- You are here:
- Home
- Blog
- Living in Colombia
- Identity Issues with Living in Colombia
Before living in Colombia or another Latin American country for a significant amount of time…
Such as 5 years or 10 or maybe even the rest of your life
It’s important to note see this country with an overly optimistic mindset
And to see it for what it is
Understandably…
Many of you might love the idea of living in Colombia long term
As I do as well and plenty of foreigners I know love it also
However, there are issues that come with living in another country that is not your own
And to make sure you can do well here, you have to understand these issues so you know they are coming and how to address them
In fact, one of the issues about to be discussed is one issue that I have noticed that influences other foreigners to return back to their home countries
And that issue is one of identity while living in Colombia
Now you see, when you first live in Colombia, you don’t have too many issues of identity
In fact, you are excited to be here
Try new things
See new places
Eat new food (well, not Colombian food, it’s terrible but that’s another story)
And have fun with the nightlife and the women here also
So at first it’s like a honeymoon
Where everything is great and you love it overall
Check out these nice photos of Cartagena before going to Colombia
However, the honeymoon ends eventually
And the music and the party stops long enough for you to realize it’s not all just fun and games
And eventually you start living here in a way that is closer to like a local person
Not entirely like a local person but more so than before
Where you are not traveling as much
You are becoming more focused on bigger goals in life like earning money
You go to the same grocery stores as everyone else and use the same public transportation and even live in more normal neighborhoods that are not as touristy
And overtime you start to experience issues of identity
Where it becomes more frequent for local people to do subtle things that reminds you of your foreignness
In the worst case scenario, people treat you badly
Most won’t and most people will be nice to you like anyone else
However…
For being the obvious foreigner, a very rare few will
They might target you on the street because they suspect you have a lot more money than everyone else
And so randomly a motorcycle comes up to you and two guys with a gun want your stuff
Or maybe the police will target you thinking you don’t speak Spanish or know the local laws and got all the money in the world to give to them
….So they invent some BS excuse saying you did something that you clearly didn’t do and demand money
Or something simpler like going to the local market and asking how much this fruit costs
And the people selling it hear your foreign accent and try to charge you double or triple the normal amount
The examples go on….
In less worse scenarios, some people might assume you are too dumb to know any Spanish and will just refuse talking to you because they assume you don’t speak their language
In other cases, there will be times where you do something they don’t understand because it’s normal in your country
Or there will be times they do something that you don’t understand because it is normal in their country
In some rare cases, you might also notice that some of the local men are jealous of foreigners for having dating success with their women (as they would put it)
For Example….
I remember for example dating a Colombian chick years ago and everything was going fine
Then she showed me one of her Whatsapp conversations where some guy was pissed at her for not dating a Colombian man
Saying he had eyes for her and how she needs a Colombian man…not a “foreign conquistador” that isn’t even one of her ownpeople
Now, to be fair…
This guy was just desperate as hell and apparently didn’t have any luck with Colombian women
So he was playing the whole “go with your own men” routine in hopes it would finally get him some pussy after how many centuries of never getting to have sex
Anyway, that’s his problem and it obviously wasn’t a problem for us
She just denied him anyway and we laughed about how desperate he was
But keep in mind….
That this wasn’t the only time some local guy was annoyed at not getting any sex himself but seeing some foreign guy come on down and have success here with what he perceives as “his women”
Never do these men ever say anything to your face or to her when you are there
They always say it behind the scenes to her in my experience
And so while it’s never a big issue, it’s something that reminds you of how you are the foreigner
And finally…
Some people down here will have what I call “suspicious eyes”
They always look at you in a very suspicious way like “what are you doing here gringo?”
These people are very rare but they exist so it should be mentioned
And it again reminds you of how you are the foreigner here
All of this, by the way, doesn’t sound like much
But when you experience it every single day where something reminds you that you are a foreigner, it gets to you a little bit
It generally gets tiring
But how do you deal with it?
Well, there’s the right away and the wrong way
The Wrong Way
In my experience, you will occasionally meet another American or whoever living in Colombia
Some of these folks will be so desperate to try and “fit in” while living in Colombia
So they will use endless amounts of Colombian slang in their vocabulary
Even when it’s not always appropriate and they don’t always use the terms correctly
They will go above and beyond to excuse all the weird stuff that happens in Colombia and basically defend Colombia in anyargument
They tend to go overboard at parties with trying their best to “fit in” there as well
Or even in public events that are held in whatever city you are in
They are nice but they are usually coming across as inauthentic
In the same way that there are a few Colombian chicks who do their best to come across as favorable to gringos
By saying how much they love this movie and that band from the US
And how they don’t seem to like anything from their own country
You got guys who try their best to be as “Colombian as possible” and chicks who try their best to get the attention of whatever foreigner they meet
It’s the same problem for both – it comes across as inauthentic
Don’t do that. Be yourself. And you will come across as authentic. Be inauthentic and trying to be something you are not…
And people won’t respect you.
Nobody will ever accept you as Colombian. Ever
Which leads us to….
The Good Way
As said, nobody will ever accept you as Colombian.
Even if you live here for 60 years and your Spanish is perfect and you adjust your accent to sound more Colombian
And you have a Colombian wife with Colombian kids
While getting your Colombian citizenship
And whatever else
It literally does not matter
Even with all that, you will never be more Colombian than some 18 year old Colombian teenager
Colombians will never accept you as such
And in many cases, you will come across as inauthentic like some guys I know who try their best to “fit in”
So what should you do?
Be yourself. Don’t be afraid to show who you are.
You are American or Canadian or from whatever country
Be ready to teach Colombians cultural differences about your country
Why you like where you are from
And just be proud of it all
You will come across as more authentic and will get more respect for it.
Even though the issue of being “the foreigner” has always bugged me a little bit while living down here..
By always being myself and proud of where I am from, it has always been easier for me to live down here than it has for others
And in my opinion, that is the main solution to this issue while living in Colombia
Thanks for Reading
Hopefully this article was helpful regarding this aspect of living in Colombia.
If you want to learn more about the disadvantages and advantages of living in Colombia, check out my linked articles to this sentence
And if you want additional help for adjusting to life in Colombia culturally, make sure to check out this great book on Colombian culture and this travel guide that provides decent information on Colombia.
If you have any questions, let me know below.
Hasta luego parceros,
Seth
Join the Newsletter to discover the best cities to date sexy Colombian women!
__CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“cf6ff”:{“name”:”Main Color”,”parent”:-1},”73c8d”:{“name”:”Dark Accent”,”parent”:”cf6ff”}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default”,”value”:{“colors”:{“cf6ff”:{“val”:”rgb(140, 0, 0)”,”hsl”:{“h”:0,”s”:0.99,”l”:0.27}},”73c8d”:{“val”:”rgb(85, 4, 2)”,”hsl_parent_dependency”:{“h”:1,”l”:0.17,”s”:0.95}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ Sign Up & Date Sexy Colombian Women!