June 8, 2006 early early AM the adventure begins. Why Barranquilla? Basically it is still in the Caribbean just on the southern end. It is the fourth largest city in Colombia. Heard about how friendly the people are and I would be close to 2 beach areas, Sta. Marta and Cartinena. Population about 1.5 million people. For the faint of heart remember this is a third world country. If you want West Palm Beach this may not be the vacation for you.
Getting there. Tried to pull up flights thru Expedia etc but not any hits. Did a search and fount out Avianca & Copa airlines services the US to Colombia. For some reason I called AA and asked if they could get me there. (Couldn’t get anything on the web site though) So I booked thru AA (they spoke English, AA miles) $834.00 RT from STL to BAQ. Via MIA. Met a man from Cleveland in the International section lounge going to a wedding in Callie. Also a woman and her child originally from Colombia going back for a visit.
The question about driving in Colombia came up. Basically she got a driving license in the US but quickly lost it because of too many tickets (more on driving later)
Flight was uneventful to Mia. Had to check in to Avianca to get a boarding pass. I got into an extremely long line with passengers that had 4 to 5 of the largest suitcases I have ever seen. After a wait I asked if I was in the right line. Of course no. I needed to be in the line at the far end of the check in counter because I was continuing a flight (no luggage check in). The line had 5 people in it. Flight to BAQ was uneventful also. Avianca flight was on a new MD80. No TV and No headphone jacks. A meal was served (which was very good) followed directly by the drink cart (soft drinks, wine, scotch and some other liquor, no charge) One interesting note, the cockpit door was open all the flight. The airport in BAQ is newer but small like SXM is now. There were custom forms to fill out at the airport (in Spanish) so I was lost. I said no Espanola to the immigration officer, he said no problen looked at my passport, typed something in for about 2 minutes and said thank you. Next line was customs. Put my luggage on the counter, the lady unzipped the bag half way took a glance zipped it back up and said thank you.
Money is the Colombian peso. I figured I would need some after landing in Barranquilla so I went to the money exchange in the MIA airport. They had an exchange rate of 1700 pesos to a $1 with a 1-time transaction fee of $3.95 USD. After I arrived in Barranquilla there was many exchange places and had a rate of about 2400 pesos per $1 (you will need a passport for ID). ATM cards are used by some tourists. Seems City Bank works well. Probably better exchange rate. But I do not have one so this is just information I had heard. Also if you get pesos, get small denominations i.e. 10000 ($4 USD) pesos. I had some 50 MIL (50,000 pesos ($20 USD)) and had a hard tome getting them broke down into smaller change (really).
Speaking of passports. Keep it with you at all times. You will need it for money exchanges, credit card transactions and some security checkpoints on the roads.
Taxi ride to the hotel (Royal Hotel on Carrera 54) was 50 mil pesos ($20 USD.) The hotel was clean but a bit worn. Rooms were ok, had a window AC, small bathrooms but with a large shower. Rate was $60 USD per night. Since I was a non resident I signed a form that waived the hotel tax on the bill. There was a pool but never seen anyone in it. It had a disco which opened later in the evening on hit and miss nights. There are 2 Colombian made beers which were not too bad but made me burp.
Getting around. I decided to rent a car at the hotel. National Car rental brought over their cheapest rental by my request. A stick shift small Chevrolet. Never heard of the model before. Price of $70 USD per day that included Ins. & taxes. Which I thought was high. I got a map and was off. After 1 hour driving I was done. Went back to the hotel, called the rental agency to come and get the car. The drivers in Colombia are crazy. DO NOT DRIVE IN COLOMBIA. They would chew up and spit out SXM drivers in seconds. There are a lot of stoplights and stop signs but nobody pays attention to them. A lot of streets have a dividing island for the lanes. There are dual lanes (no speed limits) with 3 buses side by side within inches of each other. Cars trying to pass them, three wheel bicycles with product for sale and 2 wheeled donkey carts in the way. And pedestrians trying to cross the street. Then it really gets crazier around rush hour. The traffic consists of 50 % motorcycles, cars & trucks, 40 % cabs and busses and 8 % ambulances and 2% donkey carts. The motorcycles have a license plate on them and the driver wears a vest with the license number on it also. The only reason for this is that I can figure is to keep all the parts together in case of an accident. For transportation please take a taxi (5000 ( $2 USD) pesos max to most places) or a bus (1000 pesos ($ .4 USD). A riding experience: Was running late for an appointment. I really do not know what was said to the taxi driver but I had the ride of my life. The taxi was riding half on the sidewalk half on the road at a high rate of speed. Came upon an intersection with a traffic accident in it. Two police officers were measuring the distance from one car to the curb. The taxi stopped within inches of the measuring tape, the officers didn’t even flinch. One officer released the tape and zoom; between the officers and through the intersection we went. Now a little on interstate driving. Semis, cars, buses etc use all the road as fair game.
