The Color Neighborhood

“The Color Neighborhood”  “Barrio Los Colores”

This story is told by Mr. José Manuel Rojas, the owner of the first house which was built in this neighborhood.  The color Neighborhood was created in two stages. The first stage had twenty two houses, which were built by COMFACOR. It did not have water, electricity or natural gas service. People from the neighborhood made up a reunion with the seventy five inhabitants who live there at that time to create The People’s Association of The Community. This community started   the proceedings to have all the public services. The second stage was built by INURBE, (National Institute of Affordable Housing). Two hundred forty houses were built for single mothers.

In 2012 the community was benefited by the construction of a mega-school which was named as the neighborhood. “Megacolegio Los Colores”. 

Today, the neighborhood has 870 inhabitants. One of main personalities of the neighborhood is Gustavo Manuel Ballesta, he is a recognized person for everybody in this place, due to his good manners, he is kind, collaborative and likes making adults and kids laugh.  

Information provided by José Manuel Rojas and Ángel Alberto Támara, residents of the neighborhood.

Urbina Neighborhood

Urbina Neighborhood has 840.000 inhabitants approximately. It is located in the western part of Montería city, it is surrounded by the neighborhoods of Pasatiempo, Seis de Marzo, Julia and Risaralda. The first inhabitant of this place was Mr. Luis Negrete who he built a house for his family in 1968.  At that time this land was part of several farms of cattle ranchers of the region, later in the year of 1972 JESUS GONZALES URBINA, an engineer started to built several houses and called the neighborhood Urbina.

One of the first houses of the neighborhood Urbina is the Pineda sisters’ house.

In 1988, the population of neighborhood grew, and it was known as a good neighborhood in Montería. At that time the neighborhood just had 4 streets and no more than 70 inhabited houses. One of the first families that has lived in Urbina for a long time is the Pineda Family. Mrs. Elvira Pineda and Martha Pineda are well known and respected people in the neighborhood. They have lived in their house for more than forty (40) years because their family owned a farm that occupied much of the neighborhood.

Mr. Luis Negrete’s house one of the oldest house in the neighborhood.

Famous People in Urbina Neighborhood:

1.         The Captain Olarte was an important person for the community.

2.         Lady Noriega, a recognized actress and singer who lived his childhood in the neighborhood Urbina, she returns during holiday periods to share with her family which is still living in Urbina Neighborhood.

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Today, the neighborhood Urbina have more than eight streets, all of them in excellent condition, it is stratified as four strata (4th), has an excellent drainage, a soccer field for the recreation of the young people. The community is very nice, friendly, they organize ecological brigades for the conservation and maintenance of the neighborhood, for this reason, it is always in excellent condition of cleaning.

The Information and photos was provided by Carlos Andres Robles Ruiz and Elvira Pineda, residents of the neighborhood.

2. Lady Noriega, an actress and singer from Montería. Photo taken from google images.

Montería

Montería city

Montería is the capital of the Department of Córdoba. It is also considered the most important cattle city in Colombia. Montería was founded on May 1^st, 1777 by Antonio de la Torre y Miranda who moved the city from the place called Monterías to the place where the city is located today. The first name of the city was San Jerónimo de Buenavista. Some years later the city is named San Jerónimo de Montería to remember the first place where the city was founded (Monterías means place where hunters meet to hunt.) 
But, the city has changed a lot from that time. Today natives and visitors can see a city that is developing so fast. People from Montería have to be so proud of the city they were born in.[1]

Montería Popular Festivals

The most important festival in Montería is the Cattle Festival which is celebrated in June every year. There are two beauty pageants in the Festival. The National Cattle Beauty Pageant, and The International Cattle Beauty Pageant.
It is an important festival for the region economy. People buy and sell agricultural and cattle products in this time and have a lot of fun because there are music concerts everywhere.
The National Cattle Beauty Pageant Corporation is an organization with Head office in Montería. It organizes and carries out this contest every year in June. This event started in 1961. It was organized by a group of cattle - dealer in that time. This event integrates the country through women’s beauty and gives honor or tribute to the principal Economy Product of Córdoba. 

First Avenue

There are several places in the city where tourists can have fun. Such as the first avenue or Ronda de Sinú Park, Los Planchones, Simon Bolivar Park, and The Sun Passage or Paseje del Sol.  

The First Avenue is so beautiful especially at Christmas time. The First Avenue is considered one of the most beautiful and biggest parks in South America. People from Monteria love this place because they can have a good time, learning and enjoying art at the Museo Zenú, eating an ice cream, doing exercises or just resting in a bench. It is located along the Sinú River. So, it has a great view. In this park you can enjoy nature, know, feed or play with intersting animals such as: squirrel, sloth, iguana, swallow, monkeys

When you visit Montería you should relax at the First Avenue and cross the Sinú River by Planchón: a Planchón is a city transportation to cross the Sinú River, people describe them  as an extension of each street, but they are also a way to control pollution because they do not have motors so they do not produce Co2. That’s why it is an ideal transportation system to prevent pollution in the city and one of the greatest tourist's attraction in Montería.

Another important place in the city is Simón Bolívar Park which is located in front of San Jerónimo Cathedral between 27th and 28th street.  On special occations people dance fandangos and make concerts there. This is a place to rest and meet friends and in Easter you can try all kind of typical food there.

The Sun Passage or Paseje del Sol is the party center in my home town. There are a lot of pubs, ice -cream shops, cafés and restaurants. When the nights come a lot of people go there to have fun.

[1] See: Córdoba Nuestra Tierra / compiladores  Ana Rosalba Ibarra Yepes… et al “Bogotá Grupo Editorial Norma 2007. 34p.

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The maps  which are showed in the photos 1, 2, 3, 4 are copies of the originals supplied by the AGUSTÍN CODAZZI INSTITUTE.

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