While my experience of Colombia is very limited, here are a few preliminary cultural observations: things I have found interesting, noticed in contrast to my time in Mexico, or that give a little window into the details of daily life in Colombia.
1. Hospitality: Paisas (people from Medellín) are very friendly toward foreigners. Everyone I've encountered so far has been extremely helpful and welcoming.
2. Punctuality: At least in the seminary community, punctuality is highly prized. This could be part of the academic/work environment, but even for a social gathering yesterday, other Colombians were wondering what was happening when someone was five minutes late. This is rather different from my experience in Mexico, to say the least. I probably would have shown up ten minutes late in Mexico, and then waited for everyone else...
3. Efficiency of packaging: One thing I love about Colombian supermarkets is how efficiently they package their products. Milk, yogurt, and condiments often come in plastic bag type containers, with little dispenser spouts in the case of condiments. In the case of milk, you have a dedicated milk pitcher in the fridge. Prices are considerably lower (maybe 15-35% cheaper?) for products packaged this way compared to more durable plastic containers or boxed, shelf-stable milk. I believe I've also seen bagged rather than bottled water, just as I encountered in Honduras. Works great, as long as you drink it all at once...
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| Mustard, mayo, ketchup, yogurt, and milk in typically efficient packaging. |
4. Directness: Colombians on the whole seem to communicate more directly than Mexicans. Sometimes I have to remind myself to get to the point in answering a question, instead of worrying about hedging my answer.
5. Humor: Colombians are always cracking subtle jokes, but I still don't get them most of the time.
6. Puentes: A three-day weekend here (as in Mexico) is called a "puente," meaning "bridge," since it extends your weekend. This Monday is a day off of work, but no one I've asked seems to know why or what's being celebrated. But they'll happily take the time off...
7. Traffic: Puentes create miserable traffic conditions, especially trying to get from downtown back uphill to the seminary, since it goes by one of the main roads out of the city. Pretty much getting back uphill to the seminary around rush hour is always a challenge. I've learned not to do much shopping around then because taxi drivers don't think it's worthwhile to battle the traffic and you get stuck waiting for quite a while.
8. Motorcycles: They're everywhere, and they often beat the worst of the traffic problems. Legally, two men cannot ride a motorcycle together because at the peak of the drug-related violence there were many armed crimes committed by motorcycle passengers. But a man and woman can go together as long as the woman is the passenger.
9. Bureaucracy: There's a lot of government involvement in life here. For example, professors must register their research projects with the government that are done as part of their work hours. Yet, I have been impressed at the relative efficiency of the paperwork both for applying for my foreigner ID card here and my visa at the consulate in the US. They're sticklers on the requirements, but if you have everything it seems to go very smoothly compared to what I've seen in Peru, for instance.
10. Money: Roughly speaking, there are a little under 2,000 pesos to the dollar. I'm still getting used to prices in the hundreds of thousands or millions of pesos.
11. Lack of spicy food: Colombian food is not spicy at all. In a few culture shock moments I've had serious cravings for Mexican food.
12. -ico endings (for my Spanish-speaking readers): When Colombians want to add a diminutive ending to a word, they use "-ico" if the letter before the ending is "t." So, if they want to say "wait a few minutes" they say "espere unos minuticos" rather than "minutitos." Or they use "ratico" instead of "ratito." I was confused at first, but now I talk this way too...
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