The importance of body language

On December 29 I left for Colombia with plans to see my friend Valeria who I met while studying in Italy earlier in the year. My flight put me into Bogota, about a days drive from where I needed to be. So Valeria and her family arranged for me to spend the night at their place in Bogota and for me to take a flight out the next day. 

I was met outside of international arrivals by a lovely lady named Claudia holding a sign with my name. She would be my handler of sorts until I departed Bogota. While it is true that everyone smiles in the same language, after an "hola" and a smile...we had no formal way of communicating with one another.

Claudia ushered me into a taxi, we made our way to the apartment and called Valeria to translate the plan for us. With instructions in hand, my bags were dropped off and Claudia and I headed out to get some dinner to bring back to the apartment.  It's an odd thing having someone watch you eat and it's an even odder thing to have no way to communicating with that person as they watch you eat. Although I downloaded a simple Spanish application to my phone before I left home, it was useless with its one word phrases and synthesizer sounding voice. 

There are some people who recognize "you speak a different language" and they keep silent, throw a smile your way every now and then...and then there is Claudia. Bless her soul, she kept rattling away in Spanish like I understood every word she was saying. Thankfully for my sake though, 80 plus percent of communication is body language and dialect has no influence when it comes to the movements of the face and body.  So with a keen eye, I watched away and managed to get the gist of what she was saying.

Claudia and I spent the next morning exploring the neighborhood by the apartment before I had to leave for the airport. Claudia took her job as handler seriously, beyond escorting me to the airport, she actually accompanied me right up to the check in desk and did not leave my side until I made my way to security. Which was perfect really because I thought I was flying to Santa Marta where I knew Valeria's family lived...when in fact I was booked to meet them in Cartagena. Who knew?! Well apparently Claudia did but that little bit of information didn't come through when I was reading her body language.... it is only effective communicating that way 80 percent of the time.

I got a pic of Claudia when I went back through Colombia to get home.