Getting Around
Tips on traveling in Colombia
Security Advisory: Traveling within Colombia
0174 days
I hate to be the alarmist, but the problems with security in Colombia are still very real and not to be trifled with. The crowning achievement of the Uribe administration was that we could finally travel by land between most cities without fear of running into road blocks set up by either the FARC or ELN rebel groups. That is no longer true under president Santos.
Attacks by the FARC have been the bread of the daily newscasts. The states of Valle del Cauca (or simply Valle) and Antioquia have been the scene of the greatest number of incidents. Of particular concern were the assaults along the main highway uniting Medellin to Cartagena and the Caribbean coast. Although the targets were usually policemen, including Antioquia’s police superintendent who was murdered with his escorts, many private vehicles, including buses, were hijacked and torched.
Although Santos has ordered the deployment of soldiers along all principal roads, this is not a guarantee of absolute safety, as there are thousands of kilometers to patrol, much of it cutting through dense vegetation in mountainous terrain. If you’re in a vehicle that’s intercepted by rebels, it’s highly likely that you’ll be taken hostage, as foreigners are still prized as human shields or political pawns. Since the government has long stopped negotiating with terrorists, your captivity may last years.
At this time, if you’re planning on traveling by road in Colombia, it’s best to keep within the immediate vicinity of large cities. If you want to travel further afield, take the plane!
Spirit: The Best Deal to Colombia
0368 days
by Tom Germain
in Getting Around
Last October, I finally gave Spirit, the discount airline, a try. I flew from Orlando, changing planes in Fort Lauderdale, Spirit’s hub, then direct to Medellin. My return fare, under 200 dollars, was less than half that of its competitors, including American Airlines and the supposedly discount Colombian airline, Aires. Not only it was a cheap ride, but it might actually have been THE better ride!
Spirit of Medellin
While this is a no frills situation where you have to pay extra for virtually everything, nowadays that’s pretty much the deal with all airlines.With Spirit, you even pay for your carry-on ($30 each way!!!), but I simply put a few small things in a plastic bag and my jacket pockets, and thus only had to pay for my checked baggage (also $30 each way). I noticed most other passengers also didn’t have a carry-on, which is actually not a bad thing since there’s a lot less congestion boarding and deplaning while people block the aisles stuffing their bags in the overhead bins. Choosing your seat in advance will also lighten your wallet, but checking-in early at the airport got me a spot in an emergency aisle, for free. Spirit offers discounts on some of the extras if you’re a member, but at sixty dollars a year for that privilege, you have to fly Spirit a lot to come out a winner, not to mention that you can only use your membership for your own ticket.
The interior of the Airbus 319 aircraft, a Spirit mainstay, actually makes you feel like you’re aboard a city bus or subway, thanks to the illuminated advertising plastered across the overhead bins! Flight attendants do offer drinks and snacks for sale, but if you don’t have a major credit card or an American debit card, your pesos or dollars won’t do you any good. Speaking of service, Spirit’s staff was generally cheerful both in Florida and in Medellin. If you owe any departure tax in Colombia (if your stay exceeded 60 days), you can pay it to Spirit directly at the airport, unlike American, who will automatically send you to the tax collection booth. Overall, I was satisfied with the experience. One negative, however, is the gate area of terminal four at Fort Lauderdale International: it’s typically overcrowded, with huge lineups at the lone men’s restroom. Some serious expansion is needed there to handle the crush of passengers! Then again, it’s a million times better than Rio Negro‘s airport, even after the recent renovations! It’s pretty sad that the only restaurant past the security checkpoint in Medellin is a Dogger hot dog cart!
Spirit also flies direct from Fort Lauderdale to Armenia (Quindio), Baranquilla, Bogota, and Cartagena. You can connect with Spirit to Fort Lauderdale from these major American cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh (Latrobe), Los Angeles, New York, Orlando and Tampa. For more details, visit Spirit.
Flying To and Within Colombia
2544 days
by Tom Germain
in Getting Around
Your options for traveling to Colombia, as well as within Colombia, became vastly more varied and economical recently. Colombia, and South America in general, is a very lucrative market for airlines, with passenger traffic growing dramatically even during the world economic crisis. Discount airlines have also entered this arena, filling a void and actually increasing demand further for a large segment of the population that couldn’t afford typically high fares. While Bogota used to be the air travel hub in Colombia, there’s more and more flights on offer that will take you to and from other Colombian cities without connecting at El Dorado, the capital’s international airport.
