‘La Tintorería’: example of the Colombo-Venezuelan union

‘La Tintorería’ is more than a cafeteria, it is a commitment to the union between two neighboring countries that need to learn how to live together

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Leer en español: ‘La Tintorería’: ejemplo de la unión Colombo-Venezolana

First of all, it is a manifestation of the wonders of the mixtures, because its owners are from two countries; the joy of the different, the alchemy of two worlds. It insinuates that the union of different cultures, and, therefore, hearts is the key that overcomes the repudiation and initiates the progress of people living together, sharing the world.

The beginning

“I asked for equality because I did not come to take the work from anyone”

Carlos is 23 years old and is one of the young owners of ‘La Tintorería’. After his migration, he tells that he started working in Bogota under a frank principle of equality and consideration with his new city: “I asked to be treated the same”, he says resolved and uncomplicated.

Carlos summarizes his behavior in that “he did not ask for anything less than a Colombian has because I did not come to take the job from anyone”. Under these same principles, now reinforced with the warmth of his Colombian partner, Carlos has managed to be a source of employment in the emblematic neighborhood of the Colombian capital.

However, Carlos has been a victim of xenophobia that clouds many hearts. He resists the absurdity of others when they still call it “famished” at the street, the ironies of life. He laughs hard. He insists and recognizes that one can achieve what one is looking for in Bogotá.

The name

Once inside the cafeteria, the name starts to resonate like something unusual just after you feel comfortable in your environment. An environment that transmits the own of a local that is patrimony of the city.

He could invent a short story, like ‘the name belonged to some previous business’ (but no, wafers were sold on that same corner). The answer is simpler and plays with the meanings. It involves the key formula of the cafeteria. The combination. This time of two words: ‘tinto’ (espresso, black coffee) with the activity of having a ‘tinto’. Perhaps, a single mind immersed in Bogotá’s everyday life would not have thought of that formula.

It would be another cafeteria and that’s it, but to a Colombian-Venezuelan couple, both in their twenties, it occurred. The name is that the mixture of ideas from different cultures gives rise precisely these intangible inflections, striking, that are enriching the place already highlighted by the “Candelaria style”: made of wood, bricks, warm lighting, ornaments hung here and there, crockery simple and elegant.

United for coffee

La Tintoreria is also the result of love. The love that united its owners and that holds two countries together (Colombia and Venezuela). Together they evoke the best of their hemispheres and reiterate the spirit of the cafeteria: it is the same world, different as it is, in one place. United (with love) for coffee, which serves as an excuse to dissolve the distant and maximize all difference.

LatinAmerican Post | Harry Wong

Translated from “‘La Tintorería’: ejemplo de la unión Colombo-Venezolana “​​​​​​