Colombia, the happy country
Claudia Sofía Tamayo Torres 10B
Throughout the last decades, there have been multiple researches that intend to measure the population’s levels of happiness all over the world. The WinGallup International Worldwide Independent Network is an association that carries a survey every year’s end in which they evaluate not only how happy the people in more than 65 countries are, but also if they are rather hopeful or a bit pessimistic about their current and future situation. In the last survey, which was carried out from September to December of 2015, the Colombian population ended up being the happiest of the entire world, having a “net happiness” (the percentage of population that declared itself as joyous with his or her life minus the percentage that said to be cheerless about it) of 85%. But… are we really the happiest people? Certainly I can’t tell for sure, since I believe happiness is extremely subjective and the results of the survey might have had a margin of error considering that it did not poll the entire world’s population. In spite of that, I do believe that, even though our country has been dealing with a lot of hard situations (as, for sure, every single country has), to which I’m not going to refer to in this article, we, Colombians, have a lot of reasons for being hopeful, happy, and most importantly, proud of belonging to this homeland.
1. We’ve got a privileged geographic location and climate.
Many investigations have proven that, with more that 54,871 varied species, approximately 80,000 miscellaneous types of
plants and325 different types of ecosystems; Colombia is one of the top 3 countries in biodiversity. Since our phenomenal coun-
try is located in the tip of the South American continent, we are very near to the Equator, and have access to two great oceans,
which allows us to have, not only a great variety landscapes (outstanding paradises such as tropical beaches, the Amazon Rain-
forest, CañoCristales, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains), but also an enviable range of climate zones (tropical rainforest, tropical
savanna, steppe, tropical desert, tropical mountain, etc.).
2. We have outstanding natural resources. Colombia houses more than 60% of the world’s emeralds, not of the common type, but precious, deep-green-colored emeralds that make part of our natural richness. Additionally, we produce what many subjects from different countries all over the world consider the best coffee (most delicious and balanced) ever. It should be noted, that these are just some examples of our extraordinary natural resources.
3. The Fashion Capital Of Latin America is in our country. For all of those who are passionate about fashion, and also for those who are not its most devoted fans, it is exciting that Medellín is Latin America’s Fashion Capital, and that many important sty-
l ish events, such as Colombiamoda take place in that splendid city.
4. Our language is delightful. Taking into account the opinion of numerous people around the world, Colombian Spanish is the most beautiful and clearly articulated language.
5. We have gastronomic splendor. It is really hard to find words to describe our well-prepared, high-quality, authentic, exquisite food, which has been object of praise from recognized gastronomic critics, chefs and infinite palates.
6. We make the best celebrations. In addition to having some of the most enjoyable music genres, not only to listen to (for ins-
tance Vallenato, which was declared universal intangible patrimony about three months ago), but also to dance to, our coun-
try celebrates more than fifty yearly festivals and carnivals, including the Barranquilla Carnival, the Festival de las Flores in Me-
dellín, and the Festival de Teatro Iberoamericano de Bogotá.
7. We can succeed in everything that we set our minds to. Although there have been
Colombians that have made all the country feel glorious and proud with their achieve-
ments, there will undoubtedly continue being numerous successful countrymen, be-
cause we, Colombians are hard-working, perseverant, genuine, and passionate for e-
verything we do.
8. We value family, friends. Having said that being hard-working and making a great effort are must-does in order to be successful, spending time with family and friends is essential for having happy lives. In Colombia, we have more than 15 holidays every year, which we usually spend travelling and partying with family and friends, or simply hanging out with them, because we take great pleasure in sharing happiness with our beloved ones, which, I consider, is the main reason why we are Colombia, the happy country.
