Seventh heaven: Seven benefits of living in Colombia

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

I've let it be known many times before how Colombia can be bad for one's health and well-being — or my own, at least.

The high life: Wrong Way is a fan of Colombia's highlands.

For one, there are the ubiquitous panaderías with their constant supply of fresh-but-of-dubious-quality bread that can be hard to resist, especially when it's just out of the oven.

Then there's cheap barrio-tienda beer. Its affordability often encourages those of a certain disposition to imbibe more than is advisable. (In mitigation, it does promote socialising. If one is going to drink, isn't it better to do so in a public house rather than at home? There's surely a mental health benefit to be had.)

We've also got apartment complexes and their complexes i.e. their many ridiculous rules. The mentally and physically damaging playing of loud music often goes unpunished yet prepare yourself for the firing squad if you dare to air clothes at the only window you have that the sun reaches. Well, if not quite the firing squad certainly a fine will be forthcoming.

And let's not forget the largely non-existent customer service, although this isn't exclusive to Colombia.

'You don't have to go out of your way to eat healthily here.'

I was going to include the difficult damas, the complicated chicas, but thanks to my frigidity these days, such stresses are a thing of the past.

However, in recent months the antics of some frenemies have taken their place. My ability, nay willingness, to trust people has taken a hit in these lands. I do, though, still tend to take folk at their word until proven otherwise.

Now, in light of the previous, one might think that I actively seek out negatives, that I'm a fan of self-flagellation so to put it. Not at all. It's not that I'm a sucker for punishment that I've stayed in Colombia this long. Honestly, it's not.

The following, in no particular order, are some of the main reasons why I've been captured, in a good sense, by Colombia. (Yes, I could have used captivated instead of captured but captivated is a bit too quixotic for me!) These seven benefits have played their part in my reluctance to let Colombia go.

Fresh fare sourced locally

When it comes to the bare necessities, Colombia has an abundance of relatively cheap fruit and vegetables available all year round, most of which are grown in the country. So you don't have to go out of your way to eat healthily here. And the grub doesn't have to travel too far to get to you either.

One significant snag, though, is that we can't be sure about the safety of any pesticides these natural goodies may be dosed in during cultivation. Unless we grow our own from scratch — impracticable for many — we just have to hope that the chemical balance is tipped in our favour health-wise.

Independent living

Now, there's no point in having access to a range of fresh produce if you rarely have the time to cook. For the average working-class, city-dwelling Colombian, this can be a challenge.

However, some foreigners from higher-income nations who come to settle here are often engaged in work that comes with generous me-time, more so than they would most likely enjoy in their birth country anyway.

Fresh fare: The food looks good. Hopefully it's not riddled with harmful chemicals.

The likes of native English speakers who teach the language can usually expect to earn a decent hourly rate. So they can do fairly well without having to work the long hours forced upon many locals.

It's even better for those who are paid in one of the world's stronger currencies whilst based in Colombia.

Alas, having grown tired of English teaching and not having a foreign-currency income to rely on, I haven't exactly been rolling in it of late.

Nonetheless, with my rather minimalist lifestyle — it comes naturally — I have been able to maintain my independent living to a greater or lesser extent, replete with regular, refreshing bouts of travel around Colombia.

While the fallow periods can be worrying, I'm happier to ride them out than return to work as a wage slave. One is open to all serious offers all the same!

Rentafácil

Those fallow periods just mentioned, of which there have been many of late, have been offset somewhat by, whisper it, a rather generous savings scheme.

Banco Caja Social's Rentafácil, literally easy income, has been at inflation-busting interest rates for some time, offering much better returns than the CDTs I wrote about in 2020. My cautious, doubting nature is waiting for the catch but so far, so good, it seems.

Shrewder investors will most likely find fault with the Rentafácil or view it as an amateur investment. All I can say is that if the interest it's accruing is all mine to enjoy then I'll be quite content (it is, by the way, an instant-access scheme but I haven't withdrawn any funds yet).

Active at altitude

Whatever about the future of the returns on my Rentafácil, they're unlikely to take me to the high life socially speaking. Colombia's topography, on the other hand, offers plenty of natural highs.

'In Bogotá, only the very sensitive to cold might want home heating at night.'

And while it's far from certain that living at lofty altitudes is better for one's overall health than life around sea level, I at least think that the high-ish life has been good for me. And if I think it hard enough, I can make it the truth, can't I?!

In fact, at times I feel that Bogotá, at 2,600 metres above sea level, isn't high enough. So I'm considering setting up a new base camp in Colombia — if, that is, I can make it financially sustainable and the country continues to be my home.

One option, um, high on the list is Güicán, a town I recently visited and enjoyed, perched about 400 metres closer to the stars than the capital.

Fun in the sun

Speaking of being closer to the stars, Colombia's location in the tropics ensures that the sun's strength provides sufficient vitamin D throughout the year.

Even during Bogotá's rainiest days the sun usually shines sufficiently for the average person to soak up enough of this immune system booster.

This can't be said of my native Ireland and other similar places.

