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My dad was the one who decided on my two names; Ana because of Jesus's grandma and María because of his mother, ironic because I'm not religious. My aunts, my uncles, or any other older person I've met call me Anita, however, don't call me that, I hate it.

I was born on the most beautiful day; march 8th of 2002, in the city with the prettiest bay of America; Santa Marta. I'm the second born after a boy who is 7 years older than me, but the age gap didn't intervene in us being close. We are a family of 4, and I'm so grateful for being surrounded by such beautiful people.

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I had the perfect childhood, a loving family, and good experiences. I was a kid who always got what I wanted, from my parents to my older brother, and even acquaintances, but not to the extent where I could become a spoiled brat.

I grew up in a family of adventurers, so traveling and visiting new places was always present in my childhood up to these days. I even have a poster of the map of Colombia attached to the wall of my bedroom where I color the places I've been. One of my greatest dreams is to visit every corner of my beautiful country, and even better if it's with my parents and brother; my travel buddies.

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It was December 2014 when my dad got the news that he was offered a new job with a better salary in a different city (Sincelejo), the first thing I did when I heard the news was cry... A LOT.

My mom and my dad were extremely happy since it meant a greater living and we were going to be neighbors with my maternal side of my family because all of them live in Corozal which is only 20 minutes from the city. On the other side, I was heartbroken, I had to leave my city, I had to leave my friends (I had finally made really good friends), I had to leave my school, but worst of all, I had to leave my best friend; my brother, who at the time was studying medicine in Santa Marta.

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I felt like having to adapt to the environment, just like a chameleon

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5 was the number of houses in which we lived back in Santa Marta. We moved a lot when we were there, and every time we moved it was a new school as well. Therefore, it was kind of hard for me to maintain the friends I had made. But overall, I liked the experience because it meant new memories in new places, new people to meet and greater opportunities for me and my family. I was happy with the idea of moving houses in Santa Marta, but the thought of abandoning my city kind of freaked me out.

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I grew up with a mixture of traditions. I was born in Santa Marta, but my brother was born in Barranquilla, and my parents were born in Corozal (Sucre). My maternal grandparents are from Corozal as well, but my paternal grandparents are from Santa Lucía (Atlantico) a small municipality that not everyone knows about. Additionally, my mother's side of my family is evangelical Christian, and my dad's side of my family is Catholic.

That blend ended with me being neither from one side nor from the other. I ended up growing up without famous traditions such as lightning candles on el dia de las velitas, or attending novenas. A lot of people I've met don't consider me costeña because of how little of the stereotype I represent.

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Vídeo sin título ‐ Hecho con Clipchamp.mp4

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When I was in 10th grade my dad got another job offer, again in another city and with an extremely better salary. This time it was the capital, that city that most costeños are afraid of for various reasons.

My parents decided that the best option would be for me to live with my grandma in Corozal and finish my high school in Sincelejo, while they moved to Bogotá to start that new life. I was okay with the decision, I didn't want to leave my friends, and the idea of moving to the capital wasn't that appealing to me. HOWEVER, I ended up moving to Bogota after graduating high school and after a failed college decision (2019).

Now it's been 5 years of living in the capital.

5 years of new experiences,

5 years of new learning,

5 years of new friends,

5 years of opening my mind and shaping the person I am now.

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Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

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The first time I got to know the term cultural identity and was asked about mine, I sincerely didn't know what to answer.

It was hard for me to identify as a costeña because I didn't feel like fitting into the concept. Even when I was living there everyone used to say that I was kind of weird and didn't deserve to catalogue myself as such. My family and my friends used to mock me because I didn't like vallenato and champeta, or I didn't like eating ñame, yuca, and queso costeño, they found it weird when I ate fish using a fork and a knife instead of my hands, or when at parties I used to stay sitting down because I don't know how to dance, or even because not wanting to attend them.

Am I a costeña? Do I even want to fit the concept? Those were questions I used to ask myself growing up thinking about how different I was from the people surrounding me, and even worse thinking about my mixed coastal roots.

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I didn't have a honeymoon stage when arriving in Bogotá, in fact, I hated everything about it. I was scared of going out, the streets of la septima terrified me, the possibility of being robbed terrified me, having to take public transportation terrified me, and even the locals terrified me. I used to only go out to my English classes and then to my house, and if I had to go out anywhere else, it had to be with my parents, plus I didn't have any friends.

