Blogs from Bogota, Colombia, South America - page 57

We arrived over the border into Colombia with very little hassle at all, apart from a big queue to get over the bridge from Venezuela. I think we all felt we should be able to smell danger in the air, but it all felt pretty normal. We stayed for a night in the border town of Cucuta, at a very nice hotel indeed, with pool, internet, and bar (including very nice looking men both serving and drinking there!!!). The next morning we got dropped at the airport and had to say good bye to Euan who had been our driver since Rio, and Magalee, the truck. The airport was the quietest I have ever seen, it felt like it was our own private airport, there were so few other people. We flew to Cartegena (on the ... read more

Bogota has a bad rap. As long as you are careful...and then mostly at night....this is a wonderful city. What other big city shuts down one side of major road every Sunday and holiday so people can ride bikes, run, and rollerblade? There are tons of great restaurants and bars. And cheap of course, at least by US standards. Plus the people are kind. Since this is the my second visit to Bogota and my main goal was just to hang out with Sarah, I haven't got a ton of pictures. The one I am going to post is of a great dive bar called Crabs that plays great music and obscure music videos. Did you know a Frank Zappa video exists and that I now know what Jethro Tull looks like? Anyway I promise the ... read more

Bogota (March24-28) and Cartagena (March 28-31) Colombia… Everybody thinks danger and back to the days of Pablo Escobar but I found something different. Admittedly, when I initially read Lonely Planet about Colombia, it was quickly dismissed. But I had met several travelers that really enjoyed it and I had not seen much of the northern part of the continent yet. I further had to be in Peru the first week of April so I thought I’d give it a shot. I also confess that I did not tell my mother before going as she may have nightmares worrying about the guerilla forces in the mountains. Part of the draw for Bogotá was to really get a sense of what this supposedly dangerous country was like. Recent history has seen massive internal political problems between the government ... read more

I guess most of you like me haven’t heard much good news from Colombia in a long time. If you ever hear anything on TV then its mostly related to Cocaine, the Medellin or Cali cartel, Colombia being the kidnapping capital of the world or the US trying to make another place better by starting a war. Well all good enough reasons to check it out (just kidding). The reason why I’m here is a friend of mine brought Colombia up when I asked him where to go in South America. He seemed to be quite taken by this country. Other people that I’ve met had never anything bad to say about Colombia and I hope I won’t be the first one. If you read the Rio entry then you know that I’m capable of ... read more

Hola folks...Time for another essay... hope you´re being inspired for some future travels in this part of the world...can´t tell you enough how great it is!! Cartagena Absolutely stunning city, like a film set almost, horse drawn carriages, thick-set city walls, multi coloured buildings. Restoring a city like this makes it a tourist destination and here was the Hilton, the cruise ships and the American hordes. The city was the main Spanish port for exporting gold and was once held siege to by Francis Drake. The pock-marks of cannon balls still mark the walls today. There’s no escaping the history and sense of timelessness that’s steeped in this place. If anyone has read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, then the sense of magic evoked here is still in place today. Beautiful as ... read more