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- 6 Reasons for Why Paisas Seem Arrogant
As of right now, Medellin is a city with plenty of tourism. Although this city is great with plenty to offer, it has been noted by myself and other foreigners that I have met here that often paisas seem arrogant
It likely hasn’t always been this way — I remember when I first moved to Colombia over a decade ago that this reputation was not as common as it is now
In fact, according to some of my Colombian friends, this reputation that paisas seem arrogant didn’t always exist to the degree that it does now
For many years, residents of Medellin lived under violence with fear that they would be caught in one of many bombings that occurred by Pablo Escobar or other individuals.
During those years, Medellin was well known as being quite a violent country and very few people traveled to Colombia or Medellin for that matter.
However, in the last decade, things have changed.
More and more people travel to Colombia.
And many of them have heard stories about how Medellin is one of the best cities in Colombia
How Medellin is amazing for having sex with sexy Colombian women and for partying
As a result, endless amounts of foreigners have gone to Colombia and a good deal of them have mostly gone to Medellin
Plenty of horny guys out there I suppose
Due to this increased attention, it is well known that women in Medellin tend to have a much bigger opinion of themselves
After all, with endless amounts of foreign guys giving them attention….
And also holding a reputation within the rest of Colombia for having the most beautiful women in the country
It can be understood why the women in Medellin tend to have bigger egos
And perhaps why paisas seem arrogant to a lot of foreigners like myself
However, it’s not just the women that have bigger egos in Medellin
In fact, quite a few travelers, including myself, would agree that people in Medellin generally speaking have a bigger ego about themselves and their city
It’s not just the women. It’s seemingly most people that I have met there personally
For example, it’s not uncommon to meet someone in Medellin who will claim that “Medellin is the best city in the world with the most culture and the best of everything.”
Well, that’s quite a claim!
I’m sure people who have been to places like New York City or London might disagree a little bit…
And within just Latin America, people in places like Mexico City or Buenos Aires would disagree also
Not to mention Bogota….
In which there is somewhat of a competition between residents in both cities over who gets to claim to be the best city in Colombia
Which, by the way….
Having lived in Bogota for a long time now, I guess it’s not hard to guess where I stand on that issue
But to avoid comparing Medellin to other cities for just a second…
It’s important to ask…
Why do people in Medellin tend believe that their city (and many times their country) to be one of the best places on Earth?
What else could explain why paisas seem arrogant to a lot of people?
Well, I’ve heard a lot of reasons from having talked with other people who have traveled to Medellin
And I’ve made my own observations from having spent time there
So here are just a few of the reasons for why I believe people in Medellin or paisas seem arrogant about the quality of their city
Reason 1: Looking For Reasons To Be Prideful
As mentioned before, it wasn’t too long ago that Medellin was one of the most violent cities on the planet
And that most foreigners would never set foot in Colombia or Medellin for that matter
While talking with one of my Colombian friends, he mentioned how bringing up Pablo Escobar or cocaine trafficking to a Colombian is “like mentioning Hitler and the Nazis to a German”
Yes, everyone knows the history
No, not every Colombian is a cocaine trafficker and not every German is a Nazi
Quite frankly, most Colombians seem to be sick talking about this topic and having their country associated with it
Including, obviously, the stereotypes that people still have about Colombia and Medellin
In addition to that, I have noticed that the Colombian government has been putting a lot more resources into getting peopleto visit Colombia for tourism
Where they market Colombia as a land of “realismo mágico” where “the only risk is wanting to stay”
Putting all that together…
I see a lot of Colombians, including their government, trying to get past that history of violence and cocaine trafficking
With that, you have people looking for reasons to be prideful of their country and Medellin as well
Where you have Colombians saying their “food is amazing” (it’s not)
Or where they say that Medellin is one of the most technologically advanced in the world for having a metro (it’s not)
Or where they say that the women in Medellin are the most beautiful in the world (I would disagree)
Regardless, you get the idea
People want to basically move beyond Pablo Escobar and that history…
And can have things to talk about their city and country that they can be very prideful about
And so they can feel proud of their city and not feel so ashamed or uncomfortable talking about the more ugly history of the past
Which is just one reason for perhaps why paisas seem arrogant
Reason 2: The Women
This issue won’t be discussed in too much detail since it was already mentioned a bit earlier in the article.
