Hello again guys! Nick here. Since I am currently on a trip in Colombia for almost 4 months now, I thought I would just think about what it has been like so far. I had ideas before I started and some have changed I think.
People in Colombia barely use facemarks – When I left my home country early in January, I was using a face-mask every time I left the house. I remember this one time in Tobago where I was walking on the sidewalk and a police officer on duty conducting a road exercise looked at me and yelled, “You looking for a ticket or what? put on ‘yuh’ mask. I was absolutely confused as to why but I followed the instruction given to avoid the stress of a power driven man in a uniform. If you want you can take this as an example but I feel like the people at home just allow the government to control them. Anyway, since that experience, I have not left the house without a mask on. I even remember being upset with people when they did not have it on inside cars. It really was not about the mask really but the fact that I do my best to not have interactions with authority. Imagine being in an atmosphere and then arriving in a place where people really seem not to care. It is refreshing because it appears so far that in the cities, people respect other’s space and opinions. So far in 4 months, only one mall security guard kindly asked me to wear one to which I responded, “I do not have one” and kept walking. So yeah. I thought that this change was interesting and worth putting down on this list.
Do you think there is still a need for face-masks?
There are surprisingly a lot of tourists – You are leaving home during these times? Things are hard. Why don’t you just go back and stay with your mom? Are you sure you know what you are doing? I made it a point to only tell certain people when I was leaving and where to because of this line of questioning. It is almost as if they want you to be afraid. It may be a negative way to look at this but I wonder many times about whether these people are jealous of the fact that I was changing my surroundings or if they were truly concerned about my well-being. So far in Colombia, I have moved quite a bit. On busses mostly and in cars. The hostel and hotel industry is also expanding and geared toward recieving the world so I have to say that I am not only surprised by the amount of tourists here, but also that during my conversations with them, I realise we mostly have the same story. People were and I am sure still are very uneasy at home. Personally, I get anxiety when I cannot do something that should be simple and when the borders were closed I was simply claustrophobic. It is nice that when I finally escaped, I did not find myself lonely. More relief that I was not the only one. I am still pleasantly surprised that people from all over the world are connecting and speaking about what has been happening and still yet have been allowing themselves to break the mould and be more free and happy.
Are there many tourists in your city?
Constantly reminded that the media is not our reality – I left this one last because I feel like it gives me the biggest emotional response on this 3 part list. I don’t know which life is a better one. A life where you take the time to inform yourself by reading, travelling and speaking to others? Or is a life of ignorance the thing? I mean. We have the saying, “Ignorance is bliss” for a reason right? It is a valid question and if I am asking it in this moment, it’s because I am not the only one who contemplates on this. Today I connect with the question more because on a day to day basis, I get this feeling of being lied to. Manipulated. I am acutely aware of this sensation because I got burned when I thought that everyone was great. I really don’t have many negative things to say about Colombia. The people are absolutely wonderful, the food is great, life is affordable and there are too many things to do in one lifetime. Now I do not claim to be an expert in Colombian history nor do I speak for their people. I am only here for almost 4 months and only just scratching the surface but I have seen a thing or two so far. To cut it shorter than what this article can possibly be, and to clarify my position a little, I want to just state that the majority of people as are tainted by what they read online or what they hear on a daily on the radio or other people. As a traveller, you can rest assured that as long as you keep your head up and don’t show off, you will have just a magical time in this place. I understand why Colombia has such infamy. More times than not, the locals will tell you that they have a deep rooted shame and regret about what happened during the narco era. I think it is time for people to give up those old truths and move on. Come here and experience it for yourself.
I know that this is just another article on the internet and all but if you take away anything from this is that things don’t always work out how you expect them to. I really am happy being here and have a lot to get off my chest. If you have an idea or something you wish for me to answer about Colombia, let me know in the comments box below . Thanks for reading and tell me what you thought. Hopefully I can organise my ideas more over time and give you guys a great experience here at Klass.Media . Look out for another piece of content soon.