This calendar year, I have been fortunate enough to have visited Costa Rica (for the 5th time), Mexico (for the 6th time) & Colombia - my husband’s native country - (also for the 6th time.) In all, I have spent about 3 months’ time in Colombia. I received the biggest compliment from my sister-in-law the other day.. She said, “I always forget you’re from here.” While I am not rescinding upon my Southern roots, I have assimilated into Latino culture - and more appropriately - Colombian culture. It has only made my life richer.
No matter how assimilated one is, there are naturally plenty of things that just happen differently in the States vs. other countries. Here are a few of those things that always get my attention when we head to Colombia:
1) How do you know you’ve arrived in South America? We get to bypass the masses and go first in line! Why? Because we have young children with one in a stroller! It’s marvelous. Pregnant women, disabled people, families with babies and young children - ALL get a “preferential” line to themselves. This means we skip ahead of all the long lines waiting to get through security, waiting to get on airplane, waiting to get through customs, waiting, waiting, waiting! When I was pregnant, I relished in this special treatment, but now as I am traveling with a 5 year old and a two year old, it is a blessing for sure!!
The special treatment doesn’t stop there. We fly Avianca - a Colombian airline that still gives its customers all the perks for free! Remember those days of air travel? Like a dream long faded away, Avianca still provides all the services at no extra charge. This means each one of our tickets comes with two free checked bags, two free carry-ons, free extra carry-ons (car seat, stroller), free hot meal, free alcohol. FREE alcohol! Every seat has a TV screen. There’s no better way to travel with children - and, did I mention I had free wine while in route to Bogota?! It’s wonderful to say the least.
On the way to Bogota, the attendants started meal service from the back toward the front skipping quite a few rows in between. I inquired about the process and was informed they feed all the kids first, then go back and do the adults. Come again?! Well, how thoughtful, how accommodating - to really everyone on board - keeping kids quiet, fed and taken care of first! It is the simple things airline companies can do that benefit everyone around, making the flight experience much more enjoyable for all.
If you have to fly into any big city in South America, I recommend Avianca for sure. On a random side note, if you’ve never seen Avianca flight attendants - you can spot them a mile away. Much like that scene from
Catch Me If You Can, when the flight attendants are walking down the corridor forming a line across… The Avianca crew seems to do the same! They wear these very regal-looking, scarlet red hats and capes that appear to be straight from the 1920s. It’s a fun photo op : )
2) Is bigger always better? One of my favorite things to do when I travel abroad is to visit the supermarkets. In most of the Latin American countries I have visited, the first very noticeable thing is the size of beverages, snacks, etc. All is a quarter to half size SMALLER than products sold here in the US. I find this interesting because I distinctly remember when I was kid how big product sizes were becoming. Remember when the BIG GULP cup came out?
Cigarette cartons come in what would be 1/2 cartons for the US; the XL size of a potato chip bag is no where near as big as the “family size” we are use to; and the largest soda you can buy is ONE liter. And so, it makes me wonder if the typical Latin family actually consumes less on a regular basis compared to US families. Is there a correlation between consumption & size of packaging?
3) Basic kitchen necessities depends on the culture! We rented a nice, little apartment in ‘tierra caliente’ for 5 days to take a little break from BOG. If you are reading this and you aren’t familiar with the climate in Colombia - it is all microclimates. This means it could be 60, cloudy, cool, & no humidity in Bogota, but take a little drive down the mountain range and just two hours away it’s sunny, very hot & humid. The latter describes 'tierra caliente.' In this furnished apartment in Anapoima, we had a kitchen with basic necessities. I took a picture of them because “basic needs” in Colombia was strikingly different from basic needs here in the US, I thought. I imagine if I rented a furnished apartment in the US, I would expect to find a can opener, a corkscrew, and coffee maker. This is what we had:
Do you know which one is used to make coffee? :)
The takeaway:
I love the fact my children get to be a part of two worlds. While it took me years before I could say I was “bilingual” - my girls were given this gift from birth. It’s amazing (and I don’t use that word often) to see them interact with their great-grandparents in Bogota. While I love being in Colombia, its culture, and its people; Bogota is a HUGE city that I would not want to live in permanently. Being there, even for just a few days, one realizes very quickly how hard it is to get around and get things done. Have a dentist appointment scheduled? Well, consider that your whole day eaten up! Over the course of our 3 week stay, we waited in line one hour in the taxi line at the train station; and easily spent hours
in a taxi trying to get to any given destination. The Transmilenio (above ground subway) is no different. Going from uptown to downtown still takes a solid 45 minutes to over an hour depending on time of day.
One day we decided to take the girls to see the new movie,
Inside Out (‘Intensamente’ en español). We chose the 3:30 matinee thinking it would be less crowded on that Wed afternoon. We were wrong. It’s Bogota, there’s millions of people! We waited in line forever, not sure if we could even get tickets, but ended up with the last few available. By the way, want to know what time the movies play and what’s showing? You still call the theater! Remember doing that?
Being in Bogota makes me realize how easy it is to get things done in the US. Many still pay their bills in person! For some, that’s the only way to do it and others simply don’t trust the online systems. My husband’s grandmother pays
all of her bills in person! Think about how much time it takes to arrive at each place vs. online or even by phone (which also doesn’t happen!) I think there is a trust in the mail system or online bill-pay that we have in the US that other countries simply do not. If you’re one to ponder quality of life and those happy indexes that come out each year, I would think spending countless hours simply trying to take care of business would eat away at your happy levels and increase your stress levels. Despite this, Colombians consistently rank in the top 10 (every time those reports come out) for being the happiest people on Earth. I can certainly attest to their outlook on life. As a whole, Colombians are very positive people and with that, I hope this post was mildly entertaining or slightly informative… now, find some Colombian friends & see for yourself what ‘zest for life’ is!
