Lies Told Here About Colombia

Well I remember the lies and BS posted here over the years about
Colombia.
The gangs of kidnappers waiting @ the Bogota airport, the body
snatchers of Medellin, the mean streets of Cartagena.
Imagine my suprise when I arrived in Bogota to find a quiet orderly
city ful of museums and culture and nary a gang in sight!
Ditto Medellin a lively friendly and welcoming city beautifully
situated and well run.
Medellin is full of fabulous restaurants, the sidewalks throng with
crowds of happy people enjoying the myriad of entertainment the city
offers especially on weekends.
Sunday mornings see lines of cyclists puffing up local slopes to the
mountain tops and further into the bucolic countryside-similarly
Medellin dwellers love to cruise in cars to Santa Fe de Antioquia and
environs to take the country air and enjoy life.
Cartagena de Indias is a top level tourist destination with the Old
City-the beautifully restored Colonial Downtown-a world class way to
enjoy a thrilling and sophisticated locale.
Even out of the way places like Monteria and Tolu offer hospitality
unmatched in much of the Americas.
I made my way to remote Nuqui in Choco department (where the Canadian
Gov't warns me never to go) and found not conflict but a peaceful and
lasting way of life-poor but not deprived according to local
inhabitants.
Prices in Colombia are much like those in Mexico 20 years ago-a
bargain not found outside SE Asia.
If you're a traveller who can speak some Spanish, and are unafraid to
be by yourself and not see other tourist for days on end (Cartagena
being the exception) then Colombia is the place for you.
The security situation is such that conflict remains in remote
mountain areas but street crime is nowhere near the levels of Peru or
Ecuador.
See my photos @ http://community.webshots.com/user/esox_lucius

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 01:17:54 GMT, Sam Salmon
wrote:

Imagine my suprise when I arrived in Bogota to find a quiet orderly
city ful of museums and culture and nary a gang in sight!

Other details fo Mr. Salmon's trip report are posted in the Colombia
Forum at http://mycaribbean.info/forums/index.php?act=SF&f=79

Sam, you also may post some of your photos in the forum as well.

Anyone else with Colombia trip reports and photos is welcome. If you
register (instead of simply posting as a guest) you will be able to
"subscribe" to the topic and get notification when other commenst are
added.




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