10 Things I Now Know About Colombia

1) You can buy pollo-flavored Margarita chips. Amazingly (and terrifyingly), they taste like chicken.

2) They sell Smirnoff Ice in a can for $1.40…I explained ice-ing to a Colombian and he thought it was hilarious and great

3) Jaywalking is a way of life…the existence of crosswalks is doubtful most times

4) The real reason behind always wearing boots or close-toed shoes in Bogota: walking on the “sidewalks” is like all-terrain hiking (#UNCpreparedmewell)

5) Colombians find it completely acceptable to stare. Even if you catch them at it and look at them, they won’t look away

6) Age is nothing but a number

7) The extent of Colombian hospitality, kindness, and generosity is endless. Upon meeting you, people will give you their phone number, address, email, and offer you a place to stay

8) Tell any Colombian male that you’re here for a year and they will most definitely inform you that you need to find a Colombian lover....and then not-so-subtly hint that they should be your lover

9) Caleños (people from Cali) love 2 things: enjoying life and salsa dancing

10) Colombia has 150 types of fruits and all the fruits come in different types…I will probably end up drinking more juice than water. My two new favorites: lulo and guanábana

ARRIVAL

My Fulbright orientation in Colombia officially began July 24th, but I arrived the night of July 19^th with my friend, Meg Frost, a fellow Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistant). We decided to come early in order to celebrate Colombian Independence Day, which was July 20^th.

In typical Emma style, Meg and I were late to board the plane in Miami—we were the last ones to get on and even had our names called on the loud speakers (we prioritized phone calls, what can we say). Shortly after I found my seat on the plane, a flight attendant came up and asked if I was Emma Din. I thought I was in trouble, but it turns out I was being given a free pass to anything on the plane :) Meg’s Colombian friend (Brian) had told his mom (who works for American Airlines) our flight information, and she had asked her friend on our flight to “take care of us.” What did this translate into: extra snacks, free white wine (put me to sleep every time), hilarious conversation, and consistent check-ups to make sure I was perfectly happy.

Second best part of the flight: Wonderfully Ridiculous Plane Friends. I sat next to Tony, a 52-year-old military contractor from the U.S. who had traveled all around the world through his job. Hearing about his experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, Europe, and Colombia were phenomenal. Talk about being engaged in conversation. Next to Meg was Alfredo, a 50-year-old Venezuelan petrol man. His favorite topic: politics. He gave his opinion on all the recent U.S. presidents, Colombian presidents, and Venezuelan presidents. He is conservative and owns 2 homes in Venezuela and 2 in Colombia…needless to say, he wasn’t a big fan of Chavez. Thanks to Alfredo, Meg and I landed an invitation to a polo match, an invitation to Uribe’s finca (country house-type farm) outside Medellin, and an invitation to utilize his personal driver.

Best Flight Ever.

On the road again

Tuesday the 16th, Tom and I hit the road again. Before getting on the bus to Mar del Plata, we went to La Boca because I refused to leave Buenos Aires without seeing it. La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of Buenos Aires, with a "strong European flavor" since many of its early settlers were from the Italian city of Genoa. La Boca is known throughout the sporting world as the home of Boca Juniors, one of the world's top soccer clubs. The stadium looks crazy! It's a gigantic stadium that's yellow and blue and a ver different architectural style than any stadium I've seen. I really wanted to see the colorful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tangoa artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. It was the perfect last thing to do in B.A.

At 2:30 pm, we boarded the bus and headed on our 4.5 hour journey to Mar del Plata, on the Atlantic Coast of Argentina. Stop #2 here we come. Bye, bye, Buenos Aires!

