I was reminded today that it has been a while since I’ve written. I’m so glad to hear that some people are actually reading and enjoying this journal. That was motivating and so I’ll keep updating this as regularly as I can. So much so, that I’m going to write TWO posts today. One will be the usual “here’s what we did this week” crap. That comes later… This one is different. Rathar than detail our day to day activities, I’d like to reflect on my last few weeks in Colombia and discuss a couple topics that stick in my head regarding this country.
Here are a few things I’d like to talk about:
How unimportant us American Travelers are to Colombians…
Being a foreigner/westerner doesn’t really mean much in Medellin. In some poor countries, an American may be seen as someone to look up to, or someone to be desipized, or a target for evil-doers, or a meal ticket for the local women. Not so much in Medellin. You are just another person. People here are extremely warm and hospitable. Everyone is nice to us, but not because we are foreigners, but just because that’s the way they are. They are not so desparately poor that they need us. At the same time, they don’t look down on us either. The political history between US and Colombia is good. There is no anti-american sentiment. The local economy is prospering partly because the US helped rid the city of drug dealers and opened up free trade opportunities for local exporters. The colombian Peso to US dollar exchange rate has cut almost in half this decade. We are no longer hot shit down here like we once might have been. There are enough rich locals here, that a “rich”(compared to them) foreigner doesn’t catch anybody’s attention. It’s really nice to not have all of the unwanted attention, yet at the same time humbling to see that you are nobody special even in this once desperate town. As the third world rises, by comparison our own status falls. This is a good thing for the world and a fact that Americans will have to learn and accept very soon.
Social, economic, and racial discrimination are separable unique types of discrimination that are at work differently in different cultures
There are a lot of things I have read or heard about countries I visit before I get there. Often, they didn’t quite make sense until I arrived. Only then, did I realize what people meant. Here is a good example. This one took me a while. I had asked someone from South America about racism here after reading some articles which I had misinterpreted. You see, the articles said most of the poor people were dark, and that there was much discrimination against the poor. Now, I took that to imply that there is discrimination against dark/black people. Sounded like the way blacks are seen in the US… Generally poor and often the brunt of racial prejudism. I was worried to raise my daughter in such an environment. After spending a month here, I thought the article was nuts. Everyone treated us extremely well regardless of wether they where white or dark themselves.
Only now do I realize the fallacy in my train of thought.
Now, in the US, certainly some racial discrimination exists, but it typically isn’t so blatant/obvious, even to those doing or receiving the discrimination. So, you may not notice it through casual observation in just a few days. Outward discrimination is taboo and even relatively benign comments regarding race make people uncomfortable.
Replace references to race in the paragraph above with “social class”. This will describe Colombia. You see, your social class is a very clear line here. There are 6 distinct social classes which correlate with, but are not completely defined by economic or racial status.
In the US, many people discriminate against certain races just because they don’t like that race for whatever reason. They have pre-conceived notions of how people of that race behave or live regardless of any socio-economic background of any particular member of the race. Your race defines you to others more than many other factors about you. If you are poor and black, you are discriminated against more because you are black than because you are poor. Here, your social and economic class (yes, these are 2 separate things also), are more important than your race. It is extremely taboo to refer to someones economic well being in a derogotory mannery. Just as nasty here to call someone “poor” as it would be at home to use a racially insensitive remark. There are euphamisms here for poor, similar to “economically challenged”. Yet, despite this apparent sensitivity, most people who are wealthy wouldn’t dream of marrying someone who is poor, regardless of race. It’s just not acceptable.
Now, if you are darker skinned living in Colombia, there’s a good chance you are poor, and vice versa. You may be discriminated against, but it is because you are poor, not because you are black. Get it ? But, once you are recognized as being of a higher social and economic level, the skin color doesn’t really matter much.
For example, when people see me wearing nice clothes, speaking english, and spending dollars, they are quite happy to socialize with me despite that I may be very dark skinned. There would be far more resistance to an inter-class marriage than an inter-racial one within the same economic class. I don’t think this is true in the US .I’m not a fan of discrimination of either type, but at least I’m not getting the brunt of it here.
I was having lunch with a guy from England last week. He’s in Becky’s spanish class and we met with him and his wife at a placed called Crepes y Waffles (which amazingly, isn’t open for breakfast, wtf?). Even in England, social class is a strong part of thier society. And he described the difference between social and economic class to me. Someone could lose all of thier money, but still speak with thier hoighty-toighty accent and it’s all good. Nobody can take that away from him, and the view of his worth will be judged by society more based on this than on his bank account.
He believes that Americans are more materialistic in general due to our lack of social class structure. The only way we have of differentiating status is financially, and the only way to communicate this is through material assets. Thus, people who feel the need to differentiate themselves socially must buy expensive cars and houses to accomplish this. Not that this doesn’t also happen in the UK, but he honestly felt this factor was a key driver in US materialism. If some arrogant prick was already in the “upper crust” social class, he wouldn’t feel the need to buy a $100K Beamer to show off his economic well being. He’s already better than you. I tried to argue that most people in the states weren’t really like that, but had to admit that the guy might have a point.
