THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS’ COLOMBIA
Posted: 03/14/19 | March 14th, 2019
Colombia’s distressed past – cartels, paramilitaries, poverty, petty criminal offense — casts a long shadow that still reaches to today. The country is still viewed by many as a location where risk lurks around every corner.*
Having grown up hearing stories of Colombian medication lords, kidnappings, murders, as well as muggings, these ghosts haunted the back of my mind as prepared to go to the country.
Was the country going to be safe? should I bring my electronics?
The stories as well as pictures we grow up with don’t leave us easily. They slide to the recesses of our mind as well as wait there, prepared to jump back to the forefront as well as whisper fear into our ears.
Even though I understood otherwise, the old picture of Colombia — born of decades of media bombardment — still circled around me as I touched down in Medellin.
It quickly evaporated when deal with with reality.
Colombian history is just that. Történelem.
Yes, there are still many issues right here in Colombia: the medication trade is still strong, paramilitaries still exist, as well as petty criminal offense is a major problem. The murder rate, though falling significantly over the last decade, was still 11,781 in 2017 as well as petty criminal offense as well as armed robbery are still a routine occurrence with 2018 seeing over 200,000 armed robberies in the country.
Locals frequently suggested not going out to specific areas at night as well as being additional cautious with my stuff. There are still problems with the paramilitaries (there was a bombing while I was there by the national Liberation Army, a radical paramilitary group). earnings inequality is high. hardship is rife. about 35% of the population lives below the hardship line.
Colombia is not perfect. It’s still growing, it’s still developing, as well as it still is trying to cast off the long shadow of its distressed past.
But the huge cartel days are over, as well as most paramilitaries have went into peace agreements with the government. major crimes are decreasing each year. Kidnapping has decreased by 92% since the cartel years as well as homicides have dropped by around 50% over the past two decades.
Poverty rates have decreased as well. since 2002, when the government started tracking hardship statistics, the hardship rate in the country has dropped from almost 50% to 35%. On top of that, their GDP per capita has increased almost five-fold since 1980.
Slowly however surely, things are improving.
Tourism from around the globe is on the rise, as well, with tourism doubling since 2010.
Foreigners are moving there in droves (Colombia gets a new immigrant every 18 minutes). The country is a hub for digital nomads as well as tech business like WeWork, Facebook, as well as Google. It’s making huge strides, generally dispelling visitors’ previous preconceptions.
Danger doesn’t lurk around every corner the method it used. Colombia is a country on the move as well as people are eagerly wanting to shed its past.
This is not our parent’s Colombia.
The country constantly blew away all my expectations. (Even my dad, who was sure I was going to get kidnapped, commented after seeing my pictures that it wasn’t anything like he believed it was.)
The people were curious, friendly, warm, as well as helpful. I had some fantastic conversations with trainees as well as Uber drivers (I bonded with one over classic music as well as one more over our shared like of the book The 5 like Languages). Colombians I satisfied in Cartagena took me out as well as treated me like we had been buddies forever. I had countless other positive encounters with people who seemed generally happy to show their country to visitors.
The facilities rivaled what you see in the advanced countries of Europe. Seriously, the roads, the ski-style gondolas leading into the mountains, the subways, the fast bus routes, the trams — I only desire the united states had such a comprehensive system.
The culinary scene — high-class gastronomy throughout, mixed with incredible hole-in-the-wall restaurants as well as ceviche as well as fruit smoothie street vendors — is one of the most eclectic as well as cutting-edge in the region.
And with lightning-fast Wi-Fi as well as tons of cafés, I discovered working there a breeze.
Colombia is packed with things to do as well as see, from gorgeous colonial towns like Popayan as well as Cartagena to vibrant cities such as Bogotá as well as Medellín, from dancing in Cali to the lost City Trek, from the beaches of the north to hikes in the coffee region, from the desert of Tatacoa to the ruins of San Agustín.
I believed that costs six weeks in the country would enable me to dig a bit deeper, however even keeping that amount of time, I still barely scratched the surface.
Colombia is no Shangri-La.
But it’s damn close.
I provide it an 11 out of 10.
It may be clichéd to stateAlig várom, hogy visszamegyek. Kolumbia volt az egyik legjobb ország, amelyet évek óta meglátogattam.
Nem tudok rendkívül eléggé beszélni róla.
Foglalja le Kolumbiába vezető utat: logisztikai tippek és trükkök
Foglalja le a járatát
Használja a Skyscanner -t vagy a Momondo -t, hogy felfedezze az olcsó járatot. Ők a két preferált böngésző motorom, mivel a webhelyeket és a légitársaságokat a világ minden tájáról böngészik, így mindig megérted, hogy a kő nem marad hátra. Kezdje a Skyscanner -rel a legelső, bár ők a legnagyobb elérhetőségük van!
Foglalja le szállását
Foglalhatja le hostelét a Hostelworld -nál, mivel ezek a legnagyobb készletek és a legfinomabb ajánlatok vannak. Ha a hostel kivételével valahol másutt szeretne maradni, használja a booking.com -ot, mivel azok következetesen visszatérnek a legolcsóbb áron a vendégházak, valamint az olcsó szállodák számára.
Ne emlékezzen az utazási biztosításra
Az utazási biztosítási fedezet megvédi Önt a betegség, a sérülés, a lopás és a lemondások ellen. Átfogó biztonság a helyzetben, bármi rosszul fordul elő. Soha nem megyek utazásra nélküle, mivel a múltban sokszor kellett felhasználnom. A legmegfelelőbb szolgáltatást és az értéket nyújtó preferált vállalkozásom:
Biztonsági szárny (mindenki számára 70 alatt)
Biztosítsa az utazásomat (a 70 év felettiek számára)
MedJet (extra hazatelepítéshez)
A legjobb vállalkozást keresi, amellyel pénzt takaríthat meg?
Nézze meg az erőforrás -oldalamat a legjobb vállalkozáshoz, amelyet utazás közben használhat. Felsorolom mindazokat, amelyeket pénzmegtakarításhoz használok, amikor úton vagyok. Pénzt takarítanak meg, ha utazás is.
Szeretne további információt Kolumbiáról?
Feltétlenül lépjen a Kolumbia robusztus útmutatójába, hogy még további tervezési tippeket találjon!
*Nem csak az Egyesült Államokban értem. Kolumbia végül hihetetlenül kiemelkedő volt a holland utazókkal egy kiemelkedő TV -műsornak köszönhetően, amely itt helyezkedik el, ám sokan azt mondták nekem, hogy az idősebb holland lakosok továbbra is azt kérdezik: „Miért megy Kolumbiába? Ez veszélyes.” A régi minták keményen halnak meg … nem számít, hol vagy a világon.