Colombian Golden Moments.Post yours here.

gabolicious says on Aug 6, 2007, 11:51:

those are the kind of experiences that make me feel so proud of my colombianos!!

I myself can tell you a lot, but I'd like to hear some other foriegner's experiences

Elección no canonización....

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famsearch says on Aug 6, 2007, 15:42:

mine was when my wife (then fiancee) proudly marched me all over the nieghborhood, to the houses of all her girlfriends from church, introducing me (finally) as the fiancee that they had all heard about.

dan

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chloe says on Aug 6, 2007, 17:14:

Right after my son was born in Medellin, I needed to get milk from the tienda, at the time I did not speak Spanish but understood it, he kept asking me what I wanted and finally I broke down and cried because I had no idea what the word for milk was in Spanish, the old man sat down with me and I mooed like a cow and pointed to the baby, he gave me the milk and extra, only made me pay for the one bag of milk, I went to visit him everyday after that.
Many more experiences also

chloe

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 01:31:

To me the most golden thing Colombia has, apart from it's outstanding beauty, is the colombian people. They are the most warm, friendly, hospitable people and you are guaranteed to have fun in Colombia with the right people. Even if you are en la esquina with a few friends you are guaranteed so much laughter, I think that's what makes Colombia so special.

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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goin_south says on Aug 7, 2007, 01:33:

Golden Moments in Colombia, for most of us, are probably too numerous to recount, eh Mona? This should be the longest thread of all !

“ I would rather be a conservative nut job rather than a liberal with no nuts and no job.”

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 01:36:

Yeah when I thought about my golden moments there, I was laughing remembering all the wild times I had there, now when I say wild they are normal times for a colombian but for the UK it's wild. I have never laughed so much in my life as when I was in Colombia, I was the happiest person ever.

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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goin_south says on Aug 7, 2007, 02:18:

My Last Colombian Golden Moment:

Leaving Bogota at the end of June, very early in the morning,
I have - unusually - a connection on Aero Republic to Cali and then
American Airline to Miami.
The girl at AeroRepublic says, 'you have to go to Copa to catch that flight'.
The girl at Copa says, 'you have to go to AeroRepublic to catch that flight' (not so Golden!)

AeroRepublic 'hand-writes' a boarding pass for me.
It says: "correct flight number - to Cali - correct time - GATE 8'
My novia and I say our 'Goodbyes', and she leaved me to enter the terminal to GATE 8, domestic. And, I am not really looking forward to changing planes, having to get my luggage and go through International Check-in, in Cali... by myself. But,.. I can do it. I have been in Cali aeropuerto twice before... so, familiar.

I wait at gate 8.
I board the plane with the rest.
It's about 8 A.M.
We get up in the plane... Nice day....sunshine/blue skies!
Gorgeous Colombianitos por su ayuda en la cielita!
Hay... no problemas :)

Until.... 30 minutes up... me, wide-eyed at 8 in the morning (imagine that)
... knowing that Cali is Southwest of Bogota... and the Sun should be coming up on the back Left side of the plane.....I begin to notice that... THE SUN IS COMING UP IN THE WEST ! jejjje.... (OMG! Is He terrorizing me with comedy this mornning???)

And, then as the plane is beginning descent, I see the most lush green mountain tops on both sides of the plane and say to myself: I DON'T REMEMBER LANDING IN CALI THE OTHER TWO TIME BEING SO..... LUSH! When the pilot begins to come over the intercom with : en espanol, of course... WE WANT TO WELCOME YOU TO BUCARAMANGA THIS MORNING.... jejjjjeeejje.... Okay!!!! And I, knowing quickly that El Dorado (not God!) was playing fun with me, this morning...

Well, so.... I now can add Bucaramanga to the places I've been in Colombia.

Not So Golden???
___________

Hay no problema!
____________

I let everyone else get off the plane.
I ask the pretty flight attendant.... 'Why did they let me on this plane?'
She was surprised/shocked/a lil embarrassed.
And, I admitted, I should have asked, but....I WENT TO THE CORRECT GATE and assumed all would be fine from there.

