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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY VIDEOS
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Paisas, coffee and so much more

 

In the minds of Colombians nationwide, the fictional character Juan Valdez – Colombia’s most famous name in coffee advertisements – is a quintessential Paisa: a hard-working mustached coffee worker, clad in a poncho and sombrero with a leather bag, standing alongside his faithful mule with the mountains in background. A stereotype? Certainly, yet not without foundation. This gave to Colombian coffee growers an admirable archetype to aspire.

In Colombia there are more than half million families producing coffee, from the provinces that limit with Ecuador, in the South, up to those that border the Caribbean Sea in the North but most coffee is grown in so called Coffee Triangle. Also known as Coffee Cultural Landscape this area is a part of the Colombian Paisa – a region with a strong cultural identity consisting of three Colombian departments: Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio.

The beauty here is only exceeded by the friendliness of the Paisas, they are the iconic personages of the Coffee Axis. The men come with their ponchos, carriles (a type of leather bag) and machetes at their sides. The women are famed for their beauty and fashion sense.

Paisas are kind and lovely people and all the time they will want to offer the best of them and put it at the service of the world. An example of this is a typical paisa’s phrase: “A la orden” (At your service). Just make him a compliment and immediately will respond to you: A la orden! You would believe that it is just a formalism to respond, but the truth is that he is actually putting it at your disposal and always willing to offer the best he can give.

 

 

 

 

 

Paisas, coffee and so much more

 

In the minds of Colombians nationwide, the fictional character Juan Valdez – Colombia’s most famous name in coffee advertisements – is a quintessential Paisa: a hard-working mustached coffee worker, clad in a poncho and sombrero with a leather bag, standing alongside his faithful mule with the mountains in background. A stereotype? Certainly, yet not without foundation. This gave to Colombian coffee growers an admirable archetype to aspire.

In Colombia there are more than half million families producing coffee, from the provinces that limit with Ecuador, in the South, up to those that border the Caribbean Sea in the North but most coffee is grown in so called Coffee Triangle. Also known as Coffee Cultural Landscape this area is a part of the Colombian Paisa – a region with a strong cultural identity consisting of three Colombian departments: Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio.

The beauty here is only exceeded by the friendliness of the Paisas, they are the iconic personages of the Coffee Axis. The men come with their ponchos, carriles (a type of leather bag) and machetes at their sides. The women are famed for their beauty and fashion sense.

Paisas are kind and lovely people and all the time they will want to offer the best of them and put it at the service of the world. An example of this is a typical paisa’s phrase: “A la orden” (At your service). Just make him a compliment and immediately will respond to you: A la orden! You would believe that it is just a formalism to respond, but the truth is that he is actually putting it at your disposal and always willing to offer the best he can give.

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