Colombia

The Spanish

Colombia was named after discoverer Christopher Columbus, even though he’d never been there. In fact, Colombia was discovered by the Spanish when they first set foot on land in the year 1500. They slowly moved their way inland seeking Indian treasures. The Colombian Indians were used as slaves, but weren’t resistant to the many foreign diseases the Spanish had brought, killing every one of them. Then Africans slaves were brought in to work in the mines and plantations. This turned out to be a good move, because it resulted in a Spanish domination that continued for over 300 years. 

Simón Bolívar 

You might have heard of Simón Bolívar… the hero of independent South America. He took on arms against the Spanish and claimed victory after a long and heavy battle. On July 20th 1810 independence was a fact, the Spanish were defeated and Bolívar became president of the enormous territory of Colombia. 

It didn’t take long before this super-nation ‘República de Colombia’ broke up into the independent countries we know today as Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and (a part of) Panama.

Drugs

Colombia, world’s biggest producer of cocaine. About half of the consumed cocaine in the world comes from Colombia and more than 100,000 Colombian families live off producing coca. They earn about $1,200 per month, about a dollar per kilo. For comparison: a kilo of cocaine has an average street value of $150,000. Not exactly fair trade right? 

Pablo Escobar 

In the 70’s the increasing demand for cocaine in the US resulted in the massive production of cocaine in Colombia. We’ve all heard of Pablo Escobar, who started his operations in 1975. He started his career by smuggling his own kilos of cocaine abroad, at his top he managed to export 80 tons of cocaine to the US every month! By the time he died in 1993 his nett worth was estimated at 30 billion US Dollars, this made him the 7th wealthiest man in the world. Not very interesting when you are dead, but still…

Especially in his hometown Medellín, Pablo Escobar is remembered as the man who changed Colombia. Positive or negative… opinions may differ.

FARC 

Somewhere in this story the guerrilla movement FARC fits in. We could write a whole page about FARC, who were established in 1964 as an idealistic military wing of the communist party. But we won’t. Colombia is working hard on improving its reputation and with good results. After half a century of extremely violent attacks, drug related killings and kidnappings by FARC, in 2017 FARC and the president of Colombia finally came to an agreement and both signed a peace deal ending a 50 year war.

Nowadays the production of coca in Colombia is back on the same level as it was in 2001 with FARC still being the most important director.

Colombia has had a bad reputation for many years. Violent robberies and drug related murders were everyday’s business. But things have changed, big time! Eventhough Colombia is still one of the biggest producers of cocaine the government is acting firm against coca plantations. Every year the areas that produce cocaine decrease and overall safety increases.

Of course in the big cities it is the same as any around the globe, don’t go walking around showing what you’ve got. ‘No dar papaya’ as the Colombians say, give no papaya. Keep your phone in your pocket and your passport in your hostel locked in your backpack. Take only the money with you that you’ll need that day and try not to go where the streets are empty and dark, duh. 

Bus stations are the same everywhere in the world, Bogotá’s and Medellín’s terminals are no exception. Although things look pretty organised keep in mind that there are always people with bad intentions hanging around in places like this.

In our four weeks in Colombia we have not felt unsafe or uncomfortable anywhere. Where it’s needed there are security guards and police officers. People are incredibly helpful and are happy to warn you for situations where you shouldn’t get yourself in to. Colombians are so incredibly warm and friendly, even vendors are decent and easily take no for an answer.

Colombia has three options when it comes to transportation for long distances, you can either rent a car, fly or travel by bus. We used only these last two options and have had no problems with that. We took one flight from Bogotá to Medellín which we booked just a few hours before departure. This made the flight relatively expensive, €54 per person with VivaAir. When you book at least a few days in advance you can sometimes fly for half this price. 

Buses

Buses in this Colombia are well organised and safe, the seats are comfortable and in most buses your baggage will be handled with care. There are a lot of companies that are all quite good. You either book with a company online or at the bus terminal. Also there are comparison sites like Busbud or Redbus but often charge a fee. Booking your tickets last minute can safe you up to 30% of the price. So if you’re not traveling in the high season, just wait until the same day you’d want to travel. 

You could say a trip with a big bus normally costs around 9,000 an hour.

Tuktuks and Taxis 

Most towns are small enough to do everything by foot or they have tuktuks or taxis. In the bigger cities we have used Uber as well as regular taxis. In most large bus terminals there is a special entrance for taking a taxi. You tell the clerk where you want to go, get a ticket and give it to the driver. This ticket has your name and the number of the taxi. If you have any trouble with this driver you can make a complaint. This way taxi drivers are less tended to take advantage of you. 

Even though we did not have any trouble with them, the use of regular taxis in bigger cities is not advisable. Drivers aren’t always trustworthy, most taxis have a meter, but this is no guarantee it works properly or isn’t tempered with. Besides that, it has happened that people have been driven the wrong way and got robbed in a desolated area. So, especially when you travel alone, take an Uber or a bus.

Around 10,000 pesos per ten minutes in normal traffic would be about right for a taxi ride.

Collectivo or Willy

Where there are no big busses, you can travel from A to B in the back of a Jeep called a collectivo or Willy. It’s full, uncomfortable and often bumpy, but it is cheap! Most of these trips take 1.5 hours maximum and cost about 4,000 pesos per hour.

Petrol

The price of petrol is approximately 9,500 pesos per gallon, which is about €0.70 per liter.

Currency: 1000 Colombian Peso = € 0.30

In these 28 days we’ve spend:

• Transportation: € 322.00
• Accommodations: € 430.00
• Food and drinks: € 535.00
• Entrance fees: € 16.00
• Other: € 23.00

That brings us to a daily budget of: €47.35 for two persons including a flight from Bogotá to Medellín but excluding international flights.  

In Colombia we have slept in hostels and hotels, always had a private room mostly with a private bathroom. We’ve eaten out most days but have made our own breakfast and lunch.

Here are some examples of products and prices in Euro:

• Fresh bread in bakery: € 2.25
• Coffee latte in lunchroom: € 1.50
• Beer (330 ml) in cafe: € 0.90 to 2.35
• Beer (330 ml) supermarket: € 0.60
• Litre milk in supermarket: € 1.50
• Bottle South American wine: € 15.00 to +++
• Meal in restaurant: € 4.00 to +++
• Simcard with 2 gb internet: € 7.50