Bajamatic
Senior Nomad
Posts: 571
Registered: 8-31-2006
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US travel alert
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081014/wl_afp/mexicocrimeusale...
yuletide
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tjBill
Senior Nomad
Posts: 516
Registered: 10-6-2007
Location: Tijuana
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You should read the travel alert to Colombia. 
Even though I found Colombia to be one of the safest Latin American countries.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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It's Brutal Out There!
I just recently made 3 round trips from San Diego-Tijuana to Conception Bay.
I was petrified most of the way....
...or fried. I forget.
Will be making another run for the border early November. Please advise which passes the banditos are attacking at now. Do they still wear those
huge sombreros and crossed bandeleros full of 44-40 ammo? Damn..wonder if I can make some kind of a trade for one of those..sigh.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Sunman
Nomad
Posts: 400
Registered: 6-22-2007
Location: Oxnard
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pompano
I just recently made 3 round trips from San Diego-Tijuana to Conception Bay.
I was petrified most of the way....
...or fried. I forget.
Will be making another run for the border early November. Please advise which passes the banditos are attacking at now. Do they still wear those
huge sombreros and crossed bandeleros full of 44-40 ammo? Damn..wonder if I can make some kind of a trade for one of those..sigh.
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Pompano, Careful, those banditos are everywhere!
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tjBill
You should read the travel alert to Colombia.
Even though I found Colombia to be one of the safest Latin American countries. |
In the past year, I've been to Colombia 4 times. I say its a pretty crazy place, but the police/military have a handle on most of the 'locura'.
On Jan 1st of this year, the family I was visiting with had a home invastion. The perportator had to be beaten with a baseball bat, punched, and his
left arm was almost taken off w/a machete. Since I'm an American, I was urged to stay out of sight or I'd be targeted.
Lots of shoplifting right before Christmas last year. Store owners running after thieves in broad daylight.
I saw a homeless man raise a chair to an aggressive dog, and within seconds an angry mob of 20+ men began attacking the homeless man. He had to run
for his life!
The restaurant inside of the hotel I was staying in was robbed on the first night I arrived. We had to corner the thief and detain him until he gave
all of the stolen items back. THis was in July.
I loved Colombia, but I watch who I become friends with (almost nobody), I watch my back, my pockets, and I'm ready to kick butt if I have to. I've
been working out since May.
All of my travels have been in Barranquilla - w/side trips to Santa Marta and Cartegena.
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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pompano
I just recently made 3 round trips from San Diego-Tijuana to Conception Bay.
I was petrified most of the way....
...or fried. I forget.
Will be making another run for the border early November. Please advise which passes the banditos are attacking at now. Do they still wear those
huge sombreros and crossed bandeleros full of 44-40 ammo? Damn..wonder if I can make some kind of a trade for one of those..sigh.
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Had I known things were so bad we should have stayed safe and under the bed in Montana!
Sure am glad we lived to get here!!!!
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bajasol
Junior Nomad
Posts: 61
Registered: 4-14-2006
Location: LAX.YVR.SJD
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Mood: Bajabulous
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"Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."
I think the US is trying to scare people into staying in the States and spend what they have left, in the states.
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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| Quote: | | Originally posted by bajasolI think the US is trying to scare people into staying in the States and spend what they have left, in the states.
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So, you see this as a Travel Conspiracy rather than a Travel Alert?
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tjBill
Senior Nomad
Posts: 516
Registered: 10-6-2007
Location: Tijuana
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I loved Colombia, but I watch who I become friends with (almost nobody), I watch my back, my pockets, and I'm ready to kick butt if I have to. I've
been working out since May.
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It is obvious you been friends with nobody in Colombia. Because most Colombians would find your comments offensive.
I have spent over three months in Bogota, including a month this summer. Have never had a problem and I've walked all over all the city alone. I know
lots of Colombians and they complain the horrible treatment their country gets by the international media. Furthermore, I met a group of backpackers
who agreed with me that Colombia is the safest country in South America.
You can check out various opinions online,
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/my-mom-needs-to-know-h...
This is relevant to Baja because it is receiving similiar treatment in the media.
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The Gull
Super Nomad
Posts: 2223
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rancho Descanso, BCN
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Mood: High
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tjBill
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I loved Colombia, but I watch who I become friends with (almost nobody), I watch my back, my pockets, and I'm ready to kick butt if I have to. I've
been working out since May.
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It is obvious you been friends with nobody in Colombia. Because most Colombians would find your comments offensive.
I have spent over three months in Bogota, including a month this summer. Have never had a problem and I've walked all over all the city alone. I know
lots of Colombians and they complain the horrible treatment their country gets by the international media. Furthermore, I met a group of backpackers
who agreed with me that Colombia is the safest country in South America.
