A Few Insights Into The Colombian Culture

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Park and planetarium near Universidad metro station

This is truly my first time traveling outside of the United States, so I’m noticing quite a few things about Colombian culture that are different to me. These things are definitely not bad, and mostly entertaining.

The most fun, definitely, is: Most drinks are sold in bags.

You can find water, juice, and milk sold in bags.  Actually, I haven’t found milk sold any other way.  Other things like mustard, mayonnaise, and jam are sold in paper containers with twist off lids.  Kind of like the material juice boxes are made of.

Most people around here don’t wear wedding bands.

I complained about this once to another gringo, and he made fun of me because the only reason I didn’t like it is because I didn’t know who I could hit on.  (He was right.)  I was also told that there is no such thing as a single Colombian woman.  Meaning that most women find their husband/boyfriend while in school.  I have yet to have much experience with any of this, but I will say that the two Colombian girls that I know are definitely single.

The guys are not that bad, and the women aren’t that hot.

I was told by several guys that I was going to be at a disadvantage in Colombia, because there are so many beautiful women, and there aren’t any hot guys.  Honestly, I was expecting to see a bunch of “12′s” (on a scale of 1-10 of hotness) when it came to women.  There are definitely a lot more “8′s” and “9′s” than in the US, but few of the women are tipping the scales.  The average attractiveness for men seems very similar to those in the US, other than most of the men are a bit shorter.

The people here are really nice.

The taxi drivers have almost always been great to me.  Most even help me to learn a little Spanish.  (Big Tip:  If you don’t speak Spanish, have the address of where you want to go written down!  Whether you’re taking a taxi, a bus, or the Metro, you will always be grateful you have it.)

The people here are amazingly nice.

The best example was when I was going to meet someone at 8pm.  He told me to take a bus, and gave me generally crappy directions, but I knew the area of town alright, and I figured I wouldn’t have a problem.  I ended up at the end of the line with no one that could speak English, no number to call, and no actual address.  Everyone at the bus station tried to help me.  One guy finally called his daughter that spoke English, and she came with her boyfriend to help me out.  They figured out where they thought I was supposed to go and then drove me around until everything was settled.  The only thing they would let me get them was a beer.