Bogota: "The only risk is wanting to stay!"

Lets play a game. I say a word and you tell me the first three words that come to mind. Don't think about it, just shout out whatever pops into your mind:)

Bosnia....

ok.

Pakistan...

Interesting

Colombia...

and one more...

The US.

Last night at dinner, at the top of the Bogota hills, we played this game. German's niece, a Colombian 10-year-old said of Pakistan: Tanks, mustaches, and lots of people. How she knows about the preponderance of mustaches in Pakistan at 10 was a mystery. She explained, "I saw it on TV." German offered these three words for the US, "Hamburgers, french fries and coke!" For Bosnia, I offered, "Adriatic Coast, snowboarding, and Zeljanica."

I have asked myself this question each time I find myself in a new country. It stems from a desire to watch my understanding of a place evolve over time, changing from what the international press offers to a casual observer, through looking for which constellation of words continue to appear as I share this question with friends, and later, to what stands out as I transition from a visitor to someone who begins to belong to each place.

Before I arrived in Colombia, I found myself thinking. Three words: Shakira, Gariel Garcia Marquez and narcotrafficking.

My pre-Pakistan list included: Benazir, bearded men wearing shalwar protesting, and urdu poetry.

And pre-Bosnia I remember thinking: Ahhh....near Italy, genocide, and Olympics.

___________________________


Two weeks into this new life, I'll go with a new set of words for Colombia. Here they are:

Tranquilo. Feliz. Progresivo.

I moved to Bogota two weeks ago. And what strikes me about this
foreign land is how "laid back," "happy," and "progrssive" everyone seems.
This begs the question, who is everyone? So far, my everyone is a very
narrow margin of los ciudadanos. I interact with the Colombians
at the office and the Spanish teachers at school, the Bogotanos at the food
festivals and public concerts and the athletes in cyclovia, the gym,
and my yoga practice.

Okay, so why Tranquilo? This is partially because one of the standard
responses when I ask a question here is this, "tranquilo." I take this to
mean, don't worry, chill out, everything is fine. And there is a deep
sense that this is the case in Bogota.

The staff reminds me that they "work to live, not live to work." The collaboration in our economic assistance program is well managed and genuinely appreciated by our Colombian counterparts. And everyone goes home at five--there are happy hours to attend, kids to go home to, and bars to dance in.

The second wod is "happy". I am repeatedly told, after someone says,
"tranquilo," That we (Colombians) are some of the happiest people on
earth. And I can't find a reason, at least not at first glance, in Los
Rosales de Bogota, to disagree. The Colombians celebrated their 200th
anniversary this week with Grupo Niche giving a free open salsa concert in the park.

Without even trying, I went dancing four times this week, and heard 11 live bands. Seems pretty Feliz to me:)

Sometimes, I wonder if I should be suspicious of all this happiness,
start looking for its limits, or the famous dark side of Colombia, but
then - think. Nahhh, it will find me soon enough.

Third, the Colombians are progressive. This is best captured in their
famous "Cyclovia." (See the pictures on my FB site.) Imagine a town where every Sunday, the city blocks off 192 KM of roads so that up to 1 million people could ride, walk, jog, or rollerblade through town. The route is totally supported with fresh fruit stands, water stops, bike mechanics, and traffic guards. The only thing I have seen that even begins to resembles this is a race. But there is no marathon going on here, it's just a city that had the vision to make recreation central to what it means to be a Bogotano on the weekend. Progressive.

Okay this begs the question, "But, cmon, ure, tranquilo, feliz and progresivo. I get it. You are in Latin America. How about "dangerous"?

I can't deny, that the most common response I have always gotton, regardless of when I was moving to Bosnia, Pakistan or Colombia was, "Isn't that dangerous."

Hmmm...The country's answer to that is their tourism tag line. "The only risk is wanting to stay."

http://www.colombia.travel/en/international-tourist/colombia/tourism-campaign