear weapons inspector. Very knowledgeable about nuclear matters including the bogus claims concerning Iran's nuclear ambitions!!  

** Pepe Escobar - Brazilian investigative journalist par excellence. Very experienced and travels often to China and Russia because these days that's where the news is being made. He recently made an excellent documentary of Chinese built railway transport development in Iran and NW to Russia and NE to China. There is also a Chinese built new port on the south coast of Iran close to the Pakistan border which the US recently bombed!! Utterly stupid; the US destroys and the Chinese and Russians are building.

Fwd: Esto ha sido nuestro 79th. ano en este planeta - nuestros cumpleanos son el 18 de Febrero para Jean y el 27 de Enero para Jim.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2025 at 15:21
Subject: Esto ha sido nuestro 79th. ano en este planeta - nuestros cumpleanos son el 18 de Febrero para Jean y el 27 de Enero para Jim.
To: Perry Lanaway <Perry_Lanaway@hotmail.com>

Hi to everyone once again - from Jim and Jean in El Retiro, Colombia,

We hope that all is well and that so far life in 2025 has been treating you well, in spite of all the huge uncertainties in the world which currently surround us.

In February we had the pleasure of a visit from Jim's eldest Midwife daughter, Amanda and her long-time boyfriend, Dave. They arrived via Santiago (Chile) and Bogota and then left for Cartagena, Santa Marta and Palomino on the Caribbean coast. After that they went to Lima, Peru and the Peruvian Amazon.  Then Santiago again before returning to Godzone!! As they're both working in NZ, their total time is limited, but we made the most of it. We hadn't seen her since 2019 when we were last in NZ, so it was an emotionally short time here and of course one never knows the future. 

Anyway, they saw where and how we live here in El Retiro and we also went to Medellin where we went up on the Parque Arvi cable car with its spectacular views of the city. And also the Botero Museum with its iconic paintings (mainly portraits), and huge sculptures, in the Botero style. But the highlight was on the Saturday night at Salon Malaga. This place has been operational since the 1920's and is the centre of tango dancing here in Medellin. There are all sorts of memorabilia there, including antique juke-boxes and photos of old Medellin. The music was electrifying and the tango was itself spectacular. There was quite a crowd and it is necessary to book in advance, but it is not possible to book more than 7 days in advance so our friend Daniela did the booking by phone for us. The crowd was almost entirely Colombian and they are so exuberant and demonstrative! It was great to see multigenerational family groups all having a great time and singing together. Grannies, grandchildren and all in between!! We would probably have sung too but we didn't know the Spanish words!! Probably just as well, because we wouldn't necessarily have added to the harmony!!  It was a wonderful night which we will all remember. Drank far too much Ron Medellin, but surprisingly felt reasonably good the next day! 

On their last day here we went to Guatape, which is an artificial lake created for a hydro dam. The original town was flooded when the lake was originally filled, but there is another town on the lake shore which is now very touristified. Not exactly our idea of where to go, but the history is interesting. The area flooded is very topographically rugged which has created a fascinating vista of islands and inlets almost as far as one can see. And there is a volcanic plug (El Penol) near the new town of Guatape which one can climb (750 steps!!) if one's knees are up to it. The view from the top is even more spectacular.

It was emotional saying goodbye when the time came all too soon for them to depart. But we all enjoyed the visit and they achieved an overview of Retiro and Colombia which they can build upon with their next visit.

The other highly personal event was by contrast so sad. Our very good friend, world-renowned orchid breeder and fellow New Zealander, Andy Easton, passed away in his sleep at the age of 77 sometime during the night of 2nd. - 3rd. July. It was so sudden that it hit us like a sledgehammer. Only the previous Sunday June 29th. we had had our usual very enjoyable extended breakfast at 4Elementos - a relatively new breakfast/brunch restaurant at La Fe - only about a 15 minute drive from here, and of course we were looking forward to repeating the weekly experience, but it was not to be.

At least Amanda and Dave met Andy when we all had dinner at our favorite Restaurante Inspiracion in the Media Luna Mall, about a mile from our house.

Anyway, even after 18 weeks it is still painful to write about and we did send everyone a copy of Andy's obituary which no doubt you all read. Suffice it to say that Andy probably possessed the best knowledge of Cymbidium Orchids of anyone of his era. He was absolutely immersed and singularly focused with what had been his life (with a few interruptions!) for the last 66 years. He was academically qualified with a B.Sc. in Botany from Victoria University, Wellington and a masters degree from Colorado State University where he met his first wife, Carol, who was a highly qualified biologist. He dealt with suppliers and customers from Asia to Europe and in the US. And of course also in NZ and Australia. Just a few months before his passing, he had travelled with his Colombian wife, Patricia, visiting Turkey, the Netherlands and China. It can only be hoped that sufficient people are coming on in the orchid world to carry on his inspiring work. It needs people who are not just academically qualified, but also possessed of that unquantifiable and difficult to define passion for orchids. He will be difficult to replace. Andy has been a real ambassador for New Zealand, and a passionate advocate for orchids and the orchid world world-wide.

About a year ago Andy had given us an orchid plant which he said we could just plant in the garden and it would flower. However, it never did and in fact was not looking all that healthy, so we made the decision to move it to a large pot at the back of the house. Then, in the last few weeks 2 large flower spikes have appeared and at the time of writing, the first with 17 blooms on it started opening with spectacular yellow flowers with a maroon/scarlet interior. Beautiful and we are deriving such pleasure from the orchid. Such a pity that Andy is not here to see it. There is a picture of it at the end of this blog.

Apart from that, life has been fairly quiet. We have been having our usual issues with our 32 year old German chariot - nothing serious, but so very difficult to find anyone competent enough to diagnose even the smallest thing. However, we had some time ago been recommended to go to Jose Luis in Itagui - which is a municipality south of Medellin and a bit of a trek for us from Retiro. By the time we deliver the car and then catch a combination of the Medellin Metro and the bus to Retiro from under the Metro Estacion at Exposiciones to get back home, a good chunk of the day is gone! Then when the car is ready to be collected, the process is reversed.

We had some concern lately because the last communication from Jose Luis was at the end of July and we knew he had had serious heart surgery some time previously. Our messages had been read but not answered - very strange, and we were concerned for his welfare. Anyway, we have a small remaining issue we want to get to the bottom of, so in some apprehension we took the car to a workshop in Medellin which had been recommended. But when we got there the shop was filthy and nothing gave any confidence at all. There are lots of workshops like that in Medellin. We don't expect anything too flash like a MB dealership with attendant costs, but just somewhere clean and organised with a sense of competence. However, another workshop next door which only deals with late model European cars, remembered Jose Luis and rang him. They succeeded in talking to him and we were relieved to know that at least he was ok! Typical of Colombia; sometimes you only get quite important information by the most circuitous of routes! However, a few days later we received a further communication from his family advising that he was in hospital and his recovery time was not known. We can only hope that he eventually recovers in some good health.

