Going to Bogota

Colombia-Jane says on Nov 10, 2004, 16:52:

Go without expectations! Bogota is FANTASTIC!!! I won't tell you anything about it other than that. From the moment I got out of customs at the airport all I could say was "Wow! Is that normal!" What a lively city. It's crazy, you'll love it!
My only advice is: Don't be stupid. Like in any other large city, you need to be careful. Watch your wallet and be careful of where you are. If you're with a local you'll have no problems. If you're as obviously foreign as I am to look at, you will probably get hassled more to buy things where things are being sold (which is everywhere!). People will expect you to have more money (all foreigners are rich you know!) so if you're in a place where you need to bargain, it's best to get your lady to take care of business for you so you don't get ripped off.
Have an awesome time!

www.community.webshots/user/cjontheloose

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Lokomotiv says on Nov 11, 2004, 02:42:

Many Thanks! Thanks for your advice Jane, greatly appreciated :) Yep, I'm a Brit (ie white as a ghost as I have never seen the sun) so will stand out like a sore thumb, I guess heheh :)

Must admit to being a tad worried about going over there, but reading a lot of the comments on this site has put my mind at rest.

Would you advise taking US$ travellers cheques or using the ATM's there? Just found that my own bank (Lloyds) has a branch there, which should be handy.

Cheers

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Nov 11, 2004, 04:31:

you might be surprised there are quite a few very white people in Bogota. I used to see more sun in the UK than I do in Bogota. However the sun will burn your British skin, so do wear sunblock even on a cloudy day, it is the altitude. I have lived in Florida for many years and am fairly tan, but my face still got burned in Bogota!

I only use ATMs or credit cards for purchases, just make sure you have a 4 digit pin number which you should have already in the UK. Travellers checks are a waste of time. I like to use the ATM inside the Carulla (think Tescos) which was near Hotel Dan Norte where I stayed.

For me Bogota is the best place in Colombia, I love the climate, I love the hustle & bustle and I love the culture.

My wife is from Bogota, so if you have other questions perhaps we can help, if not someone on the forum will be able I'm sure.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Nov 11, 2004, 04:34:

Lokomotiv just curious about your screen name "Lokomotiv", interested in trains or is their a deeper meaning. If the former then you must be sure to ride the Turist Tren which runs on Sunday's out of Bogota, it is a full day trip on an old Baldwin locomotive, great fun but book early.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Lokomotiv says on Nov 11, 2004, 07:15:

No deep meaning really Thanks for the info Kernow! That's a great help.

I will mention the train to my Colombian friend, and see what she says. I'm not a train spotter though ;) Although I do think ye olde steam trains have a certain romanticism about them.

No deep meaning about my screen name really. I'm a footy(soccer) fan and I get a lot of my screen names etc from Russian teams as they tend not to be used! So if you see any of the following around (Asmaral,Lokomotiv,Dinamo) it's probably me heheh :)

And thanks for your offer - I will more than likely be bugging you ;)

Cheers again

Chris.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

DiegoDelNorte says on Nov 11, 2004, 08:34:

Travelers Cheques Are Useless Just throwing my two cents on top of what Kernow said -- Travelers Cheques are useless. I'm not just talking about in Bogota, but in general. I guess there may have been a time when they had some kind of use, but if you have a debit card, use it.

I will caution against taking cash advances against your CREDIT card... high fees on that. But if you have a Lloyd's debit/ATM card, you're probably going to do best to just take out what you need as you need it from ATM's. Don't even change any sterling at the airport, just go up to an ATM and take out what you need in pesos. You get a better exchange rate with no paperwork. Changing at the cambios requires showing your passport, thumbprint, etc.

Anyway, travelers cheques are what rookies buy and carry because they think it is the done thing.

If you really want to make sure that you don't have any money hassles in case your wallet goes missing, here's my suggestion: Open a second bank account and get a debit card on it in addition to the card on your primary account. Make sure you have the PIN's for both cards (memorized of course!). What you're going to do is use one debit card as your primary card, and the other as your backup. Before you leave the UK, write a deposit-only cheque to yourself on your primary account. Either leave the amount blank or fill in an amount sufficient to cover you on your trip. Or, if you've got plenty of money, just fund both accounts with enough for your trip.

Anyway, leave the cheque and a deposit form with a trusted friend in the UK. Pack your backup card in your suitcase, and keep your primary card on your person. When you get to your hotel, put your backup card and your passport in the safe (but keep some ID on you). Now, if anything goes terribly wrong and you lose your ID and your primary debit card, your passport and your backup card are in the hotel safe. If necessary, call your friend in the UK and have him make the deposit, and bada-bing, you're back in business. Call your primary bank and report your debit card stolen, and you'll probably have a new one waiting when you get back home.

This is all a little easier if you just want to use a credit card as your backup... of course, you have to be willing to eat the cash advance fees in case of an emergency (and you need a credit card with some spending power on it). But the main idea is to have two cards that can get you by and don't keep them in the same place.

All that being said, you're going to have a blast. Don't push yourself too hard the first couple of days... the altitude will get you. Just keep in mind that Bogota airport is 8,356 ft. above sea level.

Even if you're in good condition, your body is not used to the thin air, and you may find yourself getting short of breath and tired doing things that don't seem very strenuous. For what its worth, if you drink, you can pretty much figure the effects are going to be doubled compared to your experience in the UK. Take it easy on the booze, and don't even try to keep up with the locals.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

DiegoDelNorte says on Nov 11, 2004, 08:34:

Travelers Cheques Are Useless Just throwing my two cents on top of what Kernow said -- Travelers Cheques are useless. I'm not just talking about in Bogota, but in general. I guess there may have been a time when they had some kind of use, but if you have a debit card, use it.

