By Jennifer Bragg

I have spent most of my adult life traveling around the world， mostly for work but sometimes for holidays. Ive lived in or visited many countries across Asia and Europe， but I had never been to South America—until this year.

In March， my company sent me to work in Colombia for two weeks. I knew some things about it， but I wasnt sure what to expect. When I arrived in the capital city of Bogota2， however， I fell in love with it.

It started the morning after I arrived， which was a Sunday. I walked outside of my hotel to get the lay of3 the land. The street in front of my hotel stretched for many miles， but on this day， it was closed. Instead of cars and buses， I saw a lot of people jogging， biking， and walking their dogs. I was mesmerized4， so I decided to join in and walked a few miles myself that day. I later discovered that this is a tradition in Bogota that has continued for decades， called ciclovia. Every Sunday from the morning until 2pm the streets around the city are closed so people can get outside and exercise as a community.

That first day in Bogota was just the tip of the iceberg. During the two weeks I spent in Colombia I discovered many things that make the country unique.

Coffee

If you go to a Starbucks in Beijing， chances are you are drinking coffee that comes from Colombia， Kenya， Guatemala or Ethiopia.5 Coffee is serious business in Colombia； it made up more than 8% of all of the countrys exports in 2016. It is an integral part of Colombian culture with 500，000 coffee growers cultivating the commodity on more than two million acres of land.6

Coffee is harvested by hand and at a higher altitude than other coffee-producing countries. That means it arguably tastes better and is of a higher quality. Perhaps the most important thing about coffee is its identity as an integral part of Colombian culture. Step outside in Bogota on an early weekday morning and you will likely see someone imbibing7 a small cup of the hot liquid to start off the day. Coffee is so inherent to Colombian culture， UNESCO declared the “coffee cultural landscape of Colombia” a World Heritage Site in 2011.8

Nature

Colombia is one of the most biodiverse9 countries in the world. Even though Bogota has mountains and plateaus10， elsewhere there are jungles， beaches， rivers and deserts， too. It has more than 1，800 bird species—the most worldwide. 71 of those species are unique only to Colombia.

The country seems to have been made for hikers. One can go to the Amazon rainforest11， most of which is in Brazil but about 10% of it is in Colombia. Or， a person can hike up the Andes Mountains， which is the longest continental mountain range in the world， stretching from the top to the bottom of South America.12

The aforementioned13 places are marked by a very high altitude. Bogota itself is around 8，600 feet （2，600 meters） above sea level. That means altitude sickness14 is a very real threat， whether someone is simply visiting Bogota or going on a hiking adventure outside the city. Being so high up can make a person prone to dehydration，15 feeling dizzy or sick as a result. I was ok for the first few days， but by my third day in Bogota I started feeling nauseous16 and needed to rest before I felt normal again. Often when people experience this nausea， there is a special tea made from the coca plant to help ease the symptoms of altitude sickness.

Culture

The Colombian people are very warm. The typical greeting， whether it is with a colleague or a dear friend， is to give each other a hug and a kiss on one cheek. Men usually shake hands with each other. Traditionally， older people are granted large amounts of respect because of their age and wisdom； at the dinner table they are served food and drink first. One thing I also noticed， which reminds me of China， is that people love their dogs. In the morning or evening， it is not uncommon to see people in parks with their beloved pets.

Ethnically there are 84 different populations of indigenous people and 60 different languages.17 Even with such diversity， there is one thing that unites everyone in Colombia： football， or soccer. Music，literature and art are represented well by the singer Shakira， the author Gabriel GarciaMarquez and Fernando Botero， respectively.18 The latter two have museums devoted to them because they are considered national treasures by the people.

Food

What makes a culture unique if it isnt the food？ Besides the coffee， the cuisine of Colombia is a food lovers dream. It starts at breakfast， where arepa is often served. Its a corn cake stuffed with cheese and cooked on a griddle.19 A person can also opt to have many types of pastries that are filled with meat and cheese.20 For lunch or dinner， one of the many different types of traditional foods is something a friend from Colombia suggested I try： ajiaco. It is a potato soup with meat， like shredded chicken， and a cob of corn that comes with fresh avocado and cream on the side.21 There are too many other amazing dishes to list here， but among the staples of the Colombian diet are meat， corn， cheese and plantains—a more starchy， savory version of the banana.22

Although South America was never really on my touristic radar23， Colombia has changed my mind. Between the culture， its natural wonders and the food and coffee， I plan to return and get to know the country more intimately24. What I have mentioned here is just a fraction25 of what the country has to offer. I just cant believe it took me this long to discover.

