"Colombia! The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes – The Powerhouse Of Colombian Music 1960 to 1976" pushed me over the edge; I was going to Colombia.

Put together by British label Soundways Records, the record does all the crate digging for you, taking the listener on a lightning-fast trip through several genres of classic Colombian music.

The nominations for the 11th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards were announced today in Hollywood, California, and Colombians were a common sight among the nominees.

With all these competitive nominees, it should be a banner night for Colombia, The awards ceremony will be held on November 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Imagine: the winners of Colombian departamental beauty pageants competing to see who is the best chef. Sounds pretty hot, right?

Eight beauty queens squared off last week in Cartagena as part of a competition to see which possible Miss Colombia had the best skills in the kitchen, which if you ask me is more important than winning the Miss Colombia crown for singing a song or claiming you desire world peace.

Systema Solar came on first. The costeño band seemed to have more DJs onstage than instrumentalists, but the vibe of the traditional cumbias and champeta rhythms of the coast with electronic beats and rapping made everyone start dancing immediately.

But when Bomba Estereo hit the stage, and the place erupted. Lead singer Li Saumet was adorable, a sassy,baby-faced firecracker who grew progressively sexier as the night went on and she changed cute outfits a couple of times.