“THE EXCHANGE PROGRAM”

To: charlie12@exchange.int
From: cristhian.rojas@exchange.int
Subject: Welcome to Colombia.

Dear Charlie…
I am really excited to welcome you to my wonderful country. My name is Cristhian Rojas and
my family and I are quite happy you will stay with us next year.
My father is Alfonso, my mother is Claudia and my brother are Juan Camilo and Jonathan. We
know a little about New Zealand but we are very excited to get to know you and your culture.
Well Charlie I decided to enroll in this program because I want to know about other cultures so
it is a great opportunity to know people who like me want to exchange experiences about our
life, culture, knowledge, learn a new language and share very funny moments.

I am going to tell you a bit about Colombia in special about Tolima so you know what to
expect, first, people who live here in Tolima-Colombia are very nice, our language is Spanish,
you need to know that Colombia that is one of the richest country in flora and fauna around the
world has two seas, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean, it has only two seasons of the year
Summer and winter but is more like sunny days and rainy days.
Colombia also has a lot of gastronomy; it depends about each part of the country. Well, now I
am going to tell you about Tolima that is the musical city of Colombia you can enjoy our
musical festival where people who are native from different indigenous cultures perform
dances, food festival where you can eat “tamal, lechona, estofado” that are the most popular
food in Tolima, you also eat different kind of fruit like, mango, pineapple, strawberries,
watermelon, melon, mangosteen, mamey and more delicious fruit like those.

Here in Colombia you can enjoy the weather because most of the time the sun is shining and we
can visit many natural places for example go to the river and get a delicious bath, you can go
swimming and make the “paseo de olla” that is the most famous activity in our small towns in
Tolima.
About public transportation we can use buses, taxis, cars, motorcycles so don’t worry about it
because my brother has a car which his father-in-law lends it him, so my family and I are very
happy and we are waiting you.

Best,
Cristhian Rojas.