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Central Americans are the black sheep of Latin America, no one likes us or pays attention to us.
I don't think this is true.
Costa Rica and Guatemala are pretty popular on a worldwide scale IMO. I always hear of people traveling there. Nicaragua has become pretty popular too.
What I do see is ignorance regarding the cultures of Central America- I really hate it when people say that all of the Central American countries are the same. Each country has a unique culture IMO and that just means people have no clue or enough interest to learn about them individually.
My exact thoughts rosa surf. I've been in Amsterdam for the past few weeks and the more people I meet, the clearer it becomes how similar we all are.
At the hostel I was staying at, met several Mexicans, one Spanish, one Colombian and a Brazilian girl, we all got along great and there was never any malice or negative feelings around. I suppose the people you encounter are a reflection of your own self, I suppose.
Greetings!
Yes, 100% correct.
How fun that you are in Amsterdam! I love traveling. If I could get a job that allows me to travel around the world, I would be one very happy gal.
This is what has been the hardest about being married, I can't just get up and leave whenever I want. lol Though recently I escaped to Austin and New York, hehe. Those cities are wonderful!
Costa Rica and Guatemala are pretty popular on a worldwide scale IMO. I always hear of people traveling there. Nicaragua has become pretty popular too.
What I do see is ignorance regarding the cultures of Central America- I really hate it when people say that all of the Central American countries are the same. Each country has a unique culture IMO and that just means people have no clue or enough interest to learn about them individually.
I agree with you only 50% in this post, if you mention Costa Rica, I can tell you that it is known worldwide, but who knows about Guatemala? Tell me something by which Guatemala is known everywhere? Where is it? What is it?
Note that this just for mere fun! It is not intended as something serious!
On my trips throughout latin America I have realized that:
MEXICO: Mexicans sort of look down on their Central American counterparts, sort of a big brother complex... On the other hand Mexicans tend to find Colombians and Brazilians fascinating, and often get confrontational with Argentinians because of their more European attitude, for some reason Mexicans have a beef with that! As for the rest of South America, and the Caribbean islands... Mexicans are neutral.
CENTRAL AMERICA: They often fight with Mexico for things like football and culture, but generally like south Americans, most South Americans on the other hand tend to ignore and know very little if nothing at all about the central American people and often can't tell them apart. Central Americans are very neutral towards the Caribbean islands and viceversa!
PANAMA: They dislike being called Central Americans and feel closer to South Americans.... often dislike Colombians and fear that Colombia will take over them and absorb them (Panama was a Colombian territory until one century ago) but despite their dislike of Colombia, they focus on Colombia a lot. Sort of like USA's Canada! They are neutral towards Mexico, the Caribbean and the rest of South America.
CARIBBEAN: (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican republic, Haiti), they all feel sorry for Haiti and Haiti is friendly towards all of them.... Cubans tend to dislike Puerto ricans and feel as if Puerto Ricans copy and steal cuban culture and music, while not really minding Dominicans. While Dominicans look down on Haitians and feel discriminated by Puerto ricans which creates confrontations. Puerto Ricans on the other hand tend to look down on all of them. They are neutral towards the rest!
COLOMBIA: They find Mexicans funny and colorful with their accent and their soap operas and spicy food, often don't know much about Central Americans except for Panama who they often have a love/hate for! Think of Ecuadorians, Peruvians and Bolivians as one and see them in a neutral manner. They find themselves to be very similar to Brazilians but lately dislike Brazil because of football. On the other hand they have this strange love/hate with Venezuela even though both countries are strikingly similar! They tend to have a liking for Argentines and things like Tango and argentine style football, are often very fond of Paraguay who they often support politically!
VENEZUELA: Tend to gravitate towards the Caribbean islands, but their biggest love/hate is neighboring Colombia. Like Panama their media and politics are also constantly talking about their hated but loved Colombia. They like Mexicans for stereotypical things like mariachis and colorful soap operas and know little of Central Americans. Often are neutral towards the rest of South America.
PERU: They are similar to Ecuador and Bolivia. Bolivia can't stand Peruvians and Peruvians look down on Bolivia, yet they are similar! The same goes for Ecuador. They often like Colombians, Venezuelans, Brazilians and Argentinians and their respective cultures, but have a deep dislike towards Chileans. They are neutral towards Mexicans, central Americans and Caribbean people. As for argentina, the Argies don't share the same like Peruvians have towards them.
