I want to visit a Colombian slum

greg says on Aug 15, 2006, 18:29:

Bolivar I have asked some of my friends in San Carlos to take me there for pretty much the same reasons you want to, but none would. Say it is just too dangerous. I have spent a lot of time in the poorer barrios in Cartagena without any problems but i am always with my friend who is a local.

vicshere says on Aug 15, 2006, 18:45:

when you go take along a few good armed paracos

listo
"con mucho gusto"
Vic

listo

utopiacowboy says on Aug 15, 2006, 18:49:

By all means go. I bet you feel safer than you do in your own home town.

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.

toneloc24 says on Aug 15, 2006, 19:03:

Why do gringos feel the need to subject people in more dire economic status like animals in the zoo? What the fuck is missing in your life?

You know what? Take a taxi as far south as you can go. He probably won't accompany you in there, but don't let that scare. He's just got a job to do....and a family to feed, so he can't just die yet nor lose the car.

Catch any bus/mototaxi headed in that direction. Head to any open bar down there, since these folks have the means to drink during the middle of the day. Chat them up. When you see a couple of shady looking fellas talking on their cell phones and sizing you up, don't pay them any mind. They're just haters.

Get out, walk around, and take as many pictures with your shiny new digital camera as you can...before it gets grabbed, then you....(see this part to follow doesn't happen in the USA often, maybe Mexico City)...by FARC.

When your family comes up with the ransom money to get you the fuck outta there, please come back and let us know exactly why no one else(Colombians included) is stupid enough to go there when they don't absolutely need to. You got a death wish, run to it.

Sorry for being so blunt, PBHers, but I hate people like this. I really do.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

Gator says on Aug 15, 2006, 19:46:

toneloc24.... well said. Now you know where the phrase "Ugly American" comes from.
A member for a little over two hours spells troll.

If you get tired with Bolivar then drift over to Patio Bonito in Bogotá or perhaps a quick visit to aqua blanca or siloe in Cali and you can satisfy your curiosity. Better yet save the police, if they will even enter those ares, the trouble of dragging your sorry ass remains out.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

adrimm says on Aug 15, 2006, 20:07:

Hook up with an aid organization Try contacting the Saint Vincent De Paul Society, or find out what partners the UN (try UNHCR or UN Habitat) has in the area.

Maybe you can tag along to one of their outreach projects.

Crazy4Cali says on Aug 15, 2006, 21:32:

Don't forget... don't forget your Member's Only jacket.

adrimm says on Aug 15, 2006, 21:54:

OP I fear your time is (mostly) wasted here.

sad but true.

Mikey1 says on Aug 16, 2006, 01:50:

Compared to... Buying a finca outside Medellin or opening a business in Colombia or discussing politics this is a safe thing to do. I used to hang out in the flavela up behind the Canadleria in Bogata.I had a chica from there .The most dangerous thing for me was if another chica happened to walk past and look at me. That was a potentially dangerous situation.It will take an hour just finding a taxi to take you there, its easy getting out as there are plenty local taxis , There are Police and Military is some areas. Our friend Elmo is always talking about hanging out in South Baranquilla. I remember this website used to give advice on which flavelas to go to in Medellin..
What is it with everyone attacking everyone else on this site, when ever I travel any other gringo or traveler instantly becomes a friend, we are all different. Some of the recent posts have started to get depressing.
Yeah the cowboys right --- I bet you feel safer than you do in your own home town

pedro says on Aug 16, 2006, 04:35:

In Medellin you can take the MetroCable and view things from above. I chose not to walk around the neighbourhood up the top of the hill, other people have done it.

If you want to understand how Colombians live, just start talking to people who are working regular jobs in the nicer neighbourhoods. Taxi drivers, doormen etc. I find a lot of folks are curious and ask me questions... so try being a little curious back at them.

Eventually you may make some genuine friends who live in those areas and at that point it would be safer to visit there. Much more value in seeing the inside of someone's house and meeting a few of their friends. No point in just tooling around the streets by yourself and feeling nervous.

que nota!

ColombiaRiz says on Aug 16, 2006, 06:59:

JUST CURIOUS I have been to Colombia and have always been with friends who are locals, and we generally stayed in nicer parts of the cities.