But, it was then of course necessary to re-evaluate our strategy. We made an approach to a workshop in Oriente de Medellin (Llanogrande), but they, like the concessionaires - Alemautos, would not look at a venerable old girl like ours! But they did give us the name of a Mercedes expert who was semi-retired in La Ceja - another town, bigger than Retiro and about 30 minutes drive from here. We have now made a preliminary visit to meet Jose and, although the workshop looks quite primitive, we were impressed with Jose's knowledge and also to learn that he and Jose Luis used to work together with Jose Luis being Jose's assistant when the W124's were current back in the 1980's-90's. So, dare we hope that we have after over 2 years found someone we can rely on? We also met his family and his 15 year old son, Matteo who when he overcomes his shyness, acts as interpreter for us and his father.

Anyway, hopefully this time the issues will be solved. The whining noise that we had sometimes experienced has turned out to be a bearing in the airconditioning compressor - it's taken 2 years to find that! And it appears that some of the electrical refurbishment that Jose Luis said he had done was not 100%. So Jose in La Ceja who has an electrical manual, is in the process of sorting those remaining issues.

Another issue which has occupied a disproportionate amount of our time was that we decided to renew the material under our roof tiles. The 16 house development at Alameda Campestre is about 15 years old and apparently that is about the life of this material, which is like a soft waterproof fabric about 1 cm thick. The integrity of the roof depends on the state of this fabric and of course of the tiles which are laid on top. Our roof is complicated by the fact that there are 2 internal gutters which take about 80% of the roof run-off into concealed downpipes at each corner of the house. The other 20% is near the edge of the roof and discharges into normal exterior gutters, which before we came here simply poured water all over our front garden. We now have proper downpipes which discharge into a drain! Spoutings which discharge into thin air are common here - for example on the other side of the house the water discharges into the next door property as our new extension is only about half a metre from the boundary! "Rules" are almost non-existent here; on the other hand NZ with its planning rules, is far too rules based and restrictive. No doubt there's a happy medium somewhere!!

So, once the fabric had been replaced in June, two roof leaks began in one of our spare bedrooms. The main leak was from one of the internal gutters. And we still had about 15 broken tiles. So, then we had to find a source of the tiles, which was not easy as they are a discontinued pattern. And no-one had told us anything of all this, which is typical of Colombia!! All part of the charm of living here!! 

Anyway, with the belated help of our roofing contractor, we managed to find a roof materials supplier in Rio Negro which in turn was able to order 20 new tiles for us from a factory about 3 hours drive south of Medellin!! So, we ordered them and then after about another month we finally received them. Then we had to have several hours of drying weather before our contractor could get on the roof, AND we had to organise an extension ladder to coincide with all of that. Finally, after about 11 weeks since the original job, the final repairs have been done and then the weather was dry so we hadn't been able to test the roof! But there was rain forecast for the next days and hopefully then we would be able to relinquish the buckets which we had been using to catch the drips!! The proof would then be in the pudding, as they say!! All in all a new roof for 5 million pesos (NZD 2,200). Can't be too bad.

Well, since writing the foregoing, we have had some quite heavy rain with no leaks, so our confidence is returning!!

Changing the subject, we have finally found a sheep farm about 20 kms from here just outside La Ceja. We haven't been there yet, but they deliver, so we ordered 2 lamb racks, a shoulder and a leg. So far, we have consumed everything - the racks, shoulder and leg - the latter of which our friend, Monica slow cooked overnight a couple of months ago, as a practice run for Christmas when Jean's son, Perry, and Tracie and the 2 nietos (Carter and Nash) are here from Miami. We've decided that the shoulders are best so we have ordered 3 - 1 for another test cooking and 2 for Christmas.

We are looking forward to seeing them for their first Colombian Christmas. Sheep meat in Colombia is not really well-known or popular, but maybe over time it will become an accepted part of the local cuisine. But for us, we are very pleased to have discovered the farm because lamb is almost the only thing we miss about New Zealand.

And sometimes we are asked what we do all day!! All the above is at least partially the answer, and with the language issues, we won't be getting Dementia!!

Apart from all that, we certainly continue to enjoy living here, and in fact consider ourselves very lucky, as the people are wonderful, as is the town and its surroundings. And the wonderful raw materials for food continue in abundance, and at such reasonable prices. Never a dull moment, as they say.

However, a slight dark cloud - as at 13/11, the NZ currency (NZD) has depreciated by just over 13.5% against the Colombian Peso (COP) so far this year, which is having a negative effect on our living costs. However, we just have to hope that the NZ economy improves going into 2026. And the US dollar (USD) by an almost identical amount - 13.6%.  We are now also slowly getting a bit more disciplined with internet sites to further our Spanish speaking ability - Jean is more diligent than Jim!! Jean has a daily session on Duolingo, which is certainly helping. 

And finally, some geopolitical comments, which are unavoidable in this world of rapidly increasing madness:

** Firstly, we have to say with much disappointment, that we are very concerned at the direction that the Trump Administration in the US has taken. There seemed to be some promise that they could reverse the disastrous course of the US in recent years, both financially with the Federal debt now over 38 TRILLION US dollars and with geopolitical events having been handled so incompetently. But not so it seems. Both of these situations have the potential for very serious ramifications for all of us, and they are rapidly getting worse. More belligerent and ignorant incompetence.

We have come to realise that the only thing which can save the world from belligerent US foreign policy is the inevitable financial crash in the US, which is coming. We can only hope that it comes in time. Many commentators whose opinions we respect and agree with are all saying the same thing. The last person who we have heard to express similar opinions was Warren Buffet - 95 years old and having invested in the US for the last 70 of those years. You cannot ignore that degree of experience and wisdom. 

** Ukraine - we have talked about this disaster before. The Russian Federation was forced into the invasion in February 2022 by continual provocations by the US (CIA) and NATO (CIA and MI6). The original NATO aim was twofold - to force regime change in Russia and also the dismemberment of the Russian Federation into smaller compliant states. Both objectives have failed spectacularly and have blown up in NATO's and the US's faces with Russia now certain to retake the originally Russian port city of Odessa (founded by Catherine the Great in the 1700's), and to complete their line of advance to the Dnieper River. What is left of Ukraine will then deservedly become a landlocked rump state.

Mention should also be made of the British who are heavily involved behind the scenes with MI6 stirring up as much trouble as they can in Ukraine and in central Asia with all the countries around the Caspian Sea just north of Iran. The British created the Palestinian Mandate in 1917 by drawing straight lines on a map which has caused endless problems ever since. They have always had a fixation with "containing" Russia; just remember the battle of the Crimea in 1853 with the "Charge of the Light Brigade". How did that go?!! And now they still have delusions of empire, but Russia is a very different animal compared to the 1850's as the lunatics in Whitehall are finding out to their cost.

Russia will not accept any peace settlement until ALL of the above territorial requirements are achieved and Ukraine de-Nazified with a cast-iron undertaking to NEVER be part of NATO. All completely reasonable and in line with their insistence on total security for their southern border. 