ECUADOR: Ignores mexico, central America, Caribbean.... Like brazilians, Venezuelans and tend to imitate Colombians. Have a dislike towards Peru and resent being mistaken for Peruvians. Are pretty neutral towards everyone else.
BOLIVIA: Dislike Peruvians, Chileans, Brazilians and feel discriminated by Argentinians. They know little about Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and often have a beef with paraguayans! Pretty neutral towards everyone else.
BRAZILIANS: They tend to like Mexico for stereotypical reasons like Spicy food, funny accents, Mariachis.... Have a huge rivalry with Argentina and often fight about it. Know next to nothing about Central Americans and Caribbean people. With Colombians they often find that they are more similar than previously thought but because of football these is an increasing rivalry towards them. They think positively of Chileans and have a sense of property towards Paraguayans and Uruguayans, some Brazilians think those two countries should be taken over by Brazil and turned into states!
PARAGUAY: Know little about Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Tends to look down on Bolivians, and are neutral towards Peruvians and Chileans, they have a fear towards Brazilians and their imposing culture taking over Paraguay. Tend to identify with Argentina but often find Argentines ignore Paraguay. They love Colombians, there is a say in Paraguay that goes like this "All Paraguayans are Colombians" this is due to their historic good relations and the Colombian support for Paraguay politically!!!
URUGUAY: They fear Brazil's overtaking them.... could care less about Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Look down on the Andean cultures. See Colombia as a land of exotic tropical beauties but dislike them because of football rivalry. Ignore Venezuela, Chile, and cannot stand Argentines, there is nothing that irritates a Uruguayan more than being mistaken for an Argentine!
CHILE: Neutral towards Mexico, Caribbean and Central America. Think Colombians, Venezuelans and Brazilians are tropical and sexy but all in a stereotypical way. Dislike Peruvians, Bolivians and often like to compare themselves to Argentines. Pretty neutral towards everyone else.
ARGENTINA: Likes Mexico for stereotypical reasons and are often surprised Mexicans dislike them.... Are neutral towards Central Americans and Caribbeans. See Colombia and Venezuela stereotypically... hot babes from the tropics! Look down on Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Think Uruguay belongs to them, and think Paraguayans are peasants! As for Brazil, that is their eternal rival especially in football!!
This reminds me a lot of how Europeans see one another!!!
Remember this is just for fun, if you don't agree just enjoy it, but don't take it too serious!
A lot of generalizing but some of this is true. I find though through my travels that many people actually don't know a lot about what happens outside of their country so the little they know about other countries is usually a stereotype or completely false.
LOL. Not sure if any of it is accurate, but funny. When I am was in Panama last year even though the resort was full of Colombian tourists the tour guides from Panama always had pretty negative things to say about Colombians. Ex Making comments like you will see a lot of Colombians vacationing here. They like to come here and shop and vacation spending their money made from cocaine sales. The Caribbaen Islands are the same in their comparison of each other (can be pretty harsh about other islands if they are mistakenly called ex Jamacian instead of Bajan.
Costa Rica and Guatemala are pretty popular on a worldwide scale IMO. I always hear of people traveling there. Nicaragua has become pretty popular too.
What I do see is ignorance regarding the cultures of Central America- I really hate it when people say that all of the Central American countries are the same. Each country has a unique culture IMO and that just means people have no clue or enough interest to learn about them individually.
Yes you are right. Costa Rica is a very popular tourist destination and Guatemala is not as visited but it receives a good number of international tourist too. I was referring more to the OP's original post and how Central America is viewed in Latin America. Here's perfect example...
Quote:
Originally Posted by folicure
I agree with you only 50% in this post, if you mention Costa Rica, I can tell you that it is known worldwide, but who knows about Guatemala? Tell me something by which Guatemala is known everywhere? Where is it? What is it?
I have heard Salvadorans emphatically correct people who confuse them for Mexicans. At the same time, they handled being mistaken for Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans or even Hondurans alot less emphatically. Stangely, I have also heard heard some Mexicans in San Diego express a dislike of Phillipinos (arguably a Hispanic culture / nation).
I would like to point out a few things about Colombia:
. We know little to nothing about Brazil except for football. Out of all countries in South America, Brazil is quite possibly the least known for us probably because of the language and because of the fact that main Brazilian cities lie too far in the South. We are bordered by rainforest and no roads in the way.
