To be honest, I did not have high expectations of going to Colombia because, well, the country does not really receive positive attention from a US perspective (although, in all fairness I hear time and time again from international friends I meet that the US also has a pretty shameful reputation as a country, perhaps this is a good blog entry for another day). In the US, Colombia is often associated with drug trafficking and insecurity, and as a South American country, I believe that many people fixate on the fact that it is a developing nation rather than a first world country. So yes, I admit that with these thoughts in the back of my mind I was hesitant to go. However, my preconceptions were kicked soon after arriving in Colombia and I have fallen in love with the country (in fact, the tourism slogan for Colombia is el riesgo es que te quieras quedar, the risk is that you will want to stay--a little bit dorky but pretty much true).
So, yes, Colombia does have some security problems still and there are issues with drug trafficking, but as a nation these concerns have been addressed and security gets better and better every day. There are policia everywhere, and security guards posted at literally every public building. You cannot enter a mall without having your bag searched, a museum without going through a metal detector, or a parking garage without having your car inspected by a bomb-sniffing dog. There are still risky areas in which revolutionary groups such as the FARC has control, but as a smart traveler or a Colombian resident, you know the appropriate ways to stay safe and make good choices.
Enough about all of that debbie-downer stuff, there are so many great things about Colombia that deserve to be proclaimed to the world! With Spanish as a second language, Colombia is the perfect place to go if you want to feel successful in your ability to communicate, it's great--they speak like the textbooks tell you they will! I know that sounds silly, but it really can be disappointing to spend years learning a language, and then try to use the language in a place where you feel like you have learned nothing. Luckily, I have gotten used to how they speak here in Chile (remember that they take pride in speaking to worst form of Spanish there is!), but I totally felt defeated as I got used to it all. On top of that, I am not accustomed using so many words and phrases that are Chilean, that when I used them in Colombia, they had not clue what I was saying... thanks for that one Chile... ha. To be fair, all countries have certain phrases and words that they use. In Colombia, I was reminded of the word chévere, to mean "cool." They also used this word in México, which makes me think that they probably use it in Central America as well, but I totally forgot about it, which is good because if I use it here in Chile I can guarantee I will be laughed at. Here, bácan (not bacon, that would be tocineta) is used, and it actually has caught on in other places as well. In Colombia, they also say the infamous Chilean huevón, having literally 15 uses/ derivatives, but most commonly used for "dude," "dork," or "a-hole." One phrase that I enjoyed was instead of saying, ¿cómo estás?, many people would say, ¿qué más?, "what more?" as in, "what more do you have to tell me about what's going on in your life?"
Since Bogotá is a large city in South America, it was fun for me to notice similarities and difference as compared to Santiago (mind you that these are all personal observations!). I feel like Santiago does a better job of public services... for example, the parts of Santiago I have spent time in are always extremely clean. I think I have mentioned this before, but they pay tons a people that are responsible for keeps sidewalks, parks and streets impeccably clean. Another example is public transportation--in Santiago the bus system runs extremely efficiently and there is a state-of-the-art metro system. In Bogotá, public transportation is not governed by the municipality, and because of that, it's a nightmare. There are a few main thoroughfares that have a system called the Transmilenio that is like a normal bus system, but it's very limited. On all of the other streets there are OLD privately owned buses that have between 8 and 15 rows of seats, called busetas or colectivos. Each one is different than the other, and many are totally pimped out the the driver's liking. They cause huge traffic issues, as they drive extremely dangerously, I mean, I cannot even describe how dangerously they drive, and they stop wherever they want to in order to let people on and off of the bus; there are not consistent bus stops. Considering driving, the Colombians drive like maniacs, and enjoy their horns like Chileans do. The only difference is Chileans honk sitting in traffic, whereas Colombians honk when they are cut off, which happens roughly every 2 seconds. In Bogotá, I was surprised to see that all motorcyclists were required to wear a very unfashionable vest that has their license plate number on it while driving, very foreign to me (I am told it is a safely measure). Here in Santiago, there are stray dogs all over the place, whereas the parts that I saw in Colombia only had an occasional stray. A welcomed difference was that shopping in Colombia was a lot less expensive that Chile, although Chile is still less expensive than shopping in the US. This is interesting though because as a country, my understanding is the Chile is poorer than Colombia (but I cannot like, I have not actually verified this). Both countries have lots of street vendors (although in Colombia a lot of people sell things out of jimmied up shopping carts and in Chile there tend to be more kiosks), and both love eating ice cream!
I think that my favorite thing that Colombia does that I have not seen anywhere else in the world is the sale of minutes. Sounds weird, right? Well, the phenomenon that has developed is that rather than people using pay phones to call people, there are vendors EVERYWHERE that will sell you minutes to use a cell phone to make a call! They have vests on that say minutos or attach some type of sign to themselves to advertise they are available. It is an art form, some people will have cell phones for every single type of provider and offer you a choice of which service you want, some people put the cell phone on a chain so you cannot run away, and the cost varies depending on who you use, ranging from 100 to 300 Colombian pesos a minute ( US $0.05-$0.15 a minute). Why not use your own phone you ask? Turns out that there are different fees for calling a phone within your network our outside of your networks, and once people use up their alloted minutes, they can no longer make out-going calls unless they recharge. So, it can be economical to use your local minutes dealer than use your own phone. The next time you are walking down the street and you hear, "¡llamadas, llamadas!" (calls, calls!) or, "minutos," you will know exactly what's up!
Well this looks like enough for today, I will do my best to post again soon and talk some about what I actually DID in Bogotá!
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