Colombia is an amazingly colorful country. The people are a mix of people with African-American roots, Latinos, indigenous and bright skin tones. They speak everything from the clearest Spanish to fast mumbling Spanish. Here we also met many, many friendly people. In contrast to 2009, the Colombians got used to gringos. In many regions tourists are part of the scenery and a big source of income which leads to gringos paying sometimes more. In Colombia we tried to send a packet containing gifts to Germany, that most certainly never will arrive. The postman gave us a fake, handwritten tracking number and took our money. I would have loved to return with a police officer and report the scam, but unfortunately, we were in the city again only on a Sunday… Like everywhere else in Latin America low salaries and corruption are very common in Colombia. The difficulty to earn money made the Colombians resourceful though. The coolest, most creative jobs we got to know here: The “plank-above-big-puddle-after-heavy-rain-renter”, the “inside-the-bus-with-ghetto-blaster-rapper” and the “coconut-from-campground-stealing-and-500-meters-further-down-seller”. 😊
The Colombians, like the Bolivians like to eats things fried. The meat consumption is extremely high. Fried or grilled chicken or beef just belong to a good Colombian meal. We found that strange, because vegetables are grown and are super-cheap. Our couch surfers from Bogotá tell us, that only since they were in Germany they started appreciating vegetables. As unhealthy as the main dishes may be, we loved the juices. Colombia is a very fertile country with lots of water. Besides the world famous coffee they grow all the fruits that are super-expensive in Germany. Every day, really every day, we had freshly pressed, undiluted Passion fruit, Lulo, Mango, Pineapple, Banana juice or mint lemonade and once in a while we tried a fruit that we didn’t know yet. In more touristy places we exploited the gringo restaurants to have Thai vegetable dishes, Israeli Humus or vegetarian Italian food.
The unhealthy and heavy food made the Colombians fat. We see a lot of overweight people on our trip, much like in Germany. But not only, there are also beautiful and slim women. A lot of them. For the Colombian girls, beauty is a craze. On the 15th birthday beauty surgery is popular gift. In Tehran, Iran, we saw a lot of people with nose jobs, here it is clearly butt and breasts, that go under the knife. The butts are at times so unnaturally round, as if they had put a pillow in their pants. Also in the soap operas you see only actresses with super curvy bodies. The pressure of society appears to be very strong: Colombia belongs to the seven countries with the highest number of beauty surgeries worldwide. The beauty ideal of the drug lords and the machismo are explanations you hear quite often. Not only locals, but also Americans, Spaniards or Argentinians go under the knife in Colombia. The government has reacted: Underaged persons are no longer allowed to be operated for esthetical reasons. It still happens though, in cheap, illegal clinics without proper certification or plastic surgents, resulting in complications such as infection or death. These dangers could easily be avoided, Colombia has excellent health services in the big cities, but not that cheap.
And how is the general security situation in Colombia? We never felt unsafe. Two years ago the Colombian government signed a peace treaty with the FARC rebels. Since then the country is peaceful and the economic situation has improved. When I was in Colombia in 2009, there were many regions that should be avoided. Today you can go almost anywhere. Companies invest in formerly insecure areas. The EU exports to Colombia and in return mostly coffee, Bananas, palm oil, flowers and stone coal are imported. And cocaine. Colombia is still the biggest cocaine exporting nation in the world. Pable Escobar, one of the biggest and richest criminals of all times, was killed and his drug cartel shattered, but the big business with the white powder still goes on. The demand in Europe and the US is just too big. As a tourist you can do different Pablo Escobar tours, in Medellín and in many of his fincas in the country. We, however, did not notice anything of the drug business itself or the police raids.
We would have loved to stay longer. Due to my foot and scarce time we couldn’t do a Salsa course this time, despite the fact that Colombia would be perfectly suited for it. The country loves music, a lot of people dance and listen to Salsa. We didn’t manage to visit many regions, many trekking tours we had to skip. When it’s a dryer time of the year we will come back. We’ll sleep in hammocks again. Nowhere else we have chilled so much, night and day. We’re looking forward to the funny little surprises that we’ve experienced again and again. For example, when a motorbike pulls a horse through the streets.
And now it’s the Colombian’s turn to speak:
“Of course I dance Salsa. I am from Cali and I have Salsa in my blood.” Taxi driver in Cali
“I dance Salsa, but in a way like it was done in earlier times. Not the modern stuff. I recognize that there is something new, but for me the new Salsa is more like gymnastics than true Salsa.” Adriana, Cali
“Colombia has so many fantastic landscapes. And a lot of water. Not like the US, where parts are so dry. Here we have everything.” Taxi driver in Popayan.
“Whether it’s rain or sun, I am happy about any weather, that was created by god. Because what would be the world without diversity?” Kitchen maid in Leticia
“The Colombians who want go to Europe by any means are wrong. Here in Colombia you can have a beautiful, peaceful life.” Coconut collector in Tayrona
We say goodbye with the Colombian band Juanes, with a song that was sung by me when Matthias was searching for his black t-shirt once again. 😊
