backpacking through colombia as a single american female

utopiacowboy says on Aug 13, 2006, 16:16:

I'll give you the standard PBSH answer. Yes, it's absolutely safe. In fact you'll feel safer than you feel in your own home town. Nothing to worry about at all.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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adrimm says on Aug 13, 2006, 16:38:

Hook up with another traveller I met a couple of folks at the hostel in Bogota back in Feb who had come up that way, so it is definitly doable, but you'd want to check with locals first (goes without saying).

Ys Colombia has problem-areas that should be avoided, but for a grubby (casual) backpacker who has done a few other latin american countries, and can manage some Spanish it shouldn't be a big problem (edit: actually be a breeze according to those who do the circuit).

If you are a little unsure and not so great with Spanish, travel with someone who can manage in Spanish.

interesting read: www.mikethenomad.com

Carter or the Black Sheep guy might have some on-the-road-info.

Also, when I was travelling on my own I found it was always more fun anyhow to share the roadtrip with someone else. You meet someone new, get to learn about where they are from and have someone to share comments and trade stories with. There must be someone else staying where you are who is planning on making the trip, ask around.. if not there ask at some of the other hostels too.

Maybe try posting over on the LP Thorn tree.

UTC: someone should throw you out of a plane off of Tierra del Fuego with nothing but a backpack and $30 a day.

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webmanco says on Aug 13, 2006, 17:11:

Carter is the man Forget
Carter is the man

Forget about sarcastic comments, you got experience and should not find any problems while backpacking in Colombia, I have talked to some of them and hear not mayor complaints, there are some posters who want to steer away visitors, that is all, searching thru this website might drive you crazy, but what the heck welcome to Colombia anyway.

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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bhill says on Aug 13, 2006, 18:12:

Interesting statistics http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_kid_percap-crime-kidnappings-per-capita

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webmanco says on Aug 13, 2006, 19:26:

There is not a safe country Assaults United States

Rapes per capita United States, South Africa, Canada

Car thefts United States, United Kindom, Japan

Burglaries United States, UK, Australia

Frauds by country Germany, United States, UK

Manslaughters Mexico, Sout Africa, India

Embezzlements Rusia, South Korea, United States

Kidnappings Colombia, Mexico, Brasil

Murders by country India, Rusia, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, United States

Some of their statistics are not updated.

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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adrimm says on Aug 13, 2006, 20:20:

Places to see Basically stick to the path trodden by Colombians on vacation. It's pretty devoid of foreigners (except Cartagena which gets the cruise ship crowd), so it doesn't really feel like a trodden path might in other places.

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gorgonabob says on Aug 13, 2006, 21:32:

jewls you are less likely to run into problems in colombia than in ecuador. the amount of people i hear about getting robbed in quito is rediculous...

i own the a hostal in medellin.... ive had about 2000 guests pass through the doors in the last year and only one of those has been robbed in medellin. most of the travellers in colombia would tell you that this is one of the countries they feel most safe. most also find colombia there favourite country to travel in.

you will be taking a pretty standard route. youll probably meet up with a few other backpackers on your way.. i would recommend stopping off in popayan for a night or two, beautiful colonial town... then on to cali for a bit of salsa.. after cali go to salento, a small very typical colombian town with a gorgeous plaza and some great hiking.. there is also a very good hostal there called the Plantation House. The owner, Tim, is English and a great guy and will help you out with anything. Also there will be several other backpackers there. After Salento its about five - six hours to Medellin which is becoming a bit of a backpacker magnet Id say... Medellin has a great climate and there are loads of things to do in the surrounding area..After Medellin up to Cartagena and Santa Marta/ Taganga/ Tayrona.

No doubt you will love Colombia as most do...
check out my website if you want for pictures and some info on travelling in colombia... if you have any specific questions send me an email...

kelvin
www.blacksheepmedellin.com

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. says on Aug 14, 2006, 00:47:

An advise Lady, what you are going to do is a great thing, you are going to do what so few foreigners males, including the majority of colombians do not do. You will see so many beautifull places through all the way to North Colombia. Now the advise comes; do not carry on jewelery, wear simple clothes, and simple sun glases, this is useful to carry on with a T-shirt that says "I love latin America" or "I hate Bush", even if you don't! (it's just a joke). when traveling through the country side, and in the unlikely case you has been stoped by a militant group, be friendly, be smilly and nice, have some colombian pesos with you but not a lot, they problably will ask you for some cash to help their "peaceful" cause, do not leave what you are drinking in its own, people may put something on it. Try to meet Colombian friends every where you go, they will help you later on when problems come up. keep in touch with your family as frequent as possible. Well, you are not the firt person I have ever known that has done such a nice thing, and not one of them have complained about it, actually they enjoyed it.

