This is how you feel for the first time in Colombia

From 2 Canadians point of view: the cold truth

Here I am going to put you on the shoes of two of my Canadian friends and how they felt in Colombia for the first time. They are good and close friends of mine so you can be certain that everything they told me is 100% truthful, what they like, didn’t like and shocks about Colombia. This will be a long story so it will be a two-part email.

They are 27 years old, single, don’t speak Spanish and are very gringos. Saying this, what they know about Colombian (latino) culture is very limited and probably I am one of the closest reference to what and how a Colombian acts and thinks (They have been in Cancun in a all inclusive resort, but I don’t consider that a real way to get to know latino or Mexican culture). So because they are young and single, their priorities were to get to know the city and go for party at night.

You can imagine the preconcieved image of what Colombia is and has to offer: beautiful women, the classical cocaine and Pablo Escobar stereotype, Narcos (the Netflix show) and thinking Spanish is a cool language that sounds cool when I speak it. So when I told them stories of how Colombia really is, they got more than intrigued and decided to plan a trip.

They went for 3 nights in Bogota and 5 nights in Medellin. The airbnb in Bogota was in Parque de la 93, and in Medellin in El Poblado, next to Parque Lleras.

My safe tips and recomentions are the same I always mentioned to you here, don’t be naive because here people can take advantage from you, be wary of scopolamine, try to avoid dangerous zones and “don't give papaya” (no dar papaya).

Here is what they did and think about Bogota:

First impression after leaving the airport was how crazy the traffic is, people driving all over the place, motorcycles and traffic. I know how crazy driving in Colombia is and they are not wrong, Bogota is a city you need to really know how to drive. They are Canadians, they are used to people following the traffic signs, giving pedestrians time and space to cross the streets and using the Stops signs. all of that, don’t really happens in Bogota.

Because they stayed in Parque de la 93 is in a safe area, they feel walking around was cool and got a good impression about the area, specially for the variety of bars and restaurants. Because they didn’t speak Spanish, they feel how difficult could be to live there without the language. Daily interactions feel sturdy and even tho people were trying to help, doing everything by Google translate felt inconvenient.

They also felt they stand out from Colombians, specially one of them is 6’3 and white. He argued he felt observed when walking around and makes sense, we still find bizarre to see foreigners around, even if the tourism is booming and now you see more foreigners than ever. But they felt people were trying to be helpful, helping to show the prices and directions when they were lost or confused about it.

Food and prices

Prices are a standing and main shock, some things in Colombia are really cheap compared to Canada. Cigarrets, beer, street food (and food in some restaurants) were shockingly cheap. Just to put in perspective, cigarettes in Canada cost $23 while you get the in Colombia for $3 . Same with beer, they were lucky to be next to an Oxxo and buy beers for $5 while in Canada a six pack Corona is $16.

But how cheap Colombia can get is variable, they went to restaurant and paid $50.000 Colombian pesos for lunch, but you can also get lunch for $12.000 if you know where to go. Because they were on vacation and money wasn’t really an issue, they decided to go for restaurants with a higher price.

Regarding the food, they say they liked it, they didn’t really have in mind what traditional Colombian food is but they get to try arepas, empanadas, chorizo, buñuelo and so on. They mentioned how good the soda Colombiana is and how much hey liked refajo (colombiana with beer).

Nightlife

Besides the fact they didn’t stay long in Bogota, they were happy with the first impression of what Bogota nightlife has to offer. Every city has its distinctive ways to party and spend the night, I recommended them to go to El Mono Bandido, a bar where you can send messages in napkins to the person you wanna meet.

They were beyond excited with this dynamic. And I can understand because it gets easy to break the ice and just shoot your shot. And keep in mind not only they are gringos in Colombia but also good looking guys, so the excitement just got higher as they received 3 or 4 napkins from girls trying to meet them.

Not only they meet new people there, they assure me the women they see around the bar and the area were beautiful.

Party nights usually start in a bar or at friends house drinking and then going to the club, so I recommended Presea, which is known for dancing regueton, which I thought would be a good plan for them, clubs in Canada don’t have that type of party. Again, they liked it a lot. Right away they told me how much women like to dance and how much we Colombian like to party, they stayed until closing at 5am, which I can imagine how surprising it is as clubs in Canada close at 2am.

Walking around Downtown Bogota

Centro in Bogota is a good place for tourist to know and walk, all the area from the Septima from the Calle 26 to Plaza de Bolivar is a walkable and interesting place to know. They walked a lot, not knowing nothing about the history of the city or what building is each one. Because I wasn’t there to guide them and tell a little bit of the area, you can get a tour, which are usually locals that walk with you and narrate you the history of each place.

That’s why Downton Bogota is easy to get lost, you walk a lot and if walk to a random street, probably you will end up in a dangerous area. And that happened to them, completely lost walking around they end up in what seems to be a street full of homeless people and drug addicts, good thing it wasn’t too far for them to go back.

But in general they argued they never felt that experience before, Downtown Bogota felt like an organized chaos, everyone living their own life with a lot of things happening at the same time, street vendors, music, working people, students, homeless, commerce. They never felt that vibrance before and even tho it was shocking, it makes sense that they liked the feeling of chaos, too many random things happening at the same time.

Again, not speaking Spanish is a barrier when traveling alone, but it won’t impede you to enjoy Colombia. People always try to help as much as needed. At least in Bogota they didn’t felt like people tried to take advantage from them, for being gringos and not speaking the language.

This concludes how you feel in Bogota for the first time when you have never been here, don’t speak the language and is your first time getting a taste of latin culture. Overall nightlife and party would be a good impression, feeling of safety and security gets reset as you need to be sure that a lot of things can happen here. If you are white and tall (gringo) you will stand out. Safety will depend on the parts of the city that you go, but if you play your cards right, nothing will happen to you.

Next mail is a continuation of what it feels to be for the first time in Medellin, so keep in mind to read both of this mails.

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