And all very similar to US demands over Soviet Russian missiles in Cuba in 1962. Russian demands over Ukraine (which unlike Cuba, has a contiguous land border with Russia) should and must be respected.

The Russian victory in Ukraine will in any case cause NATO to be disbanded (which should have happened when the old Soviet Union collapsed in 1991) and in all probability the EU itself will also not survive the Ukraine debacle and defeat.

Many European economies are now in free-fall and their globalist governments won't last much longer. In spite of directions from the US and the EU in Brussels, they will be re-organising to buy much cheaper oil and gas from Russia in an effort to re-ignite their industries. Germany in particular has been very hard-hit by the forced lack of energy caused by the US blowing up the Nordstream pipeline which ran from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. Possibly it can be repaired - but who would pay?!!

And finally - we must all be VERY thankful that President Putin is the President of the Russian Federation.

Putin has consistently shown great restraint in the face of outrageous provocation. The lunatics in the US, Britain, France and Germany have been lobbing medium-range missiles into the Russian heartland with gay abandon ever since the war began. Russia has so far not retaliated in any serious way, but that will change soon, unless these deranged "leaders" change their ways. Otto von Bismarck (the unifier of Germany in the 19th. century) once famously said - "it is easy to let the Russian bear out of its cage, but it is difficult to put it back in"!!

Russia and China have hypersonic missiles which can hit their targets at upwards of 9,000 mph. The kinetic energy thus released is said to easily exceed that of a small yield nuclear device, but without the fallout. They cannot be detected, much less intercepted. The US has NOTHING anywhere near comparable.

** Israel and the Middle East - Israel is a rogue genocidal state and unbelievably has in the vicinity of 300 nuclear weapons. No wonder Iran wants (needs) to create their own nuclear deterrent in the face of such unpredictable and determined aggression. 

Israel has become a pariah state with its systematic murder of the Palestinians - mainly in Gaza, but also on the West Bank. A common and horrific practice is to lure starving women and their children to "food distribution centres" where they are then executed. And of course the continual and on-going bombing of Gaza has killed a further untold number. Unofficial estimates vary, but are upwards of 200,000 and the world DOES NOTHING. At least Colombia had some guts and kicked the entire Israeli embassy out of Bogota. 

The real worry is that Israel knows that they cannot sustain any conventional military action against Iran without the guaranteed support of the US, which in itself is in serious military decline, compared with Russia and China. Therefore, once desperation sets in, they could well resort to nuclear weapons. 

However, the US remains 100% willing (although that willingness is now declining) to do Israel's bidding, but it is becoming increasingly clear that blackmail is being used against President Trump, and possibly others in his Administration. The source of this blackmail is what has become known as the Epstein Files, which were used by Israel and the Mossaad to effectively set prominent people up and then use sexual blackmail in order to further their control of the US Government. No further comment should be necessary if you follow the true (and not the so-called mainstream) news. If you don't, we can't help you!!!!

The fact that world geopolitical events, with potentially horrendous consequences, should be affected by such sordid details, is the real concern. 

The publication of the Epstein Files has been blocked by Trump ever since he took office, in spite of promising to do the opposite during his election campaign. Wonder why he has taken this stance?? Surely he can't be compromised?!!!

** And Venezuela - our neighbour here in Colombia. Trump has definitely lost the plot with a heavy cruiser, 2 amphibious landing ships with 4,500 Marines on board, 5 destroyers, a nuclear submarine and now a complete aircraft carrier strike group being transferred from the Middle East - no doubt to avoid the carrier being sunk by a Russian hypersonic Oreznik missile!! And they are all floating around off the Venezuelan coast - to achieve what exactly??? And Russian missiles are now also in Venezuela! 

Venezuela is a country slightly bigger than France and Germany combined and so, if Trump is contemplating an invasion, he needs to rethink. If they attempt it with just 4,500 Marines, it would be a guaranteed bloodbath. Venezuela has just mobilised between 200,000 and 300,000 troops - depending on whose report you read. The excuse for any military action against Venezuela is drug smuggling, but the real reason, apart from Venezuela's mineral resources, which they plan to steal, is to maintain declining US hegemony over all of S America. This is completely delusional and as usual, all that the US is doing is to bolster complete lack of trust in themselves -  already well under way, after domination of the Western Hemisphere since the 1820's. US influence in this part of the world is rapidly coming to an end, as it is in many other areas of the world. And the rise of BRICS, which offers an alternative method of international trade and international trade settlements in currencies other than the US dollar, is hastening this decline of US international hegemony.

And it must be said, with all these seemingly non-connected conflicts, that they are actually very much connected, because they all constitute, or have evolved into, an overall conflict between the old globalist world order (mainly the US, some British Commonwealth countries and Western Europe) and those countries represented by the BRICS movement. The latter is characterised by fairness and free trade, whereas the former is dominating, threatening and demanding. Unsurprisingly therefore, an increasing number of countries are choosing BRICS, whose total GDP is increasing at 3 times the rate of the G7 countries. And the BRICS countries - led by the Russian Federation and China - now constitute approximately 50% of the world's population - and that percentage is also growing.

So the (mainly economic) conflict between Globalism and BRICS is not going to end any time soon. We must just hope that as the scales tip more and more in favour of BRICS, the Globalists do not resort to extreme military measures as their desperation grows. We don't have to define "extreme military measures".

 And on that happy note this well overdue blog must come to an end. We hope that everyone is well and looking forward to a Happy Christmas. We hope that 2026 treats you well.

With all best wishes and lotsaluv from us in El Retiro, Colombia,

Jim and Jean

Phs. (Whatsapp) - Jean +57 4184948798 and Jim +57 3103069697

ANDREW WILLIAM EASTON 1948 - 2025

Hi to everyone,

This has to be a very sad blog to all our family and friends.

Andy Easton, who we met in 2021 when we moved to El Retiro here in Colombia, passed away in his sleep on July 3rd. He was a fellow New Zealander and renowned world authority on orchids. He had been growing orchids since he was 11 in 1959 in Hastings, New Zealand. 

He had become a great friend and we were in constant contact. Our custom was to have breakfast together most Sunday mornings and these culinary events often lasted 3 to 4 hours wherein we discussed every subject under the sun, including reminiscences of our earlier lives in New Zealand. Andy's passing will leave a huge hole in our lives.

It turned out that Andy had visited Rarotonga, Cook Islands in his youth on more than one occasion, almost coinciding with Jim's first visit in 1967 as part of the crew of HMNZS Endeavour when we took NZ's new decimal currency up there, and then Jim's later 6 month stay there in 1968 working for his family's trading company. The odds of finding 2 New Zealanders living in El Retiro, Colombia in 2021, who had both visited Rarotonga in the late 1960's, and stayed at the ONLY accommodation in those days - the Banana Court - a NZ Govt. owned boarding house full of eccentric expats - must be about a million to one!!

Andy was also a great traveller as part of his orchid business and earlier this year had visited Turkey, Holland, the USA and China. He also visited Santa Barbara, California, USA on a regular basis. From our earlier experience flying Turkish Airlines when we still had our yacht in Malaysia, we had introduced the idea of Turkish to Andy and he became a great fan.  