Goldilocks zone

Mentioning Ireland, for large parts of the year a heat source is usually needed to keep people warm inside.

In Bogotá, only the very sensitive to cold might want home heating at night. Those aside, if one feels cold, an extra item of clothing and/or some physical movement should warm one up sufficiently. The same goes for most Andean locations at an altitude of roughly 1,500 to 3,000 metres above sea level: a Goldilocks temperature all year round.

For places at the lower end of that range, finding ways to cool down is the main issue. Well above 3,000 metres, one can expect to prepare for occasional night frosts. And because many of Colombia's buildings are poorly insulated, it can often be colder inside than outside.

Inside outsider

As for inside and outside, in my beloved working-class barrios and pueblos, I usually feel like an inside outsider.

That is, with the local people who know me, I'm not just another random foreigner. I'm viewed more as a part of the community. Yet, I can still maintain my distance and play the foreigner card (not the gringo one!) when needs be.

Now, this is the least one might expect after almost 12 years based in a country. However, settled immigrants don't always become accepted, be they in Colombia — in certain places more so than others — or around the world. This can be due to an immigrant's own behaviour, the locals' attitude or a mixture of both.

During my time in Colombia, I feel I've found the right inside/outside balance.

Some, though, argue that I've become too cosy with working-class Colombia to the detriment of my career and financial development. There's merit to that.

Yet, taking all the above into account, Colombia has been a more positive experience than a negative one. Maybe other places offer all these benefits but have fewer negatives. If so, do let us know about them!
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Find a way or fade away

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio version of this blog story click here.]

'Why try to be somebody you're not?'

That epigraph has been brought to you by the soft drink, Sprite. OK, the brand wasn't the first to use it, but I do recall its TV advert — commercial if you prefer — from the early noughties where it was the central theme (watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEHEKhwnEo). And by attributing it to Sprite here maybe they'll reward me for the mention (financially that is — I'm not a fan of such saccharine soft drinks).

The way may not be clear and appear long but it does end for us all, one way or the other.

'Who am I?'

Marketing matters aside, it's sound advice. Trying to be somebody you're not, not being true to yourself, is unlikely to lead to any lasting, meaningful contentment or fulfilment.

The key lies in finding out who you are meant to be. Or at least in finding a version of yourself that accentuates as many of your positive attributes as possible. Like most things, this is easier pointed out than carried out.

Some of us may have more of an idea of who we're not, nay what we don't want in life, more so than what we want or who we ought to be.

What's more, in an imperfect, ever-changing world, we have to be willing to mould ourselves to suit. This isn't to say we should abandon our values or stop defending what we believe to be true, it's just we may need to adopt a different approach to our modus operandi to achieve desired outcomes.

However, this has to be done, to come back to the motif here, in congruence with ourselves.

From a job perspective, I've expressed before how I'm not the best at working for people. I prefer to work with people, i.e. having the same level of input as possible and practical in whatever we're undertaking. Partners, basically.

It's why I found the marketing agency model particularly toxic — doing somebody else's tedious dirty work, often having to be economical with the truth in the process and getting very little credit for it.

Work's out?

Indeed, on the whole, the wage-slave system is anathema to me. There are, though, some gigs, at least on paper, for which I'd give up the relative independence that I currently enjoy. (Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ, is showing fierce pigheadedness in not approaching me about that vacant The Late Late Show host position.)

My many concerns about today's Digital Revolution notwithstanding, one hope is that it will provide more opportunities for people to throw off the wage-slave shackles, addressing a societal ill that became particularly acute in the Industrial Revolution.

A world freed from "wage slavery" was one aspiration expressed by the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, at a forum in Bogotá in November 2022.

'It could be that your true calling, the skill that you do better than most, simply isn't deemed worthy enough of recompense.'

While I haven't had the opportunity to read Yunus' book, A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions, going by his Bogotá talk, one element to zero unemployment is creating the conditions for self-employment. It certainly sounds appealing; making it an effective reality is another matter.

One passage from Yunus' tome, which I found in an online review, only serves to highlight, so I believe, the difficulties of ditching the current system:

'When you become an adult, you offer yourself to the scrutiny of the job market. A job is your destiny. If you miss it, you show up in the bread line. Nobody tells young people that they are nature-built to become entrepreneurs rather than waiting in line to get hired.'

Any chance of a grant, Muhammad?

The way I see it, nature tells us we must always have subordinates, in one form or another. 

However, unlike an ant colony or a beehive, humanity can aspire to allow such types to advance, should they want to. Serve your time, learn and move on. Some will say this is already the case. I say it's mostly so in theory rather than in practice.

Now, if you do escape from or manage to shun altogether the wage-slave system, there's the difficulty of getting adequately remunerated for whatever your contribution to society happens to be. (If only IQuiz and my musings published here actually paid me well, eh?! As the days pass, a subsistence existence at one with nature gets more appealing!)

It could be that your true calling, the skill that you do better than most, simply isn't deemed worthy enough of recompense. Or you might have a decent idea, it's just the wrong time. Thus, to survive economically, alternatives are required.

