Trip Wrap Up

Thoughts:

1) Only climb/walk up Monserrate *after* you are used to being at Bogota's elevation. One thing to be able to go up a few flights of stairs.. another to climb up another 500 metres (Monserrate is 3200m above sea-level).

2) Expect to be surprised by unwritten rules. I went to Leticia Amazonas from Bogota, and upon my return to Bogota was nearly denied access to the flight (along with a pair of Brits) becuase I was a foreigner and DAS hadn't stamped my boarding pass. To their credit (or maybe it was laziness since luggage can't fly without it's owners), the airline managed to find the absent DAS agent.

3) It is awfully nice to be able to shop in places and be able to know exactly where what you are purchasing comes from, speak with people who made items you are purchasing, etc. I bought potatos from the farmer, I bought jewellery from the indigenous crafter, a bag that the vendor's mother made, a pair of pyjamas made in Colombia. It is also slighlty concerning to see the huge increase of "made in China" occuring in Colombia. Pretty soon it could be like home, where finding something (like a box of Christmas cards) made in Canada is a joke.

4) I have a new respect for Bogota's sun (but not before getting the worst sun burn of my life). I encourage all fellow travellers going from northerly lowlands to be prepared for direct (it's straight overhead) sun with up to 2600m *less* atmosphere to protect your delicate skin.

5) A break from family is a good thing. Plugging into the international traveller network is awesome.

6) Staying in places consecutively for less than 3 nights each, is a bad idea.

7) Next time I will ask for time off without pay, in order to stay longer and be able to meet up with folks I want to meet.

8) Malls are the biggest waste of time. Everything is the same. Everywhere. Mall-culture, and giant residential-only conjuntos far from everywhere are a threat to the Colombia that I love.

9) Small towns in Colombia are (in general) awesome. Roads are breathtakingly scenic, but incredibly tortous. If not for the fact that most people still travel by bus (vs private car), the road network wouldn't be able to handle it. Colombia should start considering blasting and tunneling to create train system.

10) Feta cheese costs an arm and a leg.

By adrimm on Dec 17, 2007, 17:38 in Friendly Talkzone.

nueva york bombero says on Dec 17, 2007, 17:57:

Good post! I agree with small towns in Colombia being for the most part very cool.
You lost me with the Feta though......

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miamimike says on Dec 17, 2007, 19:05:

Adrimm-Yes its only a matter of time before items Stamped with " Made In Colombia" disappear from the Landscape.Last Time I was in Puerto Rico I had to search high and low for Domestically made Handcrafts, no matter I was willing to pay more. They were simply non existent. Its harder and harder as each day pases for Colombian workers to compete with China due the fact their Currency is frozen(for all practical purposes) while Colombia's is a Floating value.

MALLS, HORRIBLE! A Trapped Enviroment! I avoid them as much as possible. I'd rather shop online then waste my time visiting a Concrete/steel Tunnel!

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

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bufalo says on Dec 17, 2007, 19:16:

glad to see you had a good time. Yeah, the DAS guy at the airport just kind of hangs around and noone offers any info...forgot to mention that. How's things go?

Why don't they blast the malls to make the tunnels, two birds with one stone (hopefully there's a Mc Donalds in it.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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adrimm says on Dec 17, 2007, 22:38:

nyb - as a going away thing I cooked supper for one branch of my mother's family. I have an awesome Zuchinni recipe that requires feta cheese.. feta cheese, even though it is made in Colombia, must be a very specialty product becuase a jar of it cost me 22,000 COP or about $11CAD which is nearly 3x what I pay for the same quantity here at home.

Miamimike - :( Yep.. and it is actually the larger-scale manufacturing, textiles, mechanical parts, that is starting to see big incursions by Chinese products. Losing that will hurt Colombia terribly. The other concerning thing is that many of the Colombians who value hand-crafted and cottage industry artesanias don't realise that many of the hand-craft look items being imported in from Asia are likely sweat-shop type items.

It also emphasized to me, that for countries like Canada there is absolutely no way our domestic products could ever compete with Chinese products... especially if the Chinese are somehow able to produce items that, even with shipping, are more affordable that can be made in Colombia.

The one upside is that there are Colombians who value articulos artesanales... and the cost difference isn't that big yet (unlike in North America where larger -scale local handcrafts are so expensive only a small proportion of people can afford them.

