Re: Re-envisioning Colombia

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 13:22:07 +0100

I am an American college student who visited Colombia for 3 weeks, December 05-January 06, along with four other Americans and our Colombian exchange student friends who hosted us.

I'm just writing to confirm that Colombia is just as safe of a country in its cities as is Mexico, Argentina, or any other Latin American nation.

However, it's not just safe in the cities anymore - while the US government recommends against land travel in the countryside, we went by van through almost the entire country, from Bogota to Ibague, to the coffee country: Armenia, Pereira, and Manizales, north to Medellin, then all the way to Cartagena, then south again through Bucaramanga and back to Bogota. There are two caveats I should mention: 1) that we were there over the holiday season when an increased military presence on the highways is designed to encourage tourism and travel, 2) that we avoided travel by night, which is still not recommendable outside of Colombian cities.

At least two areas we passed through - the mountaintop pass known as La Linea between Bogota and Ibague, and the areas of Sucre and Bolivar south of Cartagena - were controlled by guerrillas as little as two years ago. This is just to say that some progress has been made by the Colombian military during Uribe's presidency to take back control of parts of Colombia.

It is a beautiful country and perhaps the best kept secret in Latin America. The people I met were very curious and friendly to Americans, and as Colombians boast, the women there are indeed beautiful. I hope to go back again in the near future.
- Ryan Zwilling

Re: Re-envisioning Colombia

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 08:25:07 +0100

Andrew,
Your comments on Colombia are most prescient, from my very limited perspective. I spent a week in Medellin (or Medajeen as they seem to say down there) last May and am returning soon. It is a beautiful city populated by very kind people. I went up the Cauca River several hundred km to look at a gold mine on Mt. Marmato. More kind people, and scenery unlike any other than perhaps the Brooks Range in Alaska. How those cattle graze way up there on the vertical slopes is beyond me. The experience made me wonder how the mainstream news people could get it so wrong for so long. Didn't see a single shotgun, rifle, armed pickup truck or the like the whole time, except for a couple of pistols packed by bouncers at a strip joint. Mostly just lots of folks dining, drinking and smoking outdoors in the pleasant weather.
Colombia gets a bad rap. She deserves better.
-d-
- Anonymous