Andes women

(photo via Michael N. Escobar)

Columbia is a stratified society. People we met wouldn�t even think of sending their kids to public schools, which are clearly "for peasants". The legacy of Jesuits is one of the best in South America school and university systems. Urbanites in Bogota are exceedingly polite, well mannered and courteous regardless of class. People are very well dressed. There is a hospitality not encountered in other parts of the world. People are proud of Columbia and they go out of their way to show off their country.

Bogota is situated at high altitude in a valley on the side of the Andes ridge. Perhaps it is in water or the mixture of Conquistador and Indian bloods, but virtually every woman is an effervescent gorgeous goddess. The country is blessed with flowers and the surreal concentration of stunning girls. Spanish chivalry traditions are alive in Columbia. I was awakened after midnight by an hour long serenade. Fathers serenade their daughters when they turn 15 and aspiring lovers go to the streets to serenade the beautiful women of Columbia.

A friend of mine form the New Orleans told me that when he moved to Boston he was surprised by the ratio of ugly to beautiful women. In New Orleans it was 80% beautiful and 20% ugly and in Boston it is the reverse: 80% ugly and 20% acceptable (that ratio becomes 95% ugly in any of the local Shuls). In Columbia it is more like 80% beautiful and 20% breath taking gorgeous.