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My final weekend here in Barranquilla: a leisurely spent eating and packing. A few memories: Friday was the day I received more piropos than any other day. Something in the air, I think. My "admirador" got his "besito" but on his face, not his lips or any other part of his anatomy. For the nth time, I very gently refused him and told him if there wasn't someone else in my life, I would kiss him like a lover, not like a sister, without hesitation. He looked at me with a kind of stupefied incomprehension. "But he's not even here. We are here." He told me there was still time, (well, a man's gotta try right)? However he seemed slightly mollified with my sweetly phrased refusal and I'm very sure (never been more sure of a sure thing in my life) he has plenty of other opportunities with other girls, so he won't be sad for long.
Today, my boss and his wife, who speaks excellent English, took out for lunch at Exito (which for being supermarket actually has fairly reasonable food) and my Boss bought ice-cream for me and for himself, Mrs Boss not being in the mood for it. She was translating some of my Boss's more obscure Costeno jokes to me when my Boss starts laughing at something else entirely. The cause of his merriment? While Mrs Boss and I had been discussing the meaning of a costeno saying in English, he'd overheard the folks at the next table discussing us - one gringa, one "translator", one colombinano: only two ice-creams. They were wondering if Mrs Boss was the translator from the introduction's agency, and if I was meeting my future Colombian husband for the first time.
"No way. If I was a guy and you were a girl," I said to my Boss "then they might have reason to think that".
"No, I think there are agencies for that. For gringas. There are some gringas who come here to get married", Mrs Boss told me as Mr Boss choked on his ice=cream, between chuckles.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"No, seriously, they come. They thought because he bought you the ice cream and not me and because I was talking to you in English, that I was from an agency."
"They really exist for women too? For gringas and colombianos?"
"I think so, anyway, some gringas come here to get married to colombianos, it's certain. I know one who did."
Carefully, and very deliberately, we all get up my Boss puts his arm around his wife, while I keep a respectful distance from them, and, chuckling hard, we leave the dining area, and the astonished faces of the philosophers at the next table.
But this begs the question, bugging me all day. Where are these agencies for women seeking Colombian men? How come I've never come across them? Are they merely a Costeno urban legend? Or is there a secret world of mail order husbands that we don't know about? I tried Googling "Colombian husbands" to see what came up: but nothing: same ol' mail order brides sites. The only male order husbands site I can find is this one. If you want a laugh.
From my not so very long experience of life, though, I think that in all probability it is just an urban legend, and the folks at the next table were merely projecting the norm for gringos onto me: seeing my foreignness before my gender.
All any girl with her own teeth and hair has to do is show up.
By CaritadeAngel on Jun 17, 2007, 21:49 in Friendly Talkzone.
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Mr. Hollywood says on Jun 17, 2007, 22:14: Carita I can't speak to your exact question, but when I was in San Andres there were public service announcements in all the public restrooms aimed at protecting the "Island boys" from lecherous old gringa cougars who just come down for a little young and tender meat. So it must happen.
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CaritadeAngel says on Jun 17, 2007, 22:28: Yeah, I've seen the Caribbean islands, Those boys didn't look like they needed that much "protection". Other than the obvious, latex kind. Cuba was my only direct insight into what it myst be like to be a guy in Asia or Latin America: to be constantly offered sex for a price. I must have been the only gringa on that island who didn't go there to get laid. "I hope I never say anything worth quoting". 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Miguel_Clavo says on Jun 17, 2007, 22:35: The guy in the photo is available...just put him in a UPS box, and put on an address label and oilaaaaa!!! Lets hear it for the new PBH Experts on Colombia! DrPhilinamillion, KY, and Darloops!!!!!!! We Salute Your Valuable Contributions to This Forum! 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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miamimike says on Jun 17, 2007, 23:44: Check out the Dom Republic for these Guys known as "Sankies" They work at the Better known resorts as Hospitality workers but really they are on the prowl for Lonely Gringas and Canadian Women. They con these women by the droves with a high success rate,,, Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte después Bésame, bésame mucho Como si fuera esta noche La última vez Bésame, bésame mucho Que tengo miedo a perderte Perderte de 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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scotty says on Jun 18, 2007, 00:36: of course Lots of American women travel to jamaica and other Islands to have sex. Get Rhythm, when you got the blues. Johnny Cash 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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kalder says on Jun 18, 2007, 07:07: I remember a spoof mail-order husband agency in a TV commercial for vodka years ago. The guys had comb-over haircuts, mullets, nylon shirts with wing collars, bad teeth, trousers that reached their ankles etc: all the cliches about Russian male fashion sense/grooming in fact. They had the 'Cossack Song of the Plains' (you'd know it if you heard it) playing in the background and attractive western women leering at the men, while waving fistfuls of cash around. "A piece of cheese may entrap a mouse, but a bicycle could ensnare the Imperial Chancellor."~~An Bai Kuang 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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gringolondinense says on Jun 18, 2007, 07:09: hey CA... im available and on the market. Im always interested in a bit of CHUCHA :-).
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JMCana says on Jun 20, 2007, 09:43: CA did I miss it? Did you say where you are going next?
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More posts by the same author:
The Liberation of Municpal Coconuts 13
Pope denounces kidnappings AFP Published: Sunday June 10, 2007 11
What's in a name? : Are latin cultures like Colombia really so machista? 31
There's a rumble going down, and gentlemen, you are invited... 105
If anyone asks where I am, I'm having coffee with Don Gringo. 82
Swimming at Sunset, Costeno Work Ethic, and Reflections on Amor de Lejos. 10
Why Carita has decided to change her profession from the world's second oldest 12
First Tango in Barranquilla: A tale of Kylie and Counterfeit Whisky 15
Ask not for whom the consteno hisses, he hisses for thee... 26
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