Captivated by Colombia's magical (sur)realism

@wwaycorrigan

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

'So, what do you do?'

It is one of the most popular break-the-ice questions adults get asked. We tend to be, after all, defined by our careers. And for many people, replying to such an enquiry is fairly straightforward. Others, myself included, find it more difficult, nay uncomfortable, to answer.

Colombia: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

I do, of course, do various things, but the often unstated ending part to the what-do-you-do question is 'to make a living'. In other words, what is it you do that provides you with an income, allowing you to socialise and travel and whatnot? These days, the most accurate, succinct retort I can give is, somewhat shamefully, 'practically nothing'. Or, somewhat more positively, if misleading, 'I'm in early retirement.'

All an act

This is not to say that I haven't earned money from services rendered of late, yet the truth is that the amount in question, specifically over the last two years, is barely worth mentioning. The bulk of the paid work during that period came from acting projects, but I certainly can't call myself an actor.

Well, I can call myself an actor — I have acted, for payment, in multiple productions, after all — but to say that acting is what I do, that it's my career, would be a bit disingenuous.

Calling myself an actor would be like a guy who plays five-a-side football with his mates a few times a year calling himself a footballer.

Now, I may have thespian talent — I guess the audience, viewers and, more importantly, casting directors, production companies, and critics would be the judge of that — but I'm not exactly going out of my way to look for the leading role.

'I calculate that I may, with some luck along the way, reach the Google AdSense payment threshold of 70 euros by the year 2036.'

My acting career, if you allow me to call it thus for the moment, has been less active and more passive. I've been very much following the don't-call-us-we'll-call-you approach. I'm not too sure who I should call, in any case, in a bid to advance. Hollywood, you know where to find me.

Blogging, writing if you will, is another one of my pursuits that technically has been earning me money, and on a more regular basis than acting. However, I calculate that I may, with some luck along the way, reach the Google AdSense payment threshold of 70 euros by the year 2036. That's if the payment threshold doesn't increase. Exciting, if nervous, times ahead.

Much ado about doing nothing

So, effectively, I haven't really done much to earn money throughout these past two years. What I have been doing is keeping my costs down, largely thanks to house-sitting for a good portion of 2025 and a small part of 2024; rent, after all, is usually my biggest monthly expense. I've also been practising fairly minimalist living, something that I've become pretty adept at during my time in Colombia.

I do have savings, too, steadily decreasing as they are, yet enough, in a Colombian-peso context, where I don't have to go smashing that glass that should only be broken during an emergency. I haven't yet been forced to accept any old type of gainful employment merely to make ends meet. I still have some wriggle room.

It's this avoidance of the rat race, of being compelled to march full-time to somebody else's beat, that's one of the main reasons keeping me in Colombia.

I've been able to live a more independent life here compared to what I most likely would have to live in a high-income nation. Indeed, at times it feels a little surreal, although this isn't always in a positive sense. Nonetheless, as much as I am concerned about my future, I can't say it unduly stresses me out. But maybe I'm being a bit too sanguine about my current lot.

After all, this independence, my minimalist version of it anyway, does come at a price, as I explained on these pages back in 2021.

And to state what should be obvious, my present approach is unsustainable. I can't continue to spend more than I earn, unless I die inside a couple of years or so. Or win the lottery that I never play.

So, what do I do? I'll have to conjure up something soon to justify my continued presence in Colombia's magical (sur)realism.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

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

Broadening the horizons, both mentally and physically

@wwaycorrigan

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

'Choose where you want to live and then find ways to make your life sustainable there.'

Does the answer lie to the north? Perhaps ...

In those pre-coronavirus days that now seem like a lifetime ago, for many open-minded people with internationally transferable skills or in jobs that required no fixed abode, and with nothing too emotional tying them to one particular place, that epigraph made a lot of sense. The world was, to all intents and purposes, their oyster.

Wealth is health

With the pandemic, while the (relatively) free movement of people hasn't completely ground to a halt, it is much more restricted than it was just nine months ago. 

In addition, there is the moral element at play in relation to the risks associated with unnecessary travel and mixing with strangers.

This can be even more of a burden considering the direction of travel in a live-anywhere-because-I-can context is heavily weighted towards emerging market countries and away from more developed nations. The latter — in theory, although this current pandemic hasn't exactly borne this out — is much better equipped to handle a health emergency.

