Those “grown in Columbia” bananas are back in local family owned markets according to the above ad; the same ones that we saw in April.

Are there similarities with Columbia (the borough) with Colombia (the country)? Are people often confused by Columbia and Colombia?

To clear the issue, we have not been able to find the banana farms in Columbia; though bananas represent a significant portion of Colombia’s agricultural production for export.

Here more information about Colombia, the country:

• Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. – www.wikipedia.org
• Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela). – www.cia.gov
• Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. – http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/colombia-guide/

The Embassy of Columbia Website provides more information, including:

“The Republic of Colombia has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade  turning the tide on a long running terrorist insurgency, making great strides in restoring security and stability to the population, and promoting crucial social investments to fight poverty.  While considerable work remains to be done including continuing the fight against narcotics trafficking the nation is now firmly on the path to peace and prosperity.

“With over 45 million citizens, Colombia has the second largest population in South America, after Brazil, and has the third largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, after Mexico and Spain.

“Colombia is Latin America’s oldest and most stable democracy.  The country has experienced peaceful changes of government every four years for more than a century, as citizens have elected government representatives in free and fair elections in a political environment that proudly supports full freedom of the press.

“Colombia enjoys a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to the United States. GDP growth in 2007 was over 7.5%, the highest since 1978. In 2008-2009, the international economic crisis had its impact, with growth slowing to 2.5% in 2008, and shrinking 0.3% in 2009.  However, all indicators have pointed to a return to economic growth in 2010.”