Colombia Myths and Truths

2014-10-10 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I thought I should put in an area for Colombia where I only talked about the myths and truths since one of the more frequent questions I get when telling people I’ve traveled there alone is “Isn’t it dangerous???”.

No, Colombia is just like every other country in the world I’ve been to so far as far as danger is concerned. If you don’t go looking for danger, and you are at least semi-smart about your actions, there is no danger. I know that in the past Colombia has had a pretty rough time with drug dealers and cartels, etc that made much of the country unsafe to travel through apparently, however that was quite a long time ago. And as I’ve heard many others say, basically the drug dealers are now in the business of protecting tourists instead of making the country unsafe to travel through as they’ve apparently learned that tourists can be their clients too! And it would certainly be bad business to scare them away! Now, whether this is the actual case or not, who really knows. I’m just sharing what I’ve heard others say as their opinion on why it’s now so safe to travel around Colombia.

Because of the rocky drug past Colombia has had, people I’ve talked to also seem to have a preconceived idea that everyone there too is somehow involved in drugs or are dealers or are dangerous. This again is quite false. Honestly I ran into more people on drugs throughout Costa Rica and Panama than I ever did in the more populated Colombia. People there are quite nice, respectful and are just living normal life like others do. I’m not saying no one there does drugs, just that it wasn’t in your face the way I too thought it would be before getting there and hearing the testimonies of others who had already been there.

What is becoming more popular in Colombia are the higher class scams. All over the walls of each hostel I went to in Bogota at least, there were stories of scenarios to avoid. What criminals were now into doing was watching for people in vulnerable positions and taking advantage. It’s best I just describe a scenario:

Say you had to go into a bank for business. When coming out of the bank, you could be approached by a professional looking person (dressed well, etc) claiming to work for the bank telling you that you forgot to fill out “X” form or sign “Y” form. However, instead of taking you back into the bank (as it would make sense to do) they would say that it was only possible to finish the business at their other location… then they would basically take you around the corner, down an alley and rob you of all your possessions. Why anyone would allow a “bank” employee to escort them anywhere other than back into the bank, I’m not sure…

Another scenario involved people claiming to be police officers. They would be dressed in street clothes claiming to be undercover police and they would claim that you needed to come with them because you were found doing something wrong or there was a problem with “XYZ” somewhere. Then they would walk you around the corner, down an alley and rob you.

Basically the best defense of any of these scenarios is #1 don’t follow strangers anywhere and #2 there were cops on the streets of Bogota literally everywhere. They were always in pairs and in full police gear so if there was any doubt whatsoever in a conversation that a stranger had with you, simply walk toward the police to ask for whatever help and chances are if the person who approached you (false banker or false cop) isn’t legit, they would literally run away.

Enough said!

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Travel

Back in the States

2014-10-10 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

I flew back into the States from Bogota, Colombia after almost a full year of traveling between Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. I had spent most of my time in Costa Rica in the sleepy small Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo on the Southern Caribbean coast. Coming back to the States was a bit of a shell shocker from a few perspectives. First the amount of technology blaring in your face in the form of TVs was one thing I definitely noticed that took some getting used to again. The second thing was the blinders were put back on. You know, those blinders we tend to put on walking down the street, not saying hi to a soul unless you know them. Not being present to the outside world while moving through it yet just keeping to your own world. Those blinders… When first going to Costa Rica it literally shocked me that people would say good morning to me and acknowledge me as I walked down the streets. Then I got used to doing the same to others as I went from place to place. Then back in the States at first I kept my newly adopted persona of acknowledging people but was met with strange looks and no responses or people literally making a wider gap around me as they walked past. So eventually the blinders went back on… Oh well…

Coming back to the States was a choice I made primarily because the bank account was starting to get a little low and because where I had been traveling in Colombia was getting too cold for my taste and the travel enthusiasm was just dwindling. I went back to Houston to help house-sit my sisters place (and her two adorable dogs) as she was away quite often. I got a job there as a bartender and server (a trade I picked up for the first time ever in Costa Rica) and stayed about 6 months or so. Once my sister was back from her work obligations and I was no longer needed as a dog/house sitter, I moved to Key West, Florida.

I lived and worked in Key West for 10 months, saving all my pennies as much as possible (though of course I did have a little bit of a life too!) and then packed it all up and headed out traveling again. This time the destination was Europe. My time in Key West I’ll never forget. And who knows, one day I may still return. Though it isn’t the kind of place I could see myself living at permanently (there are no beaches on the island itself and it’s a little too much of a party town for my taste… If you don’t like to drink to oblivion on an almost daily basis there’s not much of a life to be had there really) I had so many amazing opportunities and met many people I consider life-long friends. It took a while to find some of these people, but I’m blessed that I did.

Key West really is a drinking town with a fishing problem. It’s no wonder people get way too carried away there. Tourists come for the party and as a person in the service industry we were there to provide it. Mind you, we only dealt in the LEGAL party! Though many tourists did come to Key West literally thinking they could do anything (it’s amazing, I seriously think people thought Key West was no longer part of the States and they could do whatever they wanted!!) and we were sometimes asked for drugs at my work from tourists, but they were always turned away. Yes, Key West also has lots of drugs. Go figure. Until having lived in Costa Rica I never really realized how prevalent drugs really are. Then from there on they literally seemed to be everywhere. Sometimes I miss my rose colored glasses, but just like everything else in life, you can choose to be involved or you can choose not to be involved. Everyone has a choice.

