I asked my man what images came to mind when he thought about Colombia. He said, “Marijuana, cocaine, drug lords, guerrilla warfare. Isn’t that what everyone thinks of?” He went on to say, “Unless you’re a real nerd. And then you might think about coffee.”

But I don’t like that image. It’s a stereotype in the same vein of conjuring boots and cowboy hats when you think of Texas. But it’s worse than that. Our stereotype of Colombia is all greed and violence. It’s all so negative. I want a happier image of Colombia. And if that means I’m dreaming about Juan Valdez, then so be it.

What if we were to think instead of treasure maps and verdant adventures, of romance, warmth and beauty? Let us all have the Colombia of Romancing the Stone, where the villains are only as dangerous as Danny DeVito. If we’re going to have our illusions, they might as well be happy ones.

(Don’t think I’m deluding myself. I know all about the drug lords. I’m just sayin’…)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Latin America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.