Colombia safety and security stories and advice. Good advice can make your visit more enjoyable.

Bogotá: Cost of Living

How much does it cost to live in Bogotá? It’s a key question for anyone shifting to Colombian capital, whether a digital nomads seeking a new hangout, a retiree wanting to stretch out the pensions, or anyone looking for a new start in life in South America. Here I’ve compiled data from March, 2024. And looking back over 10 years, yes there’s been changes, but the overall picture remains the same: Bogotá is an affordable and stable city to put down roots.

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Homicides in Colombia: 2024 update

My round-up of homicide data and trends for Colombia, based on recent official data (2023) and news reports and analysis. I’ll be posting a parallel blog Is Bogotá Safe? 2024 and you can also see my2023 post on safety and security trends in Bogotá here. Posted March 2024. Contact me on colombiacorners@gmail.com Other related posts on security on Colombia Corners are: Colombia’s Cocaine Conflicts – report of recent travel to coca growing villages in Nariño.Is Colombia Safe? – some security

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Is Bogotá safe? 2023

“I’m visiting Latin America. Is Bogotá safe?”: the question pops up regularly on social media. Colombia’s capital is a mega-city of nine million people and spread over 1,600 kilometres squared (600 square miles) with extremes of poor and rich. Parts of the city are very dangerous, others much less. According to recent data, Bogotá is safer than most other cities in Colombia (including Medellín) – but is still a large gritty city with plenty of crime. Your safety also depends

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Burundanga – it’s bad and it’s back

In Colombia you’ll hear about scopolamine, AKA burundanga , “Devil’s Breath” or “borrachero”. And perhaps you think these druggings only happen to sex tourists. But anyone can fall victim, including local people, seasoned travellers and expats settled in Colombia. You can be ‘scoped’ in a park, in a café, in the street, or on a bus, or even during a Spanish lesson. On the other had around 5 million tourists and visitors come to Colombia every year, and only a

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On the road in Colombia

Colombia is a big country where major cities are one to two day’s drive apart, there are three mountain chains and a lot of jungle to deal with, and plenty of other natural (and man-made) obstacles along the way. The country has justification to blame its poor transport development on its unforgiving geography. The severe La Niña floods that ravaged the country in 2011, for example, took out hundreds of bridges and long sections of main roads.  In recent years Colombia has

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