Riding on the shoulder (paved or unpaved) is normal. No on coming traffic: you will have 3 lanes of traffic (on a 2 lane road) going the direction you are. When an oncoming vehicle approaches: wait to the last moment to come back to 1 lane your direction. If you want to pass, the vehicle in front of you drives half on the shoulder ant the vehicles in the opposing direction start driving on their shoulder (must be radar sensing you wanting to pass. And then you pass driving up the centerline of the road.
For getting around I hired a translator/tour guide. Prices are reasonable, $5 USD per hour short term, long-term prices are negotiable. They will arrange transportation for you; suggest places to eat and things to see
I bought a cell phone (58000 pesos ($23 USD)) from ComCell that was across the street from the hotel. Non-residents cannot buy them. But the sales lady used her own name and fingerprint on the paperwork. Apparently this is done all the time.
The first night for eats I went to the Buffalo Grill (just like home) had BBQ ribs, potato and plankton chips. Price was around $6 USD
Friday went to a born and raised in Colombia local’s house for breakfast. About a 20 minute cab ride (15,000 pesos ($6 USD)) to the outlying suburbs of Barranquilla. I like to get knee deep in the reality of life of where I visit. The neighborhood was marginal safety wise. And the homeowner said if they are not home at night there is a chance of the house being robbed. One other thing if you travel out of a main city’s water system DON’T DRINK THE WATER, take or buy bottled water. Trust me on this one. In the evening went to the disco at the hotel and did some dancing. A bottle of wine is 30,000 pesos ($15 USD).
Saturday. Wanted to do some shopping. There are 3 malls in Barranquilla and I opted for the one called Buena Vista since it was the largest, Walked inside and it looked like any mall in the US, Jeans West and Levis stores etc. I did buy a casual shirt (30,000 pesos ($12 USD)) and some casual pants (70,000 pesos ($27 USD). Spent the rest of the day riding in the cab and looking around. In the evening went to the Barranquilla Plaza Hotel for dancing. On the 26th. Floor was the restaurant with dance floor and a live salsa/merenge band. The exterior walls were glass so you had a full view of the whole city at night.
Sunday took a tour to a party villa about 40 minutes from the city. The villa was located on top of a large hill so it had a great view of the surrounding country. The tour bus was stopped twice by police. The driver grabbed identification papers to show the officers and we were on our way. Drank a few cervesas, danced to the local live band and swam in the pool to cool off. In the evening 3 of us went to a nice restaurant in the city. We all ordered the chicken. It was a smoked ½ chicken served with salad and pita bread with garlic dip. With soft drinks the bill was 33000 pesos ($14 USD) for all.
Monday. Went to Sta. Marta. A mini van transportation is available. They pick you up at your front door and drop you off where ever you want at the destination. Ride was about 1-½ hours and the cost is 25000 pesos ($10 USD) per person Call them 1 hour in advance and the last bus back is at 6 PM. Was dropped off in the beach area. There was open in the front and back tents up and down the beach area. The lawn chairs were inside of them so you wouldn’t get too much sun. Remember we are near the equator. The sand was a grayish tan and the water had a brown hue. Wasn’t 50 feet on the beach when the beach vendor started heading my way. Decided to take the boat to White Beach (15000 pesos ($6 USD)) per person. The ride took about 10 minutes. Saw some nice rock formations on the cliffs along the way. White Beach had a few restaurants and beach bars. Had a few beers and talked to some other visitors that were from Colombia. They said Cartagena was about the same as here but more expensive and the beach vendors were relentless. The beach bars a White beach closed up early (around 4) so I caught the boat back to shore and was just in time to catch the bus back to Barranquilla. Cleaned up and headed to a Pizza joint for margarita and pizza, and of course watched the soccer game.