Another connection we discovered was that when Andy was growing up in Hastings, his family were near neighbours of Charlie Slater and his wife. Mr. Slater had been the owner of C.H. Slater Ltd., which was a wholesale fruit and vegetable auctioneering business in Hastings and Napier. Jim's family business in Auckland had bought C.H. Slater Ltd. back in the 50's and never changed the name. Andy told us that Mrs. Slater was an expert concert pianist and it wasn't uncommon on a summer evening to hear the strains of Beethoven and that of many others floating on the breeze.

It should be noted here that Andy was an accomplished singer taking part in many events in his younger days. He even competed several times in the Mobil Song Quest - once in the finals against Kiri te Kanawa. Guess who won!! 

And he was asked at one time to stand for election in the Hastings seat for Parliament. Luckily for the orchid world he declined!

As regards the biographical details of Andy's life, we found an excellent article on the Tauranga Orchid Society's website, and so we are taking the liberty of quoting it verbatim here - 

"A LIFE IN ORCHIDS: ANDY EASTON, 1948 - 2025

Many thanks to Andy Easton, who has been a very patient interviewee by email, and Nancie Bonham, for permission to quote from 'A History of Orchid Growers in NZ'. 

Update: Andy passed peacefully in his sleep in El Retiro, Colombia on July 3rd. 2025 and was discovered by his driver in the morning.

Andy was a man of robust and fearless opinions, but also a leading hybridiser and generous by nature. He is survived by his widow, Patricia, and adult children in North America. Just last month he had travelled to the US to attend a family event, and was posting on his NHO (New Horizon Orchids) forum the day before his death. Patricia lives in Bogota looking after her elderly parents and she and Andy had travelled extensively together earlier this  year.

Andy Easton, a well-known name to many older members of the New Zealand orchid world, has lived a life in orchids that few could rival. 

Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Andy recalls being given his first orchid in 1958 at the age of 10 - a flowering spike that had been knocked off a plant. He took it home and he and his mother marvelled at the stem's longevity in a vase. He was already growing Cyclamen in a small greenhouse and selling them to local florists, as well as growing chrysanthemums and breeding poultry!

In 1959 Andy obtained some Cattleya flowers for his display at the Hastings Horticultural Society autumn show from local pharmacist, Noel Wilson (foundation president of the Hawkes Bay Orchid Society in 1970) and it was Noel and his wife, who also grew orchids, who introduced Andy to what has become his life's passion.

In 1961, while staying with relatives in Wellington, Andy met Norm Porter, who had the local agency for UK nursery, Mansell and Hatcher (operated 1890's - 2006) and was selling community pots of their Cymbidium seedlings. Andy invested some of his strawberry picking money into the plants.

His relatives also took him to the races at Trentham and - aged 13 - Andy won 1,000 pounds! The following week he went to a flower show in Lower Hutt seeing plants that were new to him, and was introduced to Herbie Poole, who had a nursery accessible by public transport. Andy visited Herbie and spent some of his winnings on Laelias, Masdevallias, Cattleyas, Cymbidiums and Paphiopedilums. Andy's father was aghast when the boy arrived home by the railcar with boxes of what he knew to be expensive orchids, fearing his son had stolen them! It took a phone call to Wellington to clear up the matter.

Andy now needed somewhere to house his precious cargo and later that year two friends of the family - florists - announced their retirement and that Andy could have their greenhouse. The balance of his winnings was spent on moving the greenhouse - 28 x 15 feet (8.6M x 5M) - which was full in a year! The florists, May Hopcroft and Elsie Mitchell, have both had Andy Easton - bred Cymbidiums named for them.

By 1970 Hawkes Bay was quite an orchid growing centre, thanks to South Pacific Orchids, started by Bruce Lindeman and where Russell Hutton began his commercial orchid career. The business imported flasks from Santa Barbara Orchid Estate (US) and Armstrong and Brown (UK) and also grew Cymbidiums for the cut flower market.

Andy graduated with a BSc. in Botany from Victoria University in 1969 and decided to do postgraduate work in the United States. The Colorado Flower Growers Association covered his tuition fees and made a living expenses grant of about USD 270  a month in return for study at Colorado State University on carnation diseases (he found time for some orchid research too).

In 1972 Andy graduated with an MS in Botany and Plant Pathology and returned to NZ with his American wife Carol, but lasted only 6 months at Lincoln before returning to the US and joining Chase Gardens in Eugene, Oregon where he managed 80 staff and 60 greenhouses. The business primarily grew roses, but also had about 4 acres (1.6ha) of Cattleya and Cymbidium orchids.

Andy attended his first Santa Barbara Orchid Show in 1973 (and hasn't missed one since, although the 2020 show was cancelled at the last minute, he was there) and took the opportunity to visit and buy from the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, which at the time offered the world's most complete collection of awarded and breeding Cymbidiums.

During the 5 years at Chase, Andy completed the American Orchid Society judging course, which included compulsory attendance at monthly meetings in Seattle - a round trip of 885 kms!!

In 1978 he leased 1,486 sq. metres of greenhouse in Santa Barbara to establish his own business (Featherhill Exotic Plants) but the next year moved to California where he worked as general manager for Dos Pueblos and ran his own business at the weekends.

In 1985 Andy and Carol returned to New Zealand, this time to Rotorua, and by 1986 all his collection was at Tikitere on the outskirts of Rotorua - 17,000 plants quarantined on site and hundreds of flasks sent to Norm Porter for growing on, ready for the opening of Geyserland Orchids.

Andy helped organise the World Orchid Conference in Auckland in 1990, served as president of the Orchid Council of New Zealand (OCNZ) and funded both the Ken Blackman Award and the John Easton Award, named for his father and given to an outstanding contribution to the culture of orchids in New Zealand.   

In 1993 he received a Plant Raisers Award (and a silver medal) from the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture with the two plants selected being Cymbidium Tracey Reddaway "Geyserland" and Cymbidium Geysergold.

Sadly Carol passed away soon after their move to Rotorua and Andy's second marriage ended in a divorce which saw him leave these shores permanently in 2000, heading back to the US. He met his third wife, Patricia in Medellin, Colombia and they have now been married for almost 20 years.

Andy was the education director of the American Orchid Society from mid 2000 until late 2004 when he returned to commercial orchid growing - plus finding time to complete an MBA in California, graduating in 2015. His company, New Horizon Orchids, was until 2018 based in Salinas, California where he says the climate approximated more closely to European, Australian and upland Japanese orchid growing regions than anywhere else. 

However, being married to Patricia exposed Andy to Colombia and Colombian orchids and he began to seriously consider a permanent move there.

The greenhouse where he rented space in Salinas sold to (legal) cannabis growers in 2016 "so I saw some urgency in making the decision" he says. "I had plants at a friend's nursery in Santa Barbara while we were still living in Salinas so it was a weekly long day trip to attend my plants with extended stays for summer potting and also to attend the Santa Barbara show.

