Or rather a Costeño (someone from the Colombian Coast), a Paisa (from the region around Medellín) and a Pastuso (from the city of Pasto in the south of Colombia).

I heard this joke on the bus on the way to work today:

A Costeño, a Paisa and a Pastuso were in a car crash on the highway that left the car wrecked. They need to walk to the next down so they decide to take parts from the car to help them on the way.

The Costeño takes the radiator so he can drink something if he gets thirsty.

The Paisa takes the car seat so he can sit down if he gets tired.

And the Pastuso takes the car door because…and then the bus took off with a great crunch of gears and I didn’t hear the punchline.

Any suggestions?

If you have followed this blog at all, you might remember that people from Medellín and the surrounding area are called Paisas (and are great business people), and that people from Pasto – Pastusos, in the south of Colombia, are the traditional butt of regionalist jokes.

So, one day someone from Pasto is trying to sell a cow.

I’ll sell it for you, says the Paisa.

OK, says the Pastuso, sell it for a million pesos and I’ll give you 200,000.

So the Paisa gets started: Cow for sale! She doesn’t produce milk, she produces yoghurt. She doesn’t produce milk, she produces butter. Great cow for sale!

Wait a minute, says the Pastuso, if she can do all that, I don’t want to sell her!

On the theme of hunger, last week another student was reflecting to me on what student life would be like for him if he got married.

He told me a Colombian saying (a variation on two can live as cheaply as one, if you’ve ever heard that):

The saying is: What one person can eat, two people can eat. And what two people can eat, three people can eat.

He had a heard a version of the saying that amused him on a television comedy show:

What one person can eat, two people can eat. And what two people can eat, three people can eat.But afterwards, they will all still be hungry.