Our bodies must have been telling us we were pooped because we
didn't wake up the next morning until 10am! Maybe that's what comes with
age - a better antenna to receive signals from what your body is trying to
convey through symptoms.
One of our goals in Colombia was to visit some universities that
have a Masters program in Law. We had addressed this desire to our
teacher John who highly recommended Universidad de Antioquía (referred to by
locals as U de A and pronounced "oo deh ah") because that was where
John was going to grad school. In fact, another teacher who taught at
Toucan had graduated from there and would be our teacher the following
week. Michael and I made plans to visit the campus.
Napkins
Thank goodness we decided it that morning because the university
was going to close that afternoon in anticipation for the Holy Week preceding
Easter. If we didn't get there by 3pm that day, we would never have a
chance to look around! We packed our camera and ... got hungry. We
thought we could get some fast food, but we made the mistake of ordering at a
Colombian fast food chain.
Kokoriko is like El Pollo Loco in the States. They serve
chicken. I think the name is supposed to be what a rooster sounds like to
a Latino. Michael's order took forever to arrive. I had ordered a
salad because I had been feeling full from all our drinking and eating, but
Michael was getting hungry waiting for his food that he was
"nibbling" too much of mine! Finally his food came and
interestingly they served him clear plastic gloves with his utensils. I
noticed other patrons using the gloves with their chicken and realized they
just didn't want to get their hands all greasy by touching their food.
Michael didn't care. I wouldn't have cared either and would have enjoyed
licking my fingers clean, gross American that I am. Eating to me is a
joyous celebration and not just a method of sustenance. I do not merely
insert it into my mouth to consume the calories needed to get on with my
day. I savor the spices, juices and textures. Plus I think it's
more embarrassing to wear the gloves than to lick my fingers. I'm a North American Neanderthal!
Another reason I think why the gloves are given is because the
napkins available at 99% of Colombian restaurants are the size of your palm and
are the thickness and dissolvability of a Kleenex. If you go to a BBQ
restaurant in the States, you will get amply-sized napkins that you can use to
wipe your fingers if licking them is not your thing. Heck, sometimes you
even get a wet napkin! Remember KFC back in the day - back when you could
read on the store sign that K stood for Kentucky? They knew you would be
handling your food so they made sure you continue eating without the other food
sliding off your greasy hands. Heck if you go to any chain restaurant in
America, you'll get a napkin you can put on your lap and cover both thighs from
falling grilled meat. Not so in Colombia. It is as if no single
paper product distributor offers napkins larger than a 4x6 index card. So
if you're a patron of a grill, I guess you might want the gloves.
Now that I think about it, maybe I am a slob of an American who, if
she ate more daintily, might not have particles falling all over my lap as I
smear my face with delicious food, and thus not need a gigantic napkin.
U de A
Ok, that was not my scholarly discourse as suggested by the
title. Our real pursuit for the day was to get to the university.
After eating, we successfully hailed a cab via Uber. He drove as nicely
and as quickly as the taxi driver, but he also offered us water which we
politely refused. When we approached the university gate, he asked how
close we wanted to get to the gate because we had an option to get out sooner
and use the pedestrian skywalk to get to the university. We chose the
latter option and wanted to tip the driver for giving us such helpful
advice. He politely refused us and claimed that Uber doesn't let the
drivers accept any money. Having our payment taken care of electronically
was a dream! We basically just popped into a car and popped out a few
minutes later. Gone are the days of fumbling for bills and figuring out
how much to add for tip! We were instantly fans of Uber.
Atop the skywalk, we had a great view of the Colombian street. It
reminded me of what I had seen in Manila when I was younger - except without
all the pungent sewer odor wafting through the air.
At the gate of the university, a guard asked us for our passports
for identification. I guess it was obvious we were not Colombian.
He looked at them more as a form of due diligence, but not with any serious
scrutiny. He let us in and we braced ourselves to absorb a typical
Colombian college culture.
In truth, we couldn't have experienced the true Colombian
collegiate crowd on a Saturday before Holy Week. There were some
students, but just a scant few. The first quad we encountered had a few
students kicking a soccer ball, some pairs discussing whatever, and vendors
selling knick knacks, edibles and of all things, pirated movies.
