An account executive at an international data processing and electronics conglomerate.
Even in a country run by generals, would you believe a runny nose could get you arrested?
"A friend and I were coming into Colombia on business after a weekend in the Peruvian mountain touring Machu Picchu. What a sight that had been. And what a head cold the change in temperature had given my friend. As we proceeded through Customs at the airport, he was wheezing and blowing into his handkerchief like an active volcano. Next thing I knew, two armed guards were lockstepping him through the door. I tried to intercede before the door slammed shut, but my spotty Spanish failed me completely. Inside a windowless room with the guards, so did his. He shouted in English. They shouted in Spanish. It was beginning to look like a bad day in Bogota when a Columbian woman who had seen what happened burst into the room and finally achieved some bilingual understanding. It seems all that sniffling in the land of the infamous coca leaf had convinced the guards that my friend was waltzing through their airport snorting cocaine."
Study the culture well before going to visit.
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