Pelican Yoga

As an Australian, I tend to associate sharp leaves, prickles, thorns, spikes (and “intrusive”, “sticky”, or irritating seeds) with arid or semi-arid country.

Colombia reminded me that “growing one’s own defensive weapons” (or “means of seed dispersal”) is a strategy also deployed in well-watered places.

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Aspects of Colombia (#21 in teaser series: yellow-striped poison dart frog)

Published August 4, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#21 in teaser series: yellow-striped poison dart frog)

Q: why am I so very sure that this post’s hero is a male?

A: because he is carrying “the kids” on his back!

Adult poison dart frogs lay their eggs in moist places, including on leaves, in plants, among exposed roots, and elsewhere. Once the eggs hatch, the adult piggybacks the tadpoles, one at a time, to suitable water: either a pool, or the water gathered in the throat of bromeliads or other plants

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Aspects of Colombia (#20 in teaser series: an abundance of epiphytes)

Published August 2, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#20 in teaser series: an abundance of epiphytes)

Epiphytes – whether plants or lichens – are not parasites; generally they pose no threat to their host’s well-being or survival.

Typically, epiphytes thrive in wet/humid places; they attach to the surfaces of trunks & branches, but only rely on them for support & “positioning”.

An epiphyte’s food & water needs are supplied by rainfall, condensation, falling debris & – in some cases – excretions from the small fauna that live in the epiphyte’s own little “ponds”.

Colombia is definitely a “hotspot” for epiphytes.

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Aspects of Colombia (#19 in teaser series: highest peaks)

Published August 1, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#19 in teaser series: highest peaks)

Mont Blanc – 4,807 metres above sea level – is western Europe’s highest mountain.

Were it to retain its elevation, but relocate to Colombia, Mont Blanc would be merely that nation’s 30th highest peak.

You may be surprised to know that 13 of the 29 Colombian peaks that reach higher than Mont Blanc – including the 4 tallest ones – are not in the Andes.

Colombia’s highest mountains are in the entirely separate & much more compact Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in northern Colombia.

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’s glaciated peaks are the world’s tallest coastal mountains.

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Aspects of Colombia (#18 in teaser series: foothills & bamboo)

Published July 30, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#18 in teaser series: foothills & bamboo)

This post’s photo was taken on the morning of 12 March 2026, en route to our coffee experience.

Rainforest still clothes a deal of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’s foothills.

I have no idea of the pictured, obviously-large bamboo’s particular species.

Very probably, it is not one introduced from Asia.

Whilst Asia is bamboos’ global “hotspot”, all other inhabited continents – except Europe – also have bamboo species,

The strongest of them all – Guadua angustifolia – is native to northern South America & Central America.

Guadua angustifolia is also the world’s second largest bamboo; right now, you just might be looking at an example thereof!

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Aspects of Colombia (#17 in teaser series: coffee)

Published July 26, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#17 in teaser series: coffee)

The coffee (brewed from the estate’s own beans) at the pictured location is excellent.

Hacienda La Victoria has been producing premium coffee since 1892.

Coffee has been grown in Colombia for at least 236 years.

In overall volume, Colombia is the world’s third-largest coffee producer.

For arabica beans – generally regarded as the best variety – it is definitely the biggest producer.

Colombia is probably also #1, quality-wise.

Hacienda La Victoria is in a region especially noted for its excellent coffee beans – the foothills of northern Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, near the Caribbean coast.

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Aspects of Colombia (#16 in teaser series: seeing red)

Published July 23, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#16 in teaser series: seeing red)

“Our” planet has only one “simply red” wading bird species.

Outside of zoos, Eudocimus ruber – the scarlet ibis/ red ibis – can only be seen in warm, wet parts of the Caribbean & tropical South America.

The pictured scarlet ibis were part of a large group of these highly-sociable birds, gathered in & around a river near Villavicencio on the first afternoon of March, this year.

We could scarcely believe our eyes!

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Aspects of Colombia (#15 in teaser series: butterfly)

Published July 21, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#15 in teaser series: butterfly)

Colombia is “our” planet’s butterfly capital.

20% of the world’s known species have been seen there.

To put Colombia’s rich biodiversity into perspective, the 3,642 butterfly species found in Colombia can be compared to the 496 butterfly species found in Europe or the 4,000 butterfly species found in the entire African continent.

‘More than 200 species of the butterflies in the checklist are unique to Colombia.

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Aspects of Colombia (#14 in teaser series: strange fruits)

Published July 19, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#14 in teaser series: strange fruits)

I have absolutely no idea what exactly are the pictured, profuse, substantial fruits.

Any Australians on their first visit to northern South America are almost guaranteed to be amazed by the plants, especially in humid, tropical locations.

I took the photo in a rainforest “pocket” near Villavicencio.

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