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. Historie.
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 stateJeg kan dog ikke vente med at gå tilbage. Colombia var et af de allerbedste lande, jeg har besøgt i år.
Jeg kan ikke tale ekstremt tilstrækkeligt om det.
Book din rejse til Colombia: logistiske tip såvel som tricks
Book din flyvning
Brug Skyscanner eller Momondo til at opdage en billig flyvning. De er mine to foretrukne gennemse -motorer, da de gennemser websteder såvel som luftfartsselskaber over hele kloden, så du altid forstår, at der ikke er nogen sten, der ikke bliver vendt. Begynd med Skyscanner meget først, da de har den største rækkevidde!
Book din indkvartering
Du kan booke dit hostel med HostelWorld, da de har den største aktie såvel som fineste tilbud. Hvis du vil bo et andet sted end et hostel, skal du bruge Booking.com, da de konsekvent returnerer de billigste priser for gæstehuse såvel som billige hoteller.
Undlad ikke at huske rejseforsikring
Rejseforsikringsdækning vil beskytte dig mod sygdom, skade, tyveri samt aflysninger. Det er omfattende sikkerhed i situationen, alt går galt. Jeg tager aldrig på en tur uden den, da jeg har været nødt til at bruge den mange gange i fortiden. Min foretrukne forretning, der tilbyder den allerbedste service såvel som værdi er:
Sikkerhedsfløj (for alle under 70)
Forsikre min rejse (for dem over 70)
Medjet (til ekstra repatrieringsdækning)
Leder du efter den allerbedste forretning for at spare penge med?
Tjek min ressourceside for den allerbedste forretning at bruge, når du rejser. Jeg viser alle dem, jeg bruger til at spare penge, når jeg er på vej. De sparer dig penge, når du også rejser.
Vil du have mere info om Colombia?
Sørg for at gå til vores robuste destinationsguide i Colombia for endnu flere planlægningstips!
*Jeg mener ikke bare i USA. Colombia har endt med at være utroligt fremtrædende med hollandske rejsende takket være et fremtrædende tv -show, der tager placering lige her, men mange fortalte mig, at ældre hollandske beboere stadig spørger ”Hvorfor skal du til Colombia? Det er farligt.” Gamle mønstre dør hårdt … uanset hvor du er i verden.
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