Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles 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
A2 US colombia colombian columbia cali tour people Things to Know Visiting Colombia 2022 113 1 王啟瑞 posted on 2022/05/01 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary