Bucaramanga

Bucaramanga
City
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "The Pretty City", "City of Parks"
Motto: Montani semper liberi
Location of the city and municipality of Bucaramanga in the Santander Department.
Bucaramanga Location in Colombia
Coordinates:
Country	Colombia
Region	Andean Region
Department	Santander
Foundation	December 22, 1622
Government
• Mayor	Luis Francisco Bohorquez (L)
Area
• City	165 km2 (64 sq mi)
Elevation	959 m (3,146 ft)
Population
• City	1.024.229
• Density	6,207,44/km2 (1,607,720/sq mi)
• Metro	1,212,657
Demonym(s)	Bumangués
Time zone	Eastern Time Zone (UTC-05)
Postal code	680001-680011
Area code(s)	57 + 7
Website	Official website (Spanish)

Bucaramanga is the capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate, the highest GINI index, and has the eighth largest population in the country, with 530,900 people. Bucaramanga has over 160 parks scattered throughout the city and has been given the nickname "La Ciudad de Los Parques" ("The City of Parks") and "La Ciudad Bonita de Colombia" ("Colombia's Beautiful City").

Bucaramanga has grown rapidly since the 1960s, mostly into neighboring locations within the metropolitan area. Floridablanca, Girón and Piedecuesta are inextricably linked geographically and commercially with Bucaramanga, and now all form together the Bucaramanga metropolitan area in Colombia with 1,276,329 inhabitants.

The city is the base of the Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP), the research branch of the state oil company Ecopetrol and the Colombian Natural Gas Company (Ecogas).

History

Bucaramanga in 1851

Girón was the first and most significant town founded by Spanish colonizers in the region, and Bucaramanga (founded on December 22, 1622) did not overtake Girón in population or economic significance until the early 19th century. In the 1860s and 1870s the city attracted a core of German merchants and adventurers (the most famous of whom was Geo von Lengerke and tensions between the newcomers and local merchants flared in 1879 when the event named "La Culebra Pico de Oro" (The snake of gold beak)occurred. With the political reorganization of 1886 Bucaramanga replaced Socorro as departmental capital. The region (although not the city itself) was devastated by the civil war of 1899-1902 - commonly known as the Thousand Days War causing Bucaramanga to grow modestly in the first half of the 20th century.

Climate

Bucaramanga is located on a plateau in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes, and many residents occupy unstable lands descending steeply from the meseta. Westbound of it, the Rio de Oro Canyon is located at an altitude of 600 meters (2,000 ft) AMSL. Eastbound, the Andean Range rises up in high peaks, reaching almost 3,700m AMSL in the place locally known as "Paramo de Berlin" The city is located at . The official metropolitan area includes the municipalities of: Girón, Piedecuesta and Floridablanca, but Lebrija is home to Bucaramanga's airport and is commonly considered part of greater Bucaramanga. All four neighboring municipalities contain extensive rural areas despite recent urbanization.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Bucaramanga features a tropical monsoon climate, though it’s a noticeably cooler version of the climate. The city falls just short of a tropical rainforest climate as its driest month, January, averages just under 60 mm (2 in) of rainfall. Although its altitude is not considered very high, Bucaramanga's climate is not hot nor cold with 22 degrees Celsius being the average temperature. Compared to cities at the same average altitude (such as Cali), Bucaramanga has much cooler daytime temperatures due to the cold wind coming down the Eastern peaks; its night temperatures are not cold due to the warm air coming from the Canyon. This fact makes the daily thermal oscillation to be narrower than other Colombian cities.