Adorning the walls of both the landscape and the buildings was
graffiti, which is a celebrated form of art here in Colombia. There are
tours highlighting different murals! It's not looked down upon as it is
in America. The liberal colleges of Berkeley did exhibit some graffiti
back in my day, but it was haphazard.
Another outstanding feature in the landscape was a giant statue
atop which stood two nekkid bodies of a man and a woman in flight and seemingly
praising their own suns. What is it with universities in former Spanish
colonies that must have a gigantic naked human that symbolizes the beacon of
knowledge. All the campuses of the Universities of the Philippines have a
giant naked man with his arms spread toward the sky, exposing all his
muscles. I wonder if a naked man or woman statue flashes the institutions of higher learning in Spain.
must ... reach ... sun ...
The first building we checked out was the main
library, an impressive building whose architect was obviously in love with
concrete, much like the buildings in Berkeley.
The people of Colombia are themselves in love with the Internet
and UdeA facilitates this obsession. Within the library are computers and
outside the ground floor entrance are numerous kiosks providing the same access
to the world wide web. If you stray too far from the library or from any
wall for that matter, do not fret too much. The university provides
dangling electric cords to which you can connect your laptop or phone
charger. I don't know if there was a campus-wide wi-fi, but I wouldn't
have been surprised.
must ... reach .... electricity ....
Wandering through the halls, we found a caged microwave.
UdeA graciously provided some cooking methods but couldn't quite trust the
students to share it on campus without running off with it entirely.
Behold, the
bounty of Colombia!
We finally reached the law building and it was not quite as I had
imagined. I had expected a very sterile environment, but found one as
lively as an art school hallway. Michael didn't care for it.
I thought it was cool, but I wasn't the one who was going to walk these halls
everyday. I would give Michael 1 week to get so sick of the grafitti that
he whitewashes the whole works of it himself in the cover of night.
Despite the excitement of going back to school, Michael was not
impressed with UdeA in general. He said he felt as if he were going to
school in a jungle. I thought it quite lovely to have tropical flora soften all
the concrete and brick! In tribute to the indigenous peoples, their
statues (or replicas thereof) dotted various lawns. Bamboo groves
bordered some areas. But again, it is not I who will enjoy such
scenery.
It's like a
well-groomed Amazon!
"Don't
mind me, students."
We left UdeA satisfied with the knowledge of what it could
offer. The cloud of mystery was less dense and we could imagine Michael
getting his masters in Colombia, if not at UdeA. "Knowing is half
the battle," says our childhood hero G.I. Joe.
Seeing that the area was not dangerous, we felt brave to forego
Uber and try our luck on the metro once again. On the way to the station,
I saw two beautiful museums of science! If Michael found UdeA the best
university for him, the kids and I would certainly deal well with
Medellin. I imagined the our going on field trips to these
museums and the nearby botanical garden and then picking up Michael before we
all headed home on the metro. Ahh ... life can be so idyllic in the most
foreign of places.
Essential Shopping
Our next stop was Exito! The long-awaited visit to the
Colombian Walmart was finally available to us as we exited the metro. I
was brimming with excitement that I could finally have mousse and a
hairclip. I didn't know what Michael was thinking except that he did not
want to peruse the entire store's aisles like I did. My search for floss
was going to have to be leisurely another day.
Food court within the store
Distracting my search for toiletries were well-poised and
well-coifed women standing around in the aisles. As I looked for floss, a
woman in a white dress identical-dressed to that of the four women next to her
handed me a tiny tube of Colgate toothpaste. This tube was even skinnier
than the trial size I had paid $1USD for, but I took it gladly to cross off
another item on my list. I eventually noticed more armies of women
distributing free samples of other products and fondly remembered my past
jaunts through Sam's Club and Costco that had similar advertisement
techniques. Exito was the Colombian lovechild of a Walmart and Costco
affair.
American toothpaste in Colombia costs $2.80,
only slightly cheaper than buying the same single tube in the States.
Even American vitamins are available here!
They really cater to kids in
Colombia. Even Max can get
gender-appropriate sundries
We sadly discovered that our search for toiletries was wrought
with irony. The one aftershave balm offered was from an American brand
(thus expensive), and it sadly was too large to be acceptable to carry onto a
plane. We would be flying to Cartagena in 6 days. Could we last
without our essentials for that long? Or should we pay the hefty price of
comfort now only to have our balms, salves, and foams later confiscated for the
security of Colombia's skies? The dream of Colombia's cheap wares was
shattered with the reality of poor selection! Ah, the dilemma. Michael took a chance on the balm and I forsake the luxury of mousse. We would later find out who made the better decision.
