what's going on island hoppers today we're going to talk about things to
know when you visit columbia let's get into it
all right guys let's talk about things to do and places to see so uh right now
we're in cartagena this is a coastal uh caribbean city probably the most popular
among the uh mainland attractions if you wanted to go get a more caribbean caribbean-style island
you can go to san andreas which is actually closer to nicaragua than it is to where
we're at here in colombia but it's in the middle of the ocean it's owned by colombia
if you want a high altitude town one of the most popular places they come to is medellin okay
next to medellin you can go to el pinol which is the big rock and guatope now if you go to bogota
that's mostly for business people so those are the main attractions that you'll find there's a
couple other places around like cali you know the famous cali cartel people like to go over
there just to see what that place is like but the places i just outlined there are the big four
all right let's talk about the weather out here in colombia so most of the interior of columbia the
big cities bogota medellin uh going to be up above 5000 feet thereabouts so you get this tropical
climate 74 year uh degrees year round here in medellin but you can see right now it is raining
so when you come here because it is so green it's going to rain a lot make sure you bring clothes
for the rain that includes a rain jacket but it doesn't get to the point where it snows because
it's in the tropics so the clothes you're going to wear yes summer clothes short sleeves shorts but
also a pair of pants and a rain jacket in other words it has rained in medellin or in colombia
every single day i've been here so with that being said the dry season in south america because it's
the southern hemisphere the summertime is going to be december and january so that's when the
dry season is if you want to try and get away from that colombian rain that's going to be here
let's talk about affordability in colombia i've now traveled to five different countries here
in the last couple months and i would say colombia by far and away is the cheapest let me explain
if i wanted to go from medellin to cartagena for example the flights are 35 dollars one way okay
so cheap flights hotel rooms on average 65 a night 70 a night to stay at the hampton inn hilton
or to stay at the four points by marriott so those chain hotels that you usually pay 150 to 200 a
night in america here in columbia 65 to 85 a night i found that to be really a great thing now they
do have high-end hotels like the marriott like the main marriott that goes for 150 a night but i
still found it to be very affordable today we just ate what i consider to be fine dining meal at an
italian restaurant it cost a total of 22 dollars for two meals and that included the soda and
chicken cordon bleu and another gourmet meal so 22 that's usually what it costs just for one meal
in the united states at a fine dining restaurant so i don't know who's saying that colombia isn't
affordable to me that's crazy because this is a very affordable place even the tours we went
on yesterday these tours in the united states or in hawaii or anywhere else would it cost a
hundred to two hundred dollars it cost twenty five dollars to do the tour that included food
so here's something to know about colombia bogota the capital is not the main tourist hub but it is
worth arriving in bogota because major flights go into that international airport now the main
areas that tourists like to go are medellin cali or cartagena so those areas are where most of
the tourism goes bogota is the industrial business capital of the country as well as the governmental
capital the medellin and the surrounding areas is really where most of the tourists go or down to
the coast in cartagena so that's something that you'll want to know if you're looking to fill
out your itinerary for colombia let's talk about the colombian culture in the colombian people so
there's a variety of different indigenous tribes that originated from here uh the karib
people you know where the name caribbean comes from they're called the karif it's not caribe
then there's also the toronto people and there's several other tribes in the interior in the andes
as you go up towards ecuador and brazil now there's also african people who came here
on those ships they were slaves originally and now they are part of the colombian culture
just as much as anyone else and you also have spanish people people from europe who
came over as well who are also just a part of the colombian culture and these three
different ethnic origins make up the colombian people so you have the european spaniards the
portuguese and that type of european africans and then you also have the local indigenous people
let's talk about safety in colombia you know because of narcos and pablo escobar people
are scared to come here let me tell you something if it was dangerous then and i understand it was
it has changed a lot now so i would say that walking around medellin bogota was safe of course
you have to exercise caution in certain areas but overall my experience with colombia is it
is a safe place for solo travelers because i've seen many solo travelers i've seen some couples
not many but i think a lot of people associate colombia with pablo escobar and the cali cartel
from in the 90s and i can tell you things have changed a lot and the colombian people are not