You know, as I type this up I can’t help but think that even though I really couldn’t wait to get out of Key West at the time (since there were a number of things I didn’t really like about it) it somehow grew on me and now I can say I have a little strange spot in my heart for the place. Perhaps its also because I really enjoyed my job. I know that’s an odd thing to say, but I really enjoyed bartending and serving; creating a positive vacation experience for tourists and such. Anyway… that’s enough nostalgia for now!

So after leaving Key West, surprising my mom in Houston for her birthday, taking a trip out West to see family and friends in Arizona and New Mexico, then a trip to Mexico (Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point) with my mom and finally seeing my Tennessee family back in Houston, it was time to hit the road again. July 30th, 2014 I landed in Heathrow airport in London…

On to London

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Colombia

Bogota

2014-10-10 ramblintraveler Leave a comment

After yet another long and exhausting day on a bus (you’d think by now I would have just caved in and sought alternate transportation between cities!! Then again I would have missed really seeing the countryside…) I arrived in Bogota. If I thought Medellin was large, well it was quite small compared to Bogota!! I had to take a 20 minute cab ride to an area of town that was somewhat central and more well known for having hostels in the area.

No, I once again didn’t book any hostel in advance, but rather was dropped off and walked around until I found something. At least this time there was still light in the day left! Anyway, I wandered up and down several streets in what was kinda the chic area of town it seemed, and settled on one hostel (Hostel Platypus if memory serves…) for the night.

“Funny” story here, my roommate for the night was an older woman, probably in her 40’s to 50’s who was from England, yet had apparently been living in Ecuador for the past 11 years… She was at the time just traveling around (I believe Venezuela was her next stop) but what I found particularly funny… Or rather quite disturbing really, is that she didn’t speak a lick of Spanish!!! Not two words!! AND she would even say “Hola” pronouncing the H!!!!! She was also in a strange way oddly proud that she didn’t speak the language even though she lived in a Latin American Country!!! I found this honestly quite disgusting, really. In my opinion if you are going to live in another country that isn’t your original country, the least you can do is show some sort of respect to the new country by learning their language and something about their culture! This applies to visitors too in my book, though I know it’s not so easy to try and pick up a language during a 2 week vacation…

Needless to say, knowing she was going to be staying in that same hostel for several nights, I checked out the next day and found somewhere new to sleep as I couldn’t tolerate such blatant ignorance and disrespect to another culture!!

I found a lovely hostel just a few blocks away called Hostal Casu. Located above a restaurant on the corner of Carrera 3 and Calle 15A, Hostal Casu became my home for the next week. I had a private room with a shared bathroom and negotiated a good price for each night since I was going to be staying for the week. Again, the reason I had come to Bogota was to see my brother who happened to also be there around the same time. Traveling down to see him however, with the changes in the weather and the bank account slowly draining, I made the decision to go back to the States so I could get a solid job, refill the coffers and head out again to travel. So staying in Bogota a week really served 2 purposes. First it gave me a week to see my brother and second I was flying out of Bogota back to Houston, and my flight was simply in a week.

The area of town that I was in I really liked. It was nestled at the foothills of basically a national park, at the top of which was a lovely church. The area had a young hip, artsy vibe to it that I really liked as well. I felt safe there and have no complaints of the area… Except the weather!! I know I keep saying this, and I know I’m a total wimp, but to me it was soooo cold day after day there!!! Bogota is 8,660 feet(2,640 meters) above sea level so you would think I would have realized it would be cold, but again, since I rarely researched anything about where I was going and just preferred to figure things out once I got there, this aspect of Bogota was a shock to me. And once again it was uninspiring!! Though I did get out daily to walk for several hours to get in my exercise and to eat, that was about the extent of my drive to do anything!

Even going to see my brother turned out to be a total bust as he was apparently tied up with work things day after day of my being there, and we were only able to get together for an afternoon the night before he left the country himself. We were to meet at the very opposite of Bogota from where I was, basically due North from where I was so as usual I opted to walk there, and after about 40 minutes and 70 or so blocks later with my little map in tow I found him at the eatery that we planned to meet at and we spent the evening wandering the area with one of his coworkers in tow. We ate a lovely meal at one of the local restaurants and then parted ways. I opted on the way back to take a cab as I was a wee bit too intoxicated by this point to try and walk my way back! Plus, it was starting to get dark and it just wouldn’t have been a sound choice to try and walk back.

So all in all, my time in Bogota wasn’t terribly eventful, but it was quite relaxing and a nice place to try and transition going back to the States. Before making the decision to go back to the States, I did wrestle with the idea of going back to the Caribbean coast of Columbia, like the Cartagena area, but the thought of traveling there by bus just jangled my bones in thinking of it! And the flight would have been a bit out of my price range. So I opted to stick with my plans of going back to the States.

Part of me is bummed that I didn’t go to Cartagena and even to Armenia since after all I was in the country already! And honestly had I known that I would have only had an afternoon to get to see my brother, I would have gone to Cartagena first, then perhaps made my way to the Bogota area instead of rushing to Bogota to try and see him, but as they say everything happens for a reason and as it should. And as I’ve already mentioned before, I plan on going back to Columbia to explore more of the country and less of the cities! Though the actual physical riding in the bus from place to place was quite hard on the body (due to road conditions) the sights were unbeatable and absolutely beautiful!! I loved the nature of the countryside’s and can’t wait to be able to see more!

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