I just HAVE to describe how nice people are to you and how great service is down here.
It’s really mind-blowing. I just can’t say it enough. The aforementioned guy from England and I were discussing this topic too. Now, he admits that England is not the “warmest” place on Earth and claims to hear stories about how friendly Americans are. He apparently had a friend move to the US. The guy didn’t have a TV so one of his neighbors brought over a TV for him to borrow. That sounds overly nice, but not completely outragous. The Brit relayed this story to me as if he couldn’t even fathom someone doing this at home. Well, my experiences in Colombia have been on a similar scale of relative unfathomability. In 3 weeks, the following things have happened to me:
1. We ask a waitress for high chair. Waitress leaves restaurant and runs down the street. Borrows high-chair from a different restaurant and carries it back to us.
2. Couple we have known for less than 15 minutes, invites us for car ride. They take us on a several hour tour and treat us to dinner and drinks at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. Don’t let me pay for drinks, tip, nothing.
3. Same couple now come to our house, picks up our daughter, and takes her to school and back EVERY day.
4. Any time we send Zoe to school without a sweater/jacket, the school puts one on her before sending her home. We now have a collection of “Ms. Garaboto pre-school” sweatshirts. I need to tell them to stop doing this, that Colombia is WARM to us.
5. We are about to go out and hail a taxi in the rain. Doorman stops us and tells us to wait inside. He goes out in the pouring rain for 10 minutes until he finally gets us a cab.
6. Uncountable number of times… We are somewhere where we are having a little trouble communicating. Complete stranger approaches us and asks if they can help us to translate to spanish. We tell them what we want, and a few minutes later it’s all taken care of.
7. One night we want to go out and ask the secretary to reserve the babysitter. She’s unavailable that night. Our secretary says her mom will do it for free. We turn her down as that seems too much to ask.The apartment owners wife insists on staying at our house with the kids while we go out. We accept and have a great time and she takes great care of the kids for the night.
8. More than once… I’m stopping for a bite to eat somewhere. Complete stranger sees that I’m from out of town. Offers me to sit at his table. Asks me if everything is ok with my trip and if there’s anything I need. Common phrase… Please call me if you need anything while you are in Medellin.
9. We were at a street fair that had a haunted house. A bunch of older kids held Zoe by the hand and led her through the various lines and rides. When she got scared in the haunted house, they brought her out to us before going through the rest of the house themselves.
I could go on and on…. and this is just in the last 3 weeks. And, it’s not like I’m on vacation hanging out all the time. I’m working full time with 2 kids and get out occasionally. So, just about every time I go out, somebody does something that seems startlingly friendly/nice/over-the-top.
The typical traveler to Medellin
Ok, I knew that there was this subset of visitors that consist of single men who come here either to meet a young woman (or many young women for some). Now that I’m here, I’ve realized that this is a VERY HIGH percentage of the travelers here.
I’m talking more than 75% of tourists I’ve met in Medellin have been single men who are here primarily to meet women. When I enter a Taxi alone, they ask me if I’m looking for “chicas”. It’s really a shame, because we are really enjoying Colombia and would recommend it for a family vacation. There is still just too much of an impression of danger/violence here to attract to many vacationing families.
And, oh yeah, on the violence thing…
With all the warnings that travelers get, I started my trip really on guard. Money belts tightly strapped in to place. Valuables locked away in my hotel safe at all times. My head on a swivel whenever I walked around at night. Don’t trust anybody. It didn’t take long before I started to let my guard down. I’ve had a lot of fun experiences that wouldn’t have happened if I was overly precautious. I’m thankful nothing bad has happened to us yet.
For those of you who have asked me about the guns and cocaine, etc. I’ve rarely felt safer anywhere than I do here in Colombia. I feel safer walking the streets at night in my neighborhood here than I did in my neighborhood in San Diego. This city has had a past, though. Pablo Escobar was killed in Medellin in 1993. This was the beginning of the transformation of Medellin from a drug-lord run city with no other economic outlets to a city that is booming, clean, and safe. The drug lords can’t afford to operate thier business here because the local labor force has gotten too expensive now. So, they’ve moved out to the jungles.
The public transportation here is awesome with Metro’s going all over the city. It is both safe and affordable. The taxi’s have all been helpful and honest.
It really doesn’t feel any less safe than being at home, and my behaviors started have now gotten unchanged from how they are at home. We are going to Venezuela in a week, and I have asked Becky to get back on the “paranoid” end of the safety curve. Now, Venezuela may also be very safe after all, but we got to feel it out first. Fingers crossed that we will feel as safe and comfortable there as we have in Bolivia and Colombia.
