Hopefully my first trip to Colombia- A few questions, any thoughts?

First of all, let me say that this is a great site and I've been both informed and amused by many of the posts I've read recently. Second of all, let me apologize in advance for all of the obnoxious questions that follow, but I just want to make sure I have the bases covered before I land at El Dorado. My situation: At the end of May, I'll be moving to Buenos Aires for graduate school. However, I've always wanted to visit Colombia, and the flight I was going to take has a layover in Bogotá. I found out that it won't change the price of the ticket if I stay for a week or two, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to go, especially since I'm on a budget. Right now I'm thinking I would like to spend about 6 days in Bogotá and surroundings and then take a flight to spend 6 days in Cartagena and surroundings. The only problem is that since I'll be in Argentina for a pretty long time, I'm going to have a lot of luggage, much more than I would have normally if I were just backpacking. I'm also going to be carrying around a laptop I just bought, which I'll need for school. I already searched on this site a little, and I read in an earlier post that the Platypus in Bogotá allows you to store luggage there. Does anyone have experience with this? How secure is it to do that? Would I be better off trying to lug all my stuff to Cartagena with me (especially the "valuables," i.e. my laptop)? Does anyone have other recommendations for budget hostels or hotels that will store luggage?

Anyway, I'm just a little nervous about petty thievery, since I'll have so much stuff. Should I just skip the trip for now, and try again when I don't have to worry about carrying so much luggage around? I don't now if it matters in terms of security, but I don't really look like a stereotypical gringo, and when I speak Spanish people usually assume I'm from Argentina (although I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, haha). In any case, I'd really appreciate any feedback... I really hope I can get this trip to work out.

By Matias on Apr 23, 2005, 11:52 in Friendly Talkzone.

Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 23, 2005, 13:57: A question right back at you What flight from the USA (I assume) goes through BOG and lets you continue to Buenos Aires? That sounds like a fantastic deal you've got and I'd love to hook some of my friends up with something like that. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 23, 2005, 14:22: Stay with Dona Flor and yyou can probably keep If you stay at Dona Flors she may allow you to keep your stuff at her place while you go to Cartagena...which is what we did last year when we went to ADZ. It was all there when we returned.....I posted below about her guest house. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

Matias says on Apr 23, 2005, 15:00: Mr. Hollywood- I found this flight online through Orbitz, I think, and it was an Avianca flight departing from JFK in New York. The only thing is, it's a one-way ticket and I think that's why it's such a good deal. It costs a LOT more to buy a round-trip ticket to Bs As if you're staying for more than about 3 months (like I am). The reason why it worked out so well for me is because the flight is having a layover in Bogota anyway, so it doesn't make a difference if I stay for a while. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

plokij says on Apr 24, 2005, 03:28: If I were you, I'd try to let my luggage continue to BA and have someone there pick it up for me. Don't know if thats an option for you, though. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

More posts by the same author: