Haaaave you met Bogota?

If you're near my generation in age, when you think of Colombia you probably think of either Shakira or James Rodriguez. If you're any older you probably think of the drug cartels, cocaine, and violence, especially in Bogota. You also may think, "Colombia? That's, like, near the equator, right? Must be nice there this time of year." But while Rodriguez' face smiles from every billboard and your geographical prowess is truly something to behold, allow me to dispel three myths about where I've chosen to spend a year.

James Rodriguez, Colombian futbol star, wants to know more, too.

Myth 1: JJ went to Columbia

No, no. JJ went to Colombia. Columbia with a "u" is a United States outerwear and sportswear manufacturing and distribution company founded in 1938. Alternatively, if you're as much of a nerd as my brother (love you, dude) Columbia could be referring to Columbia Gear, an integrated supplier of custom gearing and power transmission products including internal and external precision spur and helical hears, splined gears and shafts, and good grief is this sentence as hard to read as it is to write? My personal favorite, though, was when I ambiguously told someone I was going to Colombia and they responded with, "Oh, really? What will you be studying out east?" While I forget with whom this conversation was with, I appreciate their polite naïveté in believing I was going to grad school at a private Ivy League research University in New York.  

Colombia with an “o” is a country at the northern tip of South America, bordered by five other countries as well as the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Once a well-traversed corridor between North and South America during ancient history, Colombia is now a constitutional republic that declared its independence from Spain in 1819 after 300 years of Spanish rule, give or take a few massacres. Colombia with an “o” is also the third largest Latin American country behind Brazil and Mexico.

Nitpicky? Yes. Assholery? A bit strong, but I can't disagree. Don't worry, this is the only time I'll point out the difference, since correcting those I care about when they demonstrate they care enough about me to ask about my time here would not be demonstrating how much I care about them. If you can figure your way through that sentence, feel free to pronounce it or spell it whichever way you please. Colombia, Columbia, tomato tomahto, I just thought there would be some that would want to know the difference.

Myth 2: Due to its proximity to the equator, Bogota is a tropical paradise.
Let me show you two weather reports for the next ten days:

Folks back home are familiar with the second report, as that's the weather for St. Joe over the next ten days. The first one is for Bogota over that time.

So, why the hell is it so cold here even though we're only 4 degrees north of the equator? I mean, in contrast, St. Joe is more than 45 degrees north of the same damn line! Sure, ocean effect causes some discrepancy, since Colombia borders the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and MN is severely more continental (thereby seeing colder winters and hotter summers). But, more importantly, where the elevation back home is barely above 1,000ft, Bogota rests in a highland plateau at almost 9,000ft. So while it will be 90 degrees all week in the rest of Colombia and St. Joe, all the wind into the capitol city has to rise over the mountains surrounding it, vastly cooling it. Tack on to that the rainy tropical climate typical of equatorial areas, and I'm left with chilly, wet mornings waiting for the sun to poke through the clouds. Sweaters are the norm here and shorts are unheard of unless you're being sporty, leaving me almost no opportunity to flaunt my gringo upper thighs!

All in all though, it is essentially MN fall year-round. And though the lack of deciduous trees do not lend Colombian hillsides to the same fiery landscapes as those in Collegeville, it's a small heartache compared to shivering through Minnesota winters that make Winterfell look like your Cancun condo.   

Myth 3: Mainly because of the drug trade, Colombia - and especially Bogota - is incredibly dangerous

Books and films have been written about this subject, so I’ll stick to an abridged version that will keep my mother’s heart from stopping.

First off, you might have heard of Pablo Escobar, known as the King of Cocaine. With his drug cartels he was able to have a near monopoly on the global coke trade by the late 80s. While seen as an enemy to U.S. and Colombian governments for bribing/killing law enforcement officials, he was popular with the people since he funded the construction of churches, hospitals, schools and sports complexes. It should also be noted that much of the demand for his product came from – you guessed it – good ole U. S. of A. I’m not suggesting his actions are our fault, especially the killings, but there are always two sides to a story. Either way, for those concerned, Escobar’s activity was mainly centered in the city of Medellin 500km northwest of Bogota. Also, since Escobar died in ’93, his and other competing cartels’ activity was diminished when the Colombian government cracked down (pun intended) and killed or arrested all cartel leaders.

Pablo Escobar

So let’s focus now on Bogota, since it indeed was once considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world. For Colombia, the 1950s was a decade of civil war between the Conservative and Liberal parties, known as La Violencia, which followed the assassination of popular liberal president Jorge Gaitan (1948). During these times, violence reigned supreme and more than 200,000 people were killed. Those killed were mostly peasants and laborers nearer to the edge of the city, away from government forces. After too long, the Conservative and Liberal parties were all like, Oh shit, we’re destroying ourselves, so they agreed to establish a bipartisan political system in which each party would take turns governing (late 50s).

Because it invested heavily in agriculture – the primary economy of Colombia – this system appeared to help, at least on paper. But there are two reasons why it did not:

1. The new system promoted industrial agriculture and provided subsidies for large-scale private farms. This caused many small-scale farms to go out of business. Couple that with the lingering violence in rural Bogota, and the result is a massive population increase towards the center of the city. In fact, in less than thirty years, the population of Bogota went from less than a million to more than 5 million residents, many considered unskilled workers. 

2. This wonderful new system also happened to strengthen the military enough to help suppress political reform and radical politics that might want a different form of government.

So, what do you get when you essentially force low-income, unskilled workers into the city center while refusing to take care of them politically? If you guessed more violence, you are correct!

Eventually – and let’s be honest, unsurprisingly – guerrilla and radical groups formed to combat the restrictive government. The most well-known group is probably FARC, or las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (which I trust I don’t need to translate). For decades these radicals fought big government through terrorism, kidnappings, and killings. However since their leader died in the late 90s, their power and influence have diminished.

Though many in the world know Bogota as the violent city that it indeed was for years, it has gotten safer. Fun fact: where the capitol city was once in the top 5 for murder rates, it now does not even crack the top 50, whereas Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans, and our own country’s capitol proudly put our stars and stripes in the top 40.

A lot of Bogota’s salvation came from politics in the form of firm but not tyrannical leadership, as well as movements that called upon the public’s help to reduce crime. Like any large city, most crime can be avoided by simply avoiding the wrong places at the wrong time without doing the wrong thing. Wrong thing here means showing off expensive camera, sorting through cash at an ATM, walking alone at night in bad areas etc. 

The mantra for this post is, "ColOmbia is cloudy, often rainy, and safer than it used to be. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go photograph downtown Bogotano nightlife and ask the street vendors if they have change for the biggest bills Colombia has.

JJ

Song in my head lately: oddly enough, I've been whistling the Santa Bear lullaby as I walk through our echo-friendly halls. I couldn't even find a video of it, but if you've ever seen it, it's when Santa Bear sings his mouse friend to sleep. Wrong season, random song. But hey, you can't choose what gets stuck in your head. 

Spanish word of the day: Ajiaco is one of the more popular Colombian dishes. It's a soup that has anything and everything in it, the most common combination being potatoes, chicken, rice, and vegetables. It's basically a watery MN hot dish, so count me in!