{"product_id":"misspelled-paradise-a-year-in-a-reinvented-colombia-9781494984021","title":"Misspelled Paradise: A Year in a Reinvented Colombia","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat does \"Colombia\" bring to mind? This South American country has sometimes been misrepresented, only known for cocaine, guerrilla groups, coffee, and Shakira's hips. In 2011, Bryanna Plog spent a year in the country to find out what the headlines might be missing (headlines, that let's face it, sometimes misspelled the country as \"Columbia.\").\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a volunteer middle school English teacher in an impoverished community outside of Cartagena, Colombia, Plog recounts with delightfully understated wit her year traveling Colombia's cities, deserts, and rain forests (fairly successful ventures), her attempts to hold class on a regular schedule (less successful), and her quest to eat meals that didn't include rice (a complete and utter failure). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough her teaching and traveling, Plog realizes Colombia is a place closer to a paradise than a country supposedly off-limits to travelers. Instead of having to survive encounters with drug cartels or avoiding kidnappings, Plog discovered her biggest problems included trying to get her students to pay attention in class, the country's strangely undrinkable coffee, and the searing Caribbean heat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMisspelled Paradise\u003c\/i\u003e gives an honest and lighthearted look at the history, culture, and diversity of this complex Latin American country. Colombia may be struggling with poverty and civil conflict, but over the year she gets to know the country and its people, Plog also sees it celebrate its passion for life with raucous street parties powered by champeta, vallenato, and reggaeton music, crates of tiny watery beers, its eighteen national holidays, and a never-ending parade of beauty pageants.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMisspelled Paradise\u003c\/i\u003e is a book for readers of memoir and travel writing and anyone who is interested in travel to South America. It gives an honest looks at the ups and downs of teaching abroad and how one teacher and traveler was surprised and captivated by a culture and country so unlike her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlog takes her readers to the mountainous streets of Bogot  and to the small island of Isla Bar , to the deserts of the Guajira Peninsula and to the jungles of the Amazon rain forest, to the inside of her sweltering classrooms and to the sweeping beaches of the Colombia's Caribbean coast. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLearn, be surprised, and laugh out loud as you journey through a reinvented Colombia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-12463078\"\u003eBryanna Plog\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Createspace Independent Publishing Platform\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/27\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 290\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.82lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.65d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781494984021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1494984024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-TRV\"\u003eTravel\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-TRV024000\"\u003eSouth America | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Createspace Independent Publishing Platform","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44433161781485,"sku":"9781494984021","price":14.93,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_b16525e2-8bc8-4618-b6a7-7cc70ccb5b33.jpg?v=1700058340","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/misspelled-paradise-a-year-in-a-reinvented-colombia-9781494984021","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}