Thursday night, sleepless eyes, time on hands.
Midday naps are very controversial. Yes you feel rested and recharged, but falling asleep at regular hours might not happen. In one of these days a muse visited me and inspired to share couple thoughts about Colombian culture, that I’ve found interesting. Entonces after living a month in Colombia, I’ve clustered enough information for a small article about things that, at first seemed strange to me, but now completely normal. I call them Colombian cultural quirks. Granted, that truly understand one’s culture requires spending years within the environment (so called cultural relativism in anthropological world), so my goal is to outline my personal observations. Vamonos!
Western perception of time
After my first week in the country, I’ve slowly started noticing that Colombians have their own understanding of time. I’ve read about Latin American countries’ “time sensitivity” before, but never had opportunity to experience it on my own. So what do I mean by it? It is known fact, that Latinos have their own perception of “being on time” or famous mañana (this is an amazing research on this topic, done by University of Maimi Law School).
Generally speaking about the subject (from westerner prospective) we are always in constant struggle with something, we have either in abundance or in dire need – the time. Each person has experienced the fluidity of time: one thing is to go to DMV office spending an eternity there and another pondering what had happen to the weekend on Monday morning at work. My point is “how long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you are on” (Zall’s Second Law). It either works against or for you. After living and working in the USA for a while now, I’ve noticed that Western societies (in general) value time the most. Being late more than 15 minutes, sometimes might have pretty complex, if not irreversible, consequences.
But not in Colombia.
Latin American perception of time
People here have all the time in the world. Example – in the USA, after a work day people rush to their homes not wasting a single minute, in Bogota working day is not over without a good half hour talk with colleagues. Being late is rather a norm – to come to university class one hour later is nothing to fret about. A simple question for direction can involve unexpected and elaborated 10 minutes answer. Colombians always have time for a good conversation and sometimes it feels like this is all what they are doing. Although on the other side of the coin, I feel like this emphasizes more on a person and relationship, rather than typical automatic replies. These conversations seem to be more genuine and with actual interest in interlocutor compare to so infamous American “how are you?” greetings and phony interests in your day.
Personal space
Another Colombian cultural quirk that caught me off guard is the limits of the personal space. I’ve noticed that this distance is much shorter than in the USA. People lean to each other talking, sit very close and dance in very sensual manners (think of bachata, merengue, etc). Not mentioning that every greeting/farewell accompanied with a quick kiss (or rather touch) on the cheek. I remember my first awkward goodbye – half raised hand and then stiff body incline to kiss a woman (family friend, which even made it weirder), that I met an hour ago. Although, unlike in Argentina, Colombian men thankfully don’t kiss in saying adieu.
Munching
On my second week, I’ve noticed that people here love to munch. Chips, Cheetos, popcorn and hundreds of other snacks all day long. The city filled with street vendors, little candy stores, and kiosks that specialize on refreshments. Coming from health-conscience California, I was surprised to learn that soda is preferred type of the drink, despite that Bogota has considerably clean sources of tap water. Although nowadays this trend is changing towards healthier choices. Interesting observation – water in the cup typically is not served at restaurants, it is sold in bottles. Waiters take their sweet time, but by now I don’t get irritated anymore, keeping in mind the different time flow.
There are many more Colombian cultural quirks just like in any other country (read my post on American culture). Exactly these unique cultural features that make the traveling experience fun. Each person, that I’ve met here was warmhearted, sincere, polite, helpful, and open for a good conversation. And this is – the biggest highlight of my travel, people’s friendliness changes some stereotypes of the country and truly makes a foreigner feel welcomed. Hasta Pronto!