Carlos has come to understand that he upset William by being insensitive about and unaware of William’s hardships, and that his impatience with William’s inability to pursue a meaningful career was misplaced. Carlos realized that education and opportunity were unavailable to the two accidental brothers from La Paz—so perhaps William’s insistence that Carlos cart my heavy purple suitcase up the muddy hills gave him some understanding of what life was like there. As this part of our conversation ended, Carlos was virtually certain that if he had lived in La Paz, he would not be the financial professional he was.
I was finally able to ask the question whose answer seemed apparent, but that he had never given voice to. Was Carlos relieved to have been raised in Bogotá? Yes, he finally acknowledged, because seeing and experiencing the alternative reality of where he was born was a cultural shock. In fact, his accidental brother, Jorge, had confirmed this to me earlier, telling me he believed that Carlos was thankful to have grown up in the city, “as if life gave him a ‘stroke of luck,’ but he never said it. He sees that his twin [Wilber] isn’t interested in an education.” Carlos was finally able to answer for himself, which showed how much he had grown and learned.
The Colombian twins’ answers to what-if questions reminded me of the identical reared-apart twins Jack, who grew up Jewish in Trinidad, and Oskar, who was raised Catholic in Nazi Germany. During one of their meetings they acknowledged to each other that had their home environments been reversed, each would have embraced the historical and political viewpoints they abhorred in the other. These twins exemplify the idea that the self-understanding that grounds our identity is subject to contingencies that are dependent on context.1 So it was for the two switched Colombian twins, even if they have not fully grasped it. Today Carlos says he is from Santander, but that he is a rolo, a person born in Bogotá who speaks with a particular accent, and William says the reverse.
The revised relationship between these two happened spontaneously. “We never talked about it,” Carlos said. But the concessions came mostly from him, not in a planned way, but gradually as he began to change. How, why, or when this happened he cannot put into words—other than to say, “it just happened”—but he had left open the possibility of forging a relationship with his family in La Paz when he felt ready. During the months that followed, as his emotions calmed, Carlos saw the La Paz brothers’ situation differently, as a matter of circumstance they couldn’t control, rather than as a lack of desire or drive. This insight inspired him to help William research law schools and decide which one to attend. And the two of them—just the two of them—planned a trip to Cancún together several months later. Carlos also started helping out at the butcher shop by grinding meat, although he didn’t wear an apron, explaining, “I don’t go that far!” In the last year he has taken several trips to Santander, traveling with his new cousins, but sometimes with his twin brother, with William, or on his own, no longer waiting to be asked. He has changed “100 percent” since that first visit to La Paz—William said this three times.
Carlos knew that his biological parents immediately accepted him as part of their family, and he also knew that they understood how hard it was for him so they waited until he made the first move. What began as occasional private visits, the kind Carlos and Wilber prefer, segued into more regular get-togethers, and he has come to enjoy playing a little football and basketball with his cousins. Lodging is “wherever,” with his sister Alcira in Vélez or his cousins, brothers, or parents in La Paz. Because his parents have a toilet in their new home, although no drinking water, he feels comfortable there.
He has given his mother a nickname, “Anita,” and his relationship with her is good and growing. They talk, she complains, he scolds her playfully by “pulling her legs,” and telephones her on her birthday. Still, he does not call her Mom, and, as much as she would love it, she understands that this is not possible. Carlos has thought about it at times but prefers to hold off until he feels completely certain about it, noting that “Mom is a big word.” Carlos feels that he does not have a real mother-son relationship with Ana, because at his age he is independent and not in need of her care as a young child would be. But as with most things involving his new family, he is leaving the possibility open, a willingness that may be partly linked to the loss of his own mother six years earlier. Regardless, Ana is attentive to her new son, gazing at him lovingly when he is around, taking him by the arm, and making certain that he has enough to eat. According to his older accidental sister, Diana, who has shared time with her, Ana continues to cry because “her baby was taken away.”
Carlos cannot know how he would have managed his relationship with Ana if Luz were still alive, and he refuses to make assumptions about how she would have responded to the switch. To commemorate his mother he has decided to get a tattoo that would run along his spine, with an inscription in Chinese to keep the wording private. The discomfort of being tattooed has discouraged him in the past, but he is willing to set that aside for Luz.
Carlos’s relationship with his new father is different than his relationship with Ana because Carmelo is quiet and serious by nature. Father and son do not talk much, but Carmelo stares at Carlos a lot, as if trying to take in the extraordinary events that have affected his family. This is the first significant father-son connection Carlos has ever known, and while they may not converse a great deal, Carmelo’s presence means something.
