I don’t think I realized that I was going to be in Colombia for two months until I arrived in the Cartagena airport: Rafael Nunez International Airport! This was my first Colombian airport out of the three that I would stop at on June 02, 2019.

As I was looking down from the airplane window, I noticed that this was not NYC anymore. From the sky, I could see the beauty of Cartagena. There were several umbrellas laid on the sand but not so many umbrellas where the beach seemed crowded. When I looked further from the coast, you could see urban business-like buildings but in some areas you saw towns with colorful and small houses. When I saw that I knew I was landing in a whole new place and I was thrilled!

I stepped out of the airplane and legitimately gasped. At that moment, it finally hit me that I was in Colombia and would be here for two months. I was so excited to start this new journey and explore this new country! I could not believe that I actually got the opportunity to travel, explore, and research in a new country. Then, I took an airplane to Bogota and finally an airplane to Cali. I didn’t get to see Bogota much but the Colombian culture was extremely present, even in the airport. While I was waiting for my flight to Cali. A crowd of passengers surrounded this one television that was showing a soccer game between Colombia and another team. The crowd made me feel the excitement and I felt like I was at the stadium and not at an airport. Even those who weren’t watching the game asked me or others around them if Colombia had made a goal or what happened in the game when the crowd made any type of noise. It was a feeling that can only be explained when you see Colombians watching a soccer.

I arrived in Cali at night, so I was not able to admire the city. However, I got lucky because the next day was a holiday and I was able to explore the city! June 3rd is a national holiday in Colombia called Ascension Day. That’s when I noticed that Colombian culture, government are really tied with Catholicism.

A week before arrived, I was assigned a parcera, a Colombian student who is supposed to help you with your transition into the country, the city, and Universidad del Valle. On this holiday, I got to meet her! She took my housemates and I to Unicentro, a popular mall within walking distance from where we live. We got food ans we started talking, She told us more about Colombia over some delicious Colombian food.

At Unicentro, I tried a Colombian arepa called la montañera. A montañera arepa is corn dough stuffed with chicharron (pork rind), lettuce, tomato, beans and rice. I had not tasted an arepa like this. The arepas I was used to only contained one ingredient. My parecera explained that since neither Colombia or Venezuela knew where the arepa had originated they added more ingredients to compete for which country had the best one. With the montañera arepa I had aguapanela, a traditional Colombian drink. It is made from hard sugar cane juice. It was just as a delicious as the arepa!

SIDE NOTE: We ate the arepa and aguapanela for lunch. It was a really big meal for me but I noticed that was common. In Colombia they take lunch very seriously and they ate well and in big portion. I finally came to the right country to a good amount of delicious food 🙂

After we ate, we decided to walk to el Parque del Ingeniero, which was also at walking distance. As my parcera describes it, it was their Central Park. I defineitly agree. There were tons of people there. There were games for children like mini trampolines, ball pits, and the hamster balls. Children and adults also played soccer. Others were sitting eating food and drinking juice or beer. I got to try one of the foods they were eating a cholado. A cholado is a shaved ice blueberry juice topped with different fruits, condensed milk, and sometimes sweetened coconut shavings. You will not believe how ddelicious it is! You also will not believe how fresh and delicious fruits in Colombia are! I was delightfully surprised.

Overall, I noticed that Cali, Colombia was very similar to the two homes I have had and loved: New York City and the Dominican Republic. It was a mini version of New York city because of the public transportation, crazy taxi drivers, apartment complexes, malls, many stores, and large amount of people. Cali reminded me of the Dominican Republic because the people are so friendly, speak Spanish, the city is lively, and everyone loves dancing and eating plantains and cheese. I’m excited what this lovely city will bring me!