Can someone who has experience explain what Cd. Bolivar would be like? I am not trying to mock anyone, but I am just curious.

Thanks.

kat1 (Moderator) says on Aug 16, 2006, 08:50:

what is the big deal of going to this barrios and talking to people in there, talk to the doorman in a bar or the shoe shinner in downtown it will save you the trip there. I have been in Simon Bolivar with my husband and kids and the funny thing is that the guy that owns the house with an spetacular view of Bogota is not poor at all. he owns another one in Villavicencio and another in Casablanca Kennedy and his son is an enginner, why he decide to buy a house in Simon Bolivar? search me? he has a good job too. he invited me and my husband for a BBQ there its very dusty and ugly i will hate to go there when is raining. I won't said it safe, it full of paracos, guerrillas, thieves you name it.

Bosa depends where in Bosa i have been there many times, my brother went to an school there "El Claretiano" it's a posh school but the school was there before Bosa became an area of Bogota, there is another posh school there Las Claretianas it has another name but because it was close to los claretianos they used to called it like that(an only girls school) El claretiano used to be an only boys school run by priest but they started to accept girls in the 80's. Bosa used to be a municipality until it got invaded by desplazados and very poor people and practicly became a barrio of bogota just like usaquen,usme and others.

engage brain before opening mouth

kat1 (Moderator) says on Aug 16, 2006, 08:54:

now if somebody wants a tour i can give you a tour next time i am in Colombia of bosa, and the whole on kennedy, Roma, casablanca, tintalito, tintal, nuevo kennedy, paraiso, catalina, puerto bolillo etc ;)

BULLETPROOF JACKET NOT NEEDED :)

engage brain before opening mouth

thur says on Aug 16, 2006, 09:05:

As a contrast. When I was visiting family in July last year, I asked to do something similar ("go somewhere South"). They all refused to take me, something about 320 different "pandillas" (gangs) and the probability of getting robbed of everything. Eventually my niece took the Transmilenio to Portal Usme with me, but she refused to leave that station and we headed back on another bus.
Greetings,

~Sights & Sounds~
www.pbase.com/thur

- www.pbase.com/thur

njtea5 says on Aug 16, 2006, 14:35:

Better Yet.... Save the money traveling to Colombia to get your ass killed...Just come to Patterson NJ at night or go Camden NJ...Better yet Come to Brooklyn... same result cheaper fare...

utopiacowboy says on Aug 16, 2006, 20:07:

What gringo tourist trip would be complete without being able to gawk at Third World poverty? I'm all in favor of his going and I hope he gets kidnapped and/or killed as soon as he steps out of the cab. PBSH, home of the gringo pendejos.

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.

Rubiazo says on Aug 16, 2006, 20:43:

kennedy and roma AINT poor they're mostly estrato 3. I would live there.
Certainly nothing like bolivar usme and the others.
The worst thing about those real poor neighborhoods that nobody mentioned yet is the open sewers. DISGUSTING!

I would go to those real poor neighborhoods if I actually had half a legitimate reason to go, but I dont see the point in just going to gawk either.

Rubiazo says on Aug 16, 2006, 21:31:

Oh yes AND anybody who thinks NYC is a dangerous place really hasn't travelled much. sorry. The worst neighborhood in NYC isn't shit compared to how dangerous it can get in other parts of the US and Canada, much less Latin America.

famsearch says on Aug 17, 2006, 02:15:

if you want to go slumming, find some place local. i'm quite sure the poor in colombia don't need the added burden of being a tourist attraction for sorry assed individuals like you.
dan

dan

william_andrew_channell says on Aug 17, 2006, 06:06:

Why stop at Ciudad Bolivar? Just go ahead and go all the way to Cazuca in Soacha. You know how you see Ciudad Bolivar kind of going up that hill? Cazuca is on the other side of that hill, and I've heard it said that after the favelas in Rio, Cazuca is the most dangerous neighborhood in this hemisphere.

njtea5 says on Aug 17, 2006, 10:22:

NY is no joke If you think NY is a joke then you are like every other tourist that only goes to Manhatten.. Go to the bronx walk down the streets at night and the make your way to Brooklyn and if you survive to tell me about it tell me about it..

