Bad business in Bogotá

Bogotá – the return

THIS POST WAS EMBARGOED UNTIL WE GOT BACK TO THE UK BECAUSE WE HADN'T TOLD OUR PARENTS ANY OF THE FOLLOWING!

Well, the last day in Colombia was probably the most eventful day we’ve had, and not in a good way. We arrived in Bogotá quite early having taken the first flight out of Medellin that morning and we had a flight that evening to Rio de Janeiro, so we had 12 hours to kill in Bogotá. We wanted to go up to Monserrate, which is a famous church that sits high up on a hill overlooking the city. After that we had planned to do a free food tour. We left our big luggage in storage at the airport and we each had a small rucksack to carry round with us for the day. An easy bus ride into the city and we started strolling up the hill in search of the funicular which would take us to the church. We had been warned by a couple of Colombian friends not to walk up the hill to the church – there is a hiking route – but it’s apparently quite sketchy, and renowned for muggings, so it was the funicular for us.

We were walking past a busy university when we heard a voice call ‘Monserrate’ from a side road. There was also a large sign saying ‘Ferrovia’ pointing up the side road, which we took to mean ‘railway’. Bearing in mind there was no other signage anywhere directing us to the funicular, we walked up the road and asked in a shop where the funicular was. The lady directed us back down the road from where we had just walked, so we turned back and that’s when 2 guys marched over to us with knives in their hands.

I was lunged at by one guy who started to cut one of the straps of my rucksack. I immediately started yelling my lungs out and didn’t stop, while he tried to tell me to calm down (as if), waving the knife in my face, and managing to put his finger in my mouth which I chomped down on. Baby D's attacker had run off so he came over to me, thrusting his bag at my attacker so that I would be left alone. He grabbed Baby D’s bag, pulling things out as he ran when I started screaming 'police', but when we realised our passports and credit cards were in there, we started yelling at him and chasing him up the road. He must have got spooked by this because he dropped the bag and disappeared.

There were maybe 50 people watching this without helping, including 4 or 5 security guards with huge dogs, and every shop on the street had pulled their shutters down and closed up. We ran up to the bag to retrieve what we could and to see what had been taken.  We were lucky, they got our camera, ipod and an old phone of mine that Baby D was using. Nothing of any great value in the end; the camera was 5 years old and we hadn’t used it much in our travels as it was quite bulky and we didn’t like carrying it when we were out (in case we got mugged!) The ipod was the thing I was most annoyed about – I have had it for years, and it had a huge amount of music on it (it was a 160gB classic). Even with that though, I had backed up most of it onto a USB in my bag. The phone was old and water damaged, and it was ready to die on us. 

We went straight to the police station to report it and were kept chatting for around an hour and a half, yet they didn’t take a statement, telling us we had to formally report it at the airport police station. They gave Baby D a police cap though (even though it was my stuff that was robbed).

New cap!

We left there and headed for the nearest bar, still quite shaken up. After necking a few beers we decided that the food tour would still be a good idea, as it would take our minds off what had just happened to us. This tour was also the same company as the walking tour we had done in Bogotá at the very start of our Colombia journey, and who had told tourists that visiting Monteserrate was safe and the best time to go was at dusk to watch the lights coming on over the city! We went at 11am and look what happened to us!

So, we went on the food tour and yes, we told the guide and our fellow tourists about our experiences so that they weren't caught out if they decided to go up to the church. The tour was pretty good; we tried a variety of local dishes, such as hot chocolate and cheese (not a great combo), arepas, which are these heavy, round savoury cakes made with corn, wafers with jam, Nutella, cream, or nuts or a combination, and some local bread and soup. We finished at a café for some local coffee, or in our case, coffee cocktails including a mojito and a martini (the spirit they used was something like sambuca – not great). 

Chicken soup

While Baby D was chatting away to the other tourists I checked my phone to see if our flight to Rio was on time. The airline, Avianca, had been on strike so we were worried our flight would be cancelled or delayed. No information available. I double and triple checked the booking reference and the time, and then happened to look at the date. We had missed the flight by 24 hours. How’s your flaming luck eh?? Worst day so far.

Off to the airport we went to try and salvage something from this sorry mess. Checking online I saw that we were probably going to get stung for at least another £1000 for new flights, which would take 18 hours, with 2 connections. We couldn’t not go to Brazil; we’d already booked all our onward flights due to the costs in South America, and the flight to Rio was easily the most expensive one we’d booked. 

When we reached the Avianca customer service desk, we were asked why we had missed our flights and exhausted by now, we told the truth and said we’d mixed our dates up. Fully expecting to fork out for a new flight, we were amazed to hear ‘let me speak to my supervisor about getting you on the next direct flight’. And we were on! For free! We had a 6 hour wait at the airport because the flight was delayed but we didn’t care! It just meant more time to skip and dance, astounded at our change in fortune. Worst day, best day.

In the end, we were unable to file a crime report about our attack – the police officer at the airport who dealt with reports was off duty, and we were told to use the online system instead. Once we’d got to Rio we sat for almost 2 hours trying to complete the form (which is only in Spanish even though this type of crime happens mainly to tourists). We couldn’t do it, although I managed to translate it, because it wouldn’t accept my details, such as passport or address. It seems that unless you’re Colombian, you’re screwed. Our insurance wouldn’t have covered us for much, and the items we had stolen were probably worth less than £200 so it wasn’t worth pursuing, although I did email the British Embassy in Bogotá 3 times and finally received an utterly unhelpful response.

I wouldn’t want to put anyone off going to Colombia – things are nowhere near as bad as they once were, but the corruption and the ineffectual police remain. People are guarded and this comes across as them having a bit of an attitude problem, until you manage to have a chat with them, then they are lovely and warm. People are scared as well – crime is still so rife, and people don’t want to get caught up in it, hence the reason for no one assisting us when we were in trouble. Once the muggers had scarpered, a number of Colombians came up to us to apologise and to check we were okay, and this said to me that they were frightened. They have this saying in Colombia, which is – don’t give them papaya. It means don’t give thieves the opportunity. I have been told that we were stupid to go to Colombia, stupid to follow a sign that said ‘railway’, stupid to carry our rucksacks, stupid to even consider going to Montserrate. We are tourists, doing touristy things like visiting Tripadvisor’s number one thing to do in Bogotá! Really stupid eh?! I would maybe go back to Colombia; I am not sure I would hurry back to Bogotá, but that’s because we’ve been and it’s not the prettiest of cities. 

This type of thing could happen ANYWHERE, and it’s the risk you run. We are not going to stop living our lives just in case something bad happens. Colombia still needs to sort out this insidious corruption problem, the police need to start giving a shit, and if there is a known problem in a particular area, it needs to be sorted out. Hiding the problem won’t make it go away, and this ‘papaya’ victim blaming culture is bullshit too. Blame the little rats that are getting away with it, blame the police for sitting on their hands when they know it’s happening, blame the government for doing nothing and lying about the crime figures because it’s almost impossible to file a crime report, but stop victim blaming unless you want people to stop visiting.

Adios Colombia, a shitty way to end a fun and interesting trip.