But from 2016 the die was cast and we gradually moved essential stock to Colombia shipment by shipment with many flasks also travelling from the laboratory we use in Thailand".

Andy now lives in El Retiro near Medellin in Colombia, where he's still busy growing, hybridising and attempting to learn Spanish. He is now officially a Colombian resident but also retains his US citizenship.

New Horizon provides hobbyist and commercial Cymbidiums to Guest Orchids in South Australia and Leaf and Limb Orchids in Queensland. Flasks are also supplied to Plantae Orchids in South Africa, Sorella Orchids in the US and Ruiter Orchids in The Netherlands. "Floricultura, the largest orchid company in the world, continues as our largest and longest - term commercial customer".

Andy has developed a new line of temperature tolerant Cymbidiums, "road testing" them in Florida. "These plants will fill a huge gap in the Cymbidium varietal selection", he says. "These plants will perform in lowland Japan, China, Central America and other subtropical regions".

New Horizon also produces Odontoglossum Alliance pot plants and they are becoming more popular again after two decades of inertia. "Colombia is home to many Odont species so the hybrids grow exceptionally well here and we have the finest forms of this species to work with too. We are even developing warmth tolerant types of these".

Andy says the orchid world has changed dramatically since he left New Zealand in 2000, particularly at the hobby level. "in 2000 the American Orchid Society had 30,000 members. Today it struggles to hold at 10,000. Millenials seem to have little interest in orchid growing as a hobby. I sell a few flasks to a friend in New Zealand as a courtesy but it's not commercially viable. The hobby situation in Australia is similar, except that they do have a buoyant blooming orchid market.

New Zealand's commercial orchid export sector never recovered from the 2009 Oberon spray disaster and what had been a lucrative business, shrank to a trickle. At the same time commercial growers in the southern hemisphere lost their "off-season" advantage to growers in The Netherlands improving their culture and breeding plants that now see Cymbidiums in flower from mid-August until the end of June. 

Andy works with a large Colombian Cymbidium operation that exports to the US 12 months of the year. "There are no seasons here on the Equator so Cymbidiums will bloom any time they make a growth".

New Horizon is, he says "by far" leading the field in producing warmth tolerant Cymbidiums. "it's maybe 60% of what we hybridise and some of these warmth tolerant varieties are making the grade as cut flowers. Almost 100% are sold under trade names (no RHS registration). Because we are unable to have any practicable worldwide protection for our intellectual property, we resort to trade names, specific variety sales to individual clients, etc. Let me say we work much harder for every dollar now than in 2000!" 

As an example, Andy says that although potted blooming orchids are increasing steadily in sales, a grower's return is between 10c. and 25c. (US) per plant. "It takes hundreds of thousands of units to make any decent money. Fortunately, it's not work to me. I bounce out of here Monday wondering what has opened on Sunday and leave the greenhouse Saturday afternoon reluctantly".

"My hope is that I can be working in a greenhouse until the day I die. My funeral is already arranged and paid for which, upon reflection, is a strangely liberating thought. The longer I live the poorer the deal is for the service provider, so if I should make it to 85, I will be getting a deal anyone with Scottish ancestry should be proud of!"

The on-line New Horizons Orchid Forum is a site for erudite (and robust) conversation about all things orchids. "As you have likely figured out, I try to always be truthful and I'm quite fearless about saying what I believe to be accurate".

Andy Easton-bred orchids include Cymbidiums: Last Tango "Geyserland"; Cali Night "Geyserland" HCC/AOS; Majeed Khadaroo; John McCormack; Devon Elf "New Horizon" 4n; Kirby Lesh; Magic Devon; Candy King; Phar Lap; Mem. Amelia Earhart; Falling Passion; George Formby and Gateway to Gold. Plus Odcdm Tiger Brew and Cattleya Ned Nash."

At this point we should make mention of Daniela Bonett who runs 2 businesses in town and who originally introduced us to Andy back in 2021. Daniela is Venezuelan and speaks excellent English. She recognised our Kiwi accents and immediately made the connection. Daniela had also done office and translation work for Andy and is a good friend of us all.

And there is Larry, another Venezuelan who is a tech wizz kid, and who had done work for Andy (and us) from time to time.

Andy was an unforgettable personality and we will never forget the wonderful and entertaining times we spent with him.

Of late however, we had been becoming increasingly concerned at a walking disability he unfortunately had suffered as a result of a fall he had had at the greenhouse. This made simply getting around a much greater effort than it should normally be, but he always had a cheerful face and made light of his disability.

Although you were with us for only a short time in our lives, we will never forget you, Andy. Rest in Peace. 

From your forever friends - Jim and Jean in El Retiro, Colombia

Phone: +57 310 3069697

Email: tiare.taporo3@gmail.com

Website: tiaretaporo3@blogspot.com

 

 

FELIZ NAVIDAD PROSPERO ANO Y FELICIDAD

Hola a todos nuestros amigos y familiares,

It is that time of year again - the years roll by with ever increasing speed. Our last blog was in May so high time for another!

Nothing much has changed in the last 6 months. We remain feeling very lucky to be living in such a land of plenty - and at such a reasonable cost of living. There doesn't seem to be any sign of a recession here. There are many individual street front shops and many people out and about walking the streets. When going to the old town (only about a 20 minute walk from our house), we usually walk for the exercise, because driving in such narrow streets with very limited parking is problematic. Different if we are going to Llanogrande where there are two large supermarkets, or Rio Negro (30 kms away) where there is a large shopping mall with the local equivalent of Mitre 10 or Bunnings - the name is Homecentre. In all those cases there is underground parking. In Llanogrande there is also an icecream shop selling yoghurt icecream. Absolutely delicious and you can have two toppings from a choice of at least 20, We are becoming more and more like locals (Paisas) every day! 

Our car, a 1993 W124 E320, had continued to be a little concern, so we went to the local MB agent, Alemautos in Llanogrande, who we knew had a policy of not servicing or repairing any Mercedes older than 10 years. This is a policy which we find abhorrent and hypocritical as MB always tout the long-term reliability of their cars, but when it comes to the crunch, they don't want to know. Probably mainly because these days no-one knows how to diagnose ANY car unless you can plug it in to a computer.

Friends here had recommended us to a workshop in Llanogrande and we had a few things done there and for once they were always helpful and diligent. This particular place specialised in older classic cars and among others they had a 1931 Chevrolet Tourer and a 1957 Ford Thunderbird as well as a very ancient Overland - the forerunner of Willys. There was even a Ford Prefect, which those of us of a certain age probably remember in NZ!! 