1. Colombia： 哥倫比亞，位于南美洲西北部，是拉丁美洲第四大經(jīng)濟(jì)體。

2. Bogota： 波哥大，哥倫比亞首都，是哥倫比亞最大的城市，也是拉美最大、最現(xiàn)代化的城市之一。

3. get the lay of： 了解情況。

4. mesmerize： // 深深吸引，使著迷。

5. Kenya： 肯尼亞，位于非洲東部，赤道橫貫中部，東非大裂谷縱貫?zāi)媳?；Guatemala：危地馬拉，中美洲國(guó)家；Ethiopia： 埃塞俄比亞，位于非洲東北部。

6. 它是哥倫比亞文化不可或缺的一部分，有50萬(wàn)的咖啡種植者在兩百多萬(wàn)英畝的土地上種植著這一商品。integral： 不可分割的。

7. imbibe： 喝，飲用。

8. UNESCO： 聯(lián)合國(guó)教科文組織（the United Nations Educational， Scientific， and Cultural Organization），其宗旨是促進(jìn)教育、科學(xué)及文化方面的國(guó)際合作，以利于各國(guó)人民之間的相互了解，維護(hù)世界和平；coffee cultural landscape of Colombia： 哥倫比亞咖啡文化景觀，位于哥倫比亞西部安第斯山脈的中西部山麓之間，由六處農(nóng)業(yè)景觀和18個(gè)城市中心所組成，是可持續(xù)的且富有生產(chǎn)能力的文化景觀的杰出代表，于2011年入選世界文化和自然遺產(chǎn)名錄；World Heritage Site： 世界遺產(chǎn)地，即被列入聯(lián)合國(guó)《世界遺產(chǎn)名錄》的具有重大文化、歷史、科學(xué)價(jià)值的地點(diǎn)或建筑。

9. biodiverse： 生物種類繁多的，生物物種豐富的。

10. plateau： 高原。

11. Amazon rainforest： 亞馬孫熱帶雨林，位于南美洲的亞馬孫盆地，占地七百萬(wàn)平方公里，是全球最大及物種最多的熱帶雨林。

12. 又或者，他可以徒步攀登安第斯山脈，這是世界上最長(zhǎng)的大陸山脈，南北縱貫?zāi)厦来箨?。Andes Mountains： 安第斯山脈，屬于科迪勒拉山系，位于南美洲西岸，從北到南全長(zhǎng)8，900余千米，是世界上最長(zhǎng)的山脈。

13. aforementioned： 上述的，前面提及的。

14. altitude sickness： 高原病，高空缺氧引起的不適癥。

15. prone： 易發(fā)，傾向于；dehydration：// 脫水，缺水。

16. nauseous： 惡心的。下句中nausea為其名詞形式。

17. ethnically： 民族上，種族上；indigenous： 本土的，本地的。

18. Shakira： 夏奇拉（1977— ），哥倫比亞女歌手，是史上唱片銷量最高的、獲獎(jiǎng)最多的拉丁女歌手；Gabriel Garcia-Marquez： 加夫列爾·加西亞·馬爾克斯（1927—2014），哥倫比亞作家、記者和社會(huì)活動(dòng)家，拉丁美洲魔幻現(xiàn)實(shí)主義文學(xué)的代表人物，1982年諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)得主，代表作有《百年孤獨(dú)》、《霍亂時(shí)期的愛(ài)情》等；Fernando Botero： 費(fèi)爾南多·波特羅（1932— ），哥倫比亞著名雕塑家、畫家，被譽(yù)為哥倫比亞國(guó)家的榮耀和人民信仰之父。

19. 這是一種玉米餅，里面塞滿了奶酪，然后用平底鍋煎。corn cake： 玉米餅；griddle： 煎鍋，平底鍋。

20. opt： 選擇；pastry： 糕點(diǎn)，點(diǎn)心。

21. 這是一種土豆湯，里面有肉，比如雞肉絲，還有玉米棒，旁邊配以新鮮的牛油果和奶油。shredded： 切碎的，切絲的；avocado： 鱷梨，牛油果。

22. staple： 主食；plantain： 大蕉，香蕉的一種；starchy：富含淀粉的；savory： 可口的，美味的。

23. on sbs radar： 為某人所關(guān)注。

24. intimately： 深入地，透徹地。

25. fraction： 部分，片段。