Colombia
- Karen Darnell
- Aug 7, 2020
- 3 min read
Of all my friends, Karina is the most dedicated to helping me find a restaurant from every country. We have driven into Los Angeles after work several times just to have dinner (it’s an hour or more each way). Colombian restaurants can be found spread over Southern California, so we didn’t have to go quite as far to find Peppe's Pollo in West Covina in January 2019. Karina, originally from El Salvador, explained the difference between arepes and pupusas - the same ingredients and they look the same, but the difference is the technique for putting in the filling. She also explained how the Colombian accent is different than her own (she watches Colombian soap operas). The empanada and the arroz con pollo were delicious and we want to go back for more!
Eating Colombian food is only the icing on the cake of all the reading I’ve done from Colombia. Although Chile takes the gold medal for the best book to read during a pandemic (see that blog entry for more detail), Colombia takes the silver and maybe even the bronze.
Tied for bronze, just listen to the appropriateness of these book titles by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
· One Hundred Years of Solitude https://ebooks.azlibnet.az/book/33nat291117.pdf
· Love in the Time of Cholera https://therustyquill.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/free-ebook-love-in-the-time-of-cholera/
I read both for Spanish classes years ago and yes, they are excellent books and appropriate pandemic reading, but the Colombian prize goes to Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle by Íngrid Betancourt. I didn't know how relevant it would be when I ordered the CDs from the San Bernardino County Library in February 2020, but it quickly became a comfort because sheltering in place is nothing compared to being a hostage of the FARC. Further, I don't expect that it will take six years to figure out how to deal with COVID19 (but you never know because they still haven't figured out how to deal with AIDS in Africa and that has been a lot longer than six years). But back to Colombia ...
There is so much diversity in Colombian music. It is well summarized and illustrated in this great introduction on YouTube. If a clip of one of the styles appeals to you, the name of the artist is on the screen and more of their music can easily be found with a YouTube search. This video is put together by a drummer who had to learn this to play with Latin bands. We benefit from his hard work and experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRL44KZXuvE
I’ll let someone more expert than me recommend movies from Columbia: https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/colombia/articles/10-films-to-watch-before-visiting-colombia/. If right now you want a movie depicting Colombia which is more more light and fun, Romancing the Stone might be the perfect fit.
From the same source as the movies, here is a good overview of some Columbian artists: https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/colombia/articles/the-10-best-colombian-artists-and-where-to-find-them/
More beauty from Colombia and options for a great trip can be seen at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/?s=colombia so when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Colombia using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Colombia and throughout the world.
Photo Credit: Ricardo Gomez Angel
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