10 useful things (or not) to know before travelling to Colombia

In this article we talk about the 10 useful pieces of information to know before leaving for Colombia.
Useful or not? That remains to be seen! But some of them can really prepare you for your trip to Colombia!

Colombia is going to amaze you, you are going to fall in love with it, we are sure of it! But Colombia is also going to surprise you!

So here is a slightly different article, where we give you information to take more or less lightly… a few details are good to know, others we would have preferred not to think about and some really important to take into account before considering visiting this wonderful country that is Colombia.

Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.

Contents

1. Throw your toilet paper in the garbage can

2. You’ll taste the pleasure of a cold shower

3. People will say “mi amor” to you in the street

4. You will learn the 100 ways to greet someone

5. You’ll have a heart attack on the bus

6. You’ll drink a “tinto”

7. Drop your stereotypes before you go

8. You can taste the arepas

9. Prepare for all climates before you leave

10. You’ll rethink your look before you leave

11. You’ll travel “responsibly”

Related posts

• Preparing your trip
• Itinerary advice

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Throw your toilet paper in the garbage can

Oops! I did it again… Useful information or not?

Here we go starting by stepping right into it (sorry for the analogy…): this is probably one of the things that will surprise you the most when you arrive in Colombia, and that from the moment you arrive at the airport if you need to go to the bathroom!

In Colombia, you don’t throw toilet paper in the toilet bowl! And you will find signs everywhere indicating it… In fact the sewer systems are not as efficient as in France and the pipes get clogged quickly. You will therefore find, next to the toilets, bins to throw the used toilet paper… You will be surprised to see that despite this habit there is no unpleasant smell in Colombian bathrooms! You will see that the used papers of your predecessors will be particularly well “folded”, so do the same!

This may surprise you at first, but you will have to get used to it and we imagine that you won’t want to have to go see the manager of your accommodation to report a little clogging problem after your visit to the bathroom… we spare you the details.

And above all now you can’t say you didn’t know!

You’ll taste the pleasure of a cold shower

DON’T WORRY, IT’S NOT EVERYWHERE EITHER..

You arrive at the shower of your hostel, towel on your shoulder, smile on your face at the idea of a moment of relaxation and bliss for a beautiful wake-up! You turn on the tap water, and you wait for the water to warm up… … … Don’t wait anymore!

Yes, in Colombia in most accommodations in “hot climate” regions there is no hot water for the shower. This can be explained by practical reasons, financial cost, lack of infrastructure, whatever you want… Don’t be surprised and take it as a travel experience! And apparently it’s very good for blood circulation!

Obviously, in cities like Bogotá or in mountain areas and cold regions, most accommodations offer hot showers.

Ah! And we almost forgot: don’t be surprised if when you go to wash yourself you don’t see actual shower heads. Sometimes the shower water will come out of a simple pipe coming from a hole made in the wall. It’s simple but effective! This is common in villages or small towns on the coast or in hot climate areas. Improvised system!

So? Useful information or not?

People will say “mi amor” to you in the street

AND NO, YOU WON’T BE HIT ON

Colombians are nice and naturally affectionate. It is very common to be called “mi amor”, “mi vida” (my love, my life) by sellers in shops, people offering services in the streets, servers in popular restaurants, etc., regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. Careful, gentlemen, this does not mean you are being hit on! Ladies, same thing. Even if it may be a bit different.

We could simply say that it’s just a way of speaking in Colombia, everyone gives each other little love names. It’s a way to create familiarity in the conversation and for shopkeepers to bring a sense of closeness with customers. And with tourists it works every time.

We can say that it’s a situation that can happen anywhere in Colombia but also that it’s a habit you will find more particularly on the Caribbean coast.

You will learn the 100 ways to greet someone

Or the 1000 ways?

Colombians like to greet and use and overuse expressions to do so. It will all depend on the time of day and the region where you travel. One thing is sure, it is one of the beauties of Colombia, a warmth in the way people greet each other, even between people who don’t know each other, which instantly creates a sense of closeness.

• Buenos días until noon
• Buenas tardes until 6 p.m.
• Buenas noches when night falls.
• Hola at any time, but often accompanied by the other formula “Hola, Buenas tardes.”

However it is rare that the greeting stops there! The greeting almost always comes with and sometimes replaces itself with a “Cómo estás?” (How are you) and then things get complicated because many other expressions are used:

• Qué más?
• Cómo vas?
• En qué andas?
• Quiubo? (contraction of “Qué hubo”)
• Cómo va todo?
• Y tú qué?
• Bien o qué?
• Bien o no?
• Qué me cuentas?
• Todo bien? etc. etc.