proud of the past with the cali cartel in pablo escobar but they are proud of the fact that
the modern colombia is a safe place look how beautiful medellin is i mean it's so modern
it's like a jungle in a city very safe place
now because there are areas that are not necessarily the safest areas you know you will
have people saying watch your phone especially in some communities if you go into one of those
communities you can go on a tour with a tour guide who will help guide you through that and those
people can be easily found all across the country tours okay so you can go online to
book them but if you want to just come to this country and stay safe guaranteed no problems
just book a tour and you know some people like me i used to be the guy who used to say oh i don't
go on tours and i used to be all proud about it i actually like going on tours you meet people
and you get some additional insight into the country it's a fun experience
you know i went to singapore they say singapore is a garden inside of a city
or a city inside of a garden medellin is even more impressive garden inside of a city
but the whole city is tropical and sometimes it feels like you're in
the wilderness or in the jungle as you can see right here you go this way same deal
it looks like a jungle right here in the middle of the downtown area of pueblado
let's talk about street vendors so when a street vendor comes up to you whether they're singing at
you or they're dancing or they're going to give you a massage whatever the case may be they might
say it's going to be free but after time goes by they're going to eventually try to get you
on the hook before the service age is provided even though they'll tell you that it was free so
this is mostly a thing in cartagena it's not so big in medellin although when you do go down to uh
poblato in medellin you will notice they have some more street performers than other places
or camino 13 possibly also in bogota they have a little bit different street performers like the
llamas which they don't have here in cartagena so as you uh go around columbia there's going to
be different street vendors offering you services but eventually they want money off you so if you
start talking to them you're pretty close to getting uh to a point where you're gonna have
to pay them something because they're gonna keep hassling you until you give them money
let's talk about transportation in colombia so uh one of the best ways to get around if you want to
save money is uber but also for safety uber is better than a taxi in the sense that you pay
less and you also uh get that record uh tracked you know who you rode with and all that so it's
documented with the uber app so i recommend uber for getting around although taxi cabs sometimes
can be more convenient because if you're waiting sometimes for 15 minutes for uber but there's a
taxi right in front of you and you feel like you could trust the taxi driver obviously
you're going to just take that so as a matter of convenience now when it comes to flying around
getting around 35 45 flights from medellin to cartagena or medellin to bogota or even going
from cartagena to san andreas the island 45-50 now it obviously goes up from there depending
on availability of the flights but there's also boats to get around when you go from island to
island you can charter a boat private boat or you can get on a catamaran so that's the kind
of transportation that you're gonna have available no trains that i've seen you can also ride buses
so if you want to go from cartagena to bar aquila you could also do that on a bus although the roads
getting around are a lot slower one more thing i do recommend taking tours if you get a chance
go on a tour whether you go to guadatepe or one of the santa marta to the national park over
there wherever you go try to get a tour because that seems to be the best way to see the country
and a lot of the tours all inclusive food included as well so that's good
so let's talk about one of the subjects that's a bit taboo here pablo escobar
you know a lot of people from the united states or other countries that come here
wanting to talk about it or see a tour or see where he used to live but actually in colombia
they do not appreciate what he did or what he stood for so it's a bit of a controversy
so when you come here try not to take too much of an interest in that even though there are
tours that like to talk about it or show you around but at the end of the day it is taboo
it's controversial the colombian people are not proud of that history even though netflix makes
series like narcos and you know there's plenty of movies that have been made about his life colombia
they want to move on beyond that okay colombians want to be known for the beauty of the country the
safety and they want you to feel safe when you're here they don't want you to feel scared or worried
about narcos or cartels that's really what they stand for a safe uh family-friendly kind of place
all right guys that's gonna conclude this episode of things to know about visiting
columbia hopefully you guys enjoy this trip uh overall i would say come on down to
columbia check it out great place to be i really enjoyed medellin that was probably my favorite
cartagena is a nice place as well bogota more of a business center i hope to go around more
of colombia the next time i come here so hope you guys see you guys down here enjoy
you