Inside the “bubble”

After spending days in the Sierra Nevada wilderness, we were offered the opportunity to spend some days at a private resort close to Santa Marta. As we arrived, we ate some lunch in the heat of a restaurant just behind the resort, while still waiting for keys and green light for entering the parking with the Toyota.

And the moment you enter the fenced property; you really do enter another planet – a world of orderliness, security, service… and off course air conditioning… while surrounded by relatively modest buildings, unpaved roads and a certain natural untidiness in the overlap between urban gentrification and local preexisting settlements.

This is neither a new nor a particularly Colombian phenomena. But here it is so obvious, tangible and concrete. The Caribbean Ocean front – the entire coastline towards the sea – is largely privatized. The front towards the beach is full of large hotels and many are still under construction.

But what a pleasure to be and live inside the “bubble” for some days – surrounded by swimming pools and people from “estratos 6” (estrato is a Colombian classification of residential properties reflecting the level of public utilities). Estratos 6 is “high class” reflecting the area’s higher real estate/utility costs. People from “stratos 6” is commonly well educated, sophisticated “globetrotters” (not like us but almost like us) – and one day in the elevator I had a conversation with a gentleman knowing Norway from a recent cruise. This is exceptional and obviously somewhat of an outlier, but still, it is relatively representative of a well to do South American.  

To calibrate our minds and not completely lose touch with the surrounding reality, we enjoyed a bus ride to Santa Martha one of the days – enjoying the public bus ride as we cruised the suburbs of Santa Martha. The contrasts are immense and interesting to experience firsthand, of course by sweating and doing what people outside the bubble do every day.

Back inside the “bubble”, we focused on enjoying the swimming pools, air conditioning and the relaxing days, reflecting on our Colombian experiences so far and how privileged we are. Our recent impressions of Sierra Nevada and Granja Cinduli with its eco dry toilet and mosquitoes are still fresh in our minds. The contrasts with life in the “bubble” is and was dramatic – both their difference and particularity attractive and socially enriching.

We are just grateful for the opportunity to appreciate life both outside and inside “bubbles”.