It’s a balmy Thursday evening in Jardín, a small town filled with colourful houses and a quintessentially Latin charm, surrounded by the rolling hills of Colombia’s coffee region. However, despite Jardín’s petite population of a mere 13,000 inhabitants, the town seems much larger tonight, since everyone and their mother appears to have congregated in the plaza mayor to watch the much-anticipated semifinal of the Copa América, in which Colombia will face off with Uruguay. The stakes are high. The winner will progress to the final against Argentina which, for Colombia, would mean their first chance at taking the title since 2001.
Needless to say, there is a nervousness in the air as people jostle around to settle down on any available object vaguely resembling a seat. The sole waiter working in the bar expertly weaves through this makeshift obstacle course to deliver Club Colombia beer to thirsty patrons. The atmosphere is still jovial, and laughter can be heard all around, but people are getting tense and clearly want the game to begin.
And, very soon, it does, as marked by an almighty roar from the entire square. The commentator starts with his normal 100mph flurry which, I must admit, is utterly incomprehensible to my university-level Spanish. This minor detail, paired with the fact that my group could only secure places near the back, means we’re having some trouble following the game ourselves, and instead have to rely on the reactions of our highly animated Colombian co-spectators. They don’t disappoint.
Every twist and turn of the game is accompanied by a corresponding cheer, gasp or yelp. If you were to take a classic pantomime and replace the audience with a bunch of increasingly merry Colombians, I imagine the result would resemble the current scene. It’s a lot of fun, and becomes all the more so when, in the 28th minute, the crowd lets out the most tremendous cry of joy. People are straight to their feet; stamping, dancing and hugging one another. My friends and I follow suit, delighted at the first goal of the match, which will take Colombia one step closer to the final. The atmosphere is electric. After a minute, the square settles back down and the game resumes. But, through squinted eyes, we notice the score is still 0-0. We realise, after a brief exchange with the starry-eyed Colombian man sitting next to us, that it was actually just a yellow card to Uruguay’s De La Cruz. Not even a red for the opposing side, yet you would have thought they had won the entire tournament.
Eleven minutes later, the reaction is unmistakable to all. As Colombian midfielder Lerma heads Rodriguez’s assist into the goal, the square erupts. To the backdrop of the commentator’s 30-second long ‘GOOOOAAAALLLL’, there is absolute mayhem as Colombia takes the lead. This time several minutes pass before the crowd take their seats, and the atmosphere remains buoyant throughout the rest of the game. It finishes 1-0 to Colombia. More mayhem. The familiar first notes of Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie enter the square and the dancing kicks off without further delay. All in all, a very happy evening.
This episode reminded me of something a local tour guide in Medellín had said about Colombians and their optimism. The example she gave was the Medellín metro, which was established in 1995, two years after the death of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. Over the years, Escobar’s narcoterrorism had turned Medellín into one of the most dangerous places on earth. By the late 1980s, the city was regarded as the murder capital of the world, and in 1991 there was an average of 16 cartel-related deaths per day. My guide, Ana, compared this period to getting stuck downstream in a river, slowly being drowned with no apparent way out. However, after Escobar’s death and the decline of the cartels, the city started to rebuild itself. In this, the metro proved to be a key feature. A safe, fast and affordable way of connecting the richer and poorer areas of the city, the Medellín’s metrocable, the only metro system in Colombia, was a lifeline. Ana described how the metro appeared to the Paisas (people from Medellín) as a branch hanging over the river. They grabbed it hard enough to keep afloat and held on tight, managing to get through the most difficult period in the city’s history.
Nowadays, walking around Medellín, you can hardly even imagine its dark past. The sounds of gunshots have been replaced by music, which can be heard from practically every corner of the city. The walls are generously splattered with vibrant street art, the nightlife is exceptional and there is an unmistakable pulse to the City of Eternal Spring, as it is now more affectionately known. What’s more, the Paisas are the self-proclaimed proudest people on earth. They adore their city and how they have turned it around. And this, I believe, can be applied to Colombia as a whole. Although Medellín was the epicentre of the drugs trade in Colombia, the entire population was affected in one way or another, and narcotrafficking still has a profound impact on the country. Violence from organisations like FARC and other guerrilla groups continues to threaten the peace in Colombia, and the country is certainly not without its issues. Despite this, the people I came across during my time there were among the kindest, friendliest and most positive that I have ever encountered.
Which brings me back to the plaza in Jardín during the Copa América semifinal. I was initially surprised at the - to me disproportionate - reaction to the yellow card. But the more I think about it, the more it fits in with Colombia’s general approach to life. As a country, they don’t always have the easiest time, and yet you can always hear laughter ringing, see people dancing and feel the general buena onda (good vibes) in the streets. I am by no means trying to compare a football game to some of the extreme hardships that this country has endured, but what I can say is that if there is a positive to be found, Colombians will find it.
It was Argentina who were crowned champions of the 2024 Copa América. Despite this, you could feel the joy beating through Colombia on the day of the final, even after the full-time whistle was blown. Interestingly, the England vs Spain Euros final was only a few hours prior, however the crowd reactions were wildly different. While we were hurling abuse at Harry Kane for not pulling his weight, Colombia was beaming with pride at their men for even getting there in the first place. Neither team took the cup, but Colombia seemed to accept their loss with much better grace all round and there was still, of course, a fiesta to be found. They recognised their success and clung on to every moment. All this to say, if Colombia has taught me one thing, it’s to grab the branches in life and hold on tight.