You may actually have to try to be somebody you're really not. (I am, of course, referring to those of us who haven't a wealthy family to fall back on and/or haven't been the recipients of a generous inheritance.)

'Many of us may simply become surplus to requirements from an employment perspective.'

The retort from those of a certain vintage would most likely be along the lines of, 'Well, welcome to the real world, kiddo!' Or, 'Shock! Horror! Man dislikes his job.' Indeed.

I think it's safe to assume that most people earn a living from work that isn't quite their preference, spending a large proportion of their time doing it, to boot.

There is also the thinking that we shouldn't define ourselves by our work, by our careers. I understand that perspective. Nonetheless, we are judged by others in terms of our words, our actions and how we contribute — or not — to society. In a capitalist world, our work plays a large part in that. 'What do you do?' is, after all, one of the most common ice-breaker questions.

Be that as it may, no one can say with any certainty what the state of humanity will be in a generation or so. The Digital Revolution and artificial intelligence certainly look set to bring about significant changes in how — and how often — we work.

Many of us may simply become surplus to requirements from an employment perspective. It could be a case of being paid to exist (whilst trying to be a net positive for society and the planet in the process): a universal basic income.

Should, though, the more damaging predictions of the effects of climate change come to pass — perhaps coupled with some other major disasters — then many may be forced into that subsistence existence at one with nature I mentioned above. It just most likely won't be as idyllic as it might sound.

In such a scenario, worrying about "being somebody you're not" becomes largely irrelevant.

When our survival instincts kick in, we either find a way or fade away forever.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

A somewhat pleasant surprise ...

@wwaycorrigan

Well, this visa approval (see photos below) was somewhat unexpected considering I couldn't get a similar type two years ago, i.e. an M visa as an independent professional (see https://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2020/09/colombias-independent-work-visa-vale-la.html), and had to make do with a "weaker" V visa up to now. 

Following changes by La Cancillería this year, that V visa I was granted 12 months ago no longer exists. So I had no real other option but to apply for this M one.

Clearly, President Petro's administration is a progressive one — progressive in a positive way that is, of course!

The ability to maintain as much individual independence as possible is important in a world that tends to work against such types.

And it comes exactly 11 years after my return to Colombia. At the time, it was no more than a case of 'let's give Colombia a lash', in terms of living there for a while. Here I still am!

Approved.

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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

The price of independence

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where—' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

As most of you will probably know, that exchange is from Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, often summarised as 'If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.'

A rocky road, but is it leading you to where you want to go?

Independent living

While it appears that today's modern society has many "lost souls" not knowing where they're going or where they want to get to, when it comes to that never-ending search for fulfilment, from a work perspective, I'm fairly sure where I don't want to go. It's a start, I guess.

That is, allowing for the fact that we're in a highly interconnected world where being fully independent is nigh on impossible, I don't want to work for people but rather work with them.

In a predominantly wage economy with an increasingly interfering state, this freelance/self-employed as-independent-as-can-be option is more difficult to achieve, particularly in higher-income countries it could be argued.

So, if for survival reasons I had to become a company employee again, I'd need to be as close to the top as possible. Just making up the numbers has never satisfied me. I don't tend to be a great follower.

Thus, knowing that much, one needs to frame one's life accordingly. In many ways, a 14-month company-employee stint aside, I've been able to maintain a fair amount of employment independence in the more than nine years I've been based in Colombia. The flip side is that it hasn't exactly resulted in putting me on a firm financial footing.

'Worrying about potential future problems to the extent one doesn't tackle current pressing matters is rather silly.'

Therein lies the crux of the matter. For if I was to focus more so on money I would stop writing this blog, stop making podcasts (speaking of which, I hope you've checked out Get Inglés!), stop co-presenting Bogotá Nights and, to stay independent in this country, use the additional time such moves would free up to look for more students to whom I could teach English — English teaching being about the easiest and most profitable independent activity a native speaker can do in these parts.

End of the road

I would more than likely feel less fulfilled overall doing that but I would probably have more pesos in my pocket. (I hasten to add, lest the two students I currently have think badly of me, that it's not exactly that I dislike teaching English, it's more a case that I don't want it to be a full-time gig.)

For sure, life is not all about money. Yet, to state the obvious, when it's in scarce supply living becomes much more complicated.

At this moment in time, one significant area where my independence is compromised is in having to house share — my misanthropic tendencies have increased to some extent during the pandemic.

In fairness, however, in an officially stratified country such as Colombia, renting a room in a leafier suburb rather than renting one's own place in a humbler barrio may be a false economy. 

In my own case, going it alone would probably also do wonders for my general mood, even if it were to cost more, at least at that initial making-a-house-a-home stage.

Bringing it back to a broader level, we must also remember that at some point the road ends for each one of us. And we're never fully certain when that will be. 

With that in mind, worrying about potential future problems to the extent one doesn't tackle current pressing matters is rather silly.

So while some of us are not sure where we're going, I think it's fair to say the majority of us know where we don't want to go. We would do well to follow and act upon those impulses.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".