I will caution against taking cash advances against your CREDIT card... high fees on that. But if you have a Lloyd's debit/ATM card, you're probably going to do best to just take out what you need as you need it from ATM's. Don't even change any sterling at the airport, just go up to an ATM and take out what you need in pesos. You get a better exchange rate with no paperwork. Changing at the cambios requires showing your passport, thumbprint, etc.

Anyway, travelers cheques are what rookies buy and carry because they think it is the done thing.

If you really want to make sure that you don't have any money hassles in case your wallet goes missing, here's my suggestion: Open a second bank account and get a debit card on it in addition to the card on your primary account. Make sure you have the PIN's for both cards (memorized of course!). What you're going to do is use one debit card as your primary card, and the other as your backup. Before you leave the UK, write a deposit-only cheque to yourself on your primary account. Either leave the amount blank or fill in an amount sufficient to cover you on your trip. Or, if you've got plenty of money, just fund both accounts with enough for your trip.

Anyway, leave the cheque and a deposit form with a trusted friend in the UK. Pack your backup card in your suitcase, and keep your primary card on your person. When you get to your hotel, put your backup card and your passport in the safe (but keep some ID on you). Now, if anything goes terribly wrong and you lose your ID and your primary debit card, your passport and your backup card are in the hotel safe. If necessary, call your friend in the UK and have him make the deposit, and bada-bing, you're back in business. Call your primary bank and report your debit card stolen, and you'll probably have a new one waiting when you get back home.

This is all a little easier if you just want to use a credit card as your backup... of course, you have to be willing to eat the cash advance fees in case of an emergency (and you need a credit card with some spending power on it). But the main idea is to have two cards that can get you by and don't keep them in the same place.

All that being said, you're going to have a blast. Don't push yourself too hard the first couple of days... the altitude will get you. Just keep in mind that Bogota airport is 8,356 ft. above sea level.

Even if you're in good condition, your body is not used to the thin air, and you may find yourself getting short of breath and tired doing things that don't seem very strenuous. For what its worth, if you drink, you can pretty much figure the effects are going to be doubled compared to your experience in the UK. Take it easy on the booze, and don't even try to keep up with the locals.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

DiegoDelNorte says on Nov 11, 2004, 08:36:

sorry for the duplicate post when you get timed out and try to post, sometimes after you log in it posts twice

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Mr. Hollywood says on Nov 11, 2004, 08:40:

Hotel Boheme Your hotel is right in the heart of the most happening part of Bogota. All the best restaurants, shopping, nightclubs, etc. are within a couple blocks. Don't sweat all the traditional "Colombia' fears. None of that shit is going to happen where you're going. Have fun.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Nov 11, 2004, 10:21:

altitude For whatever reason the altitude had no noticable effect on me, my wife dragged me 22 blocks and then we climbed up a little bit to the bottom of Monserate on the first day. I felt fine, and I have lived at sea level or close to it all my life. I was expecting to have trouble, I suffer from sinus problems and was warned about this being a problem in Bogota, it wasn't, I never felt better.

The water in Bogota is among the best in the world too, so you can feel safe drinking tap water.

One tip, which you should be used to if you are from a large city in the UK, the traffic does not stop or slow for pedestrians, so make sure you can get to the other side before stepping off the curb, the curbs are purposely made about 12" high, harder for a car to drive on the footpath (sidewalk). PARE does not mean stop either it seems, so treat these intersections with caution as though there was no sign.

I only took 100,000 pesos out at a time, if I lost it I would be out $30 or so, not a big deal. The bank card remained in the hotel safe, I carried a couple of credit cards for purchases where they were accepted, these I could cancel easily if lost.

You will have a great time.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

DiegoDelNorte says on Nov 11, 2004, 11:56:

Altitude "For whatever reason the altitude had no noticable effect on me, my wife dragged me 22 blocks and then we climbed up a little bit to the bottom of Monserate on the first day. I felt fine, and I have lived at sea level or close to it all my life."

Maybe you were just excited to be there. :) Also, if you are used to living in hot weather and you are then in cool weather, that might help a lot. Cool air is denser than warm air. Dry air is denser than moist air. Density altitude is what affects performance, both in aircraft and human beings, so being used to hot, muggy sea-level air might help you do better with dry, cool air at higher altitude, even though it wouldn't completely compensate for being 8,300 ft above MSL. Fitness can make a big difference, too.

Ever notice how fast the airplane seems to be moving across the ground when you land at BOG, and how much more runway you need to get off the ground? That's not an illusion -- it is a direct effect of density altitude on the aircraft's performance.

The alcohol thing is important. One of my primary flight instructors (a long time ago) had me drink three beers on the ground. I felt pretty OK, fine to drive a car. She then had me do a takeoff and climb to 8,000 ft. and level off. Takeoff was easy, but as the aircraft got higher, so did I. I had a really hard time hitting my altitude and getting leveled off and she finally took the airplane away from me. It really was like I had drunk six beers within an hour. The point is that if you're used to being able to sit down and throw back two or three drinks an hour at sea-level, take it easy up in the mountains.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

adrimm (☼Travelguide writer) says on Nov 11, 2004, 14:17:

kernow62 says on Nov 11, 2004, 18:25:

no Tescos I was equating Carulla with Tescos.

http://www.carulla.com/

0 funny, 0 helpful.