Climate data for Bucaramanga
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	29.2 (84.6)	30.5 (86.9)	29.6 (85.3)	29.0 (84.2)	29.0 (84.2)	29.2 (84.6)	29.0 (84.2)	30.2 (86.4)	29.4 (84.9)	28.8 (83.8)	29.0 (84.2)	28.4 (83.1)	30.5 (86.9)
Average high °C (°F)	27.3 (81.1)	27.6 (81.7)	27.9 (82.2)	27.5 (81.5)	27.6 (81.7)	27.6 (81.7)	27.6 (81.7)	28.2 (82.8)	28.0 (82.4)	27.6 (81.7)	26.9 (80.4)	26.9 (80.4)	27.56 (81.61)
Daily mean °C (°F)	21.1 (70)	21.4 (70.5)	21.6 (70.9)	21.4 (70.5)	21.3 (70.3)	21.3 (70.3)	21.3 (70.3)	21.3 (70.3)	21.1 (70)	20.6 (69.1)	20.7 (69.3)	20.7 (69.3)	21.15 (70.07)
Average low °C (°F)	16.7 (62.1)	16.9 (62.4)	16.9 (62.4)	17.2 (63)	17.3 (63.1)	17.0 (62.6)	16.6 (61.9)	16.4 (61.5)	16.5 (61.7)	16.3 (61.3)	17.0 (62.6)	16.8 (62.2)	16.8 (62.23)
Record low °C (°F)	15.0 (59)	15.4 (59.7)	15.6 (60.1)	16.7 (62.1)	16.6 (61.9)	15.6 (60.1)	14.2 (57.6)	12.4 (54.3)	15.5 (59.9)	13.0 (55.4)	15.8 (60.4)	15.6 (60.1)	12.4 (54.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	52.4 (2.063)	70.6 (2.78)	131.9 (5.193)	152.9 (6.02)	123.5 (4.862)	89.0 (3.504)	84.4 (3.323)	91.8 (3.614)	92.6 (3.646)	157.0 (6.181)	110.9 (4.366)	57.9 (2.28)	1,214.9 (47.832)
Average precipitation days	8	9	14	18	19	17	18	20	18	20	14	9	184
Average relative humidity (%)	82	83	84	87	88	87	85	84	86	89	90	88	86.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours	216.4	163.1	149.1	132.7	152.1	142.6	172.2	155.7	153.7	145.4	148.1	186.6	1,917.7
Source: Instituto de Hidrologia Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales

Municipal Flag

The municipal flag of Bucaramanga was designed by the historian Gustavo Gomez Mejia. Made of two green stripes with a yellow one in the middle. In the center there's a blue disk, surrounded with a red circle. In the middle of the blue disk there's a white star. In the red circle the following legend: "Below the azure of its sky and defended by the generous blood of its sons, Bucaramanga is opened to the four horizons of the motherland" is written.

Municipal Coat of Arms

The words "Montani Semper Liberi" are Latin for "Forever free in our mountains".

Demography

According to the data obtained from the 2005 census and information provided by the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga, the city has an estimated population of 524,112 inhabitants.

Of the total population, 46.8% are men and 53.2% women. The average number of occupants per household is 3.6 people. 16.6% of people of the population are aged 10 years and over. Of all cohabiting couples in the city, 46.3% were single, 26.7% were married, 5.8% were separated and 4.6% were widowed. 9.2% of the population over age 4 who currently resides are from another municipality and 0.3% from another country. 6.1% of the population has some permanent injunction.

In the city, 52.4% of people live in houses, while 40.4% live in apartments and 7.2% in a leased room or other.

Economy

Industry

Downtown Bucaramanga, Santander Park, and the Triad building.

An industrial activity developed in Bucaramanga that has gained national recognition is the footwear industry. Reason why the Manufacturers Association of Footwear, Asoinducals, is located in the city. The footwear sector has a major market nationally and internationally in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Italy, some Caribbean islands, United States, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico. There is also a big clothing industry. There are a growing number of technological research centers in various topics such as energy, gas, oil, corrosion, asphalt, leather and agro-industrial development tools, among others.

The city has Chimitá Industrial Zone located west of the city near the town of Giron, many companies from different specialties like Terpel have production plants there. Also in the city there's one of the main production plants of Bavaria Brewery. The city is planning to build the Free port of Santander to be located within the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga.

