emp99

A new and revealing article about the state of play in Colombia

read on

http://thetravelersnotebook.com/dest...-as-you-think/

RAC

"Not as dangerous as you think" isn't a persuasive argument.

qwovadis

US State Department Warnings

Come on! If you were to follow these to a T then you would never leave the prairie. Apply some common sense and listen to what the locals have to say.

Amazing they would advocate ignoring
State Department warnings...

Just do what the locals say?

Give me a break...

JeanH

I was in Colombia in January, just Cartagena and San Andres/Providencia. It was a wonderful trip.

The old city in Cartagena is very safe, tourists walk everywhere. It's also beautiful. Friendly locals, although very little English spoken.

The State Department is pretty conservative in its recommendations. Read it, then use some common sense.

There are certainly areas of Colombia that aren't very safe, there are also areas of New York, Miami, Los Angeles, et. al., that aren't either.

drdawggy

The State Department offers Warnings about travel to countries considered especially dangerous. They also offer information regarding travel to other countries. I agree that the advice is very cautious and makes virtually any country sound more dangerous than it really is....

On the other hand, I disagree strongly with the notion that State Department Warnings should be discounted. Here is a list of countries with Warnings in effect...I would not advise travel to Georgia, Algeria, Kenya or most any other country on this select list.



Georgia 08/23/2008
Algeria 08/22/2008
Kenya 08/22/2008
Yemen 08/13/2008
Colombia 08/07/2008
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 07/23/2008
Timor-Leste 07/21/2008
Saudi Arabia 07/09/2008
Uzbekistan 07/03/2008
Chad 06/23/2008
Sri Lanka 06/13/2008
Iraq 06/13/2008
Eritrea 06/11/2008
Côte d'Ivoire 06/09/2008
Lebanon 05/30/2008
Somalia 05/20/2008
Nepal 05/07/2008
Haiti 04/30/2008
Burundi 04/22/2008
Syria 04/15/2008
Central African Republic 03/25/2008
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza 03/19/2008
Sudan 03/14/2008
Philippines 02/13/2008
Afghanistan 02/06/2008
Iran 01/03/2008
Nigeria 10/30/2007
Pakistan 09/21/2007

fenchurch042

My husband, 2 year old, and I just moved to Bogota from small-town Canada. As often happens in these sorts of situations, we randomly met and befriended some other expats, working for the Canadian Embassy. If I understand correctly, the Embassy makes some recommendations for Canadians in Bogota (and it would apply to other foreigners). These include not travelling south of Calle 70, not using the local transit, and not walking around neighbourhoods - drive or take hail a cab instead.

My experience, not having been warned except by my well-travelled husband prior to moving there, is that it's perfectly safe to walk around with a toddler. It's safe to walk around town (much farther south than Calle 70, all the way to downtown and La Candalaria), and it's safe to take a bus to get to downtown in order to walk around with a toddler and arms full of shopping bags.

Bogota is a safe city considering there are nearly 8 million people packed cheek and jowl. It has its rough and seedy areas, but what city or even village in the heart of the safest country on earth doesn't? Colombia has problems with drugs and crime and rebels, sure, but things are changing there for the better much faster than our governments are willing to admit, and the gov't warnings are surely erring on the side of caution, not on the side of actual fact.

nonstop

you can read my blog on Colombia here:

http://blog.newsok.com/thewanderer


click on "Colombia Travels" at the top of the page and it will take you to my trip report and analysis of Cartagena, Medellin, and Bogota.