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Florence - Advice Please?

[Another one that should get it's own thread - Wow, lots of new PBHers!]

Hi im new to pbh and not very sure how it works, im going to bogota fter christmas with my colombian husband, its the first time ive been to south america and i have to say i am nervous. Obviously my husband says dont worry, colombia is a beautiful country and im really excited but can you gve me any other advice, is this problem with night buses-public transport etc everywhere? am i safe to get on a bus in bogota with or without my husband? And am i going to stand out like a sore thumb with brown hair and green eyes? Another thing, and this is going to sound really ignorant, but what is the medecine like in colombia, sorry if that sounds like brit snob but i'm really nervous.

By adrimm on Nov 9, 2005, 09:33 in Friendly Talkzone.

adrimm says on Nov 9, 2005, 09:47:

First What is quickly becoming my favourite response to these sorts of questions.. Check out this trip journal from a (British) PBHer who went to Colombia with his Colombian spouse on vacation.

www.gringoincolombia.com

Relax and enjoy your trip, you will be fine, especially since you will be with your husband (or his family). You probably will be pleasantly suprised by how different the Colombia you see on yuor trip is from the Colombia that the media and hollywood have fed you.

Taking a bus in Colombia is akin to getting on a crowded bus or the metro in big city Italy. There can be pickpockets. Taxis are very inexpensive, moreso to you travelling on the pound. The family may not let you go out on your own to some places if you don't speak Spanish, just becuase Bogota is a very big city, and being a stranger you wouldn't know what to look out for (unless you have travelled in Latin America before). But yes, some places would be perfectly fine for a clueless stranger to visit solo with little worry ie. malls like Unicentro etc would be great solo excursions (by cab).

Medications available in Colombia are pretty much the same as elsewhere. It is not the backward place the media likes to make it out to be, rather it is a place of contrasts where you will find the highest tech and latest anything across town from shanty towns.

The "father" of Laser Eye Surgery is actually a Colombian doctor who started and runs a very famous surgery clinic in Bogota.

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Colombiche says on Nov 9, 2005, 10:26:

Florence asked: And am i going to stand out like a sore thumb with brown hair and green eyes?

Florence, I am Colombian and I have brown hair and green eyes, as does my mother, my father, half my cousins and about 1 of every 5 Colombians! Go check out the pictures of the Cartagena contestants, lots of green eyes there too. Colombia is a rainbow nation just like Brazil.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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bkcarolina says on Nov 10, 2005, 06:44:

Medical services here are better and cheaper than in the US and Europe. This is the place to get optional, elective medical procedures done for minimal cost.

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Panda says on Nov 10, 2005, 09:31:

it might be disapointing apart from the fact that you wont find any fish and chips, heinz baked beans, fish and chips etc... bogota is a city as friendly and secure as London. have a good time and don't forget to take your coat(providing you'll be in Bogota all the time)

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