The 2005 census conducted by the DANE presents the following figures, 16.5% of establishments are engaged in industrial activities, 52.1% are engaged in trade activities, 29.8% are engaged in the services sector and 1.6% are engaged in other activities. 3.7% of Bucaramanga's households develop an economic activity in their homes. Establishments which have between 0 and 10 employees are the mos common in the trade sector account for 54.4% of it. and business which have between 10 and 50 employees account for 41.7% of the services sector. As for the rural sector of the city, DANE figures showed that 75.9% of rural homes are occupied by farmers. Of these homes, 70.1% is devoted to agriculture, 94.1% to raise livestock, and 5.6 to fish farming. 5.6% work. These data concludes that most houses simultaneously develop 2 or 3 of these activities.

Thanks to the commercial and business development that has been taking over the city, Bucaramanga has positioned itself as a city of congresses and events, having infrastructure like Fair and Exhibition Centre - CENFER, many fairs and exhibitions in all branches of the national economic sectors are performed there annually .

The City also has a polyfunctional center for events and shows, which gives a space for performing great shows, puzzle games, sports and business. A number of meeting rooms and conferences allow Bucaramanga to hold conventions for entrepreneurs around the country.

The trade fairs as well as direct benefits to the respective sector, have benefits in other areas of the economy such as transport, hotels, restaurants, shops and various services activities such as advertising, design and decoration, modeling, etc.

In Bucaramanga is performed the International Exhibition of Children's Fashion EIMI, the only specialized in children's clothing in Latin America . It takes place in the fair center CENFER and 40% of the sales generated on this fair are of exported products.

Business

In recent years, in Bucaramanga have been built major shopping centers and commercial buildings, such as the shopping center La Florida CC, which has 6 floors with two pedestrian bridges and one vehicle bridge connecting it to another building housing a supermarket.

The Mall Megamall opened in 2007, where the first store of the French hypermarket chain Carrefour opened in the city. Also there's a famous shopping district "Cabecera del Llano" with shopping centers like: Cabecera Etapa I, Etapa II and Etapa III as well as the more recognized Cabecera Etapa IV and the shopping center "La Quinta" or V Etapa. The Acropolis shopping center is located in Ciudadela Real de Minas. The San Andresito commercial center and the traditional and renovated (2005) Cañaveral shopping center are located in the southern sector of the city along with the El Cacique shopping center, opened in November 2012 and considered one of the largest in Latin America. In these shopping centers, there are large theaters of major companies such as Cine Colombia, Cine Royal and Cinemark, big clothing stores like Adidas, Levi's, Diesel and also national brands such as Arturo Calle, restaurants and cafes as Presto, El Corral, McDonald's, Crepes & Waffles, Juan Valdez. One of the major supermarket chains, Exito, has five major stores throughout the City and a distribution center for eastern Colombia. Carrefour opened in 2007 the first store at Megamall shopping center, merging later with a local supermarket named Mercadefam, the chain now has seven stores in the city. Along with this, there are local small chain stores in Bucaramanga such as Mercomfenalco, Cootracolta, Cajasan and others.

View of the city of Bucaramanga in 2006.

Labour Market

Historically the city of Bucaramanga has been one of the cities with the lowest rate of unemployment in the country. As of September 2010 according to DANE statistics between July and September 2010, the city had an unemployment rate of 11.8%, increasing by 3.3% compared to October and December 2009 which showed a rate of 8,5%; La tasa global de participación (TGP) es de 70.1%; la tasa de ocupación (TO), del 61,8%; la tasa de subempleo subjetivo (TS Sub), del 39,0%; la tasa de subempleo objetivo (TS Obj) del 13.7%.

Transport

Trunk Highway Metrolínea in Bucaramanga - Floridablanca and Canaveral station.

'Metrolínea' is the Integrated Mass Transit System of Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area. Its construction began in 2006 during the administration of Mayor Honorio Galvis; its operation is currently in its first phase. Its first phase was inaugurated in December 22, 2009; in this phase, the first 6 lines inaugurated are: Avenida del Libertador (Diagonal 15), autocentral, Prospero Finch Avenue (27th Avenue), La Cumbre, Highway Floridablanca Villabel Bucarica and which have 91 stopways. The administration is currently in the process of coupling the second phase, which will cover the areas of Piedecuesta, Ciudadela Real de Minas, the Avenue of the Americas (Race 33) and will have trunks at Autosur, Real de Minas and the Americas.

