Sunset Bogota Chapinero Alto
I’ve been in Colombia a while now and I’ve begun to feel like one of Bogota´s citizens. I ‘uuush’, ‘hijuepucha’ and ‘paila’ with the best of them. When I’m late, I blame it on traffic traffic that is pretty much ever-present. I drink too much coffee, and I drink way too much Aguardiente.
One of the most curious things about my ‘going native’, however, has been my increased fear of Bogotá. My safety concerns have heightened with every month I’ve been here. It’s not because of any particular incident, but more because the longer you spend here, the more stories you hear from people about something that happened to someone at some point. It can lead to your confidence in the city wavering, and certainly at times I feel more worried than is warranted as I wander the streets.
Safety in Colombia is an issue that plagues the country thanks to years of violent conflict in Colombian history and bad international press. It is well documented, however, that the country is making its way out of the cloud of negativity and into the limelight: this is a new dawn for Colombia, and travellers are flocking. Many of them, like I did, arrive with a wide-eyed naivety. They see the modern streets, the cosmopolitan culture and the swarms of tourists and let out a satisfied chuckle at those back home that warned of the danger. No kidnapping in sight whatsoever.
While kidnapping is pretty much out of the question, however, that rookie confidence all too easily changes to carelessness. Many Bogotanos (particularly older ones) warn those who first travel to Bogotá about the city’s dangers. These warnings (“Don’t go there, don’t go here, don’t take the bus, and don’t walk at night…”) often fall on deaf ears as the world-travelled backpacker wonders just why this person is being so overprotective. This is a good attitude, to an extent.
The truth is many Bogotanos have horror stories that they’ve heard from somewhere, and are all too willing to allow these stories to dictate their lives. They won’t venture to the center, despite it being one of the city’s most beautiful areas. They’ll refuse to take buses, despite buses being in many cases preferable to the Transmilenio. It’s an unfortunate but all too understandable reaction to a fairly dark history.
La Candelaria Bogotá, the backpackers’ district
But the backpacker’s reaction often goes too far. Sure, Bogotá is safe and it is improving all the time, but this doesn’t mean you can take your safety for granted. Bogotá is not as safe as Europe, and travellers should exercise sensible caution when arriving. It is, however, more or less as safe as Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and many major US cities.
This is not to say that people visiting Colombia need to be constantly on edge. Colombians are some of the nicest people in the world and, for the traveller, the country is a veritable paradise. But the longer you spend here and the more stories you hear the more you realize how sensible caution is.
Sure, something hasn’t happened yet. But it could, and why risk it?
This means not waving around your iPod on the street, no matter how many people are around.
It means not wandering around late at night, drunk.
It means phoning for a taxi instead of taking one off the street.
It means watching your pockets when you get off and on busy public transport systems.
It means staying alert, and it means being sensible.
With just a few preliminary safety cautions you can almost guarantee your stay will be a happy and safe one. So while you might not need to take heed of every bit of advice you’re given from your Bogotano friend, don’t discard what they’re saying entirely. Bad stuff, like anywhere, can and does happen.
For people like me that have been here a while, however, at times we need to shake off our Bogotano hats and take a look at the city from the perspective we had when we first got here: this is a city that is confident, and that you can feel confident in.
This is true, the bogotanos had become so paranoic and we think that the foreigners are a easy target of the criminals, but with some little precautions everything will be ok, and many people travel to Colombia and have no problem.
I love Colombia!
I am an American (USA)…I have been traveling to (and living in) Colombia since 2005.
What a wonderful country!
Not perfect…but…wonderful!
As a blog writer and someone who has for lived in Bogotá for a few months, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I have traveled all over the world and have found that the best way to stay safe in a city is to have “common sense.” My common sense, for obvious reasons, is directly related to the way I grew up. I grew up in Bogotá and while I practically couldn’t move without a body guard shadowing my every move, I grew up in a whimsical world and largely unafraid or maybe unaware of the things happening in my warn torn country (for your reference I grew up in the 80′s and 90′s).
With that said, I don’t think the precautions given to our friends are because we are being over protective. The truth is that a good friend of mine was murdered in a neighborhood that is undoubtedly the most elite on in the city because he was drunk and decided he needed to go home walking and not take a cab home. Common sense? Not so much. Would I walk home in the San Francisco by myself at 3am morning? Probable not.
I don’t know where you get that people in Bogotá don’t go to the Center. I know they have ridiculously good restaurants down there, not to mentions the best universities in are there. In addition to this, the place is packed when I have been. So, who are these people? Are they all tourists?!? And no one rides a bus? My cousin, who as a reference makes the equivalent of a 6 figure salary in the United States, takes a BUS to the CENTER of town every day because he hates driving… I leave that one up to your interpretation. In addition to this, every time I see a bus on septima, once or quince they are packed so who is on these buses? Tourists?
I think your statement saying that “kidnapping is pretty much out of the question” is kind of irresponsible. While I don’t want to disrespect your stature as one of our fine citizens, the truth is that for a kidnapper you and all the tourists that come are not important enough to kidnap. They don’t care about you. Why? Because they want money. They are a lot more interested in kidnapping the people from Colombia’s elite as well as foreign dignitaries or officers. So, as a tourist, part time or full time member of our society not included in those sub groups they are simply not interested in you.
One time I hosted a Couch Surfer at my home and we talked about a whole lot of things. One piece of advice I gave him (among many things) was to not leave his laptop underneath his seat on any night bus going anywhere. Obviously because he was such a well travelled world traveler, this fell on deaf ears. His laptop was stolen on a night bus from Ecuador to Peru. Common sense.
Finally, people from Bogotá will tell you “horror stories” so that you are careful, not to scare you. Those few things people tell you not to do are easy to follow and don’t need to leave you chained to your hostel room for the remainder of your stay. How hard is it to call a taxi rather than flag one on your street? How hard is it to hide your pin # with your hand while taking out money? Which by the way, this way of “thievery” has made its way to Spain where now they have to deal with it as well. Even in small towns.
There are dangers everywhere but if we let fear define our lives, what kind of life it that?
You seem to have agreed with much of what I’ve said, only phrased it in different ways. I’m advocating exercising caution, and using common sense that should be used pretty much everywhere when you’re a traveller.
I know many Bogotanos that don’t go to the centre, and many that don’t go on buses. I’m not saying everyone, but I know people that aren’t even gomelos that still refuse to go to the centre or use buses. It exists, even if you don’t know any particular examples (I’m willing to wager that you do, however).
And you say my ‘kidnapping is out of the question statement’ is irresponsible, but you don’t really say why. My point is that tourists don’t need to worry aobut getting kidnapped, you said exactly the same thing.
Finally, as a foreigner and someone that works in the travel industry, I can promise you that yes, many Bogotanos are over-protective. I’ve experienced it and almost all of my friends have, too. It’s understandable that, in this city, people want foreigners to enjoy themselves and not have any problems. Colombians are very kind generally, and it stems from that. It’s not exactly a problem, but it’s something us foreigners do find.
Your final statement, I feel, pretty much sums up the point of the piece.
Thanks for your comment, keep stopping by