Tuesday: Had some business to take care of today at a couple of the Government buildings. They all had 8 foot iron fences around them and armed guards inside and out. Many street vendors cater outside these buildings. I was not able to enter one because I had shorts on. No problem you can rent pants for 3000 pesos ( $1.25 USD) and when you are through with your business there are vendors with cell phones that will call the taxi for you for a few pesos. Also across the street are shops with copying machines, fax machines etc. In the evening went to the show at the Buena Vista mall and watched the X-men (English with Spanish sub-titles)
Wednesday: The last day. Did some more clothes shopping. Found a store that has Colombia made (and styled) linen shirts (87000 pesos ($ 35USD)) and linen pants (150000 pesos ($60 USD)) the clothes had a really Latin flair, which I liked. On to do some jewelry shopping. Went to the Centro district. (Was told to hang on tight to my camcorder) The jewelry stores were kinda inset 10 foot from the sidewalk, and had Plexiglas display cases with a wall of clear Plexiglas with slots in it above the cases. There was a guard armed with a shotgun pacing in front of the display cases .The flats were scarcely filled. When you found something you wanted to look at it was removed from the flat and shown to you from the slot by a sales person. I looked at a ring that had a 7 carrot emerald surrounded by diamonds (1.2 carrot total weight) price was 4.250 000 pesos ($1800 USD.) The emerald looped pretty clean. Payment is by cash (can’t imagine carrying that much cash in this area) or a deposit and wire transfer. No credit cards. My guide took me to a place 2 blocks over to a little shop (12 X 8), which had the plastic walls but no display cases. We were buzzed inside then the safe was opened and the wares brought out to be inspected. I tried to dicker on the price but all prices are firm. They said they were the best price in the area and took me upstairs ( 12 X 8)to where 4 craftsmen were making jewelry. Most of the diamond jewelry had small stones and I wasn’t really impressed with the price. Grabbed a taxi, headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the last meal for this trip. Went back to the Barranquilla Plaza hotel. Sure liked the view from the 26th floor. Ordered Fillet Mignon (21000 pesos ($9 USD)) came with potatoes, and drank some margaritas. After dinner I just wasn’t in the mood for Salsa or Meringue so went down to the lobby bar where a 1 man band was playing some Latin love songs so I just chilled there till he quit. And I also knew I had to get up early tomorrow.
Thursday Airport Day. Up at 5:30 AM to leave the hotel by 6:30 AM for a 9:50 departure. There is only 1 flight per day to MIA so you don’t want to miss it. Taxi ride to the airport about 20 minutes cost 50000 pesos ($14 USD). Every passenger has 4 to 5 of the biggest bags I’ve seen again. Check in line 1, your bag is assigned a serial number referenced to your passport. Line 2, your luggage is thoroughly checked serial number wrote down on a list and signed off on by the inspector. Line 3, departure fee of $43 USD paid. Line 4, boarding passes assigned and luggage check in. Entering the boarding area: First screening: take off shoes, empty pockets, told to leave watch on. Carry on makes it through X-ray; I do not make it through metal detector so I am hand wanded. Walk down to gate area for 2 nd screening. Told to take off watch, empty pockets, leave shoes on. Carry on makes it through X-ray, I set off metal detector. Hand wanded again. Then boarded flight with no problems. Again coach had hot napkins passed out to them and another great meal served. With an 8 hour layover in MIA I finally made it home about midnight.
Did not see any Diet Pepsi in the grocery stores, just the regular. Coke was bottled in gold plastic soccer balls.
Next time a beach trip to Cartagena But that little Adam is another story..
Wendell