Andres... the very jovial pilot comes out and being very bi-lingual and over hearing my dilemma, we both start laughing and making other plans. It's about 9:30. I tell him my connection for Miami leaves Cali in about ONE HOUR! WE BOTH LAUGH.

"Am I gonna have to stay in Bucaramanga for a few days?" I ask... almost hoping the answer might be.... "Si!!!!"

I took it all very light-heartedly... What else to do? But laugh!

We went to his office (front of de plane!) and he began to call.
Should I get off here? and go see if my LUGGAGE CAME WITH ME?

Andres, young guy, good pilot. Good capitan says,... 'no, no....I'm taking you back to Bogoat with our load in just a few minutes.'. Okay... more laughter and comments... and on back to Bogota we went.

AS I EXIT THE PLANE.... I see familiar (Colombianita, y muy bonita!) faces there to greet and meet me. Andres introduces me to LENA and MIKEY. Andres says: Don't take your eyes off of her (Andres! HAY NO PROBLEMA!!)

"Do not lose her; stay with her"
Andres.... no problema!

Lena, speaking only very little english, escorts me downstairs, and enters me BEHIND THE WALL THAT YOU SEE when you go to the checkout counter and seats me beside another Colombianita (who put all those girls to shame, in the Ms Bogota Contest!). Lena says...."you stay here".

No problema!
I spend the next two hours behind the scenes of AeroRepublic.
Everyone passing by, very cordial and granting me the customary 'Buenas Dias'!

Moment by moment, Mikey and Lena return again and again... with probmises to get me and my luggage back to New Orleans before the days end.

The luggage went to Cali.
It's returning on an Avianca flight.
They have me scheduled for a 1:30 flight on American, I think.
My luggage arrives at 1:00.
Not much time for change.
They keep me posted the entire time, as to what is transpiring.
Mikey ,.... very beautiful, young and bi-lingual, having lived in the eeuu for several years escorts me to the check-in at American. I'm on stand-bye.

No! She gets me CONFIRMED.
And, we part ways, as she says 'Go! You must go quickly to the gate trhough customs!"
Someone will bring you the tickets for your luggage at the gate, jus before you board the plane!'

And, sure enough,... Lena comes with big Colombian smile and the bids me Buen Viajara and many apologies, about 5 minutes before boarding.


Andres had said it wasn't my fault; that there were problems with the computers that morning in El Dorado/AeroRepublic. But, while in Bucaramanga for a few moments, he promised they would do everything they could to get me to New Orleans that day. AND THEY DID! GOLDEN!!

“ I would rather be a conservative nut job rather than a liberal with no nuts and no job.”

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 02:22:

So you have been to Bucaramanga as well now! Yes I agree the colombian people help you out and make a bad situacion seem not so bad, cierto?

Good adventure GS!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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goin_south says on Aug 7, 2007, 02:28:

La Mona, even when it's early in the morning,...and, you have been waylayed in Bucaramanga...
It's very difficult for me to complain, when you are
made to spend el tiempo con muchas colombianas bonitas ... when they are being so kind, cordial, helpful... and it was just the situation.. where Lena... that is her job; to fix situations where the airline messed up.

They took damn good care of me :)
That was my last moment in Colombia.
You think I want to return?

“ I would rather be a conservative nut job rather than a liberal with no nuts and no job.”

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 02:38:

Jjaja you be careful there mister or I'll tell wifey!

Yes the colombian women are beautufil, smart and kind...as are the men jejeje.

Once when I was in a taxi, a truck pulled up next to us and it was raining, a guy jumped out of the truck and cleaned the outside of my window so they could see in better and blew me a kiss, I was blushing!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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Cerealkiller says on Aug 7, 2007, 12:24:

