El Vago en Suramerica

I`ve made it to the Caribbean again, on Colombia`s north coast. At the moment, I`m in Cartagena, certainly the most touristic city in the country. It is almost funny to talk about touristy places in Colombia; compared to its neighbors to the south, or certain countries in central america, Colombia has incredibly little tourism. Here in cartagena there is one hostal, while in Granada, nicaragua, there are at least five.

 On Monday, I left Bogota for Barranquilla at 6 pm, and arrived around 12:30 pm the following day. It was an comfortable, uneventful trip. Barranquilla is a large, hot, crowded, ugly city, with absolutely no activities for the tourist. I may have enjoyed my evening wandering around the city, if I wasn`t desperately trying to cash a traveler`s check. I stopped at nearly every bank in the city, and only one bank accepts traveler`s checks. At one branch of the bank, they told me to go to another branch to cash the check. At the second branch, they told me to go back to the first branch. They complained because I had signed where it says “sign here immediately upon receipt of this check.” I was trying to explain to them that it was NECESSARY to sign there, but they wouldn`t believe me. I finally headed to a third branch of the bank, open until 7 pm, where I was given my money. The woman at that bank also told me that she owns a bar, and that she will be having parties every day during Carnaval. She left me her phone number. Maybe I`ll check it out…

In Barranquilla, I was staying in a pretty awful hotel. It was located near the center, but in a fairly dangerous location. The price was 7 dollars a night, but my bed literally felt like it was filled with bricks, and i spent the entire night terrified that the fan would fall on me. Also, before going to sleep, I noticed a huge line of ants streaming down one side of the bed. It turns out that these ants were coming out of one of the pillows, so I removed that from the bed. I slept the night with a mosquito net over my head.

 In contrast, I`m staying at a hotel in Cartagena for 5 dollars a night, without a private bathroom or TV, but with a very comfortable bed and a nice atmosphere. Also, I was rather surprised that the hotel isnt involved in either drugs or prostitution.

Its wild how common prostitution is here. There were lots of prostitutes in Nicaragua and Panama, but I`ve seen nothing like colombia. First, sketchy guys on the street will offer you drugs, but afterwards, they will always offer girls. Everyone knows girls, where to find cheap girls, even where to find girls from each region in colombia, girls of every price, size, and age. You can tell prostitutes walking down the street by their dress, but by their boots more than anything. Every prostitute wears boots. Their are bars with no signs on the door, with darkened windows, balconies filled with young beauties, and there is never any doubt what these institutions are. I don`t let it bother me, really, but sometimes it can be shocking to see how widespread the practice is.

 One thing that does bother me is that EVERYONE assumes I have loads of money, and that I should buy a round of drinks for every “friend” I meet, that I should give tips to anyone I talk to, etc. Also, it seems that everyone in colombia wants to scam foreigners. Taxis in Bogota would consistently try to charge 50% more than reasonable prices, or they would intentionally give the wrong change. At the bus terminal, I was quoted a price of 57 dollars for traveling between bogota and barranquilla, while the real price is about 30 dollars. It takes some getting used to. For a person traveling in colombia who doesnt speak spanish and is unaccustomed to the culture, it would be quite easy to lose a huge amount of money very quickly.

 Cartagena, where I`m staying now, Is a nice city. The center is extremely beautiful, prettier than the old center of panama city and perhaps as gorgeous as Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico. There are beaches, but the beaches are frustrating as they are packed with venders and con-men, and it is unsafe to leave anything on shore as you swim. Other than the center and the beaches, Cartagena is a colorful place, but it looks more or less like Barranquilla: chaotic, hot, and and crowded.

 After the carnaval in barranquilla, at the end of February, I will return to Bogota. It is cultured, full of beautiful women, and has a nice climate. Though the people are reputedly the least friendly in Colombia, they are still open and easygoing, and I had no trouble meeting people.

 Hell Yeah. I hope things are going well back home, or wherever you all are.

Love,
Dan

Tags: Colombia

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Colombia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.