Bufalo: No worries we made it on the flight.. but omg the stress...

.The DAS guy wasn;t even there! We were scheduled for a 3:10 Satena flight, I got there around 1:20 pm and at 1:45 security sent me to DAS, he was gone with a sign saying he'd be back at 3 pm. I was steaming mad.....and becuase I was the only one in the group of foreigners (myself and the 2 Brits) who spoke any Spanish the security guy came over and got into a big dispute over why I/we hadn't been there at 12:30. As if we were supposed to know! My travel agent didn't tell me, the airline didn't tell me when I left Bogota, there are no signs in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or anything in either airport saying a thing.. how were we to know? I got loud and critical, the security person got loud and critical....... the Brits (god love them, I really should know better), just looked down at the security people with a calmly bewildered "this is the most ridiculous thing" gaze. After realising that the foreign passengers were all missing the Satena manager came rushing out to argue with security on our behalf. She got on the phone with DAS and managed to get us through Security and into the wait-room, then we had to go out and get the precious stamp (not *even* on our passports), and go back through security. The precious stamp was on our boarding pass, which was torn off as we got on the plane.

Bufalo, sounds like a plan.

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Strobers says on Dec 18, 2007, 10:08:

Monsarrate is a major climb. We took the train up and walked down and my legs still felt like rubber when we reached the bottom. My sister-in-laws husband walks up and down Monsarrate three times per week, which is amazing. It's a brutal work out. You just have to watch where you are walking because the steps tend to be very uneven and in some places the grade is pretty brutal.

"Life is too serious to be taken seriously"

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bufalo says on Dec 18, 2007, 11:42:

Wow, Leticia is so small that we checked in then went to town and showed back up about 15 minutes before flight time like, what I thought, everyone else did. I spent a number of days there doing a survey and let me tell you that everyday people had the same stamp trouble (so ya think they'd figure it out by now???)

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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romy says on Dec 18, 2007, 13:17:

So is the new consesus on the climb to Monserrate that it is safe? Last year I was adviced against it, but if things have changed I might do it next time I'm in bogota.

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adrimm says on Dec 20, 2007, 01:38:

I did it on a Sunday.... the consensus seems to be that on weekends and holidays it is definitely safe becuase there are so many people, and I also hear of people that do it daily for exercise/prayer.. I imagine they go in the mornings or something.

The steps are HELL - I am short (under 5' tall) and that was part of the difficulty, the rise on many stairs was close to chair-height. Also, I had expected a trail, but the reality is that it is 55% (maybe more) stairs, 40% inclines, and 5% relatively level grades.

The unevenness wasn't too bad (it is cobbled/stonework).. and if anything was a help for me since it prevented me from repeatedly stepping the same way (I have a chronic foot injury that acts up with repetitive actions).

bufalo - I *know* I thought it was overkill to arrive nearly 2 hours early, but apparently not. I think I'm going to write a few letters - just to get it off my chest. Who knows, they seem interested in attracting foreign visitors (I got a map in English), so maybe they can be convinced/encouraged invest in a sign to post at the arrivals for incoming travellers to learn about the precious DAS stamp.. It's not even far-away-foreigners that might get stuck, but the local Brazilians and Peruvians that fly via Colombia to get elsewhere..

ATTENTION: Foreigners returning to Bogota are reminded that you must obtain the airport DAS stamp on return boarding passes before you can be admitted to the secure wait-area for return flights. When departing please coordinate your check-in to ensure that a DAS agent is present at least 90 minutes before your departure time.

DAS schedule: M-F___________ Sat & Sun______________

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bufalo says on Dec 20, 2007, 04:47:

Arriving 2 hours before is OK, we arrived way before. Actually no, scratch that, I arrived 2 hours before, checked us all in then went to town, then went to where we were staying, then the airport with my wife daughter and family seeing us off - place is small and we lived in the army base by the airport

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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adrimm says on Dec 20, 2007, 18:18:

LOL. It is.. I walked to the aiport from Los Delfines!

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bufalo says on Dec 22, 2007, 17:27:

Ah... I remeber Los Delfines, right by the police station. Passed there everyday. Then again in Leticia you pass everything several times a day it is so small.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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adrimm says on Dec 31, 2007, 11:42:

LOL..

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