However, they didn't have the knowledge to correctly diagnose a problem we had with incorrect idling and controlling the correct fuel/air mixture. The offending part was the throttle body. Hence the visit to Alemautos was helpful as they put us in touch with a guy who lived in a nearby town, La Ceja. He has a 1970's W123 200 (4 cylinders) and he in turn recommended us to Jose Luis in Itagui. This is a light industrial urban area just south of Envigado (Medellin) where we used to live. So, as we were reluctant to drive down there (although we had been using the car around here), we organised a tow truck (grua) and delivered the car to Jose Luis. He is the guru for all those strange types who enjoy owning and driving these wonderful old vehicles. He himself has a 1987 W126 500SEL (V8) which gave Jim some confidence as the last MB in NZ had been a 1987 W126 420SEC. Jose Luis organised for the throttle body to be sent away to a specialist shop in Medellin to have the wiring and mechanicals rebuilt. He also diagnosed that the entire engine wiring system needed replacing as MB in those years (90's) installed biodegradable wiring in the mistaken belief that they were assisting the environment! We could have obtained a complete wiring loom from Germany, but Jose Luis assured us that he could rebuild the electrics on-site - and cheaper! This he did for 2.2 million pesos which is the equivalent of NZD 860 - half the German price. The car was also overdue for a service so that was all done and now the old girl is as good as new. The secret here is to find someone with the knowledge of these cars - it has taken us almost 2 years, but now we feel we are on top of things. We also have a spare throttle body and a spare Engine Control Module which we plan to have repaired/rebuilt also in Medellin. Then we will have workable spares.

Over the last 2 years the car has certainly cost us to get all the issues sorted, but it is still a "cheap" car! Original cost two and a half years ago 26,000,000 Pesos (USD5,900) - NZD10,400. Not sure what we've spent since, but certainly not that much and these cars are appreciating in value as more and more people realise their build quality and value compared with anything more modern.   

The other issue re the car and driving was to renew Jim's driver's licence. The original had been issued in Medellin in November 2019. As it was expiring this year, 5 years on, it needed renewing. There was a place in Llanogrande where this process could be initiated. There they conducted various physical tests - hearing, sight, heart, blood pressure and a psychological test! The old boy passed all with flying colours, but then there was a problem. Our previous car, which had been sold in 2021, had a fine attached to it for breaching Pico y Placa in 2022. This should have been the liability of the new owner, but the RUNT (Registro Unico Nacional de Transito) had been tardy in registering the change of ownership. This meant that the RUNT wouldn't issue the new licence until the outstanding fine had been paid - plus interest! 

One of the problems with Colombia is getting ANYONE to accept responsibility for any error or oversight, and so it was in this case. There was no option but for us to pay the 560,000 pesos (NZD 220), but it had to be paid in Medellin! However, we found a guy who could do this for us which meant at least that we didn't have to go there for this nonsensical reason. Then the RUNT computer system went down for a couple of days which meant they couldn't issue the actual licence anyway!!! However, that was fixed and now Jim is the holder of  a new licence which expires in October 2028 when he will have been 80 years old for about 9 months! At that stage the requirement is for renewal every 12 months until one either expires altogether, or decides to discontinue driving, or fails the test.

As a footnote, Jim's NZ licence has been expired now for 3 years, so that won't be renewed. 

We had some sad news a couple of months ago. Des Kearns, an Australian who with his Thai wife ran a boat yard at Krabi Boat Lagoon in Thailand, had passed away according to a Serbian friend of Jean's (Maja) who we had met when we were in Krabi at the marina. Des as a young man  of 19 in 1964, had sailed from NZ to Rarotonga on A.B. Donald's old original schooner, "Tiare Taporo". That was just after Jim's family had sold her after 50 years of ownership. So, when Jim had been researching places to get some maintenance done, he emailed Des on this email address and Des's comment when we subsequently met him was that the email address just "jumped off the page at him"!! That was the start of a great relationship, in spite of some engineering issues that we had at one stage. While we were in Chennai, India getting 2 replacement hips for Jean in 2014, Des's yard at our instigation raised the floor of our teak cockpit and used some surplus teak that had come from "Cariad", a very large ketch (over 100 feet) that had been built in Southampton, U.K. in 1896 that Des and the yard had been instrumental in restoring a few years earlier. We felt very honoured to have had some of that ancient and historic teak.

After his "Tiare Taporo" experience, Des had gone on to sail on some very famous yachts, including "Ondine II" which won the Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race in 1968 - with Des on board! He was also a Cape Horner, having sailed around Cape Horn a few years earlier and also sailed on another famous old schooner, "Bluenose II" from the Caribbean to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He later obtained his foreign-going Master Mariner ticket and at one stage commanded the then largest ship in the world, an Arctic oil-drilling ship. His life was a fascinating story of the sea. Later in life he had settled on Langkawi, Malaysia conducting a marine insurance business. He had moved to Thailand by the time we met him and was married to Ked who ran the office of the business. We won't forget Des. 

Our health remains in reasonably good shape. Jean has had issues with tendons and connective tissues but has now found a natural health massage therapist who practises at La Fe - only about a 10 minute drive from here. She comes up here from Calli once a month and Jean (who is hard to please!) is pleased with her. They manage the language issue with extensive use of Google Translate on her phone!

We are still members of Hacienda Fizebad (just past La Fe) and Jim swims there in their heated pool. He's been having roughly 6 monthly blood tests and for the past year now the HbA1c results have been very encouraging as they have been consistently in the "posible presencia de Diabetes" range. So, it's been possible to reduce the medication to a very low level with the goal of eliminating it altogether. Another area of concern in the last 12 months has been a very underactive Thyroid (TSH). We have been treating that with daily Iodine (Yodo) drops and the results have improved markedly, although still not completely within the "Valores de Referencia". Hopefully in the next 6 months........ We order the Yodo from Medellin, pay for it on-line and then it gets delivered here within a week! Nothing happens quickly here in Colombia! 

Other than that, when the car has been in the workshop, walking is the order of the day and we've even been known to walk about a mile to the La Dulce Compagna cafe on a Sunday morning for breakfast with Andy, our fellow NZ'er orchid breeding friend. There is a small supermarket, a fruit and veg shop and various health shops all within easy walking distance. Our Venezuelan friend, Daniela, who has a coffee kiosk close to us here, has also recently opened a shop selling health foods just up towards the old town. She has made a great job of setting the shop up and we buy some of our requirements from her, including goat's milk yoghurt and organic chicken breasts or thighs. And organic eggs. Daniela had originally introduced us to Andy back in 2021 when she recognised an accent similarity!! Daniela speaks excellent English and obtained a business degree from a university in Caracas, before things became untenable in Venezuela. All her immediate family are here, including her early 90's grandmother! We have met Granny, a wonderful redoutable old lady.

Andy is flat out most of the time with his orchid breeding business, and supplying his many customers around the world. He hosted us at 2 orchid shows this year as part of the annual Medellin Flower Show. A fascinating day, especially as the explanations were from a world expert!

Jean went to Miami in October for Carter's 10th. birthday - a landmark event. She had great fun with the nietos, but on the last day slipped while playing futball with the young lads and hurt her already bad knee, so much that they had to order a wheelchair for the flight the next day. But in typical fashion, she was able to walk off the plane with the man pushing the wheelchair behind her!! 

