This Week: Learned Some Things. Went to a Tinga.

Venezula is more dangerous than Iraq right now. Both countries are about same size and same population, but Venezula had 16,000 murders last year, Iraq only 4500. Also, since 2007 there have been 43,800 murders in Venezuela, only 28,000 in Mexico during the same time. Homocide rate in the capital is 200 per 100,000; in the Colombian capital its 23 per 100,000. Oh and 90% of Ven. murders go unsolved. 


The fastest growing segment of the US public school population is English language learners, kids who don’t have a firm grasp of the English language. Theres about 5 million kids, born in US, who dont know much English. The numbers have almost doubled in public schools since the mid ‘90s. These students sit side by side with English-speaking classmates, but their test scores lag far behind. Bilingual teaching is a good option but currently illegal. Public schools can only teach in English. 


Spanish language academics from Spain admit that Colombia is the best country for pure Spanish, better than Spain and Mexico.


A Tinga:


I went to a Tinga (spelling likely wrong) the other day to buy groceries. It's a one day street market vendors set up and bring fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and tons of other stuff. There was also a section where they cook traditional dishes with all this great food. I was starving walking around all of this, so I ate some fried bananas with cream and syrup. It was sugary and savory, but I could only get down half. 


The cooked food section was packed with people shoulder to shoulder and grills right next to where you eat. Sanitation was probably really poor, but I ended up eating an unknown cheese filled taco. It was good and really spicy. There were many vendors yelling at you to buy their tacos, quesadillas, stuffed peppers, or cheesy whatevers stuffed meats, vegetables and salsa. I loved it, and after I was full, I got groceries:


Carrots $0.30/lb
Pomegranate $2.25/lb
Banana $1.00/lb
Apples $1.25/lb
Amarath/honey/nut mix $1/lb
watermelon $2/lb
Pineapple $2/lb
Bread $0.75/loaf
Avocado $1.25/lb
yogurt tub    $1.50