Callejeando 2024.18
Kindred Spirits
I have noticed, in the two times I have spent significant stretches in a country other than my native US, that I find people in the same boat. We spent the school year of 1985–86 in Dijon, France. I had no intentions of meeting anybody; I had no idea what to expect. But by the end of our stay, we had a circle of friends- Some were the families of the children’s schoolmates, some were colleagues of David’s from the University of Burgundy, some were friends of friends- like the Bulgarian pianist and his wife and two sons who were friends of David’s department chair. At least one American military family introduced themselves at the local lavamatique simply because they noticed me reading a book in English. We had a full social life, which shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did.
The same phenomenon has occurred here in Medellin. There is a sizable expat community in the city. Just recently the Colombian government issued a special visa for digital nomads which has only increased the popularity of this locale for wanderers from all over.
We’re here because of Andrew and Andrea, both native-born Americans, as are their two children. But Andrea, although technically a gringa, is the child of Colombians, and looks it. Andrew is harder to classify at first glance, but they fit a pattern, Anglo men whose partners are Colombian, or Latinx…
