Bogota, Colombia-not a sinlge blog until now

I never wrote about Bogota before now. I dont know why I didn't even consider doing it. Maybe I was afraid that what I would offend one or both parities involved ...the United States and Colombia. But now that I have come stateside, I find that so often people don't know anything about Colombia.

I find myself saying the following phrase often, "I live in Bogota, Colombia...you know, South America?"

I figure, the person may be half listening and thinks I am talking about a city named Colombia that is in the United States.

I barely knew anything about Colombia before I came to live there. Books were misleading about what I should expect and there were very few blogs to read about Bogota. I had thought of compiling something for children, but then we moved twice and other crazy things were absorbing my time so I didn't write about Bogota at all. Now that I am stateside, I will have to wait until I return to write about life there, but I could write about how San Diego differs from Bogota in my experience!

For example, today we were at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and a family was walking towards me and for the 10th time this week (and it's only Monday) I had to remind myself to not stare. This time the family were of African descent. Rewind! They were African Americans! By their accent, dress, and mamnerism, I would say they were at least 4 generation American. Why did I have to stop staring? For the last 15 months of living in Bogota, the only African-Americans I ever run across are at the Embassy. There are a few Colombians who live in the area who are of a darker skin than most Colombians (who are said to be from the coast), but I have never seen more than 3 in a group. Earlier today I saw a family who clearly had brought their homeland with them. All the women wore their hair in very long braids which laid across their very colorful saris while the men wore light colored linen-like clothes and sandals. They probably were Americans, but again I caught myself looking because in the area of Bogota where I live I have never seen Indians from India dressed in traditional garb. Here in San Diego it is quite common to see people from different ethnic backgrounds; I wonder what it is like living someplace like China for two years and then coming back to the United States. Talk about culture shock!