“TOLIMA: THE MUSIC LAND”

The information provided here was based on:
http://www.colombia-sa.com/departamentos/tolima/tolima-in.html
http://es.wikipedia.org/

General information 

As it was mentioned in the myth. La patasola, who was born, grew and still is living in Tolima. It is a beautiful and delightful place in the Andean region that such as in the story was told, it has awesome landscapes and towns where people there are very nice, kind, helpful and sociable.  So, in order to bring more interesting data about a little part from our Colombian culture. There are some interesting points about Tolima, La patasola’s land, as one of the best and marvelous places in our country.

[Map from Tolima Department]. Taken from http://www.colombia-sa.com/departamentos/tolima/tolima-in.html

Tolima with 1,800,000 inhabitants about. It is located in central-west Colombia, bordered by Caldas, Huila, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca and Cundinamarca departments. It’s Capital is Ibague, most known as the musical city of Colombia, there is an airport called Perales. Also it has lots of mountains, mountain ranges, towns, so on. And some important and famous places as the Magdalena River, The Nevado del Tolima and the Nevado del Ruiz that are snow-covered mountains.

Also there are many places such as the reservoir of the Prado River, Los Nevados National Park, urban historic locations like the Ambalema Historic Center, some other famous towns like Girardot, Chaparral, Carmen de Apicala, Melgar, Honda, Guamo, Fresno,  Villahermosa, Mariquita, El espinal, Prado, Chaparral, Cajamarca, Flandes, Libano, Rovira and so on. Likewise it was place of famous and peaceful places like Armero before its terrible tragedy. So, if you will ever travel to this department just enjoy it because actually it is worthwhile to visit. 

History

This booming department with delightful landscapes was created in 1910. It was named in honor of a native priestess Yulima who was killed by the first Spanish conquistadors. Also it is important to know that the Pijao people lived in Tolima during pre-Columbian times. Currently there is a group that conserve those traditions and origins. For that reason Tolima has been a mythological and a music land. 

Espinel, A. (2014) Fotos cerca de San-Andrés, Tolima Cascada del Amor [Photography]. Taken from http://www.verfotosde.org/colombia/imagenes-de-San-Andres-19487.html

Some of the relevant bearings in this section is that Tolima is placed in where lots of important facts change Colombia History. One of the most important things that took place in Tolima, was the Armero tragedy, that happened because of the eruption by the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano, due to Armero localization near it. That terrible tragedy took place on 13th November in 1985. The town was under ashes and scraps for the eruption. Even knowing that it was going to happened because of some scientists who were doing some research about the volcano. It killed around 29.000 people. Unfortunately it is remembered for Omaira, a girl who tried to survive until the last-minute of the tragedy. She is the Armero tragedy symbol to remember them as one of the best places in Colombia before the eruption. Nowadays there is a cemetery and some people say that it could have been prevented if the government had started a preventive plan taking into account scientists’ warnings before the tragedy.

Ibagué, Tolima- Colombia is waiting for you.wmw, Daniel Riaños 18/05/2015

It is a cultural video that invites you to come to our country, showing important places not only from Tolima department but also from some departments near there, with two of the most famous and typical songs from there “Sanjuanero” and “Vivirás mi Tolima” (Songs ans Spanish and English lyrics in the link) and some important things about culture and marvels found here. It is a special invitation from the organization AIESEC in charge of international relationships in Colombia.

Currently, Tolima people and culture are awesome, they are very kind and passionate about sports. For them it is important football. They feel it like a part of them, like their own culture. So, they are really passionate for “Deportes Tolima”, that it is the name of the representative football team there.