And the weather?? I hated it. I had to sleep with 2 socks on because of how cold it was, there were moments when I got back aches from being so tense because of the cold. In la costa I used to walk around barefoot everywhere anywhere (my mom used to scold me a lot) but I couldn't do it anymore since it was impossible for me to even touch the floor with a toe.

I went from going out almost every weekend with my friends to almost not going out at all. I went from eating masterpieces like bollo and salchipapa to eating stuff like empanada de arroz and literally sausage and potato. I went from wearing shorts and no shoes to wearing jeans and being forced to put on footwear. I went from being good friends with my neighbors (even the whole street) to not knowing them at all. Basically, I went from a comfort zone to an uncomfortable one.

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Thankfully that stage didn't last that long. I quickly started adapting and accepting my new environment, I even started to enjoy everything about it. I started to fall in love with the city and people in general, the places to visit, the food, and even the weather, I can't handle hot temperatures anymore.

When I go on vacation to my grandma's house back in Corozal, there is always the moment when I quickly want to go back to the capital, because of how comfortable I feel there.

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Chameleons are a symbol of adaptability

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Academic issues, familiar issues, and personal issues. In other words, moving to Sincelejo turned out to be the worst experience of my life (or that's what I thought).

Living in that new city was quite challenging, everything I was used to was no longer with me. However, it was only the first months of the first year, so thankfully I could adapt quickly to that whole different culture; new traditions, new music, new food, new everything. A whole different face of being costeña.

Thinking about how I could experience so many things like being a teenager living there, getting closer to my maternal side of my family, meeting who are now the best friends I've ever crossed paths with, and even spending my grandpa's last moments in this earth just by his side made it all worth it.

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Chameleons changing colors like me changing environments

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Comfort song of the year (2019)

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I was not the perfect student when I was living back in Santa Marta, but at least I got good grades. However, When I moved to the new city, everything turned upside down.

I entered the new school two weeks later than everyone else, all of them knew each other for years, some of them even from kindergarten. I was the outsider, and not only I felt like it, but everyone treated me like that as well. Of course I was mad, I was forced to move, and abandon my city, friends, and brother, how did my parents expect me to perform well in school when in the first place I didn't want to be there??

In the second year, I managed to get good friends (who are now my friends for life), but my academic records were as bad as the previous year and even worse. That situation went on until my last high school days, thankfully I managed to graduate by 2018.

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I sought entertainment when I felt lonely after moving to those new places through music, but not the music I was used to when growing up.

The first time I heard about Korean pop (k-pop) I was like everyone else in my school, judging them by prejudices and stereotypes blinding me. However, I didn't realize when specifically I fell in love with it. I started not only listening to music, but also watching variety shows, series, and movies, I immersed myself in the culture of the country to understand their behaviors and even started learning the language to the point where I asked my parents to sign me in a Korean language institution.

I went to the institution every Saturday in 2019 to learn not only the language but also culinary, about their clothes, their typical dances and instruments, their history, and so much more. It was pretty fun, especially since my teachers were Koreans and some of them couldn't even speak Spanish.

I believe that led me to challenge and motivate myself to do well in whatever I was doing, whether learning English or Korean. Additionally, that motivation for languages impulsed me to pursue it as a professional career, so I ended up enrolling myself in a bachelor of foreign languages by 2020.

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I am costeña, and I'll always be just of the fact that I was born on the Colombian Caribbean coast. I may not have the stereotypical personality and characteristics but we share so much more. We share history, we share ancestry, we share an accent, and we share meanings of symbols. We have cumbia, el sombrero vueltiao, beautiful beaches, and rivers to go to with family, and other things that make us who we are.

But I'm not just a costeña from el Magdalena, but also from el Atlantico, from Sucre, and even Cordoba, I'm a mixture of all of those regions. AND EVEN MORE. I live in the capital now, and I share norms of conduct with them, their symbols are now my symbols, and even though I wasn't born here, we share something bigger.

My cultural identity now is based on the fact that I'm Colombian, a mixture of all those different cultures present in such a diverse country.