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englishsettler says on Aug 14, 2006, 02:16:

can i just say.... ive been to colombia twice and i endorse to some extent what everyone is saying here, travelling always carries an inherent risk when you are a foreigner. However, i would say it is always safer in england because its virtually full of foreigners anyway !!! You always have to be extra vigil because you are a gringa whether you are friggin french, romanian or american !!! 95 % in colombia never got the opportunity to travel anywhere so thats why you are so unique. The point is though that if you are in ecuador anyway, colombia presents no higher risk.

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webmanco says on Aug 14, 2006, 09:26:

It is very safe until you run into a guy like this one Who happens to backpack as a single male in Colombia about this time of the year.

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 14, 2006, 09:27:

You should consider a career writing the messages inside fortune cookies.



;-)

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. says on Aug 14, 2006, 16:05:

Just say.. Just say you are from any place in the world but USA, you will see how nce they are goint to treat you, 100% of people like foreigner, but just 50% like people from USA. So many Yanks think that they are hated because they "are rich" and we do not, completely not true, we belive the hapiness is just inside the bar while laughing and dancing with our friends. Then, we do not like people (average joes) going around and showing off what they are not. Be humble and you will have the best time in Colombia.

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pedro says on Aug 14, 2006, 17:18:

DG, if you read the original post, she is talking about Cali, Medellin, Cartagena and Santa Marta, all of which is hardly off the beaten track.

The zone to the south of Cali is less good for travel. I personally would not go there. But I have met plenty of backpackers who did bus through that zone.

que nota!

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 14, 2006, 18:53:

Juan P., If you want respect in real life or on this site, you have to give it, too. Please knock it off with your made up percentages about people that hate Americans and we (the moderators and the rest of the people who would like to see a useful website) will do our best to stop the insults when they are directed toward Colombians.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 15, 2006, 01:04:

The area of Colombia bordering on Ecuador is the most dangerous area of the country. I wouldn't be caught dead there alone and I'm a big scary looking guy who knows how to fight and speaks fluent Spanish and routinely goes into bad neighborhoods to drink and party. If I were you I'd spring for a flight into Cali. For the record my Colombian gf wouldn't go there either.

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Crazy4Cali says on Aug 15, 2006, 08:24:

Backpacking These days, the term "Backpacking" more describes your taste in luggage than a life style. Back in the day, "backpacking" meant travelling with your world in your backpack and walking or, if you were being lazy, hitchiking. Now it means traveling with the latest in REI/Eagle Creek outdoor fashions and phoning home when the Visa card is max'd out. Nowadays "backpackers" travel by bus (air-conditioned, of course) stay in hostels (so they can brag to the other backpackers) and talk about how they hate living under their parent's thumb right up until they need to phone home for money or how they despise the capitalist system and then ask you for money.

Of course you get the occasional "loser" described in another thread who but most of the ones I've met (which aren't all that many, I'll grant you) are still living off their parents or their parent's trust fund and feel that by looking poor (with their latest backpack fashions packed in a backpack with more options than an Escalade) they are somehow denying the rather comfortable background from which they really come.

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. says on Aug 15, 2006, 13:15:

Tinto Many thanks for your post, but You as profesional moderator, I suggest that you should do your job, so knock me off, and please knock off every single idiot from USA who post racist, pedophilic, and xenophobic comments on this site, but I am quiet sure you see that that is fine! because is in the another way round?. Give me a break, I am not insulting to any one unless you think I am right, and I know that knowig the true has always harted. The problem of some people from USA is that all of you think that the world love you all, weak up and be humble for first time in history.

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tomtom33 says on Aug 15, 2006, 13:40:

Juan How much time have you spent in the US? How well do you know the people? Are they all the same?

