Tianna Paschel is a second year Ph.D. student studying Afro-Colombian social movements in the Department of Sociology. She has been in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and Cartagena, Colombia.

Tianna recommends that students avoid the pricey zonas rosas, especially in Medellin, where “people are just too gomelo (Colombian word meaning chic) to dance.” Instead she urges people that though it is almost impossible to get there, they should try to visit the beautiful, seldom-visited Pacific coast of Colombia (though carefully, as “its people suffer from some of the most serious human rights violations”). For safety, Tianna suggests, “geting advice on safety from Colombians who currently live in the country—Colombians working at hostels are a great source of information on safety and travel.”

While in Colombia, the headline news was “Professor Gustavo Moncalvo’s peace walk throughout Colombia in an effort to appeal to both President Uribe and the FARC (leftist guerilla movement) to stop the armed conflict. The professor is demanding the release of his son who was captured by the FARC.” Politics followed Tianna everywhere. It was a cab driver in Cartagena who “summarized in the most concise way the complicated reality of race, color and pigmentocracy in Colombia.”

Nevertheless, Tianna managed to sample “mojarra frita and arroz con coco (typical food from Colombia’s Pacific and Atlantic Coasts)” and climb (ON FOOT) “the Monserate in Bogotá.”

To talk to Tianna more about her research and travels in Colombia, you may research her at tpaschel (at) berkeley (.) edu.