In Bogotá or in Pasto you won’t be surprised to be called “Veci”, short for “Vecino”, and in Boyacá people will call you “Sumerce”…

To greet between friends, it also goes all over the place: “Pariente” or “Camarita” in the Llanos, “Mano” in Santander, “Parce” in Medellín, “Primo”, “Vale”, “Llave”, or “Compa” on the Caribbean coast, “Pana” in Cali, etc. etc.

So if you want to act like “we’re locals”, you can try to use it to ask for information, a service in the street, or a small discount from the driver, etc. In any case, now you will know what it means if you ever hear it.

You’ll have a heart attack on the bus

BUT IN THE END IT ALWAYS GOES AWAY (or almost)

Fasten your seatbelt! (when there is)

Could it be that Colombian drivers are the worst drivers in the world? One might wonder. Are the roads in Colombia what make them drive like that? The mystery remains. In any case, to spare you a heart attack on public transport, we just wanted to tell you that everything is normal and everything is under control.

Basically there are no rules. People overtake in every possible way and the habit is that, car or not coming the other way, they overtake. You can then find yourself in a bus, on a dirt road, in the middle of the mountains, overtaking a truck on a blind curve, which itself is overtaking a horse-drawn cart, and of course with a car coming in the opposite direction… and it works, always!!! They are used to it.

You may have quite a few scares, but you eventually get used to it, and you end up dozing off with the jolts of the fuselage.

You’ll drink a “tinto”

COLOMBIA HAS THE BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD, YES, BUT….

In Colombia, coffee is not called coffee, you will have to get used to it, instead ask for a tinto!

There are 3 popular ways of drinking coffee in Colombia:

• Tinto: small black and light coffee, “americano” style… It is the most common coffee in Colombia, everyone drinks tinto!
• Perico or pintao: It is the tinto with a little bit of milk…
• Carajillo: It is the tinto to which a drop of aguardiente or rum is added, it is typical in cold climate villages or in the mountains and useful to warm up.

Colombian coffee is known and recognized as one of the best in the world, yet Colombians in families are used to drinking low-quality coffee (Sello Rojo, Aguila Roja, etc.) Why? Until recently, the best coffee produced in Colombia was 100% dedicated to export.

Many Colombians are used to drinking coffee very sweet, do not hesitate when ordering a coffee in villages or in the street to ask to be served without sugar if possible, because often it is even prepared in advance and sweetened by default.

This is beginning to change little by little.

It is absolutely possible to drink good coffee in Colombia, especially by visiting a coffee farm in the coffee region, around Medellín, or in the region of San Agustín, Minca, Pasto, or Barichara…

Also in cafés or specialty shops that are appearing more and more in big cities where a “coffee culture” is beginning to develop and change consumption habits. Another option is to go to the “Juan Valdez” shops, with a concept similar to Starbucks, but Colombian-style and with only coffee from the Colombian producers’ cooperative.

Drop your stereotypes before you go

YA NO MÁS! Useful information (Very!)

If it makes you laugh to make jokes about Pablo Escobar, if Narcos is your favorite series, and if you always associate Colombia with cocaine trafficking: move on for God’s sake! Keep associating Colombia with cocaine trafficking and you will be seen as someone ignorant and offensive to Colombians.

Colombian families have suffered enough from violence to see foreigners praising drug trafficking. Today Medellín, for example, is one of the most modern cities on the planet and the time when Pablo Escobar ruled is long gone. Ya Basta!

And if for you Colombia is Ingrid Betancourt, the FARC, violence and war, same thing, change your mindset! If the situation is far from resolved, for several years now an effort has been made to secure the country more and more, and the 2016 peace agreements accelerated the process.

It is of course appropriate to take the usual precautions while traveling, but don’t worry too much and go with peace of mind! It is safe to travel in Colombia and no, you are not at risk of being kidnapped on every street corner.

You can taste the arepas

AND NO, YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE.

Arepa is one of the typical dishes of Colombia and you won’t escape it, because it is a national treasure! To put it simply, the arepa is a corn cake. Each region has its own arepa, sometimes made with different varieties of corn; during your trip you will therefore have the opportunity to taste many kinds of arepas depending on the places you visit.