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. says on Aug 15, 2006, 14:08:

Don Gringo, This is not a matter of blood, this is a matter of the place you have been raised. I have several German friends, they are really nice and they do not have a need for showing off they are highly educated guys. BUT, you were raised in the USA, then your are yank. Shakira's father is from libano and she was born in Barranquilla (Colombia), do you think she would have had the same success as a singer if she had been born in Libano? I do not think so. what happens if a person is cloned to two babies, then those two babies are raised one in Germany and the other one in USA, do you think they will behave in the same way when they be 30s? I do not think so!. Then you are not German, you are Yank, one of those joes who goes to Latin America and start speaking about how much money you used to get over there. I have meet various people from the USA, some of they are great and some of them are dumbs, one of those dumbs was invited to Andres Carne de Res in Bogota, this guy spoke all the night about his great job as an analyst and how much bonuses he used to received per year, at two o'clock in the morning he decided to leave,well he did, We thought he left any share to pay the bloody bill, well, what a sorprise! the rich analyst who get a great bonus every year left without paying, this is not the first time we have seen such as thing, happens as well with a guy who said he had a very expensive harley Davison but he did not have any coin to pay for the bloody mazorca. Good people and nice people are in every where, usually 50 and 50. So, the nicest guys from the USA (usually called gringo) are highly educated and humble without any need for showing off what they have. Now there is the one who where nobody in the USA (usually called Yank)but comes to latinAmerica to speak about how great he is and how much assets he left behind, or asking for advice to a group of girls on where to invest 3 million US dollars he has brought into Colombia. Or the dumbest one is that one who has got a great $100 thousand dollars per year job in the USA but he would be so happy to live in Colombia and working as an english teacher. For god sake! give me a break.

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webmanco says on Aug 15, 2006, 14:20:

I wonder where in Colombia Jewls is She might think there are some crazy people in Colombia, Happy backpacking any way.

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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. says on Aug 15, 2006, 14:23:

Tomtom They are not the same, if you have red more of my posting, I have always said that just 49% of people of USA are idiots. How ever, every country has their half population of idiots, Colombia has, and depending of the way you have been raised, you will put me in one of those halfs. Yes I have been several times in the USA, which I think is a beautyful country, where I have met so many great people, but so many idiots as well. I will put it in this way....what kind of Colombians would you like to receive in USA, the narcotraficants or the hardworkers who will help to increase the economy of your country, you probably are a yank who will choose the first group, or problably you are a gringo who will choose the second group. The same happens when people come from USA,we want the gringos who like hanging around, laughing, dancing and enjoying in a veru healthy way. And not a Yank who comes to look for underage girls, getting cheap drugs and speaking about how great is their goverment and how horrible are our politicians and how unsafe are our places.

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tomtom33 says on Aug 15, 2006, 16:40:

Tinto let me take a shot.

In the US about 75% are politically retarded. That 75% includes all of the far right and all of the far left.

I would call 80% very decent people. There are maybe 10% nut balls(including me). I'd split the rest evenly between the assholes and the deranged.

As far as I know, there are very few Yanks coming to Colombia looking for underage girls. Very few Yanks talk about how great our government is. Most Yanks know very little about Colombian politicians. We do know that ours are horrible.

Finally, there are some security concerns in Colombia that do not exist in the US. I'll give you one example. I can safely drive my car between the vast majority of US cities at night with little concern for my safety unless I'm driving between Minneapolis and Fargo in a blizzard.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 15, 2006, 16:48:

Wow tinto you are quite the optimist. I think 90% or more of humanity is a waste of oxygen and the world would be better off if they were feeding the daisies!

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adrimm says on Aug 15, 2006, 20:13:

Backpacker links mike the nomad crosses from ecuador into Colombia.. (country #47)

check this guy's the janand feb entries venezuela to colombia overland

famsearch says on Aug 15, 2006, 20:52:

let's try this...
farewell let's try this...
farewell and adieu to you fair gringa lady,
farewell and adieu you mujer de e.u.,
for you've gone backpackin' 'cross the wilds of colombia,
and so nevermore shall we see you again...

just a slight needling, go have fun, but remember to be safe, and take lots of pics to share.
dan

dan

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Rubiazo says on Aug 15, 2006, 20:53:

Personally I could do without all but the top 10%, even if it means I don't make the cut!!

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cali373 says on Mar 5, 2007, 09:57:

jewls, So how did it go?
jewls, So how did it go?

Smile if you are a thinker!

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