Speaking of airports, it seems most of the old passenger terminals in the country are undergoing a much needed face lift since they were collectively bought by a Chinese consortium. For a time, traveling through these airports can be rather chaotic. I was in Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova airport in late February, where there was dust and construction throughout, and, horror of horrors, only chemical toilets in the boarding area!
Aires, the homegrown discount airline, has spearheaded the drive to offer affordable travel in this country. It’s now possible to travel between just about any major city in Colombia with Aires for 55 to 65 US dollars (at current exchange rates), taxes included, each way. Aires has also started offering flights to Fort Lauderdale, New York, Aruba and Curacao, but I should point-out that there’s almost always a connection within Colombia and often two or more. Another small local discount airline is Easyfly, which uses turboprops and has only a few national flights. Jet Blue, the American discount giant, serves Bogota exclusively, while Spirit Airways has entered the fray, proffering direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to Medellin, Barranquilla, Armenia, and Cartagena. Note that once you factor in all the extra fees Spirit charges, even for your carry-on bag, your fare probably won’t be such a deal.
The new competition forced the old airlines, such as Avianca and Aero Republica, to begin offering deep discounts on local and international routes. I remember wanting to go from Medellin to Santa Marta two years ago during the off season, only to discover that the return fare with Avianca, the only airline flying direct, came out to about 480 dollars for what amounts to a 40 minute hop. Aero Republica (Copa), the only alternative at the time, seemed to be colluding with Avianca, as their fare wasn’t much better and you had to change planes in Bogota. The same flight now with Avianca would cost me only about 180 USD, and 125 USD with Aero Republica. That’s quite a drop and these airlines must be feeling nostalgic about the good old days when they made air travel the exclusive domain of the Colombian upper class!
While national flights or from the USA are more affordable now, the same can’t be said if you’re coming from elsewhere. Air Canada, for example, has a direct service from Toronto to Bogota, but it’ll cost you around 900 Canadian dollars (about the same in US). In that case, you’re better off flying one of the US airlines, connecting in a major US hub, and save yourself up to 300 dollars.
Is it Safe to Visit Colombia?
1741 days
by Tom Germain
in Getting Around
Photo courtesy of Thomas Gray
The answer is yes*. An asterisk because it’s safe if you come well prepared. If you believe the US State Department’s warnings about this country, you will be a bit discouraged, as they still warn Americans against traveling to Colombia, the US’ most important ally in South America. Other foreign affairs ministries of several developed countries also advise their citizens not to travel here. At the other end of the spectrum is the travel guide books which mislead their readers by presenting the major attractions of the country without warning them of the risks they run in certain areas.
The truth is somewhere in between: traveling inside Colombia can be as safe as anywhere else in the world, but stray just a bit too much from the established path and you will be exposed to serious dangers. For instance, it’s now possible to travel safely from the Caribbean coast to Medellin by road, but it’s ill advised to stop in some of the towns along the way. Two American backpackers traveling separately told me they had spent the night in Taraza, Antioquia on the way to Medellin from Cartagena. Both were a little surprised when I informed them that the north of Antioquia is still a very active zone for armed rebel groups, paramilitaries and organized criminals in the drug trade. Coca fields are abundant and the murder rates in small towns like Taraza and Caucasia are shocking.
Large areas of the country are still in the throes of the war against the illegal drug trade and the heavily armed columns from the so-called liberation armies of the FARC and ELN, which often stage attacks on roads and against towns. This is particularly true in the provinces (departamentos) bordering Ecuador and Venezuela. Nariño, Putumayo, Choco, Valle, Cauca, Meta, Guaviare, Caqueta, and Arauca, make the headlines on a regular basis, as do some areas in several other provinces, such as the north and southeast of Antioquia, and the rural areas of Bolivar, Cesar, Guajira and Cordoba. However, in terms of cleansing the country of the illegal armed factions, the Colombian army has them running in almost very area, and has in fact routed them from several provinces, including Cundinamarca, Caldas and Risaralda. Overall, it’s a battle they are winning, and I hope the pressure will continue to be applied under whichever President is elected in May of 2010 to replace the outgoing Alvaro Uribe.
