huovinen has left 6 comments

huovinen comments on Renting in Bogotá, options

The place at Inversiones LAMY is just a studio apartment so not that big -- maybe 40 sq. meters or so. Relative to the other listings I have seen listed here which are typically 1,500,000 and commonly 2,000,000 for a furnished apartment I thought this was a pretty good deal. Granted most of the other places who advertise are in an estrato 5 or 6. Also if you look around you can find a deal. Sounds like Waterdawg has a pretty good place but I'm not sure how easy it is to find deals like this that do not require lots of paperwork for foreigners, etc.

huovinen comments on 12 day trip to Columbia: Any advice on the best way to travel from Bogota to Cartagena to Medellin?

I would typically fly but you can take a bus depending up how much money you want to save and how much sight seeing you want to do. The bus from Bogotá to Medellin would be about $25 USD whereas a 1 way flight would run you around $90 USD. Additionally once you arrive at the MDE airport you would need to take a collectivo or taxi down to Medellin proper. I haven't taken the collectivo but a taxi would be another $20 USD. If you want to see the country side you take the bus during the day. If you don't want to see the sights are just looking for more economical travel then you can travel through the night and arrive in Medellin in the morning. Getting out and back to Cartagena is longer so would probably be worth flying. Avianca is pretty good about 1-way fares so you could fly all around or simply fly BOG->CTG, and CTG->MDE and take a bus back from Medellin to Bogota, etc. btw, you can get better prices for airline flights in Colombia than trying to book from outside. Also to book on-line may require a Colombia issued credit card for the best rates so you may simply want to check the rates on-line and then good to a local office to make the payment, which is the approach I typically take.

huovinen comments on Basketball in Colombia

Basketball
Hi. I'm also located in the north (Cl 127 y Kr 15 - Unicentro) and I'm trying to find spots to play. I've heard about some private schools with indoor gyms that are open in the evenings, local leagues, etc. but couldn't get exact details.

Also Santa Fe mall is out at ~CL 177 so 143 is a bit away. Any more details on this address/court?

huovinen comments on SantaFe de Antioquia

SantaFe
Thanks for all the help. I had checked out Mariscal Robledo. Normally I stay at the nice places but they wanted ~$300,000 per night! I chose Hotel Caseron instead since this was the initial recommendation of my amigovia and was only $125,000 night. Of course they didn't take credit cards so I had to go to Conavi, put money in their bank account and fax the receipt to them to confirm the reservation. I confirmed and they said I was set so.. hopefully. I arrive tomorrow.

I guess considering the traffic I think I'll take the taxi instead of the bus from MDE.

Cheers,
Don
..con dinero y sin dinero hago siempre lo que quiero

huovinen comments on Spanish School - Bogota

Spanish Lessons
Hi. I'm also interested in Javeriana and will probably go there this week to talk with them live.

http://www.javeriana.edu.co/Facultades/comunicacion_lenguaje/centro_lat/in_contact.htm

I've attended classes at HTL, which I think is good for Beginner and Intermediate but not sure how well they handle advanced. I would be interested in some private instruction from $35,000 is a bit pricey imho. Anyone know of any good private instructor I could get on Sat/Sun? Also what is a fair rate - obviously it is based on ability but I'm thinking $20k hour?

Cheers,
Don
..con dinero y sin dinero siempre hago lo que quiero

huovinen comments on For rent: Furnished apartment in Bogota

Apartment info please Can you please send me info on the apartment to don3 at huovinen.com

I'm looking for a place in Bogota for a 3-4 months initally and probably extending up to another 6 months.