There are for example:

• Arepa paisa: salty, made with white corn flour, typical of Medellín and the coffee region, served like bread because you need to add something on top otherwise it is very bland
• Arepa de chócolo: sweet and salty, eaten in the interior of the country, a bit like a crepe mixing sweet corn, corn flour, milk, butter, sugar, etc., eaten alone or with cheese on top
• Arepa boyacense: sweet and salty, made with corn and wheat flour, sweet and filled with cheese, eaten alone or with a hot drink
• Arepa de maíz pelao: sweet, with sweet corn cooked in water with ash to peel it, eaten alone or accompanied
• Arepa santanderiana: sweet and salty, made with peeled sweet corn and mixed with pork rind, eaten alone or accompanied
• Arepa de huevo: salty, fried with an egg inside, typical of the Caribbean coast, eaten alone

And there are many others!

In any case, don’t hesitate to taste them and compare the varieties. You can eat it plain or with a bit of butter for breakfast, you can find it as a side dish for a meal, a bit like bread, and you can also enjoy it “rellena”, that is to say filled with various things, meat, chicken, shrimp, etc., at that moment it is a “dish” to eat on the go, like a sandwich, when you’re in a hurry or looking to eat cheaply.

It is simply impossible to miss the arepa in Colombia, don’t hesitate to taste them and decide which one is your favorite! Each seller has their own way of making it, it’s up to you to find the best cook!

We could also have talked about the empanada… same thing as for the arepas!

Prepare for all climates before you leave

THERE’S NO MORE SEASON MY GOOD LADY! Here’s some useful information.

Starting from the idea that Colombia includes almost all the possible landscapes you can find in Latin America, this is also the case for climates! Colombia is located almost on the equator of the planet, but has no less than 10 different climates: equatorial, tropical, semi-arid, desert, mountain paramo…

Read our post about the weather in Colombia.

Expect to be cold in Bogotá, and very hot on the Caribbean coast, expect lots of rain and heat on the Pacific coast and in the Amazon, more temperate temperatures in Medellín and in the coffee zone… If you go to high mountains, cold and rain will inevitably be there at some point, and temperatures at the summit (+5000 m) can drop below zero.

You will have understood, Colombia is going to have quite a few surprises for you, so be prepared and your suitcase will have to adapt to all climates! And take the opportunity to read our article “When to go to Colombia “.

You’ll rethink your look before you leave

WELL… I’M GOING TO PACK AGAIN..

This message is mainly addressed to you, the man who’s going to Colombia (but your wife may also be concerned… it happens): do you have the ambition to melt into Colombian culture, try to make as much contact as possible with the local population, discover the ‘real’ life of the locals and make lots of Colombian friends? Then forget your shorts and Havaianas!

The shorts/tongues look, although very appropriate and pleasant to wear in many parts of Colombia, is THE best way for a Colombian to spot a tourist (well OK with the ‘hidden aspirin’ skin maybe…). It’s because Colombians don’t really wear shorts culturally. Even in the heat of the day, you’ll see some wearing pants and shoes. So if you want to go unnoticed, remember to pack a few pairs of pants – you’ll thank us!

PS: Hey pssssssss! (whispered) Whatever happens, you’ll look like a tourist, so do as you please.

You’ll travel “responsibly”

AND YOU WON’T BE YOUR USUAL STINGY SELF

Colombia is not the country most advanced in environmental protection, there is a lot of work to do with the population for a change in mentality and you will notice that there are many places where human pollution is present. Let that not stop us, as tourists, from traveling responsibly and preparing our trip to Colombia with awareness.

Traveling responsibly, what does that mean?

It can take various forms, it’s up to you to find the actions that will allow you to take part, here are some ideas:

• Favor local and virtuous agencies that have a responsible approach, work in favor of local communities, work to protect the environment, make it a point of honor to ensure fair pay for providers, etc.
• Get information about the activities you do, the places you visit, etc. be active in your discovery process so as not to encourage mass tourism that has a negative impact on populations, ecosystems or animals
• Do not feed wild animals and do not participate in activities that stage wild animals by feeding them.
• Favor bus trips rather than planes, even if it is sometimes complicated when traveling in Colombia because distances are long or destinations remote.
• Do not take part in activities playing on the image of the Narcos and Pablo Escobar, drug trafficking is an open wound for the Colombian population, it is a total lack of respect for the country you visit.
• Respect populations, traditions, territories… get information before acting: not everyone wants to be photographed in their daily life, a conversation with someone will stay in your memory, do not walk off the trails to take THE photo, this can damage fragile ecosystems but also be dangerous for you, etc.
• Do not bargain excessively, a responsible tourist is also a tourist who knows how to pay the fair price to allow artisans to make a decent living from their trade.
• Do not leave any trace behind you, it is basic. Your stay must have a neutral impact on ecosystems, so leave with your waste. Use biodegradable products (soaps, shampoo, etc.) and above all find a sunscreen that is respectful of the sea beds and coral. Chemical sunscreens are an atrocity for our oceans.