Asi es Colombia: La Vida Eterna
As told by member/webmaster Nick Brown, who has ancestry in Colombia from his mother's side.
During one quiet afternoon under the sky of Bucaramanga I reminisce about my childhood days being chased around by my grandmother and trying feverishly to avoid the food they had at her apartment, yet I finally grew up and realized how much of a brat I was to refuse such delicious cuisine.
I now love eating caldo de papa, I love eating mute santandereano, and I love to drink jugo de guanavana, all of which previously used to be something I would throw out of the dinner table as a kid.
Well, now I love to just eat in general.
And of course it wouldn't kill too much if I added a little lemon juice to my already drenched-in-salsa empanada as I wash it down with a bit of aguardiente. And maybe get up in the middle of the night to reach into my aunt's refrigerator to grab a granadilla, crack it open, and suck the seeds right out of it. I think I started to understand why Spain would want to come down and obtain a little piece of paradise like Colombia.
The end result comes to play as a bustling community of business owners, farmers, designers, even religious fanatics who wanted to all take a bite out of a luscious verdant mountainside. As crazy as this might sound, I have to give credit to those crazy risk-takers starting a new life in a challenging yet rewarding environment. And now what do we have today? A wonderful president. Too much coffee. Delicious Santander Chocolates. Aguardiente from Antioquia. Carlos Vives. Juanes. Shakira. Trust me: Hips Don't Lie.
Nothing about Colombia is boring, because no matter how cloudy the skies can get, the life of a compact city such as Bucaramanga is always vibrant. You can't even complain about the people here. It's always a constant battle for who has the best designer outfit on, or the best figure. Everyone is always trying to go a step further in fashion, and that is why you find many beautiful people coming from here.
On a final note, as I focus primarily on the huge, huge family that overpopulates my mom's native city, I can't help but notice the proximity as to which family members are located relative to each other. It is impressive. My uncle lives only two blocks away from his mother. My aunt married a man who lived next door to where she lived. My great-aunts live next door to grandma. Hey, I could go on and on about this, but I will always note the number one quality that all latinos have, no matter what country they're from. It's their love for their family. Without family, and all their daily hard work, countries such as Colombia would only just be a dream. Thank goodness I had my grandma straighten me out, so that she and I could get a chance to catch the last golden sunset of the day from the apartment balcony.