Colombia, on a Daily Basis

A lot of people ask me what Colombia is like on a daily basis, living and working here in Medellin. Well, its not that different than other places that I've lived. You get up, you take the bus or Metro to work, you do your job, you come home, eat and go to sleep.

Well, that is if you have a job

Well, that is if you have a job. Most people here are either unemployed or underemployed. And its not just the people who never finished primary school who have trouble getting regular work, its professionals, college graduates. Lack of gainful employment is one of the primary cancers eating away at this society as people feel they are wasting their lives.

People don't even litter in the Metro

Every day I take Medellin's Metro to work. The Metro is a beautiful piece of technology, well-maintained with zero graffiti. People don't even litter in the Metro, as they do to a fault outside. Its much nicer than almost all of the trains I have used in Japan and the US.

But the mirage ends there

But the mirage of development ends when I get off downtown and have to walk 10 minutes to work. Single mothers with their children sit on the sidewalk with what appear to be all their worldy possessions: not much. A man with no legs. An indigenous girl asleep on the sidewalk with one breast exposed and a naked baby sucking on it. The sidewalks clogged with fruit or book vendors and busses and taxis venting suffocatingly-dirty gasses. Its not always a pretty place.

Or even have a McDonald's hamburger

But then there are nice parts of the city, too, where you can have a beer at an outdoor cafe, enjoy the clean cool breezes that this "city of the eternal spring" is famous for, see a movie in a modern movie theater, buy a pair of Levi's or even have a McDonald's hamburger.

Medellin is a study in extremes

Medellin is a study in extremes, with forgotten areas controlled by the illegal groups where people struggle to survive and affluent zones filled with modern high-rises inhabited by the ultra-rich.

People don't bother you

But overall daily life here is nice. People don't bother you. If your shoelaces are untied someone will call you "Sir" and tell you. If you drop something, someone will pick it up and return it to you. People greet you, say thank you and you're welcome.

Created by george
Last modified 2002-09-13 10:50 PM