Kate Cathey - Colombia--Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

eISBN: 978-1-85733-549-1

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Copyright 2011 Kuperard

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Culture Smart! is a registered trademark of Bravo Ltd

First published in Great Britain 2011
by Kuperard, an imprint of Bravo Ltd
59 Hutton Grove, London N12 8DS
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8446 2440 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8446 2441
www.culturesmart.co.uk
Inquiries: sales@kuperard.co.uk

Series Editor Geoffrey Chesler

Cover image: Wayuu woven bags on a market stall in Cartagena Dreamstime.com

The photographs on (bottom) are reproduced by permission of the author.

Images on the following pages reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: Louise Wolff

Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license: Taken by myself

v3.1

KATE CATHEY is a writer, cultural researcher, and traveler currently based in Bogot, Colombia. Born in the USA, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she studied Art History, and later graduated with a BA in World Arts and Cultures, concentration in Anthropology, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Since then, she has traveled extensively in Latin America, researching and writing about regional cultural and culinary traditions. She has lived in Mexico City, where she attended and wrote about small town fiestas, ferias, and festivals throughout the country, and studied indigenous gastronomy and ritual at the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico. In 2009 Kate moved to Colombia where she continues these pursuits. She also directs cultural travel programs and is a regular contributor to Bogots English language newspaper, The City Paper.

The Culture Smart! series is continuing to expand.
For further information and latest titles visit
www.culturesmart.co.uk

The publishers would like to thank CultureSmart!Consulting for its help in researching and developing the concept for this series.

CultureSmart!Consulting creates tailor-made seminars and consultancy programs to meet a wide range of corporate, public-sector, and individual needs. Whether delivering courses on multicultural team building in the USA, preparing Chinese engineers for a posting in Europe, training call-center staff in India, or raising the awareness of police forces to the needs of diverse ethnic communities, it provides essential, practical, and powerful skills worldwide to an increasingly international workforce.

For details, visit www.culturesmartconsulting.com

CultureSmart! Consulting and CultureSmart! guides have both contributed to and featured regularly in the weekly travel program Fast Track on BBC World TV.

People dont really know what to make of Colombia. In the collective imagination, Colombia is the unknownexotic, lawless, and dangerous. And while the illegal narcotics trade and an ongoing armed conflict have understandably contributed to its bad-boy image, things are changing, and there is much more to it than that.

This is a magical country, full of spectacular landscapes, exotic wildlife and rare ecosystems, succulent tropical fruits, salsa and cumbia music, and kind, fun-loving people. Its landscapes range from jagged Andean peaks, rolling green hills, tropical jungles, white sandy beaches, and thundering waterfalls, to fern forests filled with many unique plant and animal species. Isolated by its rugged topography and by years of violence, many parts of the country have been left untouched, preserving its natural beauty and rich biodiversity.

Colombia is a paradox. In some regions it rains more than 200 inches (5,000 mm) a year, and in others there are arid deserts. Its fertile lands produce much of the worlds coffee, tropical fruits, and bananas; yet the majority of Colombians do not enjoy the economic rewards. The major cities are modern, stylish, and cosmopolitan, but a five-minute drive into the countryside reveals a slower, more bucolic past.

As a result of the Spanish conquest, Colombias modern culture is rich and multiethnic, a synthesis of Spanish, indigenous, and African traditions, evident in the music, the food, and Barranquillas famous Carnaval. Yet, much of Colombian society ignores this diversity by favoring everything European. Colonization created a strict class system, dividing the people into the upper and lower classes with little chance of social mobility, although in recent years a strong middle class has emerged. As a result of this extreme social inequality, there has been strifesevere political divisions, lawlessness, and discontent that has manifested itself in long-lived insurgent and counter-insurgent movements and a cycle of astounding violence that has saturated four decades with the undeclared civil war that Colombians call the armed conflict.

Despite so much suffering, the Colombian people have shown a steady dignity. What has happened to them has made them stronger, never sullen or defeated. Still, they are animated, lighthearted, and ready to enjoy the moment. They have found strength in each other, in their families and closest friends.

Culture Smart! Colombia will help you understand the complex and often contradictory nature of the Colombians. It shows how the countrys rough geography and tumultuous history have shaped present-day values and attitudes. It describes social customs and traditions, examines life at home with family, and introduces you to some distinct and delicious culinary traditions. Youll learn how Colombians think about each other, their neighbors, and foreigners. There is advice on safe travel, vital information on how business is done, and how Colombians communicate with each other. Ultimately, Culture Smart! Colombia will share with you the intricacies of a culture that is both modern and steeped in tradition, international and regional, cosmopolitan and agrarian, very rich and very poor, and after decades of civil war is slowly emerging from the shadow of conflict and getting ready for the future.