Cop on, Colombia, for biodiversity's sake

@wwaycorrigan

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It shouldn't surprise those familiar with Colombia to be told that many of its citizens are proud, understandably so, of their land's rich biodiversity.

'No country is more beautiful than ours', is a common pronouncement. Some even proclaim they have no desire to leave the place because of its beauty, even though most of those who say this haven't physically seen much of the national territory. As good a reason as any not to leave, I guess: 'I have to explore Colombia first.' (One also needs some savings to travel.)

Can you spot the hero turtle in this litter-filled Colombian swamp?

Misplaced pride

This I-love-my-country banter has been backed up by a recent survey carried out on behalf of World Wildlife Fund Colombia. When residents were asked for their main feelings about the country's biodiversity, 44 per cent of respondents gave pride of place to um, pride, while 46 per cent said it worried them. Just nine per cent said they were indifferent to it.

Pride aside, it is true to state that few regions in the world can match the diversity of flora and fauna that makes up what we today call Colombia.

The range of landscapes and climates plays a big part in this, from glaciated peaks and Andean páramos all the way down to dense tropical jungle and a coastline that touches the globe's two largest oceans.

How much, though, the average Colombian does to help sustain this biodiversity is open to much debate. According to the World Population Review's Mismanaged Waste Index, the country is at best mediocre in dealing with its refuse.

Backing up the overall, national picture, is the easily observed individual mismanagement and apparent recklessness in waste disposal. It can bug those of us brought up to be angered by litter louts.

Plastic people

I addressed this topic, particularly the popularity of single-use plastics, in a 2018 piece titled The Disposable Republic of Colombia.

Since then, the state has introduced some measures aimed at reducing this reliance on plastic. For example, customers must pay — or are supposed to pay, at least — for each plastic bag used to package shopping in supermarkets and suchlike.

I'd like to see something similar for plastic cups. They're still overused in many standard cafés/panaderías and beer-serving tiendas. Why some Colombians prefer to have their hot coffee in a slowly melting plastic cup when a porcelain one is available is beyond me. And then there are the accompanying plastic straws for stirring one's brew; such wanton plastic pullulation. (Do note that in the World Wildlife Fund survey, 63 per cent of respondents said plastic pollution was a chief concern.)

'Colombia's rich biodiversity has little to do with the humans who inhabit the territory. Maintaining that richness, though, has a lot to do with us humans.'

Colombia's waste mismanagement should come under greater scrutiny in the coming weeks as the city of Cali gears up to host Cop16. If you, like me, are a bit confused, indifferent or even annoyed by all these talking-shop Cops, this one is the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (Cop16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). That makes more sense now, doesn't it?!

Words are easy to express. Acting on them is another matter.

Cop16 aside, it smacks of a lack of cop-on to regularly brag about the country's biodiversity and natural beauty but do next to nothing to keep things that way. Or worse, to actively, if apathetically, engage in practices that harm the environment.

Colombia's rich biodiversity, after all, has little to do with the humans who inhabit the territory. Maintaining that richness, though, has a lot to do with us humans.

Reducing material diversity

About the best way to manage potentially harmful waste is to keep it to a minimum in the first instance i.e. reduce consumption so that there's less of a need for both reusing and recycling. And on that front, overuse of disposables aside, Colombia appears to do better than some high-income nations. There can be upsides to not having much of a disposable income.

As for reusing, opting to repair damaged goods — be they clothing, footwear, electronics, etc. — is normal here.

In other Western countries, the default setting over the last few decades has been, 'If it's broken, bin it', rather than try to fix it first. This mentality finally seems to be changing but the repair industry isn't as established in the likes of Ireland and the UK as it is in Colombia.

What's more, while many high-income nations are seen to manage their waste well according to the aforementioned Mismanaged Waste Index, it's fair to ask what that management entails. Those who see it as little better than a cosmetic exercise that comes with high energy requirements and associated costs have a valid point at present.

OK, litter is unsightly but does it make a major difference if it's concentrated in one area away from the eyes of most or spread out all over the place?

As mentioned, aiming to reduce the amount of waste we generate should be the main goal. And many of us in the comfortable classes can do more to cut back on our use of non-essentials.

Doing so would give us something to be genuinely proud of, for those of us who truly care about the natural environment, that is: Less material diversity, more biodiversity.
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Cali on the fringes

'What?! You were in Cali for its famous end-of-year festival and you didn't go to it. Madness!'

That's pretty much how most view our (three like-minded Irishmen that is) non-attendance at any of the Cali festival events during our recent visit there.

This "shock" is understandable, of course. People flock from far and wide to check out what is viewed as one of Colombia's biggest and best festivals.

Cali from a high.

What better way to get into the salsa swing — Cali is regarded as the salsa capital — when much of the city is in party mood?

Truth is, we'd generally prefer to shovel stiff concrete on a hot day than awkwardly move to salsa. Sure, we've given it a go before, but we just don't enjoy it.

Anyway, there was/is more to the festival than salsa; well, we guess so. However, our choice of hotel left us quite removed from the festival vibe.

The rather industrial, rough-and-ready, Barrio Santander wouldn't be most visitors' choice of location to overnight it in Cali. Yet, at festival time prices unsurprisingly shoot up in the more popular locations, such as the tourist-heavy San Antonio.

