Hi all,
Feeling a bit frustrated in my efforts to prepare for a trip, probably in February of 2008.
As many of you probably know, the latest LP Colombia Guide gets extraordinarily bad customer reviews, but there's little else around.
How did other people go about starting their research and putting together their travel plans? Are there chapters of SA guides in general that pertain to Colombia and are worth downloading? Any websites you'd recommend? I know I can read all the messages here and glean some information, but that would be pretty haphazard, and I'd really prefer a more structured approach.
I'll be travelling with my husband, and our interests include: charming colonial towns/cities (obviously Cartagena is a must), scuba diving, beaching and hiking. I speak a bit of Spanish and would be willing to pick up a Quechua phrase book. We're all about soaking up local culture.
I'd be very grateful to hear about your experiences in terms of preparing for the trip and reference material to bring with.
Cheers,
Marysol
Here's a website with some info but after a cursory glance I could pick out a few things that were out-of-date(ie. it is entirely possible to return directly from Raquira to Villa de Leyva using a cheap collectivo rather than taxi, as I did, but it may depend on the timing/day of week; it's best to ask your bus driver about it before embarking), including some of the prices of various posadas:
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/travel/<BR><BR> As for people's complaints about the Colombia guidebook...I think in your instance, since you can speak some Spanish, using it as a general guide might less of a problem. For example, I even used the old 2003 LP for Colombia and found it still good enough to sort out the major details of my recent trip(by inflating hotel and transport costs in my head by a certain amount...eg. if LP 2003 says it costs $20 than it probably costs $25 by now). Yes, there were a few things that were off- like posadas that no longer existed...but if you're not shy about asking locals questions then you'll usually get accurate, up-to-date info about all kinds of things...like where to eat, what posadas have a good reputation, where to buy souvenirs, etc. I've found the Colombians to be pretty generous in taking time to help travelers if you speak/understand a little Spanish(mine is not great but I know enough to get by). Nevertheless, the good thing about having the LP guide ahead of time is that it at least gives you some idea of the logistics and what are the highlights of any given region, and god knows I do find the city maps with the symbols extremely helpful! So, against popular sentiment I give a thumbs-up to the LP(although maybe my 2003 is better than the most recent one, somehow? Hmmmm....). PS. Check your library. I got the LP Venezuela 2001 version from the library and it worked pretty well for me, too
The new FOOTPRINT #3 guidebook to Colombia will be out early next year. No doubt it will be far superior to the Lonely Planet Colombia effort. That would not be hard.
kelvin
The new FOOTPRINT #3 guidebook to Colombia will be out early next year. No doubt it will be far superior to the Lonely Planet Colombia effort. That would not be hard.
kelvin
Hi folks,
Thanks for the good advice. XiacadaSilva – yeah, the library had occurred to me, but Vancouver (home) is in about its 10th week of a civic workers' strike, so our libraries are closed. Hopefully they resolve the issues soon and sign an agreement, because parts of the city are starting to reek. No garbage pick-up – eeeuuw!
kiwipaisa – If the Footprint guide comes out before we leave, I'll check it out.
I am in my last few days of my Colombia trip in Bogota right now. Don´t waste your money on the LP Colombia guide. It´s their worst product I´ve seen in over 20 years. Most info I got for my trip was via the thorntree and PMs from people here. I printed out everything and took it with me, discarding pages as I left the places they discussed. Suggest you do the same.
Hi Marysol,
I share your frustration - I work for a travel company (wildfrontiers.co.uk) and have been designing a series of trips for Colombia and found it very difficult to get decent information. If you get stuck and want help with your planning, there is a superb company based in medellin called colombia57 who can help you with your arrangements. Let me know if you would like their contact details. Incidentally, if anyone reading this has ever been to the Casanare region I would love to hear about it...
Nat
nat@wildfrontiers.co.uk
We spent two weeks in Colombia last summer. We hired a local university student to put together an itinerary for one week in Bogota based on our interests and serve as our tour guide and we had a great time. I would be happy to share it with you. In Medellin we again hired a local to be our tour guide and show us around the area. Contact me directly at gbeckler@comcast.net if you would like a copy of our travel itinerary.
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