Outbound exchange with
the Houston club to Bogota, - leaving June 4,
returning June 11th or June 14th.
Cost: $310. The Bogota club has very active members and made our
visit a good one. (There were 24
people from Dallas
and Houston and other cities who attended.) An extension to Cartagena
was also offered as an optional tour for US $396 for a double - all
inclusive.
Ray Enstam
was the Exchange Director from Dallas, Ruby Reviere from Houston..
Click
here for the itinerary - it
was wonderful! Columbia is a country
that is noted for its natural beauty, great tropical beaches and
historical sites, and the Bogota club is noted for its hospitality.
Bogota is the capital city, founded in 1536. It has about
8,000,000 residents. Located in the Andes Mountains at 8,500
feet of altitude, it has year-round spring-like weather. It
offers many sights, including 42 museums such as the famous gold
museum. Also see endorsements from people who
recently visited there.
Read several recent articles
about travel to Columbia from The Wall Street Journal and USA
Today as well as tips for traveling to Columbia.
To see an English language video about
Colombia click on the link
below and then go to the middle of the page; you will see a section entitled
Vive Colombia, and under that Vive Colombia (Ingles). Click on the link under that last label.
www.colombiavivewa.org
Some photos from the
exchange are posted here: Photos Bogota,
Photos Columbian Families,
Photos Day Trips, Photos
Cartagena.
Ray
Enstam, Mary Williams and John Whaley presented a PowerPoint
presentation (and John's essay) at the August meeting. John Whaley's
excellent article, "On Closing Doors Softly," was published in two installments
in The Dallas Morning News that ran in the North
Dallas/Richardson Neighbors section on Saturday Sept 15 and 22, 2007.
The article appears in our Articles
section with photos on the Bogota
photos pages.
Elanore
Decker presented a program for the San Antonio club in September. The
July/August - page 4 issue of the Friendship Magazine features an article by Elanore Decker about her homestay with the Dallas exchange to Bogotá. Elanore is from the San Antonio FF club and she traveled with the Dallas Club. The article credits her as with the Friendship Force of Dallas.
Congratulations Elanore. Way to go Girl!
Inbound
from Lima and Tarapoto, Peru
Inbound exchange from
Lima and Tarapoto, Peru - September 15-22. Pam Varney Terrell
was the Exchange
Director (left) - with Lita Sanchez de Carnero from Lima (right).
This exchange concluded with a Western-themed party at the home of Ray
and Elizabeth Enstam on Friday Sept 21st. With barbecue and a western
music singer, everyone enjoyed a fun ending to a great
exchange. Two couples from Tarapoto did a dance from their region
and gifts were given. Some photos
are posted here. See the schedule
for the week.
Check these
websites for more information on Lima:
http://www.peru-travel-adventures.com/lima-peru.html
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima
and
on Tarapoto:
http://www.leslietaylor.net/index.html
(her great jungle website) or to go directly to Tarapoto - http://www.leslietaylor.net/peru/tarapoto.htm.
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Inbound
from Fortaleza, Brazil
Plans were well underway for the
inbound exchange from Fortaleza, Brazil for early October. However,
the Brazilians have
canceled
the exchange, due to dwindling numbers of participants. Many were denied
visas and others were put off by the possible airline bombing
scare.
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2006
Exchanges
Outbound to
Zagreb, Croatia
The
2006 outbound exchange to Zagreb Croatia was held from May 27 - June 3, 2006. We enjoyed visiting this wonderful country and meeting
many new friends. Mary
Williams was the Exchange Director. An article appears in
the July 2006 newsletter. See some photos
from the exchange.
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Outbound to
La Libertad (Trujillo), Peru
March 12 to March 20, 2005
Ray Enstam: enstam@sbcglobal.net
The sun always shines, filling even the most secluded corners of the capital of the department of La Libertad with light. It is said that in Trujillo, spring is eternal.
See the Newsletter for an account of this unforgettable week of hospitality making friends with the Friendship Force of Libertad in this historic city, of age-old traditions.
See more information on the La
Libertad page.
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Inbound from
Tottori,
Japan
September 26
- Oct 2, 2005.This was a return visit for Tottori; Dallas visited
there two years ago and both clubs requested this exchange. Jim Bourn
was Exchange Director.