National road connection

Bucaramanga is connected to the mainland by two main routes. The first is the National Route 66 which comes from Barrancabermeja and Cucuta communicates with and then into Venezuela, the second the Ruta Nacional 45A that comes from Bogota and San Alberto comes up this road connects with the Colombian Caribbean region and major cities across the Ruta Nacional 45.

Air transport

Bucaramanga Palonegro Airport.

In air transport, Bucaramanga is served by the Palonegro International Airport, located west of Bucaramanga in the town of Lebrija, on the road to Barrancabermeja in the historic hill Palonegro. Inside the building was a small museum with some of the objects of war found the time to build the airport, which has been considered a pharaonic work Colombian engineering, due to its location on the hill dozing.

The airport was opened in 1974, replacing the old airport Gómez Niño located in Ciudadela Real de Minas. The airport currently operates under the administration of the Palonegro consortium Colombo-Korean SAS East Airports Group that won the concession to operate for 15 years. Receives flights from major cities in Colombia and Santander, as well as international flights from the city of Panama. The main terminal is 20 minutes from the city in the fast lane of the freeway west to Girón.

By 2009 he was ranked among Colombia's most important aeropuertos, which is why money was invested in the expansion of the national boarding lounge and money is being invested in the new international room.

People

Many important personalities from Colombia are from Bucaramanga such as Luis Carlos Galán, presidential candidate murdered in 1989, Carlos Ardila Lülle, one of the most important businessmen in Colombia, Claudia Florez and Ivan Garzón.

Colombian artist Oscar Rodríguez Naranjo came back from France during the Second World War and settled in Bucaramanga. Rodríguez Naranjo taught at the art school while he made a number of paintings that would build up his reputation in Colombia. In 1941 he became the Director of the Academia de Bellas Artes in Bucaramanga. Famous artist Margarita Velandia known by her work in city museum.

Education

Universidad Industrial de Santander. Geometry Lesson Memorial and Auditorium Luis A. Calvo

Universidad Industrial de Santander. Faculty of Humanities

Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga.Headquarters The Garden.

The city has a good reputation due to its numerous universities, among them: Industrial University of Santander (Universidad Industrial de Santander)

The Universidad Industrial de Santander is an official institution which offers 95 degrees and a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses within the health sciences, humanities, sciences and engineering colleges. Also it offers seven technological programs in different fields through the Distance Learning Institute. Nowadays, after 65 years of existence, there are nearly 14,000 students registered in undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a total 22,000 alumni. It proudly stands as the leading higher education institution in the northeastern part of the country and ranks fourth among official universities nationwide. Also, the University has created affiliate branches in Barrancabermeja - home of the most important oil refinery in the country -, El Socorro and Málaga. Recently it has extended its services to Barranquilla and Bogotá through the offer of its Graduate Programs.

• Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB) Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
• Universidad de Santander (UDES)
• Unidades Tecnológicas de Santander (UTS)
• Saint Thomas Aquinas University (Universidad Santo Tomás)
• Pontifical Bolivarian University (Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana)

Culture

Museum of Modern Art in Bucaramanga.

Bucaramangan culture has several expressions, from the visual arts such as painting, sculpture, photography, and recently also in experimental demonstrations that incorporate new technology for artistic communication, such as video. Throughout Bucaramanga's history it has hosted many cultural offerings in various areas, causing arts groups to form within the city.

One of the main pillars of culture in Bucaramanga is literature, as in the past there was a cultural movement around literature that produced a number of writers.

In 1995, the administration of Mayor Luis Fernando Peña Cote decided to convert Gabriel Turbay Public Library to hold the newly created Municipal Institute of Culture, assigning the library building to Gabriel Turbay, who has overseen space management for the institute, which has meant the movement of areas of the library to use the administrative area of the Municipal Institute of Culture. The creation of the Municipal Institute of Culture was conceived in order to expand the possibilities for sponsoring culture in the metropolitan area. But as culture has not traditionally played a leading role in local government, colleges do not receive sufficient funding and incentives to fulfill their purposes.