You can check out various opinions online,
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/my-mom-needs-to-know-h...
This is relevant to Baja because it is receiving similiar treatment in the media. |
TJ Bill, you have this one pegged correctly.
BTW, your avatar. Is that the view from your house or from the fourth fairway at TJ golf course?
�I won\'t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.� William F. Buckley, Jr.
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tjBill
Senior Nomad
Posts: 516
Registered: 10-6-2007
Location: Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by The Gull
BTW, your avatar. Is that the view from your house or from the fourth fairway at TJ golf course? |
Its a view from the TJ golf course. My house does not have such a nice view. 
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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| Quote: | | Originally posted by tjBillIt is obvious you been friends with nobody in Colombia. Because most Colombians would find your comments
offensive. |
Everyone in that country has actually been worried about my well-being while I traveled in Colombia. I was told specifically not to make friends with
strangers. This was advice by local citizens of Barranquilla. I am on the phone to my gf there nightly. Last week, she told me about a riot that
took place near her home in Barrio del Bosque - near the minimum-security prison.
No disrespect meant. I have only spent 1/3rd the time in Colombia as you have, but in that amount of time, I have seen plenty. Granted, I'm not
spending much time in the more touristy locales. I've concentrated my time mainly in Barranquilla - the downtown of that city and the barrios south
of town in Soledad. That's where the real stuff goes down.
Bogota has been described to me as, "Encerrada" - the people are more cautious, and it is a safer place than the Atlantic department. I have only
changed planes in that city, and not explored. So, I cannot comment on their security situation at this time.
But, I've met plenty of good people in Colombia, and even they told me to be careful, that its' no place for an American. 
Barrio Los Cedros - Soledad, Atlantico.
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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Cool guys that worked the hotel. They were constantly tense, because the hotel I stayed at was in a sketchy part of town - near the downtown.
Andres & Oscar were the night crew at the hotel:
In the hotel's restaurant the first night I arrived into town, I witnessed a drugged-out zombie try to open the cash register with a screwdriver then,
steal cash from each of the women's purses as one waited tables, and the other cooked in the back. Pictured below, is Blanca - my cook for the entire
time I was in Barranquilla:
My gf Leidys and I in the Fedecafe section of Downtown Barranquilla. She tells me all kinds of bad stuff about her town. I asked her not to keep
reminding me, since ignorance sometimes actually is bliss.
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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The National Security Guard was recruiting, and I got to try on their uniform:
The young proprietor of the Internet Cafe adjacent to my hotel. Jesus Smith ran a tight operation, but in the end, the global downturn killed his
business (last month), and he is now out of work - not even 18 yrs. old.
...one last squeeze on my ex-gf Onelis. We broke up, and she was actually peeed that I was out and about with strangers. Yes, Puerto Peñasco and
Tijuana clothing in Colombia - I'm proudly ALL BAJA ALL THE TIME.
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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I know quite a few people in Tijuana. Here's the off-road crew just before my latest trip to Colombia. I'm wearing the David K "Got Baja?" baseball
cap in the very back:
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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Tell you the truth, my mother doesn't want me to go back to Colombia. Sure, the Uribe gov't has gained control back from the FARC, but the same week I was in Santa Marta, there was a young Austrailian woman (fashion model) kidnapped and held in a safe house until her family wired $33,000.00 cash
to get her out of the country. I subscribe to Google News alerts on Colombia, so I hear plenty.
Australian girl kidnapped in El Rodadero Santa Marta
I love Colombia, and I can't wait to go back. Just like I love Tijuana and I can't wait to go back. But, you just have to watch your back.
THe last time i was in Tijuana, I was at the ATM, and 2 guys dropped in on me suddenly, offering to "help me" with my ATM - since they assumed I don't
speak Spanish. I couldn't get my card back fast enough so I could kick their tails, but they slipped away before I could run after them.
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tjBill
Senior Nomad
Posts: 516
Registered: 10-6-2007
Location: Tijuana
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Nice pictures, Ken
Many Costenos from Barranquila come to Bogota for work due to the high unemployment on the coast.
Here's a humorous video clip about the media treatment about Colombia. This video could easily apply to Baja.
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=qgW8Y7F8DN8
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8947
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tjBill
Nice pictures, Ken
Many Costenos from Barranquila come to Bogota for work due to the high unemployment on the coast.
Here's a humorous video clip about the media treatment about Colombia. This video could easily apply to Baja.
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=qgW8Y7F8DN8 |
I saw the video and I loved it. Colombia is my favorite country I have ever visited...Baja is a close 2nd.
Here's a video for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkk-zKOmNDk
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