To be fair, (and I hope Simon doesnt go ballistic at my colombia bashing comment) its easier for a foreigner to experience golden moments as most people in Colombia are very friendly and eager to hear about their countries, culture, and most of all, to know what they have thought of Colombia. Id say most Colombians go that extra mile to make sure tourists go back to their country thinking positively about Colombia. I have never experienced something of the sort anywhere in the world.
That said, as a Colombian, I could make a list of really cool things Ive experienced...Probably not huge but just little things that have helped me recover some faith in mankind.
I remember one night I was walking to the parking lot in downtown Bogota, had to park very far from uni, the parking lot was in a nasty narrow alley. There was this homeless person sniffing glue and pretty much no one else...I had to freaking get the car so I walked past and this guy and he turned around, looked at me in the eye and I just froze, half crapped my cucos and was ready to hand bag, shoes, dignity etc...when a little angel held my hand and said "camine monita que si yo voy con usted ese man no le hace nada" or something along those lines...It was the little boy who I sat to have coca cola with a few days before...He was begging and I was bored so we just sat in Las Aguas to have Coke and Crisps, he said he needed a haircut and gave him 4k...his head was shaven when he rescued me...

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 12:31:

Ahh que lindo!! That's a golden moment!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 7, 2007, 12:32:

A random act of kindness that may have saved your life....that was truly something out of ordinary, CK.

I've been trying to remember any of these golden moments but since I lived inColombia so many years it would be a novela. (I'm working on it....)

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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LA_MONA says on Aug 7, 2007, 12:33:

Come on Desi!! You must have tonnes...just pick one and we'll go from there..

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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paisa29 says on Aug 8, 2007, 13:56:

Que pasó aquí?, nadie mas tiene anecdotas positivas que contar de Colombia?

"Fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality" Conrad Hilton

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 8, 2007, 14:20:

My first trip to Colombia coincided with Uribe's inauguration (Bogotá, August 2002). A few things that I still remember well:

1. Taking the tourist train to Zipaquira: I was probably the only Gringo on the train and if not, I was a rare enough species to warrant an interview by some local TV Station that had a roving film crew on board. Also, the train's owner invited me back to the dining/snack car where he introduced me to his lovely daughter and to the the not-so-lovely aguardiente Nectar.

2. I went jogging one morning and ran by a construction site in my normal running attire of running attire, shorts and T-shirt. For the first and only time in my life, I received cat calls from an all-male construction crew.

3. I went to Gato Negro in Parque 93 for dinner and drinks. After dinner and between live music sets, a very popular Carlos Vives song came over the sound system. With the first few notes of music, most of the women stood up and started to dance in place (at their tables). THAT was something you don't see everyday in Minnesota.

4. And last but not least...hiring a taxi for the full day, getting the 'nickle tour' of Chia, Zipi, Cajica -- drinking cold Aguilas in the backseat and hearing that darn Las Ketchup/Las Hijas de Tomate song a million times. I know it's a silly one-hit wonder, but I can hear it now and it always makes me happy.

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 8, 2007, 14:31:

Edit: That was when everything was new and different to me. That's the trip that made me want to go back and experience more, to learn more. There seemed to be an excitement in the air that things were turning the corner and that Uribe would make even more progress.

Five years on, I've been to Colombia maybe 16 or 17 times (mostly for business the last couple of years). I've seen a lot of Bogota and made short trips to/in Cundinamarca, Tolima, Eje Cafetero and San Andres. If I go there again on vacation, I need to visit some place new.

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msaucey says on Aug 8, 2007, 16:37:

I remember being about 3 or 4 years old and walking home with my grandmother from her almacen and then feeling the ground give in from underneath (1980)... My grandmother clutched me and kept telling me... "Te quiero mucho, te quiero mucho"... And everyone in the streets helping each other through the scare that the earthquake caused... To this day, I'm not afraid of earthquakes because my grandmother made me feel safe immediately...

The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis

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LA_MONA says on Aug 8, 2007, 16:59:

Que lindooooo! that's another golden moment!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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podborski says on Aug 8, 2007, 18:08:

One Christmas I was in Bogotá and my gf had come from Canada to visit me. Almost everything was closed on Christmas eve, and we had nothing to do so we decided we should go buy some food and give it to some people living on the street.

We had already bought a bunch of cheap little toys to give out, so we went to Cali Mio, the only place open, and bought some boxes of chicken and fries and plaintains and off we went to give it away.

Of course, when you need to find any of those poor kids that ask you for money all day every day, you can't.