Schedule
for the week included “Eat and Greet” Continental Breakfast, visit
to the
Arboretum,
drive by stop at City
Hall and Cattle Drive sculptures; a day in Fort Worth Day
at Amon Carter Western Art Museum and lunch at the Kimbell Art Museum, a drive through downtown and to Stockyards and see 4 pm cattle
drive; a Dallas
City
Day
-
a walking tour of lower downtown and Arts District Dallas,
lunch at On the Border and
museums; small group dinners in homes; State Fair Day
and more small group dinners in homes; Tour Gaylord Resort and
Grapevine Mills Mall with lunch; Farewell Party
- Steak
dinner and entertainment.
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2005
Exchanges
Mission
Trip to Romania
This
trip took place Sept 6th
- 20th, 2005.
The group of 20 people toured Romania for 12 nights in a dedicated minibus,
with Dallas as departure city.
Ed described the mission this
way:
Members of the Dallas club need several pioneers willing to explore the new Eastern frontier (Romania) to initiate contacts for potential new clubs in Bucharest and either Brasov or
Buzau, Romania. We will travel throughout the country by bus with driver and English speaking guide to
Sibiu, Cluj, Bistria, Suceava, Sighisoara, Brasov, Dracula's Castle (just to say you've been there) and Bucharest.
Your Mission, should you accept it (TV program in the 60's?), is to treat two or three Romanian citizens to a group dinner and viewing of our new Friendship Force video. That will be about $8 if you buy the wine too! We will visit one or two Schools for the Visually Deficient as
the Dallas club has sent 12 computers for the blind to these schools. You will also be asked to select an e-mail pal once we have visited the cities to begin a support
netw
ork effort to start up their clubs.
Brasov
Trip includes daily walking;
there are no accommodations for handicapped individuals as Romania was a communist dictatorship until 1989 and the infrastructure is in need of upgrading.
You will come away with a tremendous satisfaction in befriending a poor country. The younger people speak English, businesses are computer literate and Americans are thought of very positively.
(See Ed's e-mails from
Romania on our Articles page.)
UPDATE: As of February, 2006
there are three new clubs forming in Romania, and one of them may be
visiting the Dallas club in 2007. There are more mission
trips going to Romania. See Other Clubs.
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More
Past
Exchanges
Inbound
from Libertad,
Peru - Sept, 2003
Outbound
to Japan
- Sept, 2002
Inter-club
Outbound to Asheville, NC Summer, 2003
Inter-club
Outbound to Lake Hartwell, GA - Summer, 2003
Inter-club
Inbound visit: Asheville, NC - April, 2004
Outbound
to Kiel, Germany
and South
Flanders, Belgium - June, 2004
Jim Bourn was Exchange Director for this trip.
See his report of this successful exchange in the August 2004
newsletter.
Inbound:
Cleveland
County, England - October 9-16, 2004
We completed an
incoming exchange in October, 2004 with FF friends from Cleveland County,
England. Ray
Enstam was Exchange Director for this exchange. Twelve ambassadors came
to Dallas and continued to
Tuxla, Mexico after visiting us.
Formerly
known as Teesside, this county of northeast England is industrially
oriented around the Lower Tees Valley and estuary. It is bounded by
Durham to the northwest, North Yorkshire to the south, and the North
Sea to the northeast. Winters are long and hard, spring late and short,
and summer temperatures generally cool. The annual rainfall (about 635
mm) is among the lowest in the country, thanks largely to the county
being located in the lee ("rain shadow") of the Pennine
uplands.
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-26.
people visited us. Exchange Director
was 
The Friendship Force of São Paulo welcomes you to experience the lure
of Brazil! Come discover a country with thousands of different landscapes,
a huge blend of colors, wonderful sounds and smells, but above all
the people. If Rio has gained fame for its striking postcard
harbor, São Paulo's attraction lies in its people and its vibrant cultures. A
more cosmopolitan city than its counterpart, São Paulo possesses significant ethnic communities making it the perfect
place to host Friendship Force's 29th International Conference.
Brazil's most modern city has much to offer in terms of
outstanding cuisines, fine museums, coastlines graced with many
lovely beaches, entertainment and an exciting nightlife. Post-conference
home hosting is available for 4 nights by the clubs in the São Paulo area. Following the conference or after the home hosting
there will be optional tours to Buenos Aires, Argentina.