Columbia

Living conditions In Colombia, the typical cuisine is diverse and varies depending on which region you are in. Colombia is not a place for vegetarians in the fact that a lot of meat is consumed throughout the region. Colombians, on a daily basis also eat three meals a day like we do here in America. Colombians start the day off with a small, light breakfast, then they will eat a large hearty lunch, and then they finish off the day with another light meal. The people of this country feel the most important meal of the day is their lunch. Down in the great country of Colombia, many different types of foods are available. Along the coast whale, fish, lobster, and various other types of seafood are readily available fresh from the waters there. There is also a large amount of beef, chicken, pork, and bird available in the meats aspect of the country. Colombia has lots of exotic fruits and vegetables to eat too. The list includes guava, mango, apple, pear, blackberry, strawberry, and bananas for their fruits and for the vegetables there are carrots, potatoes, rice, corn, etc. The typical dishes and meals available in the national aspect vary across the nation. Most meals in Colombia consist of some kind of meat with some sort of vegetable and fruit as the sides. There is no actual “national dish” of Colombia, but two of the main dishes served are arepa and tepal. Some of the other typical main dishes here are ajiaco, arroz con pollo, bandeja paisa, changua, chunchullo, frijoles con garra, and lechona. Colombians also have a variety of interesting dessert dishes. Some of these dishes include arroz con coc, manjar blanco, natilla, postre de natas, and mazamorra de maiz. The housing in Colombia varies dramatically. In middle to upper class section of the country, there are nice, modern houses. Most housing units though, are detached houses, ranches, and huts whereas less than 15% are apartments and the remainder were mobile units, natural shelters, and non-residential housing. Also, about 70 percent of the housing in Colombia is owner occupied and about 25 percent of housing is rented. The traditional peasant clothing is a puffy white shirt with black pants for boys and a white blouse with a black skirt for girls for girls. Colombians will use red to accent and bring some color into clothing. The important and most popular clothes in Colombia are trousers, sleepwear, blouses worn by boxer shorts, shirts, shorts, pajamas, skirts, robes, gowns, swim trunks, jogging suits, polo shirts, T-shirts, jackets, sweat shirts and tank tops. In Colombia, there are a variety of sports available to the people. Of all the sports and activities they have, the two favorite things to do is play and/or watch football or soccer. Colombia also has baseball, cycling, swimming, basketball, and tennis for other sports to participate in for their leisure time. If one does not like playing sports in Colombia, there are all kinds of historic sites and landmarks one can visit. Social security in Colombia came about in 1843 but was only applied for the military personnel. Nowadays, they have expanded the social security program to a wider variety of people mainly in the upper and middle class of society. When the national constitution was reformed in 1991, the social security system was reformed through the implementation of Law 100, which has provided health coverage to much of the population. The poorest section of the country still is yet to have much coverage at all though. In Colombia, health care has increased dramatically but only in the middle and upper classes. As of 2007 Colombian medicine has been recognized as one of the most advanced in the world. In 2002 Colombia had 58,761 physicians, 23,950 nurses, and 33,951 dentists. In the lower classes, the people are limited to the amount of health care they receive due to the fact these people are poor and have no means to obtain any health care at all. The medicines and care people do receive, especially in rural or remote areas, are traditional remedies. Many forms of this traditional medicine rely on indigenous plants. In the use of these traditional remedies, many people, like the poor, lower class people of Colombia, can be treated for the different sicknesses and diseases one may pick up. Works cited http://www.southamerica.cl/Colombia/Food.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Colombia http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Colombia.html http://www.freewebs.com/colombianculture/traditionaldressandfoods.htm