Colombians make a lot of assumptions about their fellow Colombians based on what part of the country they are from. The second largest population center after Bogota is the town of Medellin, in the department (like a US state) of Antioquia, and people from that part of the country are known a “paisas.”
People who live in the coffee growing region (Eje Cafetera) are also known as paisas, because those departments are near Antioquia and were settled by people from Antioquia. Those departments are Risaralda (capital, Pereira), Caldas (capital, Manizales), and Quindio (capital, Armenia).
Paisas have a reputation in Colombia for being honest and nice–kind of like good country people, even though most paisas are from the city. This, of course, is in contrast to Bogotanos, who have a reputation somewhat equivalent to New Yorkers in the US (I’m a New Yorker in the US and a Bogotano in Colombia, so I can say that.). I remember being in the airport once when Avianca screwed up (what a surprise!) several flights from Bogota to Medellin, and hundreds of people were not going to be able to get to Medellin for a holiday. There were near riots, and the response from Avianca personnel was to ignore people and then call security in. One guy yelled out, “The reason you people are so incompetent is that you’re not paisas!” and everyone applauded.
When you tell someone in Bogota that you are going to visit Medellin, invariably they will go on and on about how nice and friendly the people there are, and how beautiful the women. And you will notice this friendliness the minute you arrive. It’s as simple as this: you can cross a street on foot in Medellin because the drivers stop for you rather than trying to run you over.
When I had problems with the phone company in Bogota (ETB), lots of the Colombians I work with told me to try to get my landlord to switch to EPM, which is a competing phone company based in Medellin. They’re paisas, they would say, so they know how to run a business and not cheat people.
There are also foods that are typically paisas–everyone there is a huge arepa fan, for one thing. Their most typical dish is called “bandeja paisa” (paisa tray), and usually consists of meat, sausage, chicken, beans, rice (lots of rice), plantains, and many times with a fried egg plopped on the top.
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