'Many will have to reinvent themselves to survive in the new landscape.'

So, using that as a guide, it's quite understandable that a country such as Colombia appears to be making it more difficult for digital nomad types to pitch their virtual tents in its territory. 

Unless it can clearly be demonstrated you're of benefit to the state and its people, away with you. (For the record, I can't really call myself a digital nomad, if this is classed in terms of making money doing online work.)

Of course, the pandemic will pass and restrictions on movement — for tourism and some wishing to be economic migrants in any case — are likely to ease. What will take longer to get over is the fallout from it.

Work the location

For some, in terms of living standards anyway, little has changed. Indeed, in certain aspects, their lives may have even improved.

For others — and for the large part, those who were already struggling before this coronavirus — things are much more difficult. Many will have to practically reinvent themselves to survive in the new landscape.

I can't really blame the pandemic for my current imbroglio. OK, the virus ("Alan", you owe me money!) certainly hasn't helped my situation, but I took a decision to try to 'go it alone' before our enemy from the East arrived. The results thus far are nothing to write home about.

Coming back to our opening quote, if I continue to choose Colombia as the country in which I live — a decision that I have less control over today than previously — then it looks like I need to reappraise how I can "make it" here. 

Certain things that I've said no more to, specifically English teaching and marketing agency work, may have to come back into play.

Yet, if the strategy is all about finding gainful employment that I consider more meaningful and suited to my skills, then perhaps I need to reconsider the location.

There is no ideal — even Colombia purely as a location has its negatives — yet my current approach isn't exactly paying dividends.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

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

Work, work, work, work, work

OK, you might say, 'Oh here he goes again, throwing his toys out of the pram. Be grateful for what you have. Many locals would jump at the chance to be in your position.' I understand that. 

What's more, compared to said locals, other colleagues that is, I've had a fairly easy ride of it. Yet, when we experience first-hand rather questionable practices, are we just meant to let them slide?

Working lots of overtime is not only accepted, it's expected. (Image from web.)

What I'm referring to here is the way that many Colombian-based employers, from a private-sector perspective in any case, expect their employees to go well and truly beyond the call of duty. 

From my days teaching English to business professionals, I'd heard about this culture where spending the majority of one's waking hours at work was par for the course.

Some of this I put down to inefficiency. You know, workers not really working when they're meant to be which then leads to panic when it comes to home time. A lackadaisical Latino approach, it could be said.

Warrior workers

With one year down in my first full-time office job in this country, I can say, in this marketing agency at any rate, that inefficient practices do indeed play a part in this. 

However, it's only part of the problem. A bigger factor appears to be a general acceptance that people will work well over what's stipulated in their contract, resigned to the 'fact' that 'it's just the way it is'.

"Speak out about long hours and you'll be viewed as a troublemaker."

For sure, fear and the need to pay the bills are significant in this. If you start making a fuss about having to work another 15-hour-plus day, you'll more than likely be viewed as a troublemaker by management, one not pulling for the team. 

With plenty of eager young folk waiting in the wings, you're easily replaceable. 'Like it or lump it, bucko.' Some people may even find a purely chaotic work environment more advantageous.

Linked to this is the idea that putting in ridiculously long hours is a sign that you are a 'true warrior'. Such thinking is skewed, it's of the short-term gain, long-term loss variety. Indeed, it may not even result in short-term gain.b

In the creative field I'm in, for one, having a mind as fresh as it can be to write texts, be they from scratch or 'non-literal' versions of Spanish, is crucial. Working hours on end in front of a computer with an unrealistic deadline looming doesn't lead to the best results. It's the kind of work, for me anyway, that's best done in short bursts.

"Rather than earning extra for this overtime, I'm actually at a loss."

For example, I recently had to burn the midnight oil, nay add to my employer's energy bill and my own burnout, when having to work on an emergency presentation. It never ceases to amaze me how such non-life-or-death things turn into emergencies. The client or whoever gets what the client wants, I guess. 

My ire was aroused even further when I subsequently discovered it wasn't quite the emergency it was made out to be. Seventeen continuous hours at the office.

