Colombia vs Ecuador

We were actually surprised by how different Colombia was from Ecuador and thought it might be interesting to contrast some of differences we noticed.

Development - I was actually surprised to see how much more developed Colombia was then Ecuador. I had expected them to be similar but you definitely noticed a difference. In Ecuador they still sell the big old box TVs while Colombia only has LSD TVs  at prices comparable to back home.  In Ecuador the prices for new technology are insane (we found the same computer I bought for this trip for $600 in Ecuador while I only paid $180 for it back home) .

Cost of living - The cost of products pretty much doubled as soon as we got to Colombia. We  now had to pay $1 for a bottle of water versus  $0.25 in Ecuador. Meals cost twice as much and even the cost of buses double from $1 an hour to $2-3 per hour.

Tourism - You can tell tourism isn't as big in Colombia. Blue-eyed blondes are of huge interest to people here. I've never been stared at so much (including Asia ). People would actually point us out to there friends to have the whole group stop and stare at us. Even eating at a restaurant,  families would turn around in their seats to watch us. Trevor  loved the attention, saying it made him feel like a celebrity,  me on the other hand felt very uncomfortable.

Safety - One of our biggest surprises was that we actually felt safer in Colombia then in Ecuador. Obviously safety is still a big issue in Colombia but as a tourists we felt safer and weren't as concerned about muggings versus Ecuador, where its quite common and you're warned over and over to watch your stuff. We could also walk  around at night  in Colombia which was nice. Although we did find out that there was a bombing 20km from Popayan, the day after we had left the city.

Houses - The houses are so much nicer in Colombia. They actually use red brick or have their homes painted bright colours. They also don't have cement gates surrounding their houses with broken glass or barb wire along the top. In Ecuador a lot of the country homes look like run-down shacks made from grey cement slaps and tin roofs. In Colombia on the other hand you could tell they take pride in the appearance of their homes, with us seeing very few run down homes and most with flower gardens and well maintained.


Police- Obviously the police presence was much higher in Colombia then Ecuador. In Colombia you would see military men with huge guns everywhere. In Ecuador you really only saw the police in tourist areas but they didn't seem to all have big guns. Instead in Ecuador it's the private security that have the big guns and night sticks. Pretty much every major store in Quito has a security guard in their store including fast food places like KFC and McDonald's. 

Hygiene - My brother is a bit of a germaphobe  and has been concerned about the sanitary conditions of the food we've been eating in Ecuador from the beginning. At least once a week we would find a hair in our food while in Ecuador. And as I write this blog posting, I'm actually recuperating from food poisoning from Ecuadorian food. Colombia on the other hand seems to have stronger hygiene regulations then even Canada. All the cooks would wear full head coverings and even masks over their face. At the bakeries they would  always put on a glove before touching any of the food, something we have never seen in Ecuador.

Food- I'll be the first to admit Ecuadorian food has not been my favorite. So when we saw the food options in Colombia we were pleasantly surprised that a lot of  it resembled our food from back home. I LOVE Colombia bakeries. They had one on almost every corner with the most delicious food and craziest cakes. They kind of became my obsession in Colombia.


Machismo - Traveling with my brother  must people make the assumption that we are a couple and in Ecuador whenever I'm with him guys pretty much leave me alone. In Colombia however it didn't seem to matter if he was there or not.  Even just walking down the street with my brother right beside me guys would say things like "muy bonita" (very beautiful) to me.

Buses - The buses in Ecuador resemble our traditional couch buses however the buses in Colombia are about half the size, seating approximately 20 passengers. In Ecuador they cram as many people as possible on the bus, with people standing down the isle. In Colombia however they only allow as many people as there are seats. Another difference was the Colombian drivers actually stop for bathroom breaks while in Ecuador we have learned to go to the bathroom before boarding because you never know if the driver will stop or not.

Driving - The driving in Latin America is crazy in general however I feel that the Colombian drivers are actually worse then Ecuadorians. In Colombia they drive on the right side of the road however  they actually spend more time on the left and will pass a cars while doing a blind turn without any concern.

Language - We didn't think we would notice a difference in Spanish accents but as soon as we crossed over the boarder and started talking to our taxi driving we started wondering if he was even speaking the same language. In Colombia they speak faster and seem to shorten things with their own slang. Even basic words like "da nada" (your welcome) were completely different with them saying "mucho gusto" (my pleasure) instead. We also had to adjust to the numbers being in millions and hundreds. But by the end of our week in Colombia we started to adjust and understand what they were saying better. There is also very little English in Colombia, we only met one Colombian during our whole trip that spoke English, so we were really forced to practice.

People - Colombians are a lot lighter skinned and seem to be a mix of white and Hispanic which is why we were so surprised we got stared at so much because we  looked a lot more like them then Ecuadorian, although none of them are blonde.