Lonely Planet Author's Blog about Colombia

adrimm says on Oct 23, 2005, 12:02:

With Links Blog

Podcast

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adrimm says on Oct 23, 2005, 12:07:

Just to get you started - the first entry Red Eye to Bogotá from http://lonelyplanet.mytripjournal.com/michael_kohn_in_colombia
Aug 18, 2005
My first impression of Colombia was shrouded in mist and uncertainty. Mist because we had just arrived during a strong thunderstorm that enveloped the landscape with a blanket of grey fog; uncertainty because this was my first trip to a little known part of the world.

My travel partners, Baigalmaa and Justin, were equally in the dark. This was their first trip to South America, and they were both nervous and anxious about the journey. I had traveled to South America before - Venezuela and Brazil - but it had been several years and I didn't know what to expect.

Captain Carlos Moraga made a perfect three-point landing and we shuffled off the plane and into the immigration hall. Crammed with travelers from all over Latin America, this was our first indication of the hectic country that lay before us. After much delay our documents were finally checked and we grabbed our luggage, changed some money and hopped in a cab bound for Bogotá.

Our flight had left at 1:20am San Francisco time and it was now around 3pm local time. Exhaustion was slowly creeping in when we arrived at the Platypus guesthouse in downtown, but we agreed to explore our neighborhood before dark settled in.

Downtown was a mix of old and new. One tidy Spanish-style alley would meander quietly into the distance, while the next street would be a dirty, congested boulevard lined with ugly concrete buildings. We had been concerned about the security situation, as Bogotá is widely known as one of the more dangerous of South American cities. But our first impressions were generally positive and totally hassle-free.

I was eager to poke my head into some of the historic buildings but we had priorities - money and food. We quickly found a bank where Justin used his ATM card to extract 250,000 Colombian pesos, a little more than US$100. Next we did a brief study of the Lonely Planet guide to check the nearest restaurants. The first recommended place was decidedly out of business, so we opted for an adjacent restaurant that served agreeable looking platters of meat and rice. The bill for three people came out under US$10.

Bogotá is sits at an elevation of 2600 meters and we were all feeling a bit lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. The food helped but our lack of sleep did not. We returned to our cozy apartment at the Platypus and fell asleep almost immediately.

Explorations of Bogotá figure to headline our agenda for the next few days, after which we plan on heading north to Tunja and Villa de Leyva.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Oct 23, 2005, 12:36:

adri, just out of curiosity have you or anybody else been scanning Colombia with Google Earth? I couldn't get a decent close-up on Bogotá or any of the cities, though Medellin and Cali showed up more visible with no cloud cover. Any special trick or is it just because there hasn't been detailed aereal photographing of Colombian cities?

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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Mr. Hollywood says on Oct 23, 2005, 14:06:

Thank goodness they finally got a new author for that book. The old one was horrible.

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adrimm says on Oct 23, 2005, 14:23:

No luck Desi I just tried.. A few weeks ago I was trying the Amazon area with similar results. I think that they are being selective in what orthophoto/satellite photos they are buying and using, based on demand. I can't imagine they are getting the imagery for free. The imagery for my area is crappy as well, whereas larger cities like Vancouver and Calgary are incredibly detailed.

PS I am using Google local maps Satellite View - Can't run Google earth on this desktop (will switch to my notebook and try again later).

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Sam Salmon says on Oct 23, 2005, 21:10:

'larger cities like Vancouver 'larger cities like Vancouver....are incredibly detailed'
Gotta check out a few places here in the 'hood.
I agree that off the beaten track is sketchy.



' a la orden!'

' a la orden!'

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adrimm says on Oct 23, 2005, 23:09:

No luck again. Too bad.

I am sure that the imagery exists, but they've just choosen not to purchase it.

~ Adri

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carter says on Oct 24, 2005, 08:12:

new author Mike will be doing the book for this edition as the other guy decided to take a year off. The book will be reduced by 2000 pages per chapter and I would blame lonely planet more than the authors for the lack of information.

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