Carlos is also getting to know his older brothers and sister, bonding most closely with Chelmo because of the confidence and trust he inspires. However, Carlos feels socially and emotionally closer to his accidental brother, Jorge, than to these other siblings, which is understandable because of the Bogotá brothers’ many years together. Once “fraternal twins,” they are now brothers, but the label means little because of the love and loyalty between them. Jorge still makes Carlos angry by delaying his job hunting and education in favor of football and travel, but most adult siblings accept what they see as each other’s flaws because of their shared life histories. At first Carlos felt slightly jealous of, and excluded from, the relationship that Jorge and his twin established so quickly, but Carlos’s attitude has changed since he decided to stop worrying, start living, and “let things flow.”
Like many accidental twins, Carlos believes that he and Jorge would not have become friends had they met one another socially because they are so different. But had they met by chance, Carlos feels he would have liked Jorge as a person, especially because of Jorge’s constant kindness and helpfulness. Carlos’s relationship with Wilber developed easily and effortlessly, but they both needed time, reflective of their cautious and less demonstrative nature. They see each other more frequently now than when the discovery was new. They get together mostly on weekends if girlfriends are in the picture, but more often if they are not. They are regular phone mates and usually call each other when both are in the bathroom. “Where are you? I hear an echo,” one might say. They joke a lot, sometimes calling to ask, “How are you, my identical brother?” but in a high-pitched voice and using the feminine form. And Carlos wants to take his twin for a massage because “he’ll die of pleasure.” Cultural differences between them remain, but being identical twins and witness to some extraordinary similarities has the power to allow them to work through the contrasting effects of their rearing.
When Wilber took Carlos to his first cockfight in Santander, Carlos was “struck dumb,” largely because he doesn’t like “animal things,” whereas his twin does. When Wilber killed a goat and wanted to display a picture of it on Facebook, his twin objected strongly. Carlos acknowledged that such acts are customary in La Paz, but argued that posting such a photo would offend animal rights activists. Moreover, because their story has been publicized, the twins are now recognizable and Carlos didn’t want to be connected to an act perceived by some as animal cruelty. His twin listened to him.
Carlos has changed in other fundamental ways in that he is not religious in a formal sense,
but has become more devoted to God and has considered attending a Christian church. After ending his relationship with his girlfriend last year, he accompanied a newly divorced friend to a religious service and was inspired by the idea that God says humans are so comfortable with who we are that we make no effort to become better. The notion that things don’t just happen, and that the easiest path to what you want is not always the right one, impressed him deeply. It makes sense that Carlos would be impressed by these words. With them came the realization that he would need time and patience to develop meaningful relations with his Santanderean relatives. He was willing to change in this respect and has changed in other ways too. Carlos has burned out on clubbing, a favorite pastime for him when he was seventeen. But now he has other priorities, such as traveling abroad, dancing, and riding horses and scooters, as well as consuming less alcohol.
Because his perspective has changed so much, I was not especially shocked when he expressed a desire to live in the country someday. He thinks about the peaceful existence that city life does not offer.
William
“The switch was God’s doing; it was no one’s fault,” William said.
Like Carlos, William has undergone profound change and personal growth and is happy with himself and the way his life is going, more so than during the first year after he learned of the switch. Fulfilling his dream of going to law school, looking forward to moving to a new apartment, collaborating with the mayor of La Paz, planning a political career, enjoying the female attention his new buff body brings, and coming to terms with the switch and its aftermath have brought him peace of mind and contentment. His drive and perseverance are why he now has achieved almost everything he has ever wanted, but he also needed the opportunities available in Bogotá and the support of his new brothers. Had the switch never been discovered, William would have been spared the shock and grief of learning about the life he should have had, but he would have been far less likely to have left the butcher shop to study law.
William’s religious beliefs and commitments have helped him make sense of the extraordinary changes in his life. He was, and still is, more invested in formal religious practice than the other three; he is the only one to attend church regularly and to pray daily, although two others are heading in religious directions. It was perfect, William said, that the exchange went undetected until the brothers turned twenty-five because they were mature enough to deal with it, old enough not to be switched back to their biological families, and young enough to form meaningful relationships with one another. He is gratified that Carlos is reaching out to his parents—and to him—which had seemed uncertain for a time. “God did all this,” William said. He can even joke with Carlos now, whereas he never could previously.
Despite William’s overall contentment and extraordinary ability to move beyond the past, he cannot ever forget what happened. Finding out he belonged elsewhere was not the saddest thing that ever happened to him, but it certainly “hit hard.” It was the missed opportunities to study and to be an identical twin alongside someone with whom he gets along so well that he felt most acutely. Meeting Jorge is the most important thing that has happened to William because, mostly through advice and example, he has been motivated in ways that would not have been possible otherwise. A huge regret is that he will never know the mother who gave birth to him (“our mother,” as Jorge says), a realization that triggers feelings of inner emptiness. But William accepts this loss, believing it would have assumed greater importance if his parents and siblings in La Paz not been as loving and supportive as they were and continue to be.