We walked about 40 blocks, back and forth, looking for someone, anyone to give all this stuff to. Several times we were about to just leave it on the sidewalk for whoever might find it, but we kept thinking we saw someone on the next block.

Finally we came across a whole group of people camped out on the median of some road, adults and children. We walked up to them with all these bags of food and little trinkets and started handing it out.

It caused a near riot with the kids, who were trying to grab as much as they could get and run off. The 'dad' got them under control, made them line up (sort of) and we made sure each kid got one toy. The dad kept saying thank you, thank you, god bless you.

Then we gave them the food and they all sat down to eat. Just then the dad noticed some tiny girl, about 4 years old, who was crying. She didn't get a toy, and we had nothing left. I'll never forget the look on his face as he asked if we didn't have just one more little toy? But we didn't and there was not a store open anywhere that I knew of. I felt so bad for the little girl.

Then my gf rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a tiny ring (or something like that)and gave it to the girl, who immediately stopped crying.

The dad had tears in his eyes as he vigorously shook our hands and hugged us. Of course we had to sit down with them and have some chicken too.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone so grateful and happy as that man was, and of course we felt pretty good too.

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john_stark says on Aug 8, 2007, 18:11:

I had a golden moment but I forgot what it was. Oh no that was an olden moment.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 8, 2007, 23:24:

One of my memorable Colombia moments:

It must've been my first year in Colombia and I was just about 20 at the time. (At that age you have no fear and time is always on your side, damn!)

Anyway, I had to catch a flight to Ipiales on Ecuador border to renew my tourist permit at ther Colombian consulate in Tulcan. I had booked the trip with Avianca and at that time they used those miniature 16-seater air taxis with no separate cockpit for the pilot to fly there. Those planes used to be very unsafe dropping like flies over the Andes; the night before my flight one of them had just dropped off the skies near Medellin killing everybody onboard; I didn't know that until late at night when my brother felt that he had to inform me about that incident.

I was late that morning and my BF drove me to the airport. As I was walking towards the gate I saw the airport personnel taking away the stairs to the door but the window was open so I yelled on my gringo Spanish to wait and and they did:) I was the last person to get on the plane and the only available seat was right uop front next to the pilot, a young chap he too and very friendly.

We took off and chichatted most of the flight, but after a while he started talking much to his radio communicator and I got an impression he was ...well...how can I put it...a little lost.
He was asking questions like "Does Ipiales have a stadium ? No, I guess that must be Pasto then..." Then he turns to me and asks "Señorita, have you been to Ipiales? Would you recognize it from the air? Do you know where it is?" . I said that I thought he was the one who was supposed to know. He said that it was his second trip down there but that "he hadn't had any trouble finding it yesterday".

He got some instructions per radio from Pasto, I believe and we landed on Ipiales airstrip right next to a precipice with almost an hour delay (leaving with 15 minutes delay from Cali).

The Golden Moment?
I got the same friendly, cute, fearless pilot on my way back to Cali...."shaking...Señorita, these planes are really quite old and shabby, they shake alittle".

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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LA_MONA says on Aug 9, 2007, 01:21:

Todo Pod that's a lovely experience! Just as well you gf had something to give la niña or you would have felt terrible....

Desi, we've been waiting for one of your experiences ja ja ja so your brother felt like he should tell you the night before you travel, how kind! Mind you I probably would have done the same... With regard to the pilot not knowing where his destination was it's just as well you are a calm swede (correct?)

I like Tinto's comment as well:
"2. I went jogging one morning and ran by a construction site in my normal running attire of running attire, shorts and T-shirt. For the first and only time in my life, I received cat calls from an all-male construction crew."

Mabe they were on the tight side jajaja

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 9, 2007, 02:20:

Well, what can I say, it would not have helped the pilot a bit if I had gone into a hissy fit alerting all the rest of the people onboard that he had no idea which way he was supposed to steer the avioneta. Nobody else ever found out. I we got safely to our destination and I made a friend on that trip.

Cheers,
Desi
(off to the mines now...blah)

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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LA_MONA says on Aug 9, 2007, 02:41:

hissy fit ja ja ja ja it has been ages since I heard that expression!

Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin

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