The US state department warns that kidnappings are a serious problem in Colombia, but I have not heard of any foreigners being targeted this way in a very long time. Sure, if you walk into an area controlled by rebels you could very well be captured and kept prisoner for several years, but the kidnapping of foreigners for ransom, as happens frequently in Mexico, is unheard of here, so my take is that the State Department needs to review its facts!
We have talked about where not to go, now let’s discuss where you can. Most of the major and intermediate cities of Colombia, including Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Manizales, and Barranquilla are either very safe to visit, or at least nowhere as hazardous as it is to stroll through Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. Cali and Pereira are hotbeds for the drug organizations and also rife with petty crime. You might want to skip them on your itinerary!
As with most cities anywhere in the world, you can do the basic to mitigate your risk of being victimized: dress modestly, leave the baubles back home, do not dangle cameras around your neck, do not carry a lot of cash, only use ATMs inside malls, do not wander into neighborhoods you know nothing about, and avoid hailing taxis off the street. I’ve lived in Colombia for over two years now and although I stand-out like a sore thumb for being so tall and blond, I’ve yet to be victimized in any way by following those simple rules!
Yes, come to Colombia! It’s an incredibly beautiful land with a sophisticated culture, and best of all, it’s not polluted by throngs of tourists, so it’s still very authentic, not “Disneyfied” as in so many other parts of the world, and the people are genuinely earnest in letting you see the good side of their much maligned country. Nothing bad will happen to you if you come here well informed.
Taxis, Buses and Subways
1760 days
by Tom Germain
in Getting Around
Taxi cabs in Colombian cities are dirt cheap and your best and safest way to get from point A to point B. A mere 10,000 pesos (5 USD on this date) will get you across 10 km (6 miles) of bustling city streets. The minimum fare is typically is between three and four thousand pesos.
Of course, the taxi service isn’t exactly like what you usually would expect back home. A lot of the bright yellow fleets are newer small cars, but there’s still a lot of wretched old, stinky, creaky Renaults around. Once you’re aboard, the fun begins. Virtually every taxi driver will treat you to his personal choice of Latin music at full volume. It’s normal here, so you would probably be the first person to tell him to turn the volume down! Also, make sure you put on your seat belt, because you’ll be tossed around a lot when the driver brings the vehicle up to warp speed and performs about ten traffic violations per minute all the while having an animated chat on his cell phone (again, very normal here!). More than a few times I’ve been chauffeured around by a clearly drunk or stoned driver. If that’s too much for you, then pay the minimum fare to avoid a potentially dangerous altercation with the nutter and get out!
It’s always safer to have someone call for a taxi rather than hailing one on the street, and also to have a good idea of where you’re going and the best way to get there in order to avoid being subjected to the “paseo millonario”, which simply means the driver will take you to your destination via the scenic route. In some coastal cities, like Santa Marta, taxis don’t have meters, so unless you ask to see the chart with the fares to the area of town you’re headed to, you could wind-up paying a lot more. Colombian passengers virtually never tip, so taxi drivers are quite surprised when you give them even just a few hundred pesos extra.
As for mass transit, the colorful, privately owned city buses (busetas) are generally very small. Some are mere vans from which you have to exit doubled-over while passing through a knee-high turnstile. Fares are small, usually around 1100-1400 pesos (55-70 cents). The standard driving style and choice of music is pretty much the same as for taxi drivers. On most routes, you just flag the bus down like a taxi, and ask the driver to let you off wherever you wish, whereas on major boulevards they might only make scheduled stops. Medellìn has an excellent mass transit system, the Metro, which most buses will take you to (you can buy a combined ticket by asking for an “integrado”). Bogota and Cali rely on huge articulated buses with reserved lanes, while most other big cities just have plain old stinky buses. If you see one of the traditional “chiva” buses in a city, don’t bother flagging them down: they’re hired-out for alcohol-soaked parties!
In rural areas, transportation is usually by chiva, a colorful open air bus, willie (jeep), or motoraton, 3 wheeled covered motorcycles. Be forewarned that these vehicles can get piled-up high with people and merchandise, including farm animals. You’ll often see folks riding on the roof atop packages.
Chiva: village bus
Colombian Peso Exchange Rate