As an outsider Diana has watched William’s confidence grow, a change she attributes to his strong relationship with his twin brother, Jorge—in fact, all her brothers have strengthened their ties to their respective identical twins. William worries a lot about his twin and urges Diana to curb Jorge’s fanaticism about football and the mad travel itinerary that he cannot really afford. Although the football excursions separate them at times, the twins’ relationship has grown closer as they have started to do more things together. They have taken trips to Medellín and Cartagena, alone and with friends, deepening their trust in one another and allowing them to “joke and just hang out.” William leans on his twin for help with some law school assignments, especially those in English, although Diana says neither has much facility with the language.
Another significant change is that all four twins’ social ties have led to more frequent family gatherings of relatives from both sides. Through it all neither William nor Wilber has ever felt inferior to or disparaged by his twin. And while Jorge is a natural leader and the acknowledged spokesman of both his twinship and the foursome, William knows he can speak up whenever he wants to and does.
William is planning a career in politics and, like a true politician, did not fret about his slim loss in the La Paz city council election and instead is focused on a future win. Diana wondered whether his candidacy was prompted by the widespread support he received in advance, rather than by having a clear idea or concept of what he would do if elected. William was well known and well liked in his community even before he became famous as a result of widespread interest in the twin switch, but he may have presumed that the extra attention would help his candidacy. Regardless, William’s law school experience and continued contacts with the mayor and his constituents will better position him for his next attempt at elected office, and Jorge is among his biggest supporters. The twins’ latest collaboration is building a new house for the La Paz parents, one of the first projects undertaken by AIOM (Arquitectura-Ingenieria-Obras-Mantenimiento or Architecture-Engineering-Building-Maintenance), Jorge’s new consulting and construction company jointly owned by the Trio Miseria (Jorge and his friends Andres and Ricardo—the Miserable Three).
Jorge
Friends see a positive change in Jorge as a consequence of his reunion with his identical twin and the events that followed. He has grown closer to, and more connected with, his family and friends, and he has dealt with the situation in ways that the others have not, by fielding media requests and agreeing to radio interviews. He enjoys doing these things and has a talent for them. At the end of an interview for a Canadian radio program with a Spanish interpreter, Jorge shouted out greetings in English. Having no common language poses no barrier to him in forging connections with other people—he sends out lots of smiles and thumbs-up by way of saying, “I am with you.”
It took some time for Jorge to achieve this comfortable state of mind, given his initial fright and anxiety at learning that his real twin was elsewhere. But his solution was to focus on gaining two brothers, not on losing one, and to becoming an indivisible fraternity of four. No doubt, this attitude helped all the brothers weather their first disagreement, about a request from local media that the city boys viewed suspiciously but the country ones did not. The reporter had said the program would feature William’s political run, but instead the segment replayed the brothers’ story once again in somewhat unflattering ways. In an effort to protect their twins, because they suspected that the La Paz family would be shown as significantly impoverished when it was not, Jorge and Carlos had warned that none of them would be portrayed as promised (and were proved right). “They don’t own our story—we do,” Jorge had insisted. After the program aired and it proved to be different from what the brothers had been promised, they affirmed that all four would have to agree to any interview requests made in the future.
As their twin relationship progressed, one of Jorge’s key goals was making certain that William gained admittance to law school. Jorge himself was on a bit of an occupational detour after being laid off by Strycon because of the oil crisis. He was offered another job but turned it down because it involved considerable travel, which would inhibit his ability to literally follow his favorite team. Jorge planned to find a new job after my second visit in July 2016, but put off doing so until he returned from the football championships in Japan in December 2016. Meanw
hile, he did some freelance work from home and worked part time for Atlético Nacional’s local fan club, but neither job earned him enough to cover his college tuition. Jorge then took a job in hydrocarbons, but more recently established the AIOM construction company with his friends.
William entered Jorge’s life when he was feeling unique, but meeting an identical twin does not detract from one’s uniqueness or individuality. Some identical reared-apart twins in the Minnesota study voiced such concerns until they spent time together, but, as researchers know and twins ultimately learn, the similarities between them, while striking, are not exact. The reunion does not damage anyone’s identity as an individual, but enhances it by adding the identity of being half of a pair. Jorge now looks forward to using his twinship for pranks, as in appearing as mayor of La Paz in William’s place if he wins election. But before they engage in such antics, they may want to learn more about the identical Castro twins, Julian and Joaquin, the former US secretary of housing and urban development and the current US representative from Texas, respectively. As the leading contender for mayor of San Antonio, Texas, in 2005, Julian Castro, then a member of the city council, asked Joaquin, then a state legislator, to attend the annual River Parade in his place. Community leaders knew they were sharing the barge with Joaquin, not Julian, but the crowd of 250,000 people did not. Julian’s political opponents were quick to accuse the twins of deceit and immaturity, but the twins made light of this event at a press conference where they appeared in T-shirts proclaiming I AM JULIAN and I AM NOT JULIAN.2
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