As another footnote, 11 years ago we were sailing on "Tiare Taporo III" one night in the Java Sea heading towards northern Indonesia and Singapore when we received a Sailmail from Perry advising of Carter's entry into this world in NZ.. Jean was then a Granny!! A notable event.

As said, we really enjoy living here with everything at hand. Even if we eventually cannot drive, we can walk short distances and catch the El Retiro-Rio Negro bus anywhere we want to go. The buses stop on demand. When the old German chariot has been in the workshop we have become very adept at utilising the local buses.

There is a carniseria at the local Cantaleta shopping centre and we often buy oxtails - 3 or 4 at a time. They average around 30,000 pesos each (NZD 12). We also get whole filet steaks which we used to call Cube Rolls in NZ. Here they are known as Solomito - about 100,000 pesos each (NZD 40) and we chop them up at home - probably 5 or 6 meals out of one.

Our country club, Hacienda Fizebad, is still going but we believe they had struck some financial problems. There was remedial work being done to the sauna, hot tub and massage area but that stalled for lack of money to finish, but now it appears that they have sold an area of land at the back near where the horse stables are. That would have given the club a financial boost - we just hope that any development is not high rise as that would detrimentally affect the whole ambience.  

On that note, everywhere you look on the approach roads to El Retiro, there are residential apartment developments and including up the hill behind Retiro where there is a very large development called Argentina - almost a town in its own right. The worry is that with all these developments, the local infrastructure will not cope. Traffic and roads (already getting quite congested at times), water supply (Medellin draws much of its water from up here) and when local demand grows, that could impact the city. We have reticulated natural gas in the town, but Colombia is already importing a quantity of gas, so not sure what the long-term future holds. An offshore gas field just 12 miles off the Caribbean coast has been recently discovered, but that will take 3-4 years to bring on-line. And electricity - it's OK for now with a very large hydro scheme now fully operating not too far away, but worryingly we see more electric cars on the road, and apart from getting nervous if they park next to us with the attendant fire risk, if there are too many the grid will simply not cope. This is true of many countries of course.

We have a non-flued gas heater which we turn on when some nights get a bit chilly (it's technically "winter" here now) and it does a great job of heating the house. Only problem is that these houses were built with NO insulation in the roof and so the heat is quickly lost, but with any luck we are tucked up in bed by then! But really, here at 7,000 feet, there is very little seasonality. We are only 6 degrees north of the Equator.

Just to give you an idea of energy costs - we received our latest monthly energy bill the other day. The total has gone up a bit and was COP 646,948 (NZD 259). That's for a month and covers water, waste water, gas and electricity. 

The weather has been variable - some prolonged dry periods along with some very wet days just to balance things out. We've even had a couple of hail storms which haven't done our Anthurium lilies much good but they are coming along well again. They are native to Ecuador and SW Colombia. Andy gave us some orchids some months ago now and one so far has flowered - twice. So, maybe sometime in the next 100 years, we may become accomplished orchid growers!!

Again on the subject of family, Jim's eldest daughter Amanda, who is now 53, and who is a very busy midwife in Auckland, announced that she and her long-time boyfriend, Dave, are planning a S American trip in early February next year. They will only be with us for 8 days and we haven't seen each other for 5 years, but of necessity their total time is limited and they do want to see a few other places in S America while they are here. They fly direct from Auckland into Santiago, Chile with LATAM, and will also have a quick trip to Valparaiso (the port for Santiago), then Bogota for a couple of days, then here when we will also go to Medellin, and then they have a flying visit to the Colombian Caribbean coast. Then on the way back they go to Lima in Peru and to a resort on the Amazon somewhere before heading home via Santiago. We are very much looking forward to the visit - the first of any family member since we moved permanently to Colombia 7 years ago.

Now we must comment on the geopolitics of this world, which as things are going, have a very good chance of snuffing out all life on this planet. We must just hope that there are some sane heads in Washington who will stymie any further efforts on  the part of the criminal Democrats to create any more booby traps for the incoming Trump Administration.

The fact that the current Democrat Administration is prepared to risk all of our lives with nuclear war just for vindictive revenge for Trump winning the election by a landslide, is just appalling. What can you say - there are no words to sufficiently convey the absolute horror of this situation.

Hardly anyone seems to realise it, but we are all VERY FORTUNATE that President Putin has conducted such a restrained military "special operation" in Ukraine, while the US has authorised Ukraine to lob US Atacam and British Storm Shadow missiles 200 miles into Russia every so often. Russia has now developed the Oreznik missile which is hypersonic and can travel at up to Mach 9 (7,000 mph) which means it cannot be detected, much less intercepted.

Washington still seems to think that Russia is inferior in military strength; 2 years of Russian dominance in Ukraine (and now absolute victory) should persuade otherwise, but unfortunately there is a severe lack of intellect in the White House. They will learn. As long as we don't have to learn the hard way with them?

And apart from Ukraine, the whole of the Middle East is on fire thanks to the crooked inept Biden administration. There was a plan a few years ago hatched by Israel with US (CIA) support, to start wars of destabilisation in 7 Middle East countries -  Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and Iran. Now, 6 of these countries are in turmoil thanks to the at least partial success of this plan. Iran remains the last country to be attacked and P.M. Netanyahu of Israel is now just itching to attack Iran, as he is flush with success with CIA instigated recent events totally destabilising Syria. In the process Israel will drag the US into the war with Iran, as Israel cannot prolong an Iranian war on its own, and so would request a rescue by the US. Such a war would be damaging enough, but would also mean that Russia and probably China would also become involved. Then all bets are off. And there is also the spectre of Turkish forces on the northern Syrian border poised to attack the Kurds, with whom they have been enemies for centuries. The US had guaranteed the Kurds' safety, but will now abandon them to their fate from Turkey. Interestingly, Turkey and Israel appear to be allies for now in suppressing Syria from the north and south, but in fact they are implacable enemies and Turkey would like nothing more than to march into Jerusalem to "liberate" Israel for the Moslems. And a further perhaps unintended consequence of US (CIA) meddling - the "rebels" that were aided by the US in taking Damascus are in fact a product of the same terrorists that caused the 9/11 attacks in New York. The hypocrisy of the US is mind boggling. 

There is a lot more that needs to be learnt about this troubled part of the world; suffice it to say that it is a cauldron rapidly coming to the boil with who knows what consequences. 

Let's just hope that these situations can remain at least somewhat stable until President Trump takes office on January 20th. because he has said his first priority is to stop these needless wars. The problem is that there are people in Washington right now who are for ideological reasons opposed to making peace and another reason is that they and most of the Houses of Congress are under the sway of  substantial political donations from the Military/Industrial Complex whose profit driven aim is simply to continue to keep any war going that they can.

Trump's task will be extraordinarily difficult because in ending these wars he is going against the Deep State and the strong financial donation link between Congress and the military - the Pentagon and also the State Dept. At least he has tentatively appointed some excellent people who will support him in these efforts - unlike in his first term when through lack of political experience, he appointed many of the wrong people.