But it is one of the things that I have seen to motivate people in Medellin into thinking that their city is one of the best
Especially as most Colombians in their country know and would agree with the reputation that Medellin has some of the most beautiful women in the country
As a result, this adds a bit to the ego of the residents of Medellin
Reason 3: Better Than Most Colombian Cities
When it comes to quality of life and opportunities, Medellin is typically going to be mentioned as one of the better cities inColombia by most Colombians
It has a better public transportation system, is more aesthetically pleasing, cleaner, better education system, richer and more when compared to most Colombian cities
The only other city that can really compete with Medellin when it comes to all of that is Bogota
Therefore, people in Medellin are more likely to have a bigger ego because of where their city stands relative to most Colombian cities
Reason 4: Too Many Foreigners
One time when I was living in Barranquilla, I was eating at a restaurant by myself
I ordered my meal and then the waiter left to get it ready
After that, some old woman from another table got up and approached me
She asked me in Spanish “where am I from?” and then wanted to have some small talk with me about my country, about my time in Colombia, etc
That doesn’t happen in Medellin in my experience
Compared to Barranquilla, Medellin has a lot more foreigners spending time there
As a result, I believe that people in Medellin generally speaking are not as impressed by seeing a foreigner in their city andare more indifferent
In a more extreme case, some people in Medellin even hate foreigners going to their city because of the stereotype that allforeigners going to Medellin are sex tourists
As a result, some foreigners might believe that people in Medellin are a bit more arrogant about their city and less interestedin other cities because of the indifference people in Medellin have about anything foreign
Reason 5: Society is More Inward Looking
If you ask the average Colombian or the average person from Medellin for that matter if they have ever left Colombia, they will tell you no
Some have, most haven’t
In fact, I have even met a few people from Medellin who don’t even remember ever having left their city of Medellin in their 20 and more years of living on this planet
When I asked one of them why they have never even left Medellin, the response was….
“Why? Medellin has everything I could want and is the best city in Colombia and one of the best in the world.”
So basically, her arrogance was developed from her lack of experience elsewhere outside of Medellin and outside the US
In my experience dealing with Colombians who have traveled outside the US, the arrogance I am mentioning here is almostnon-existent
In fact, some of them are likely to end up hating Colombia and thinking it’s one of the worstcountries in the world when compared to where they have traveled
Now, I wouldn’t say myself that Colombia is one of the worst in the world
It’s a decent country to visit
But it is interesting how traveling outside Colombia and Medellin has an impact on their perspective about this topic
Regardless, it seems that most Colombians in Medellin cannot afford to travel outside of Colombia and many are notinterested anyway
Part of the reason would be that they are simply much focused on survival and making ends meet
Another reason is the broader belief that Medellin is the best and so why leave?
Therefore, in a way, the arrogance discourages people from ever leaving or ever being curious about the rest of the world
Which then feeds back into the arrogance that already exists, making their arrogance even stronger
As a result, people in Medellin tend to be very inward looking with little interest in anything outside their city and outsidetheir broader country
Reason 6: Group Mindset
This one is fairly simple.
If everyone around you says you are the best, then you also believe that you are the best
As people in Medellin promote this belief that their city is the best, most of their other residents just go along with it andrepeat the same thing everyone else is saying
Which mostly just creates a group mindset that few dare to question and break from
Final Thoughts
Overall, Colombia is not a bad country and Medellin is a pretty decent city itself as shown by the available photos on Tripadvisor
It definitely has improved itself significantly from the years of the violence by Pablo Escobar
Which, by the way, if you are interested in learning more about the history of Pablo Escobar, I recommend this great book called Killing Pablo
Anyway, it’s just not the best city in the world and is often over hyped by horny guys who tell you how beautiful the women are and how great the nightlife is
And often over hyped by local people in Medellin who tend to be a bit arrogant about their own city and how it is “the center of the universe”
Hopefully, this article clears up some of the reasons for why people in Medellin or paisas seem arrogant
Either way, hope you enjoyed it! Thanks.
And if you are interested in my thoughts about Medellin as a whole, check out this article I wrote on the subject
Hasta luego parceros,
Seth
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