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Basilica del Señor de los Milagros

Guadalajara de Buga is a medium sized city in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. It is famous for its Basilica del Señor de los Milagros, which houses an image of Christ called El Señor de los Milagros. The image is said to have been found in the river and grew larger.

In Colombia, a car ride with an all-men-in-the-front-all-women-in-the-back sitting arrangement is known as a "paseo bugueño", a "Bugan ride". The reason behind the term "Paseo Bugueño" is that Buga has been at times famous for the consequences of family in-breeding, which showed up in similar close communities, all around Colombia, from the beginning of the 20th century towards the sixties and early seventies. Buga was then somewhat unfairly singled out as having a higher than average rate of birth of people with mental defects. So much so that being a "bugueño" has at times been synonymous with being a "genetic" fool. Only fools travel in cars with all the women sitting in the back seat, hence the term "Paseo Bugueño".

Poor as it may look in some places, Buga still retains the character of a small town for well-to-do families, sitting in the middle of one of the greenest agricultural lands in the world. But its fame resides in being the birthplace of the “Pan de Bono” and the “Valluno manjar blanco” and, also, the best place in the world in which you can buy the regionally famous “Chuletas”: boxes of rice with fried plantains accompanied with a variety of customer-chosen meat-based concoctions: beef stews, fried beef, or pork, and fried milanesa-like breaded pork cuts, the Colombian “chuletas”. Everything in the box is then wrapped in plantain or banana leaves.

The most famous cook for this dish is a mysterious person known only as “Pepe”. Pepe has a tendency of establishing restaurant outlets named after him in a variety of ways, usually not as their only owner. It is common knowledge in Buga that, after getting into fights with his current partner, Pepe usually breaks loose and establishes another restaurant with “Pepe” as part of its name and an adjective that sounds this outlet out as a “truer Pepe” establishment than the former. It seems that Pepe is no expert in trademark laws. Buga is also known for the sweets sold in the town square in front of the cathedral.

• City of Buga Municipal Government
• Milagroso de Buga home page

Coordinates: 3°54′N, 76°18′W

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