The Institute provides library services, art workshops, and a variety of shows and cultural work from the different neighborhoods of the city. The city sponsors these cultural activities with private investment. Bucaramanga also features a cultural radio station (Station Cultural Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento) on 100.7 FM.

Gastronomy

Corn arepa and tamal pelao typical food of Bucaramanga Santander and Santander.

In Bucaramanga, you can find all kinds of restaurants specializing in all types of cuisine. A significant number of restaurants are located in the central area of Llano. Typical dishes from Bucaramanga include: the Santander-mute a soup made from various grains and accompanied by various types of meat, the fricassee, a preparation of viscera and blood of goat mixed with white rice camuro and accompanied by roasted kid, oread meat, corn arepa pela'o, and the tamale sobrebarriga.

The ants culonas is perhaps the most striking and unique of the foods of Santander, and are abundant in the months of March and April. To make this dish, they remove the head and wings of local giant ants and roast them in a fire. It is generally served on a platter on the street or are sold in jars of hundreds.

Other seasonal foods found in abundance are: traditional sweet celery, lemon, citron, rice, caramel, and pineapple. Most are produced in neighboring Floridablanca. The Oblea wafer and veleño bocadillo (candy) are two other dishes found in great quantity in Bucaramanga.

Tourism

Hotel Dann Carlton.

Chicamocha Canyon, where the National Park or PANACHI Chicamocha, one of the biggest attractions in the region.

In Bucaramanga and neighboring municipalities can perform a variety of tourism, ecological tourism through its parks, adventure tourism Ruitoque table in 15 minutes from the city is the "Voladero the Eagles" where you can go Paragliding. The downtown area boasts colonial buildings like the churches of San Laureano, Dolores Chapel. Some houses such as the house of Bolivar, of Louis Peru de Lacroix. Other colonial buildings are located in the neighboring municipalities of the city. Bucaramanga tourist diversity earned him being chosen as one of the seven tourist destinations of national pride through a voting process that was convened by Colombia is passion and Bavaria.

Bucaramanga has a very good hotel infrastructure composed in part by some of the best hotel chains in the country. Several areas of the city center are important restaurants and nightclubs in the city.

Lookouts

view from the observation deck of Bucaramanga Palonegro, near the airport.

Morrorico: Located east of Bucaramanga, the road to Cucuta, you can see a panorama of the city, here is the statue of Sacred Heart, which is visited at Easter time, and the inhabitants and parishioners sector have the belief that the statue does miracles. Also in this area is planned the construction of a cable car or cable metrocable called to transport the inhabitants of the sector.

Palonegro: On the road to the airport of the same name, where you can have a splendid view of the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga. in place encuentan whereabouts visited several nightclubs and especially on weekends.

Natural and Historic around

'Chicamocha National Park' (PANACHI): on the road that leads to Bogotá at the maximum height of the Cordillera Oriental in the municipality of ARATOCA, offers an exceptional view of the mighty river canyon Chicamocha, is equally Chicamocha National Park, from where you can appreciate at its best canons of rivers Chicamocha and Suarez.

Chicamocha National Park, one of the major attractions of the region.

Giron:: Located 9 km of Bucaramanga. Founded in 1631, the gold mines were important during the colonial era of tremendous architectural heritage, which made it a national monument. Stands the Museum of Religious Art, with valuable paintings and ancient liturgical objects, The Basilica of the Lord of Miracles, pilgrimage site, and the Chapel of Corregidor, on the outskirts.

Socorro: Located 121 kilometres (75 miles) from Bucaramanga. Cradle of the uprising of the villagers, is located in the province Comunera, northeastern department of Santander. It was founded in 1681 and 1711 he was awarded the title of "Very Noble and Loyal Villa". In 1781 Manuela Beltran broke the edict that raised taxes and contributions, which led to the revolt of the Communards. In the main square stand monuments to José Antonio Galán, leader of the uprising, and Antonia Santos. Other attractions are the house of culture and the cathedral.