. There's this one mistake a lot of people tend to make and that is to associate Venezuela with Colombia. I don't know where you got that idea from but the two countries are far from being similar. However, you are 100% right about Venezuela gravitating towards the Caribbean whilst Colombia leans more towards the mountains and all that comes along with it. You can spot loads of differences between Bogota and Caracas or Medellin and Maracaibo, they are opposite cities pretty much let alone strong political, economic, cultural, historical discrepancies.
. Mexico is a favourite for us. We've developed close ties and we appreciate each other.
. We haven't got a liking for Argentina, I'd say neutral is more fitting. However, we do like to keep an eye out for Argentina's football ever since we beat them 5-0 and we are familiar with Tango music especially in Medellin given as one of Argentina's most famous Tango singers died there in a plane crash. There is some resentment on Argentina's end because Colombia supported Britain during the Faklands dispute and also Colombia and Argentina deal with politics and economy in very different ways. Other than that, our view on the country is fairly neutral.
. Colombians look down on Peruvians and Ecuadorians, they see them as unattractive people with poor will.
. We did support Paraguay at some point and we take pride in it because we think it was barbaric the way Paraguay was torn apart by its neighbours (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay).
. It's 100% true our knowledge on Central America is limited except for Panama and Costa Rica, the latter enjoys very good reputation and people find its landscapes similar to ours but on a smaller scale and less diverse.
. You didn't mention Chile but it's a country well regarded too until hell breaks loose I suppose. Let us hope it doesn't go astray.
I have heard Salvadorans emphatically correct people who confuse them for Mexicans. At the same time, they handled being mistaken for Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans or even Hondurans alot less emphatically. Stangely, I have also heard heard some Mexicans in San Diego express a dislike of Phillipinos (arguably a Hispanic culture / nation).
I also heard of people being abducted by aliens while driving on desolate places... J/K
On a more serious note, there's always people who make a big fuss about anything, but that doesn't mean entire countries feel/think in such fashion.
I would like to point out a few things about Colombia:
. We know little to nothing about Brazil except for football. Out of all countries in South America, Brazil is quite possibly the least known for us probably because of the language and because of the fact that main Brazilian cities lie too far in the South. We are bordered by rainforest and no roads in the way.
. There's this one mistake a lot of people tend to make and that is to associate Venezuela with Colombia. I don't know where you got that idea from but the two countries are far from being similar. However, you are 100% right about Venezuela gravitating towards the Caribbean whilst Colombia leans more towards the mountains and all that comes along with it. You can spot loads of differences between Bogota and Caracas or Medellin and Maracaibo, they are opposite cities pretty much let alone strong political, economic, cultural, historical discrepancies.
. Mexico is a favourite for us. We've developed close ties and we appreciate each other.
. We haven't got a liking for Argentina, I'd say neutral is more fitting. However, we do like to keep an eye out for Argentina's football ever since we beat them 5-0 and we are familiar with Tango music especially in Medellin given as one of Argentina's most famous Tango singers died there in a plane crash. There is some resentment on Argentina's end because Colombia supported Britain during the Faklands dispute and also Colombia and Argentina deal with politics and economy in very different ways. Other than that, our view on the country is fairly neutral.
. Colombians look down on Peruvians and Ecuadorians, they see them as unattractive people with poor will.
. We did support Paraguay at some point and we take pride in it because we think it was barbaric the way Paraguay was torn apart by its neighbours (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay).
. It's 100% true our knowledge on Central America is limited except for Panama and Costa Rica, the latter enjoys very good reputation and people find its landscapes similar to ours but on a smaller scale and less diverse.
. You didn't mention Chile but it's a country well regarded too until hell breaks loose I suppose. Let us hope it doesn't go astray.
Quote:
. You are absolutely accurate about Panama.
I think that's it.
Quote:
PANAMA: They dislike being called Central Americans and feel closer to South Americans.... often dislike Colombians and fear that Colombia will take over them and absorb them (Panama was a Colombian territory until one century ago) but despite their dislike of Colombia, they focus on Colombia a lot. Sort of like USA's Canada! They are neutral towards Mexico, the Caribbean and the rest of South America.
Hmmm I wonder why we, Panamanians, feel that way in regard to Colombia? Hmmmm I wonder who have earned themselves the reputation as to be hated and disliked everywhere they go and why...?
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Though recently I escaped to Austin and New York, hehe. Those cities are wonderful!
