Going local

1. English first
2. Español abajo


I have now reached the two-month mark of my stay here in Colombia. I though that by now, having no job and few responsibilities, I would be bored and eager to go out and do something…. But I am far from bored. Spending 100% of my time in this culture has slowly but surely brought out a new Ian…. a lazy Ian! Believe me - this is an apt culture (Colombia’s) and climate (Barranquilla’s) in which to take it easy.

Despite my lack of a job and Rochy’s prolonged ‘sabbatical’, we are quite content to take in the local culture and keep ourselves (kind of) busy sorting out things for our future in the UK.


Bizarre customs

A couple weeks back we celebrated the ‘night of candles’ (Noche de las velitas) to commemorate the Immaculate Conception. In this country of 46 million people, the majority are Catholics and this night was much-anticipated. People had told me it would be a grand, family-orientated celebration. My trepidation about knowing nothing almost of religion and being duly mocked in front of Rochy’s entire family was ill-founded…. The only thing religious we did was to take part in a procession at around 6am, having stayed up all night dancing and drinking!

Some of Rochy’s family had invited a live band to perform outside her uncle’s house. They played cumbia music - the characteristic and colourful local style which is associated with the Barranquilla Carnival, widely renowned as the world’s second biggest carnival (after Rio de Janeiro). Everyone brought their own drinks, UK-style, and all kind of local foods were served by the hosts. Cassava, cheese, chorizo, fried pork, chicken and cheese empanadas, and a meaty soup were all consumed. Just as well, as we needed to eat to soak up all the alcohol.

The local drink of choice for guys is Scotch whisky, which is regarded as the most sophisticated and upmarket drink for socialising, parties etc.. Being Scottish, I am expected to be some kind of whisky connoisseur, able to explain subtle differences between 15- and 20-year-old malts, and to indulge in lengthy conversations about the drink. Bluffing only gets you so far. The fact that I was drinking vodka along with Rochy and some her cousins led to looks of dismay and confusion. Why didn’t I drink whisky with the guys? What the hell was wrong with me?

For future reference- if you want to win points with your girlfriend’s male relatives in a macho culture, don’t drink vodka - drink whatever they’re having.

Later in the night I danced cumbia with Rochy and with some of her relatives. It is quite different from salsa, meringue and other well-known Latin dances. I felt quite self-conscious trying these new steps out, but it went ok. I think they were just amused at this foreigner trying to dance to a local beat!

I had been warned that Rochy’s cousins were going to throw corn flour over me at some point during the night. This is a local custom, which is apparently very popular during the carnival period in February. I don’t know where it comes from or what it signifies, but I did know they were coming for me with corn flour. So I came prepared. When the moment came, I got two of Rochy’s cousins as they covered me in flour. If you were in a party in the UK and someone did that to you, you might be a bit pissed-off. But here it is normal, or so they have led me to believe!



Aggressive footballers

A few weeks back I organised a 5-a-side game with some of Rochy’s cousins and friends. This was ostensibly a light-hearted family affair: a friendly. No, señor! They took it incredibly seriously. The stereotype of Latin American footballers is that they are skilful, tricky and also dirty. Certainly this typecast applies to Argentines and Uruguayans. Colombians seem to fall into this category too.

On my arrival, one guy asked me, disconcertingly, why I hadn’t brought shinpads….
People who were friends and family off the field underwent a rapid change. Tackles went flying in; obstructions and pushes abounded. There were subtle shoves and some none-too-subtle.

One guy, Andrés, was on the field only a couple minutes when he suffered a twisted ankle. A couple minutes later he was kicked in the toe, which was fractured as a result. Seriously, he played less than five minutes.

It was still fun and I am looking forward to the next game, for which I will be better prepared. Aggression aside, some of Rochy’s family are quite talented - one of her cousins was on the books of Junior, the local team who play in the Colombian Premier League. His older brother is quite overweight but very skilful.



Hasta pronto

We continue to eat all kinds of local food. The other day we tried shrimp cocktail, which was delicious. It was so simple - a mix of shrimp, crabmeat, shredded onions, fresh coriander, chilli sauce, ketchup, pepper and mayonnaise. The fish here is excellent - you don’t even need to add much on the way of marinade. You fry some hake, snapper, lebranche or mojarra; squeeze some lime juice and add some salt and pepper. Quality.

We have also been drinking a lot of juice - passionfruit, lulo, banana, orange, lemon and medlar (níspero), to name a few.

Are you reading this back in the UK or in Continental Europe? Maybe you wish you, too, were enjoying the tropics at this time of year? De malas!



Enseñándome sobre la vida colombiana

Otra cosa que me llama la atención de la cultura colombiana, y latina en general, es la actitud en cuanto a la salida, es decir la marcha, las copas y los restaurantes. Aquí los hombres pagan todo. No exagero, en serio, pagan todo. Cuando yo salía con Rochy en el Reino Unido, generalmente pagábamos mitad-mitad. Claro, siempre hay excepciones (a veces el novio invita y otras veces a la novia le nace invitar a su pareja). Sin embargo, la contemporánea cultura europea es una de paridad económica entre hombres y mujeres y creo que a muchas niñas no les gustaría mucho que el novio siempre les invitara. En cambio, en Colombia lo normal es que el hombre paga el taxi de ida, la entrada a la discoteca, las copas, el taxi de vuelta, y si la novia quiere picar algo al salir de la discoteca, eso también lo paga el novio! Hace poco yo estaba hablando con una prima de Rochy y ella me dijo que muchas veces cuando sale a la marcha no lleva dinero con ella, ni siquiera lleva dinero por si acaso. Es más, ella está soltera ahora - los que le pagan todo no son novios, sino amigos!

Al principio aquel aspecto de la cultura me pareció muy diferente y no supe si yo debía hacer lo mismo o no. Opté por seguir el ejemplo latino, y según dice Rochy, le gusta bastante así!



Una desconcertante costumbre

He notado que cuando entras en una tienda que vende productos lujosos, caros o importados, aquellos que trabajan allá no te dejan en paz. Por ejemplo, si te interesa comprar un perfume, obviamente querrás probarlo primero. No obstante, el momento que pisas el suelo de la tienda ya te están vigilando fijamente: después de preguntar como te pueden ayudar, te siguen por toda la tienda. Les dices que solo quieres echar un vistazo, que no te pueden ayudar más pero gracias. Sin embargo te siguen vigilando hasta que salgas de la tienda! Quizá les da miedo que vayas a robar algo de la tienda - yo no lo llego a entender. Eso no sucede sólo cuando se trata de productos como perfume sino también cuando entras en tiendas de zapatos o ropa. Casi no te dejan respirar!



Después de Colombia, la pared

Aunque no tenga un trabajo aquí (puede que yo trabaje de profesor en enero) lo estoy pasando muy bien en Barranquilla. Me agrada mucho poder conocer profundamente otra cultura. Creo que si no yo hablara español todavía me gustaría la experiencia de estar aquí, sin embargo no sería lo mismo. Pasar todo el tiempo con gente colombiana me permite entender mejor el meollo de la cultura de este país.

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