{"id":10326,"date":"2013-10-02T09:23:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T14:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=10326"},"modified":"2016-05-04T16:06:39","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T21:06:39","slug":"why-i-love-colombia-a-farewell-letter-by-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/10\/why-i-love-colombia-a-farewell-letter-by-paul\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I love Colombia – a Farewell Letter by Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

La versi\u00f3n de este post en castellano aqu\u00ed :\u00a0http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/10\/el-adios-de-un-ingles-que-ama-colombia\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Even as the rain dragged on in Bogota, leaving Colombia wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

I found out I\u2019d been offered a job\u00a0in Berlin via a Skype call. I tapped my pen on the desk. I slowly lowered my gaze down to my interview notes. I let out a long breath. I looked out at the mountains. Cried. Rarely in my life has such good news been met with such an overwhelming sadness<\/strong>. This, I now knew, was it. Now began the desperate scramble to cling to my last memories in Colombia. A book I didn\u2019t want to end.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"See<\/a>
It begins…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have spent three years of my life in Bogota, scribbling away about the beauty of my adopted country – about the \u201cspectacular\u201d landscapes and the \u201cmind-blowing\u201d parties (those being among my favourite over-used superlatives). And, yet, in all that time, I never really found a way to capture Colombia and the way that it captured me<\/strong>. Sure, the martian sands of La Guajira are seared into my memory; undoubtedly, I felt the warmth and kindness of locals<\/strong>; of course, I enjoyed countless nights drinking Aguardiente and Poker in salsa bars and, despite the numerous hangovers,\u00a0woke up hungry for more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>
Paul tries his hand at some cumbia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my attempt to clarify the magic it would be easy enough to say \u201cit\u2019s a combination of all those things\u201d, and that\u2019s true to an extent. But it\u2019s also not. These are things I\u2019ve found in numerous other countries in the world – in places that have also wriggled their way into my heart.<\/p>\n

The truth is that life in Colombia is slightly more complicated<\/strong>. It\u2019s not a simple case of falling irretrievably in love when it comes to Colombia. The country is frustrating. It can test you<\/strong>. People walk at a bafflingly slow pace (don\u2019t you have somewhere<\/em> to be?). Commitments are threadbare. Time is flexible, transport is crowded, noise is inescapable, your wits are essential and drivers are, frankly, dangerous. There are times in Colombia when you feel you\u2019ve had enough. That\u2019s it. No more<\/strong>. It\u2019s time to pack up. Head home. F@$##ng Transmilenio.<\/p>\n

Then something happens. Something simple.<\/p>\n

\"Friends<\/a>
Friends and Beer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sitting here in Berlin I recall drunken embraces over an Aguardiente shot<\/strong>, vallenato blaring with loving obnoxiousness; I think of a trip outside the city and those spectacular landscapes; I remember a woman in a tienda so polite that I stopped in my tracks<\/strong>; I look back at my girlfriend, dancing. These things could, without fail, snap me out of my malignant discontent (many a time it was my doorman\u2019s cheer as he let me past the gate: \u201cPooooollllllll!\u201d, he would shout, seemingly enthused by my foreign face, funny clothes and strange accent). These moments, despite all that frustration and exasperation I had felt, would remind me of that thing – that inexpressible thing<\/em> – that kept me there in Bogota.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>
Paul and Valentina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Colombia is a country that has witnessed the very depths of humanity. History in Colombia is defined by greed, corruption, murder, drugs and mass<\/em>-murder. There\u2019s no need here to re-tread the path that thousands have written about, and billions already know. Go read a book or watch a film and you\u2019ll discover the legacy this has left in popular imagination. What matters for me, and for all the foreigners that set foot on her soil, is that Colombia has emerged – continues to emerge – with a smile.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few people<\/em> I know have such a capacity to forgive, move on and look forward<\/strong> with such an infectious, toothy grin. This is almost an entire nation. In Colombia you\u2019ll find a whole population that, whatever happened in the past, still contains such boundless optimism and hope<\/strong> that even the most cynical among us are forced to succumb; a country so intense in its passions that even the most indifferent among us are caught a little \u00a0– uuush, que rico este tinto!<\/em><\/p>\n

A country so embracing that, eventually,\u00a0her people feel like your own family<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>
Paul and his brother travel to the Amazon in Colombia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s so much I’ll miss about Colombia (I’ve already started trying to convince my new employers at www.trip.me<\/a>\u00a0to send me back for an “inspection trip”). Everything from drinking a few Pokers in a Chapinero tienda<\/strong> to lazing on a beach in Tayrona<\/strong>. I’ll miss the team at See Colombia Travel<\/a>, who for the past 3 years have been like family to me (thanks for that, guys). I’ll miss playing football on Fridays; I’ll miss Wok; I’ll miss Usaquen on Sunday; I’ll miss spending 5 minutes asking “how are you” in various ways; I’ll miss people getting unfathomably excited about a piece of meat, some beans and some rice; I’ll miss the opportunities; I’ll miss the coffee; I’ll miss chatting to taxi drivers; I’ll miss salsa; I’ll miss ajiaco; I’ll miss getting my alcohol in a box; I’ll miss the hope and the cheer; I’ll miss the people. So thanks, Colombia, it’s been incredible<\/strong>. Life-changing. I’ll be back.<\/p>\n

We stumble out of the club at 3am. My girlfriend complains that her feet hurt from dancing too much. We consider where to go next and inevitably end up at someone\u2019s house, where we drink more rum, more beer, more aguardiente. And, among the murmur of our exhausted chatter, the strains of reggaeton from across the road, the patter of cardboard being folded and the trot of a tired horse\u2019s hoof, I have an underlying sense that, somehow, everyone is happy. Trying to be.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I\u2019ll always remember my dear home, Colombia.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Paul<\/a>
Paul in La Guajira<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Paul Fowler
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La versi\u00f3n de este post en castellano aqu\u00ed :\u00a0http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/10\/el-adios-de-un-ingles-que-ama-colombia\/ Even as the rain dragged on in Bogota, leaving Colombia wasn\u2019t easy. I found out I\u2019d been offered a job\u00a0in Berlin via a Skype call. I tapped my pen on the desk. I slowly lowered my gaze down to my interview notes. I let out a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":10600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[35,3,115,4,97,392,1632,459,73,77,76],"tags":[2910,356,2891],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I love Colombia - a Farewell Letter by Paul - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/10\/why-i-love-colombia-a-farewell-letter-by-paul\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why I love Colombia - a Farewell Letter by Paul\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"La versi\u00f3n de este post en castellano aqu\u00ed :\u00a0http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/10\/el-adios-de-un-ingles-que-ama-colombia\/ Even as the rain dragged on in Bogota, leaving Colombia wasn\u2019t easy. 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