Colombia Compare And Contrast

Comparing and Contrasting the USA and Colombia

There are many different things about Colombia and the US, but also there are similar things about the two countries too. Have you ever heard of the musician Oreste Sindici? Oreste Sindici wrote “¡Oh Gloria Inmarcesible!” which translates to Oh Unfading Glory. “¡Oh Gloria Inmarcesible!” is the Colombian national anthem. The U.S. national anthem was written by Francis Scott Key. The US national anthem is called “The Star Spangled Banner”. There are different and similar traditions in the U.S. and Colombia as well. Those may include meals, how the holidays are celebrated, and what the sports are that are played in the countries.

If you were to go to Colombia for breakfast you would most

likely eat beans and rice with eggs, Arepa, Chorizo and Chicharrón. For a beverage with breakfast you might drink hot chocolate. Chicharrón is deep fried pork rinds or sometimes deep fried chicken rinds. Chorizo looks like sausage but it is grilled beef. Arepa is a corn cake with toppings on top. Also Huevos can be a breakfast food. Huevos is scrambled egg with tomato and scallions. Huevos in usually served with Arepas, cheese and hot chocolate. In the U.S. for breakfast people usually eat doughnuts, oatmeal, cereal, waffles and pancakes. Pancakes are usually buttermilk pancakes or chocolate chip pancakes, these two types of pancakes can be drizzled with syrup.Cereal is eaten with milk in the U.S. Colombian desserts seem very sweet. Natalia is a dessert served in Colombia, which is a custard dessert.Another dessert is torta Maria Luisa which is a layered cake with a little citrus and filled with fruit jam. Desserts served in the U.S. are cookies, ice cream, pie, and popsicles. Some types of pies are apple pie, blueberry pie and pumpkin pie. Pie and ice cream are sometimes served together. The three most common ice cream flavors are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. For dinner, beans and rice are very common in Colombia. Other dinner meals could be Arroz con Pollo or Carne guisada, even tamales. Carne guisada is beef stew made with vegetables. Arroz con Pollo in Chicken with rice. Finally, tamales are meat and vegetables inside a cornmeal dough wrapped with banana leaves. In the U.S. for dinner people usually eat a meat, a starch, and a vegetable.

A food Colombians eat on Christmas Eve is natila which is a custard.

Another food is stuffed turkey and roasted stuffed pig. During Miranda(a event where a pig gets fried) a Christmas party in thrown with family, friends and neighbors. Also, families decorate Christmas trees. On Candle day, which is December 7th, candles are lit in window sills and and in streets to celebrate December. Most of these candles are red and blue. On the 16th of December families, neighbors and friends pray for 9 days. Santa does not exist in Colombia, instead Jesus gives them presents. A way that children hope to get presents is on the day before Christmas Eve, children write notes to baby Jesus and put these notes in the pesebre (nativity). These notes also can be called Carta Niño Dios. On Christmas, which is the 25th, they eat leftovers from Christmas Eve. On Christmas people in the U.S. eat ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, ham, stuffing and bread. In the U.S. people decorate Christmas trees with ornaments and lights. Families also hang stockings above fireplaces, bed posts, stair cases, window sills, door knobs and other places. Also, some children leave out cookies for Santa, they also write letters to him. It is believed that Santa Claus eats cookies that are left out for him, and he leaves presents under the Christmas trees for all the good boys and girls, and if you don’t be nice you get coal in your stocking instead of candy. Also, a tradition that started in 2005 is Elves

on the Shelves. Elves on the Shelves report to Santa each night if kids are being good or bad and they hide in places the next morning. If a child touches the elf on the shelf it won’t be able to fly to Santa any more. On Christmas morning kids open presents and stockings from family and Santa. In Colombia Independence day is celebrated on the 20th of July. They celebrate by having festivals. In the U.S. Independence Day is celebrated on July 4th, another name for Independence Day in the U.S. is July 4th. July 4th in celebrated by BBQs, fireworks and parades.

Popular sports in Colombia are Fúbol, Bull fighting, Tejo, Raña, Chaza, Cycling, and roller skating, there are also many other sports in Colombia. Tejo is like horseshoes but you use a puck or a Tejo to hit a target about 20 meters away. On the target there's triangles with gunpowder in them so when you hit the triangle it explodes and everyone cheers. During this game people drink beer and on each team there’s 6 people. The game Chaza, is basically tennis or volleyball but you use a rubber ball that weight 60 grams and you can use your hands or a racket called a bombo. Raña is a game where you try to get a brass ring into a frog's mouth that is on top of a Raña box. Colombia’s team for Fútbol is the “Federación Colombiana de Fútbol”. Sports that are play in the US are Fútbol, Football, Basketball and Hockey. The organization for Football is the NFL which stands for the National Football League. The Basketball organization is the NBA which stands for the National Basketball Association. The organization for Hockey in the National Hockey League.

Colombia and the U.S. have different traditions but some are the same. I think most of the traditions are very different. The most interesting thing I learned is what Tejo is. Do you that Colombia is part of the ring of fire? Also I thought it was interesting that Bogota has South America’s largest bike routes.