We also feel concerned at Trump's readiness to threaten financial sanctions and tariffs - even now when the ability of the USD to be weaponised is waning under the threat from the BRICS nations who have already de-dollarised their international transactions. These USD threats do not carry the same weight that they once did and the Trump Administration should act with caution, otherwise the US dollar is likely to lose its World Reserve Currency status, as a result of more countries joining BRICS as they seek to avoid on-going USD hegemony. If that happens, the whole US economy would be in dire straits, given the current level of federal debt.  

The bottom line is that the US is no longer the dominant world economy and the BRICS countries are already making substantial inroads into tradicional markets. 

Having said all that, a Trump Presidency is a life saver for the world compared to the unthinkable Harris alternative.

On top of all that, the EU which has been struggling under the impossible odds of unfettered immigration of mainly young Moslem men, and extreme left-wing governments, is close to imploding. And with it will go the Euro. France's government has collapsed and Germany has called an emergency election for February where almost certainly the Socialists of Chancellor Schultz will be gone. The biggest problem will be deporting the illegals - unlike the US where they will just send them packing back across the Rio Grande. And Russia has announced that ALL gas supplies into Europe via Ukraine will be cut off - in the middle of winter. 

NZ remains a concern as they are struggling under an enormous debt load as the legacy of the completely destructive Ardern government. There have been 2 consecutive quarters now of falling GDP - the technical definition of an economic recession.

NZ may well need to join BRICS because we cannot imagine that China would continue to pay for Kiwifruit and milk powder, except in Yuan or a new BRICS currency. Same goes for Australia with minerals.

The NZ coalition government should also get rid of any on-going racially divisive legalities so that ALL NZer's are governed equally as one people. There will be NO substantive economic progress until all the racial bickering and receipt of taxpayer funds is fully dealt with and abolished.

And again let's hope that the recently begun 2nd inquiry into Covid and how it was mismanaged will come up with some conclusions and that individuals who acted entirely inappropriately can be held accountable. The main thing is to get the mRNA "vaccines" banned because there is on-going harm still coming to light and these mRNA "vaccines" have never been tested anywhere near properly. We get regular up-dates on the situation from NZ Doctors Speaking Out About Science - NZDSOS. It is frustratingly slow but things are happening - unlike the first "inquiry" which was intended solely as a whitewash. We owe the much better constituted second inquiry to NZ First who had insisted on this in the original coalition agreement. 

Hopefully there won't be a similar attempt to whitewash the inquiry in the same way that National appears to be willing to ignore ACT's Treaty Principles Bill in the vain hope that it will all go away.  

The UK and all of western Europe is in total financial and political chaos - from financially supporting the corrupt black hole the Ukraine has been from the outset and now their people and industry are going to suffer badly because of Russia pulling the plug on gas exports. This situation is exacerbated by the ridiculous green policies adopted in recent times. The only hope for the future is for the right wing political parties to gain sufficient ground that they succeed in upcoming elections which are not far away in most cases.

As regards future energy needs are concerned, particularly if the lunatic pursuit of electric cars continues, the required energy can only be produced by the use of clean burning fossil fuels and/or nuclear power from modern modular nuclear power stations. This comment applies to NZ also.

How's that for a controversial finish to a Christmas blog?! 

We hope that everyone has a very happy festive season and that the New Year is everything that you would wish for.

With lotsaluv and all best wishes from us in El Retiro, Colombia...........

Jim and Jean

 

P.S. This Jean standing in front of a publicity poster of Retiro.

President Trump's historic win

Hi to all,

We, along with millions of others, have received the news of Donald Trump's becoming the 47th. President-elect of the United States with great pleasure and a huge sense of relief. And along with Trump, comes a very competent younger team. This includes the Vice President elect, J.D. Vance, Tulsi Gabbard - a Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserve as well as having been a Democrat Congresswoman from Hawaii. She is now a member of the Republican Party. Then there is Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential contender, R.F. Kennedy Jnr., a son of R.F. Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968. He is an Independent and a crusader for public health, including the banning of mRNA vaccines which have not been adequately tested. And Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame.  

In addition the Republicans have increased their majority in the House as well as gaining an outright majority in the Senate. All of this will absolutely enable the Trump Administration to have a real prospect of dealing with America's ills that have been deliberately created by the criminal Democrat Administration - not to mention the CIA with at least 80 attempts at interference in other countries' affairs since 1944 and many times with catastrophic consequences.

These issues include illegal immigration and associated drug running along with child trafficking. The US has become the world's largest consumer of children for sex trafficking and underage labour. Right now, over 300,000 children are "missing". Hardly anything to be proud of.

Then there is the US Federal debt, now approaching 36 Trillion US dollars. The annual interest bill on this staggering amount is now over one trillion dollars per annum, and rising. That's more than the entire defense budget. It can never be repaid without a drastic overhaul of the US monetary system, but we have no idea what form that might take. If the US dollar was to lose its status as the World Reserve Currency, this debt level would no longer be sustainable and the American economy would implode with catastrophic world-wide results.

With the advent of BRICS as a direct result of 80 years of US weaponisation of the US dollar, there is a real chance that this scenario could come to pass. BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and there are many more countries either joined, or waiting to join. BRICS is an alternative method of circumventing the US dollar to facilitate international trade among members, together with offering an alternative method to SWIFT for international payments in currencies alternative to the US dollar. 

Russia has no love for the US with all the deception and the lies being told over many years by the US concerning all the Cold War years of hostile relations with Russia (formerly the USSR), and over the Ukraine question and NATO expansion on Russia's border. This is the direct reason that Russia finally invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukraine War is now without question emphatically won by Russia and negotiation is the only way forward after the slaughter that has occurred. And in their dying last gasp the criminal Democrats in Washington are not only trying to encourage NATO into more war with Russia (which they absolutely cannot win), but also promoting war with China in the western Pacific. There has even been talk of Australia and New Zealand being dragged into that proposed lunatic conflict. Let's hope that Trump is able to slap the Democrats down hard even before he is sworn in as President, because these scenarios must absolutely not be allowed to develop.

All of this war-mongering is giving huge impetus to the BRICS movement which, after their recent summit in Kazan, Russia, is growing perceptibly.

Tellingly, President Putin has refused to congratulate President Trump until he sees tangible evidence that Trump is true to his word to end the dangerous conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. We are sure that the congratulations will then be forthcoming!   

Trump's election seems like divine intervention in the affairs of the world and its human inhabitants. We are not religiously inclined, but we cannot shake the feeling. Anyway, the world has been saved - and not just by Trump's election. President Putin has always exercised great restraint in his invasion of Ukraine - no doubt to avoid too much antagonism with NATO and the US, and to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible.

However, unless Trump can continue to assure Putin of his good faith, we fear that things could escalate uncontrollably.

But for now we have hope..............

And finally - we have just listened to Leighton Smith's latest podcast number 264 which contains the best analysis that you are ever likely to hear of Trump's amazing and totally deserved win and the current state of America with justifiable hope for the future.

Cheers and lotsaluv from us in El Retiro, Colombia............

Jim and Jean