Dear Mom and Dad,

I have been here in Colombia for a while. It is located in the Northern part of South America. Colombia is bordering the Caribbean Sea, and the North Pacific Ocean. The neighboring countries are Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela.

The climate here is warm and that's because I am not in the chilly weather of the Andes Mountains. The reason it is chilly is because of the elevation. The reason I am warm right now is because the equator crosses southern Colombia, and I am in southern Colombia. The geographical features nearby are the Andes Mountains and the lowland plains.

The population here in Colombia is 38,580,949. The reason why I am telling you the population is to show you how many people pick to live in Colombia. The country's language is Spanish. I feel bad for Jill, because she took French for language.

I think that we should live in the city because they dress like we do. I will tell you about the other areas' clothes so you are informed about what they wear in different areas of Colombia, just in case you'd rather live somewhere else. In the rural areas, they wear few garments. In fact, they only wear shoes on special occasions. In the Andes they wear woolen ruanas, which are wool blankets with a slit for the head.

The recreation that would interest us are skiing in the Andes, basketball, and volleyball. They are very BIG on Soccer! Kate can go tan on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean coast is where most sunbathers and swimmers go.

The food here is generally starchy for example potatoes, rice and noodles. A lot of people in Colombia have their own special dishes. They like stews and soups too. A favorite is ajiaco, which contains chicken, corn, potato, and cassaua (this is a type of root crop). A favorite drink here is agua de panela. This contains water and brown sugar. That sounds gross doesn't it? Even though they are lead producers in coffee they don't drink it as much as you do in the United States.

If you were to come here, for money you would use Pesos. Some of the religions that are practiced here is Roman Catholic, which most Colombians are. Protestant is 1% here. They practice Protestant, our religion! So then we don't have to switch religion.

Something that you should watch out here are tropical diseases like malaria, and yellow fever. When you are on the Andes watch out for headaches because of the elevation. I had one the day I arrived. Also, the tap water isn't safe to drink so you are going to have to bring a Brita Filter.

If we want to be polite Colombians this is what we should do, we greet each other with a handshake, or the women kiss each other on the cheek. Yawning is inappropriate because it is a sign of hunger. When you are visiting, it is polite to call before you are going to come. You are usually given refreshments. When you are invited for dinner, you arrive either a few minutes early or 30 minutes late! How different is Colombia from the United States?! You should mind your manners, no feet on the table. While you eat you use good manners, appropriate conversation and overeating is impolite. A host may offer more refreshments, but you should not take them. You should have your hands on top of the table. I don't think we should have a problem with any of this! We all know our manners. I was just telling you because I was told by one of the Colombians that they had a visitor doing the same job I have from you. They said he was a pig! He was rude and did all the things I just said were impolite. Getting back to the subject I was told that eating on the streets is also inappropriate! Whoa!

Well I got to go now, we are going to explore some more!

I love you and I will see you soon!

Until then,
Kristen