Whirlwind of Fun, part 3

Sunday was the perfect end to this FABULOUS weekend! We didn't get up till one pm and then we met up with Chris and Cassandra and headed to the San Telmo market. This market is one of those must-do things in B.A. It goes on and on for blocks and is just a huge open-air market. You can find just about anything and all your senses are accosted. I LOVED it! I'm a sucker for jewelry, and I found so much for sooooo cheap! It was great! I got 3 pairs of homemade earrings for 22 pesos ($6) total. Such a deal! haha and I also got a caricature done of me. It's really funny! Of course my cheeks are GIGANTIC!! I expected that one. The artist totally channeled me though and made me a tango dancer on stage :D It's convenient that Jocelyn is flying back to the States cause I can give her the stuff I bought that I don't want to lug around S. America with me.

After the market and a great lunch, that evening we went to a salsa club in Belgrano...died and went to heaven :D I've decided that when I get back to Chapel Hill in the Fall I really want to find a cool salsa place. Tango can't even touch how much fun salsa is. We danced for 2 hours. The first hour and a half was lessons, and the instructor was great. She was so energetic and full of life and excitement, it just rubbed off on you. Tomtom made me smile and laugh so much. It's amusing (in a good way) to watch him salsa :D He's got all the steps down, but he just looks so robotic. I'm trying to get him to flow. Trying to get him to feel the salsa style, but we both just end up laughing cause he doesn't seem to believe he has hips to use. I have faith in Tomtom though. According to Jocelyn, it's super comedic to watch us as I try and teach him to "flow"- I don't doubt her.

Whirlwind of Fun, part 2

When we got back from Colonia, we showered and got dressed and then headed out to La Faina, which is supposedly one of the nicest hotels in all of South America- definitely the nicest one in Argentina. Tom's uncle is friends with the owner, so we got VIP access and treatment at the hotel. The owner was out of town, so we were shown around and set up by the right-hand-man, Juan. The best way to describe Juan is that he was the equivalent of a George Clooney in Buenos Aires. Juan allowed us to pick which of the really nice hotel restaurants we wanted, so we picked the lounge-bar/restaurant that had a younger crowd and a live band setting up. I've never felt so VIP before! Juan made an older wealthy couple move from their table (the best in the place), so that we could sit there. We got a REALLY nice bottle of champagne given to us compliments of the owner. When our waiter took some time to take our dinner order (not that it'd really been that long) Juan reprimanded the waiter and instructed him to wait on us at the ready. While our food was being cooked, Juan gave us a tour of the hotel and showed us the THREE-STORY apartments the SUPER wealthy people who live in the hotel stay in. I can't even conceive having the amount of money that would require. To stay in the cheapest room for one night is $700 and there were $2000 bottles of wine on the menu. REALLY!!

Dinner was AMAZING, to say the least, and the band was unbelievable. Literally. The lead singer of the band was a girl with an Amy Winehouse-esque voice in a bandeau top, short black skirt, beehive-style red turban, and yellow sunglasses. As she sang, she jumped on the couches and tables and danced everywhere. It was definitely an engaging performance. She got everyone up and dancing. The whole evening, I felt like I was living a Gossip Girls episode. It was very clear that everyone in the room was the uppercrust of B.A.- the socialites- and that everything the other women in the room were wearing were designer and bought from an expensive boutique. Can we say I felt underdressed?! It was a blast though cause everyone knew we were catered by Juan, so they thought we MUST be important people, and the place was just hands-down fun. Going back in after the hotel tour, Juan ushered us through the line of people waiting to get in. We just cut through and had the red velvet rope lifted up for us :D Can I also mention that there was a 500 peso cover (= $150) to get it. Yeah, we didn't pay anything. Surreal night! Guess I know now more what it's like to live the life of the rich and famous.

Little did we know, Juan is super legit. The next day, Maggie informed us that Juan is the big man of B.A. Everyone knows him and he runs the nightlife; kind of like a Paris Hilton, but without all the negatives. A mix of Paris and George Clooney. He comes from old money and is in his 30's and attractive, so he's always being photographed by the tabloids. She said she wouldn't have been surprised if there had been a picture of Juan and us on the cover of some magazine that day. haha now THAT would have been funny!

Colonia

Here's a video of the motorcade campaigning. Blast to the Past!