Barichara: Located 118 km (73 mi) from the city of Bucaramanga. was founded by the Parra family Pradilla around the veneration of the Virgin of the Stone, in May 1975 the town received the title of "The cutest little town of Colombia" and by resolution 005 of 30 June 1975 was declared "National Monument". this village of cobblestone streets and wooden balconies is an oasis of peace, its attractions include:

• Guane: colonial population home to a seventeenth-century church, the sanctuary of St. Lucia, and the Archaeological Museum, known for its important collection of marine life fossils and colonial period books.

• San Gil: located 96 kilometers (60 mi) from Bucaramanga. The historic center of the town with steep streets and on the banks of the river Fonce National Monument. One of its main attractions is the park The Gallineral, occupying an island in the river, the moss hanging from the trees and the sound of water make it a must-visit site.

Other attractions are the San Gil Ragonessi ecological park, spa blue well, the Grotto Hill, Cerro de La Cruz and adventure sports like rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking and motocross, among others.

Sports

The city of Bucaramanga is characterized in the national exhibit different sports that are practiced in the Olympics, you can easily find various sports venues of public and private in the city. However microfútbol football and sports are practiced in the city. Indersantander and Inderbu are the entities responsible for the management and development of local sport and Santander.

Fútbol

Bucaramanga has Estadio Alfonso Lopez with capacity for 28,000 people and has Synthetic Turf rated star 2 supported by the FIFA. This scenario is the club house Atlético Bucaramanga and Santander Real. The city also has the football stadium fan Mars temple city of Bucaramanga and where every year in the month of December is performed Tennis Tournament Mars.

Other sports

Alejandro Galvis Ramirez Bicentennial Coliseum built in 2011.

For other sports, the city has the Colosseum Vicente Diaz Romero which has capacity for 8,000 people. This scenario is the home team basketball Búcaros Santander. In the Olympic village are also the Olympic pools, who received a remodel in 2010. Another scenario where different sports are practiced is the Moon Edmundo Santos Coliseum located in the area of the royal citadel of mine, that due to the remodeling of Vincent Romero Diaz got the home games of the professional teams Football Living Room Independent Santander and Bucaramanga FSC.

In 2010 began the construction of the Alejandro Galvis Ramirez Bicentennial Coliseum by reason of Futsal World 2011 held in Colombia and which was Subsede Bucaramanga. The Coliseum had an investment of COP $ 18,771,000. has a capacity of 7,100 spectators and its inauguration was held in March 2011

The Coliseum was the site of the World principar Hockey inline skates that was played in the city from 29 June to 14 July 2012 and was attended by countries around the world. competing in this scenario adapted. For the practice of track and field is the stage of Enrique Figueroa Rey known as Flora Stadium, a stadium there softball and a recent skating rink located in the area of Ciudadela Real de Minas.

Bucaramanga has twice been the scene of the National Games in the year 1941 and 1996, headquarters of the Pan American Cycling Championships in the year 2000 Challenger ATP Seguros Bolivar Tennis in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 where players have the most important part of Colombia, and some of the best in the world.

The Colombian Football Association announced that Bucaramanga will be one of the venue cities to host the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Knowing this, the stadium Vincent Romero Diaz will be the most likely place to host the event.

Transportation

• Local Bus: Metrolinea

• Intercity Bus: Terminal de Transportes de Bucaramanga

• Air: Palonegro International Airport

Tourism

• Panachi
• Tourism activities

Media

• Newspaper: Vanguardia Liberal
• Television : Television Regional del Oriente

External links

• Bucaramanga travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Tourism information Bucaramanga
• (Spanish) Bucaramanga Link
• (Spanish) bucaramanga.com
• (Spanish) Website of the mayor's office
• (Spanish) City photo Guide
• (Spanish) Metropolitan area of Bucaramanga
• (Spanish) Local Chamber of Commerce
• Bucaramanga Daily Photo
• (Spanish) Vanguardia Liberal; Cuando a Bucaramanga la hicieron capital