i am embarking on a 7-8 month tour of central & latin america on september 25th and plan to go from mexico city overland through to south america. i have a return flight there because i was studying spanish there last year. What i want to know is i plan to go to colomiba and especially the cities of bogota, cartagena, medellin, santa marta & the lost city, cali, popayan maybe. Are there any travellers who have been and who have first time experience over there at all ? needless to say i have an intermediate level of spanish which will help no end but i am travelling alone...does anyone know of any problems or areas that are definately no gos basically .also are there any parts of central america such as nicaragua, panama, honduras that would maybe in the same boat ? i have pretty good knowledge of all the other countrires i plan to visit there. if there are any other backpakers or travelblog members who are gonna be planning to be in latin america let me know. i plan to be in peru december and january to do the trail and in brasil for carnival time hopefully.......
hasta luego amigos y amigas
jason en londres
Reply to this Colombia is a very dangerous country, stay in major cities, dont go to "shanty towns"
if possible, travel by plane through colombia, not bus, and buses are regularly higjakced, and tourists help ransom, and then killed(this happens often, same with venezuala)
if you have to take a bus, DO NOT CHEAP OUT
get a good reliable bus charter, the cheaper ones, you have a bigger risk of being robbed/killed, as the bus drivers are know for setting up these heists.
Knowing spanish is definatly a plus, the more you know the safer...
Only go through colombia solo if you are an experienced backpacker in latin america.
I am going to be all over Central america from dec26th 2006 untill dec 22nd 2007
And then i will be in latin america from Dec 22nd 2007 untill dec 22nd 2008
Reply to this ok, thanks brittany. i hear what your saying..i will do the trek to the lost city near santa marta with a colombian friend of mine and then head off to cartagena where i should be very safe.
i have friends in manizales and cali and a place called neiva plus a met a guy from new zealand who runs a hostel in medellin but cos of the distance i plan to cover i will have to take planes cos im there roughly for about a month.
i fly in four weeks time and will probably miss you in central america cos im leaving panama in mid november and heading by boat to colombia.
good luck in your travels and keep me posted or ill view your blog. my spanish should help me out loads too cos i have an intermediate level & i will take the good buses where necessary but two thirds of time will be with colombian friends.
adios y cuidate en america central.
jason en londres
Reply to this Sounds good, i subscribe to your blog right now, so i dont forget! ahha
anyways, the spanish dielect(sp) is so different from country to country that in someplace you still will not understand one word said to you, but my suggestion is make sure they talk slow to you, good luck with your trip and stay safe!
Brittany
Reply to this I don't know why Brittany is giving Colombia such a bad press. I just came from there and had a blast. People were really friendly and never bother me. Never heard of a tourist getting killed or kidnapped. Relax and enjoy yourself in Santa Marta. Go to Taganga. Smoke a dubby for me...
Reply to this I know this is an old forum, but i want to back Rocco up encase others read it
I had a great time in colombia at the start of the year. Everyone i met was much friendlier to gringos than other parts of latin america.
In particular, I'd like to mention that the expensive bus companies are the ones that get hijacked. The poorer locals have nothing to offer the guerillas and we never had a problem travelling on cheap buses. You get to meet colombians that way, not just other gringos.
Brit, i don't want to sound presumptuous, but have you been to Colombia? That spiel sounds like something straight off a government website.
Reply to this muchas gracias rocco & jared for the advice. i am currently in mexico and have plans to pasear la navidad en colombia. i am currently taking the sun in mexico and have plans to go through all the countries in central america before i take a boat from panama into colombia in december. i think brittany is being a bit harsh about the country because i have heard lots of other nice information on thorn tree forum which has been really helpful. i will be spending about a month there including xmas and my birthday so i want to make the most of it. i have heard that the people there are a lot friendly than some of the other countries and make an effort with the gringos more than some other countries so that should be great and i have been practising my palabras colombianas......
hasta luego compadres o sardinos/parseros en colombia
Reply to this I have been in Colombia for abour 4 months while travelling in Latin-America for 14 months total. It was my favourite country by far! Like Rocco, I also think that Brittany hasn't been there, or at least not recently, as president Uribe made the country a lot safer for tourists the last few years. When I was there, there were some guerilla problems in Choco and Putumayo, which are rural and poor areas without any turisty things. As long as you don't wander off into less-known areas, Colombias is much safer than Venezuela for example. Colombians speak the easiest Spanish in the world: no hard-to-understand accents and not as fast as in Spain. And I confirm that people in Colombia are really friendly. After Colombia I went to Venezuela and I was not able to stay there longer than 2.5 weeks, mainly because of the people...
The hostel in Medellin you are referring too is probably The Black Sheep Hostel and it is the best one in Medellin. (There is also a hostel called Casa Kiwi, also run by a guy from New-Zealand, but don't go there.) You will find out quickly why travellers (especially men) stay in Medellin for weeks. The Ciudad Perdida tour is really great! Try to hook up in a small group (max. 10). And yes, stay in Taganga instead of Santa Marta before going and/or after getting back from the tour! Have fun!
Reply to this c'mon man, you dun really have to worried about it, i've lived in colombia for 11 months and still livin in!! it is not what ppl've heard from news, frens or even schl teachin'! it is a really beautiful, impress country (when i just arrived, i was super scared of here even passin by those "soldiers"...i still can't distinguish the difference btwn national soldiers and FARC {guerrilla or warrior}, plz pronounce correctly, FARC, not FAX, haha), you might find all kindda pretty sceneries here, but just notice of not goin to certain cities, it might be extremely danger!!!!! especially to those foreigners just like you & i! i usually travel inside the colombia by takin ground transportation to some "secure" cities, and i am planning to go to langosta in dec, but in this case, i would never think of takin "bus", i am not crazy, it is approximately 18 hours driving or even more...i am not crazy, and even it is safe to travel from bogota to langosta by bus, but the situation in colombia these days, i don't really suggest you to go by bus! ...so, my conclusion is....take plane!!!!!! and it is completely diff from what we'd thought about here...
Reply to this Hello!
I am writing to help a friend promote his
Guiding Services in Santa Marta, Colombia. His
Guiding-Services turned out to be one of the best experience in my life. His name is
Einar Jaramillo.
He is the person that can take you walking to the real Sierra de Santa Marta, to places off the beaten path and beyond. He also does Ciudad Perdida but there is so much to see beyond The Lost City and most of people don't know. He knows every place in the mountain, he knows the indians by their names and he knows where not to go too. I am a photographer/web desinger in the USA and here is the web site that I put together for him to help promote his services.
Einar speaks fluent American English. You can give him a call while in Colombia at his cellular 311 864 6638. If you are calling from abroad, the country code is (57) 311 864 6638. You can email him also at: einarcocamamo@yahoo.com. The Web Site is in the construction phase. It is in English/Spanish and needs some more work, but look at the photos section which is already finish and see what you can expect of having
Einar as your guide. Maybe you can help write the content of his web site
www.ecotourswiwa.comHere is the photo and the link:
Reply to this 