Juanes says on Aug 17, 2006, 10:50:

safer places i have been than cd bolivar in bogota 1) martin luther king train station & boulevard in downtown miami (2002) after dark having just been to flagler street and spent $2000 on a TAG HEUR watch. had to walk halfway back to hotel in north miami beach.

2) central johannasberg & cape town in south africa in 2001. Do not leave the cities at all cos its like that film with quentin tarantino & antonio banderas with vampires.

3) mexico city (2005) suburbs trying to by some pot on my $700 mountain bike that i had stupidly taken with me & ended up sat around in a type of favela/barrio with four mexican crack heads trying to sell me coke while their mate borrowed my bike to go get the weed.

4) men only strip joint in the middle of the countryside in the island of barabados when we were two white men out of a total audience of 200 including live sex on stage. needless to say, the taxi was waiting outside all the time.

i also think i would rather go to the middle east with a british passport then go to where u are suggesting and the feedback you have had machenhid.

juanes en londres

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

toneloc24 says on Aug 17, 2006, 13:18:

njtea5 I grew up in Brownsville Brooklyn during the 70s and the 80s. I was witness to that working-class neighborhood, rapidly deterioriate into a slum during the blackouts of 1977. Fires raging for days but untouched by the FDNY (fire department). All kinds of looting going on down on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

What was left was 5-6 story abandoned apartment buildings. Those houses that were still standing, those families that remained, had to deal with an otherwise fucked-up neighborhood. As times were rough economically during that time (late 70s), that same working class had to stay. Eventually, some lost their jobs. In fact, my father had to go out to San Jose, California to find work. Mind you, these were very strong-willed, proud people in this neighborhood. Many were 1st generation immigrants from the Caribbean, including Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.

During the 1980s, things really got really crazy as crack cocaine was introduced. A couple of the burnt-out apartment buildings directly in front of our house became crack houses. There was violence daily, real Wild Wild West shit. Me and my family got a pass from the local drug dealers and shooters, because I played football, and they respected my mother. However, I witnessed many violent acts. I've done things that, looking back, I'm not very proud of, but I survived. If a MFer dared come there to take pictures, he would have left with much less than he came with, including his shoes and pants, and maybe taken a lump or two to the head in the process.

Where were the heralded NYPD? Not in this neighborhood. A 911 call would get a 30-60 minute response, even though Brookdale Hospital was only 5 blocks away.

I hated to leave my family, but I had to get out of NYC to go to college. I chose to play ball in Connecticut, as my school was only about 70 mins away from home. Thankfully, God had mercy, and the neighborhood turned around for the better in the late 80s-early 90s.

I say all of this to say, to some degree, I understand the mentality in some of these neighborhoods. I have been to Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, with local friends not on some demeaning tour. I have been to several financially-depressed barrios in Barranquilla and Medellin with local friends. I have been to some unfortunate barrios in Lima Peru to visit the family of some close friends. If this dude thinks going there to take pictures of people, shooting the shit with people in bars, having a beer with them, will be fun, will be an experience, I say go right ahead. They'll have a lot to say to you, I'm sure.

There are some good people in those neighborhoods, but just in unfortunate circumstances. In Colombia, it's MUCH tougher to change those circumstances than in the USA, if at all possible. Therefore, some of those good people will do whatever they have to do to see the next day. That shiny new camera at the compra/vende will go a long way towards feeding people there. That ransom money to be had from him or his family, will go even farther.

This idiot wants to go and take pictures of people who probably lost family members as well as everything they owned after being displaced in the civil conflict that has plagued Colombia for decades. There's no respect nor redeeming value in that endeavor. I hope he gets what he's looking for.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

griffbos says on Aug 17, 2006, 16:52:

Thanks Pedro I have been to Medellin and envigado twice now and really enjoy it there. I have down the cable car and wanted to walk around in the area, but family I stay with will not take me tell me it is not safe, so I only het to see the people that live there on the metro or in the cable cars. it is nice to see the nice safe places of the city, but to be honest that is only part of what Colombia is. I have made some new friends there but they all live and go where it is safe for me to go. The thing is not all from the USA are rich and stuck up. So your advice to stop and talk with people maybe then getting to know and become friends with someone that lives in those areas family will not take me sounds smart to me. For I don't have a death wish nor do I want to put others in harms way.