So getting a private room for 20,000 COP a night was a bargain not to be turned down. Plus, the city centre was only a steady 30-minute walk away.

In any case, as our few regular readers may have guessed, hanging around and socialising in Colombia's working-class barrios isn't at all anathema to us.

You could say we were getting a truer reflection of how Cali rolls. Away from the crowds and the tourists that the festival attracts.

It's what we enjoy doing when in a new place. Get an idea of what it's like to live in, Wrong Way style. Thus, finding the value locations is one of the important things in this regard.

As the country's third biggest city, it's not exactly a relaxing escape from the normal mayhem of Bogotá. This was one reason why we weren't overly bothered that after over six years in the country we'd never visited the place.

Taking into account that it was the festive period, there was a nice feel to it nonetheless. A much warmer climate, but not overbearingly so, than that of Bogotá played its part in this.

The picturesque church in Barrio San Antonio.

Now, considering we had three, um, moderate-drinking Irishmen together at end-of-year holiday time, there wasn't much exploring done.

We did, however, find time to trek up Cerro de Las Tres Cruces (Hill of the Three Crosses). At an altitude of 1,480 metres, it's over 400 metres higher than the city itself. It's a nice little workout to get to the top, from where you get nice views of the metropolis. (Apparently the barrio at the start of the trek can be somewhat dangerous, but we didn't get any sense of that.)

You can also push yourself a bit more and pump some iron and concrete in the outdoor 'gym' at the summit. We gave it just a short test — one wouldn't want to overdo it.

Apart from that and a bit of wandering around the centre and Barrio San Antonio, that was pretty much our Cali experience. Some people might consider it a shameful act for where we were, but there wasn't a salsa dance in sight.

We won't get our legs in a tangle over that one, though.
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Colombia's locas

Of the many strange and wonderful things visitors and expats discover about Colombia, one of those is the various regional traits – quasi-subcultures if you will – that exist here. 

It’s not something you have to find out for yourself – although, spend enough time here and you undoubtedly will – as the locals are usually quick to fill you in.

'Rolo land' - twilight in Bogotá.

These subcultures are generally city or department confined (for the record, Colombia consists of 32 departments or departamentos in Spanish) and, at the risk of over-generalising, we tend to find that the characteristics associated with each region more or less hold true. 

Of course, you will find that the chief traits of one area are in existence in other locations, but perhaps just not to the same degree. 

A Colombian acquaintance summed up the most common of these regional behaviours thus:

Starting with the capital Bogotá, if you have three Bogotanos or rolos (rolas for women) as they are referred to, with you in a room, what happens? Well, they probably won’t talk to you and when you leave their company you’ll discover your mobile phone and other personal belongings have gone ‘missing’. 

As for the people from the country’s second city, Medellín, in the Antioquía department, find yourself surrounded by three paisas as they’re known and you’re in good business company. 

From the female point of view, they’ll also be fiercely attractive – now that’s saying something, considering this is Colombia – but, as we’ve found out to our cost, they might struggle to find their purse (see both ‘The wages of love’ http://bit.ly/MtWh7T & ‘Bienvenidos a Medellín – Bangkok Light’ http://bit.ly/N83NbB for related stories).  You don't get ahead in business by spending lots of money now, do you?

Get a trio of inhabitants from Colombia’s Caribbean coast, costeños, together and you’ll be partying and dancing non-stop, with the ladies suggestively rubbing their considerable posteriors in your crotch area. 

Apparently, even the region’s donkeys get to sample these erotic dances – even a bit more if they’re ‘lucky’.

There's much more to Santander than just the chicas.

The city of Cali’s good people (caleña(o)s) are best known for their sultry salsa skills – well they have to be good at something, right?

Then you have the santandereanas – that is the women who come from the department of Santander. 

In the words of our Colombian acquaintance – himself, we must point out, a santandereano – if you’re in the company of three of these ladies then you’ve got problems, big problems. In fairness, it only takes one to give you trouble, three is akin to a death sentence.

These are Colombia’s quintessential crazy ladies, locas. Again, that’s a big statement to make – it’s not like they don’t have much competition in this regard here. 

Now, being fiery and passionate as these santandereanas are doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. But these chicas have taken it to a degree that would see Jesus Christ himself reach for the shotgun after only a couple of days, if he survived that long.

If you’re contemplating dating one get ready for one of the most dramatic emotional roller coasters you’ll ever experience. OK, you might say that this is the case with women in general, but we’re referring to heretofore unprecedented levels of craziness here.

Personal experience of all this – not even in a dating sense at that – and the streams of anecdotal evidence from both Colombians and foreigners alike cannot be merely brushed aside as coincidence. So it is, Santander – the home of human ‘Black Widows’.

A Santand... ...er, sorry, a Black Widow spider.

Of course, as we always like to point out after making sweeping generalisations, there are, fortunately, exceptions. 

We have a small number of Santandereanas that we rate as good friends – trustworthy even. The fact that most of these spent some time outside of Colombia has obviously played a significant part in ‘normalising’ them – whatever that actually means. You know who you are.

So what about the perfect Colombian woman, based on the above? 

For us, it would be a paisa’s looks, the soundness of a caleña, a smidgen of santandereana passion and initial friendliness, a costeña's eroticism and rola, erm, daring.

We can dream, can’t we?