The last six of those were spent solely on the presentation, so obviously enough I was starting off on a low-energy base with that particular task. While I did my best in the early part to write the English version as appealing as I could, a few hours in I was opting for almost undecipherable Google translate suggestions. The brain couldn't really function anymore.

Apparently, I'm entitled to a bonus for those endeavours. The princely sum of 10,000 pesos, less than three euros, to be precise. While I wait to receive it, I've been studying where best to invest it. One must make one's money work for oneself, mustn't one? (I'm actually technically at a financial loss considering I spent money on snacks that night, snacks that I wouldn't have had the need to buy had I gone home at my usual time.)

Dirty dealings

Now, this was the first time I had to put in such a shift. For a good number of my colleagues, many of them earning even less than me, it happens with worrying regularity. All this in the multimillion-dollar advertising and marketing industry. Somebody's making a killing out of it. Capitalism at its best, eh? 'But guys, you've never had it so good!'

It's important to note that, in theory, I've no major issue with giving a little bit extra every now and again when there is a genuine need to do so. This is much easier to do, of course, when the work is your own or it's something you truly enjoy. As I've said before, marketing for third parties, doing somebody else's dirty work, is not a major passion of mine. Not in the form I've been experiencing it anyway.

Alas, with the lack of a reliable alternative at this moment in time plus the fact that my current employer is a relatively easy route to a visa that allows me to stay in the country and carry out some of my labours of love, walking away right now might be a rather rash move.

Ride out the frustrating times, control the controllables and aim for better. Something to that effect. 'Toys back in the pram now, good boy.'
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Podcast: The Colombia Cast

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan – The Blog & IQuiz “The Bogotá Pub Quiz”.

'Hi! I'm a workaholic and I'm great'

It's generally not seen as a good thing to be a 'holic' of anything. Everything in moderation and all that.

Yet, in today's world, it seems that being a workaholic is almost universally accepted and even expected in some quarters. And, of course, in jobs where the latest communication technology is utilised to get things done, it's easier than ever to be 'able' to work 24/7. This is something some people have embraced.

It's not always good to get too caught up in work-related things ...

It has certainly blurred the lines between off-duty and on-duty. If you don't actually turn off the technology at your fingertips, you're effectively always 'on' to answer work queries, deal with existing clients, negotiate with potential new ones, write emails and suchlike.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that a lot of people can't resist the temptation to answer that work-related email or WhatsApp message or whatever, regardless of what time of day or night it is and the amount of time they've already worked.

Now, if you're self-employed and/or freelance, and depending on the type of work involved, your day may not have a clear schedule to it. 

In such a scenario, in order to find that often talked about but seldom found work-life balance, it's important to monitor the hours you work on various projects. Those you work with must realise that you have your downtime, if you want it, that is. For freelance types, the distinction between work hours and free time can become difficult to decipher.

The blurred work lines, though, are at their most dangerous for direct employees of companies, especially those who should have a clearly demarcated work schedule and place. 

When you're at home, having done your lot, responding to work-related queries shouldn't become a regular practice. Some people, however, just can't resist; and increased stress levels (and related health problems) can be a direct result of 'engaging' round the clock.

The argument could be made that if you're a manager, the above is par for the course. Yet, unless it's explicitly written in your contract, it shouldn't have to be that way.

Drawing from criticallyrated.com.

In fact, looking at the workaholic in terms of spending time at their workplace, a former boss in Ireland used to ask us newsroom employees, when we were working late, 'What are you still doing in the office at this time?' He would see it as a sign of inefficiency. 

Of course, we couldn't plan when news would happen, but he had a point, all the same. A lot of Colombian bosses could learn from that, something touched on before on this blog.

Another side to all this is the people who work in something they genuinely love, where the word 'work' doesn't conjure up negative images. 

Be that as it may, forcing a break or change is generally a good practice, if only just to aid productivity, to return to your 'thing' with more vigour, so to speak.

It's unlikely that we'll start viewing the workaholic in the same shady light as we see the alcoholic any time soon. But at least we could start re-appreciating those who seek to 'work less and earn more.' And in some respects, more gets achieved that way.

Colombia's dissenters

Colombians have many things to be proud of in terms of their country. For one, a stunningly diverse landscape – from dense jungle to sparse deserts, serene coastal settings to entrancing rolling hills leading to snow-capped mountains and much more in between. With such a contrasting topography comes an array of different and colourful flora and fauna – it is one of the most diverse places on the planet.