In a sea of floss, there are only two tapes available, and they're American.
I had hoped that there would be Colombian versions of the things
we typically buy so that we could have a cheaper alternative. But there are just comforts that the
Colombians forego - like floss tape and a soothing after shave balm. I have gotten used to the tape style because I find it easier to wedge in between my crowded teeth. Maybe it's a luxury because we found only two floss tape options in a sea of floss thread. It may seem trivial to those who can readily buy their preferred floss at stores across America - and to be sure I would have agreed with the triviality - but when faced with its absence, floss tape can be the most victorious find imaginable.
It was at this time too that I appreciated
the regulations in America that govern if something is truly organic or
not. I did not see any similar symbol on
local products that certified it was made organically despite claiming to be. These items could very well be good for you and for the environment, but they could just false advertising.
While Michael stood in line to pay for our stuff, I ran around the
grocery section trying to get a feel of how much food would cost
us. While trying to discern if the boxes of butter were indeed
butter or if they were just margarine, a salesgirl offered me some butter
spread she was selling. I agreed and she proceeded to take an e t e r
n i t y to open a package of crackers
and to apply the spread. At one point, I told her I would just come
back, but she assured me it wouldn't be done soon. It wasn't and I
spent the next five minutes running around nearby snapping pictures of fruit, salad,
and jelly alongside their prices in pesos.
No organic peanut butter available!
Organic jelly!! But it's American, i.e. expensive
The trend of Greek yogurt is alive in
Colombia! Despite no American brands,
the price is the same as in America.
$0.90.
Margarine galore. Unfortunately, I would prefer butter but ran
out of time to look up the word for it and to find out if they actually offer it.
Bacon!
Expensive ...
Raw Almonds!
Pistachios by the bulk!
Box wines!
Now I know I can survive in Colombia.
Before we exited the building, we saw an ATM and decided to grab more cash. Websites and travel books warn of how gringos can get their money stolen as they withdraw bills. We didn't encounter anything dangerous, but that might have been because there were two of us. Also, the ATMs we visited were either bank affiliated or within the Exito - never a dusty solitary machine in an abandoned corner of a mom-n-pop store. And never did we grab money when it was too late at night and not a lot of people were milling about. We always made sure either one of us was on the lookout. Interestingly, there was one row of machines that were guarded by armed, uniformed men!
After we exited the building, we saw more shopping
opportunities. Despite there being a
McDonald's in the food court inside the building, there was a McDonald's stand
right outside it. This little shack
however sold only desserts. Michael and
I had an ice cream cone and didn't feel guilty about it. Sweating and mediocre walking will liberate
you from guilt! Also lodged outside was
another sweets stand, but this one was geared for diabetics! It was nice to know that there are such
options in Colombia.
At this point it was near 8pm and Michael and I were tired from
walking so much that day. The last thing we wanted to do was walk
back up Calle 10 to our hotel. Desperate times call for letting your
guard down for the sake of comfort, so we searched for a line of taxis, found
it, and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't get robbed. I took a
picture of the license plate in case we were ever stuck in its trunk in a
precarious situation.
I got my eye on you TPO 704!
Random Observations
The ride was uneventful as we arrived home in one piece. We reveled
in all we had done that day. For the evening's festivities, we wanted to
have dinner and drinks and dance - or at least try to have enough courage to
dance. The first two goals were successful, but third was again proving
to be not high on our list of priorities anymore. As a consolation
effort, we did something we used to do in our youth after a long night of
dancing. We ate junk food at KFC. We brought the chicken back to
our room and watched Colombian cable TV.
Expats on forums warn of the bombardment of soccer on Colombian
channels, and we found out they are not exaggerating. Other expats
complain about there being too many Spanish channels, but we found it
acceptable. We had the delight of watching The Simpsons dubbed in
español! There are loads of American-produced shows, but you will have to
get used to Spanish to understand it. For the haters in Colombia who wish
they had more English television, I think they should just move to an
English-speaking country if TV is that important to them. When one is in
South America, what other language will dominate the airwaves!?!?
Very well-fed, we slept well after a long day of
walking.
