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  Piterwilson 5:57 pm on July 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: rant (3)   

  Battles of Dependence 

  On july the 20th, Colombians, like their Argentine counterparts did today, and as always, in the midst of tight security measures, will celebrate their independence.

  200 years ago, the people of the ‘Virreinato de La Nueva Granada’ rebelled against the Spanish king and set in motion the events that after a long process stretching over 100 years of failures, secession and disputes, would produce the terrible tragedy that later would be known as the Republic of Colombia and it’s comparably miserable sibling nations : The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Republic of Ecuador, the Republic of Panamá and Simon Bolivar’s favorite : the republic of Bolivia.

  It would be 9 years later after the “Cry of Independence” of 1810 that the definitive battle, the “Battle of Boyaca”, where the Spanish were defeated took place. This battle is known in Colombia as the “Battle of Independence” and it’s celebrated the 7th of August as the “National Party” and it’s also the date on which every 4 years the ceremony in which the president takes possession is held.

  It was a time in history when the South American colonies fought to be free from the control of Europeans. The Spanish were our adversaries, we fought our hardest to leave their control, they fought their best to keep us under their flag.

  200 years later the roles have reversed.

  Today we Colombians, in far greater numbers than those who fought to be independent, fight to be again dependent of the developed world and the European countries and be covered under their flag.

  In contrast to out forefathers, we fight our personal Battles of Dependence. And we fight alone. It’s you against the world. We fight to leave, and for our right to stay alive. We are rats that escape the sinking ship. We are the horsemen of the apocalypse. Every man for himself.

  Our adversaries are the same countries that 200 years ago fought to keep us, except that now they want to keep us. Out.

  They fight us with road blocks and divisory walls between country borders, visa requirements, changing definitions of what a valid reason to stay is, and fees and waiting periods and separation from our families and apostilles and official translations and bank records, criminal records and actualized notarized copies of our birth certificates. Language exams, integration tests, blood tests and personal interviews.

  We stand in line, we hold on the phone, we take verbal abuse but stay polite and positive, we take our picture and go where it’s required and stay there as long as needed to fetch what we are asked. Photocopies and certificates, stamps and seals and fingerprinting are second nature. Despite their best efforts, our numbers grow larger and we overwhelm them. We fly couch, we are there, and if you lift a rock n your city, out Colombians will pour and run away like cockroaches exposed to light.

  The official numbers from 2005 (the last official census) very optimistically say that 10% of Colombians left the country, almost 3 and half million. A more recent study says the number is 6 million and closer to 15% percent of the total population. The NGOs say the number is actually 8 million.

  In contrast, census from 1835 record the total Colombian population to number barely 1 million and 700 thousand.

  The Colombians who fought to be independent are outnumbered by us who fight to be dependent and their will and resolution is our curse and our cross to burden. Their actions are our original sin.

   

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  Piterwilson 12:11 pm on July 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Everything must go! 

  Being an expat/immigrant has been my bread and butter, since the very beginning. At first because of my father’s job in the army stationed here today, gone tomorrow, and later on, out of personal preference, self-extraditing myself the hell out of Colombia.

  The places I called home have had names like Monteria, Santigo de Chile, McClean,Treviso, Bogotá, London… and in about a month, we will be leaving the city of Buenos Aires where we have lived for the last 3 years: its name added to the list.

  Sentimentalism is not high in the priority list and I actually believe a change of cultures is fundamental every so many years as to avoid stagnation and to keep an open mind:  it keeps on your toes, protects you from getting too comfortable and buying way too many things you don’t need, you learn about a different way to see life and you even learn a new language in some cases.

  Even tho I came and went in this Buenos Aires city, I have to say that of all the cities I have lived in, this is the one where I have felt the most welcome and at ease.

  Welcome because this is one of the few places where as a Colombian you are not singled out as a threat or an undesirable. People actually like Colombians here (Bolivians take the heat here…) and the immigration laws are for once skewed in our favor. Other foreigners get away with never having to register or pay taxes as long as they come in and out of the country (by river, from BsAs, 1 hour to the neighbor Uruguay) once every 3 months

  At ease, well , being “at ease” seems to me it the very core of the Argentine lifestyle and even tho that can also get on your nerves when absolutely nothing technical actually works, and Porteños don’t actually keep their word or appointments, there will be plenty of things I will miss about Buenos Aires.

  The slow pace of life is one of them: Here and in contrast with other mayor urban centers of the world, it is quite possible to have a social life where you take the time to relax and spend time with people. Venues are more than plentiful (I still haven’t seen even half of BsAs saddly), of good quality and open everyday until very late. Life is kind of cheap (but not as cheap as it used to see this example as one of many of the rampant inflation going on right now) and working and making money are not the top priorities.

  Another thing I like is that there are more expats everywhere ( i don’t mean tourists) : Argentines are super friendly and open but making real friendships with them is hard because in their very traditional lifestyle they made all the friends they needed back in high school. To top it off a lot of them flee BsAs on the weekends to be with their families having “asados” (BBQ) in the suburbs.

  Fortunately there are thousands of other foreigners around coming and going like waves of locust. Zones like Palermo and Recoleta are crawling with us non-Argentines and there is always someone new in town to meet and get to know and someone else who is leaving. Other expats are my favorite kind of people by far and they fall into 2 kinds:

  You have your white people (Americans, English, Australians etc…), most of them have taken a semi-dangerous chance (usually for 6 months to 1 year) and they quit their jobs or work remotely or take a year to come and study Spanish or work for very little money. They move to a strange place with a strange language and weird costumes and when asked they will probably tell you they were bored with their life back home.

  Then you have your non-white people, and they usually come to study and/or to find a job in a particular type of industry that flourishes in the region, mainly advertising, photography or cooking. Many of my Colombian friends have come here in these conditions. They work the waitressing/cooking helper jobs. They like it a lot here but most end up leaving because most of them can’t find better work.

  Expats/Inmigrants are always open to hang out, to go out, to meet strangers, a lot of times they have a new place or activity in town that you didn’t know about, and they are generally open to at least consider new things.

  The world would be a completely different place is everyone the world were required to spend at least 1 year as a foreigner (I don’t mean as a tourist).

  For white people It’s my understanding that despite having all the advantages of a ‘white person passport’ very few actually use them. For the other type of foreigner, the rest of us, it’s the destination countries that do everything possible to keep us out.

  In Colombia there a saying that applies “My god gives bread to toothless men“.

  So we are leaving Buenos Aires and everything must go. The boxes are being packed, the unnecessaries given or thrown away. I have to return in a few months while the Dutch process my application to live there, but when i come back it will be for short while.

  All in all it’s been fun and if everything else fails, we always have Buenos Aires to come back to.

  Tam, and Ann are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Ann 12:43 pm on July 7, 2010 Permalink

    good luck moving again! too bad we’ll *just* miss you by a couple days in holland.

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    Tam 1:21 pm on July 7, 2010 Permalink

    That’s right, we do

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  Piterwilson 6:21 am on June 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BZC Bazuco Media Corporation (3)   

  BZC in Cartel Urbano Magazine 

  A quick re-post coming from Juan Obando’s website:

  This month’s issue of Cartel Urbano Magazine features an article on Bazuco. Paula Ricciulli conducted a very interesting e-mail interview that, unfortunately, didn’t make it to the article in its entirety, but that can be read in English here and in Spanish here.

  

  The article can be found here.

  The article itself, as it often happens and probably due to the limited space available for the piece covers very little of what it’s said in the actual interview.