Unspoilt beauty.

Add to this a largely helpful, welcoming populace – at least initially* – with an easy-going nature and you begin to see why many of the locals speak very highly of their land and its people. 

Indeed, for those of us who are uneasy with gushing praise in any context, such talk from some Colombians about their hallowed place, which can often descend into hyperbole, can become a little unsettling. We can all get carried away, though, from time to time.

In this regard, bearing in mind the number of locals we’ve met who won’t hear a bad word said about the country, it can be a tad refreshing to hear some born-and-bred Colombians speak in not-so-glowing terms about their homeland. A bit of balance brought to proceedings, in a sense.

Perhaps for every ten natives we meet that fall into the ‘Colombia can do no wrong’ category, we encounter about three that, if not utterly critical of the place, are certainly more focused towards its faults.

The truth – if such a thing can even be measured in this context – generally falls somewhere in between. The fact that our prime residence throughout our time in Colombia has been in the nation’s capital and largest city, Bogotá, helps to explain in some part our encounters with the more ‘negative’ (or is that realist?) elements.

Many of them are not Bogotanos, generally hailing from warmer, less crowded and, usually, environmentally cleaner parts of the country. They had to relocate to the metropolis in order to study or find work – nothing unique there, of course; an internal population flow to a country’s biggest, economically most important, city.

The majority of these Bogotá ‘blow-ins’, though, would generally prefer to be living elsewhere, back in their place of birth for one, and this contributes to the ill feeling many of them develop towards their country.

Eating on the job.

As mentioned, most of them come from warmer locations, so the relatively chilly Bogotá nights don’t help in building a ‘loving’ relationship with the capital either. 

The minus points thus start to grow; unfriendly, untrustworthy people – a big contrast with the official line that – disorganised, backwards, dangerous. In some of the conversations we’ve had with these dissenters, an actual hatred is palpable.

Again, though – the disorganised, backward labels apart – such feelings, especially of unfriendliness, are commonplace in many heavily populated cities across the globe. You tend to get a truer reflection of the soundness of a country and its people outside of the big urban centres; and in this regard, Colombia scores relatively well from what we’ve experienced and written about.**

Another aspect of what we’ll call a more rounded appraisal of the country is what Colombians now living abroad say about the place. In a recent book-editing project we undertook which featured interviews with such types, there were some common observations made.

Chief among those was the work ethic – or lack thereof, to be honest – of their compatriots back home. Now, on face value, this may surprise some people who visit the major Colombian cities. The locals generally rise very early to go to their place of employment and return pretty late – 12-hour plus days are commonplace here. There is a difference, though, between being at work and actually doing work.

As their fellow nationals, now plying their trade outside these borders, noted, there exists a more 'relaxed' approach to getting things done here. A ‘What’s the rush?’ style mentality you might call it. 

You only need to look at the ongoing infrastructure works in downtown Bogotá to get an idea of this – they’ve been at it since before our first visit here in early 2009 and there still seems to be no end in sight. Sure it’s only the capital’s city centre.

Never-ending works.

We’re all on for having a more laid-back life, but when you’re still spending most of your time at your place of work but just not doing a lot, that doesn’t sound like much fun. For our Colombian expat interviewees who have discovered the art of efficiency elsewhere, coming back to the typical way of doing things in the old country is something they’re not too keen on.

Yet despite the faults and oft-frustrating idiosyncrasies of the country and its people, for us, the many plus points outweigh the bad. It’s why we’re still here we guess.***

For some of the locals, however, getting out of the place can’t come quick enough.

Sometimes, to truly appreciate your birthplace, you need to leave it – if only for a short time. You might find, though, that the grass is indeed greener on the other side.

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*For our take on some of the less positive aspects of Colombian friendships, see http://bit.ly/LbcE9V

**A host of previous posts to choose from in this regards, including 'Finding Filandia' http://bit.ly/W1qXDw, 'Buenaventura's dirty delights' http://bit.ly/11ksFmP, 'Dirty Old Town' http://bit.ly/VG94Ho and 'Turbo Living' http://bit.ly/SVtkWW

***We did address this in some way in 'Por qué Colombia?'  http://bit.ly/W1t3DF