Colombia Expat and Travel Blog May Archive

Security at San Andres Airport

By Glen at 05/29/07 05:42

There is just one line to xray carry on bags. You have to wait till your flight is called. After security is immigration. Make sure your passport is "stamped" (they print on it).

Leaving San Andres

When you leave San Andres the Polica Nacional check out your bags before you get to the ticket counter. It's a quick and painless process.

There's only one international gate so that is usually pretty quick. However if you arrive when there are a couple domestic flights leaving for Bogota, Barranquilla and other desintations, the airport can be quite full of people.

San Andres Island Airport (ADZ)

Here's photo of the entrance to the San Andres Island Airport (ADZ). This photo was taken from the 2nd floor of the airport looking out.

You can see the various taxis (they don't have a special color or emblem on them). The airport is close to town and after you've visited a couple times you must end up a little crazy like me and walk to town!

Barranquilla Painter

I picked up this nice painting of coastal musical instruments. The painter is from Barranquilla and he made this one in a few days for me.

If I can dig up the receipt I'll add the name and address. But if you are in Barranquilla keep your eye out for paintings. They are inexpensive and you can roll them up and take them home easily.

May 25, 2007 Travel Alert from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá

This message from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá is for all U.S. citizens in or traveling to Colombia:

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has previously used the period surrounding significant FARC anniversary dates to conduct terrorist attacks. May 27, 2007, is the 43rd anniversary of the FAR's founding.

U.S. citizens in Colombia are strongly encouraged to exercise caution and to remain vigilant around this date. As always, U.S. citizens residing in Colombia should maintain emergency supplies including canned food, bottled water, and flashlights or candles.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs website at Travel.State.Gov, where current Worldwide Cautions, Public Announcements, Travel Warnings, and Consular Information Sheets can be found.

Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States or Canada, or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

The U.S. Embassy in Colombia is located at Avenida El Dorado and Carrera 50 in Bogotá; telephone (011-57-1) 315-0811 during business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), or 315-2109/2110 for emergencies during non-business hours.

The email address for the Embassy's American Citizen Services office is [404 Check: was link to mailto:ACSBogota@state. gov, anchor: ACSBogota@state.gov] . The U.S. Consular Agency in Barranquilla, which provides limited consular services, is located at Calle 77B, No. 57-141, Piso 5, Centro Empresarial Las Americas, Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia; telephone (011-57-5) 353-2001.

Buying Emeralds in Colombia

A friend of mine wants to buy a few emeralds during a recent trip to Colombia. We had an appointment with a friend of a relative that was supposed to be able to get us a good deal on a quality emerald.

The day before the appointment we checked out the Gold Museum in Bogota. My friend checked out the emeralds in some of the jewerly stores in the neighborhood. Later we sat in the park.

A man in clothes that were old and looked like they were in need of good washing approached my friend and showed him some "emeralds". My friend wasn't interested so the man pulled out another pack of emeralds. I think he had a pack or two of emeralds stuffed in each pocket.

Still not interesting my friend he grabbed a pack that contained a huge emerald, not as big as this one in the gold museeum but much larger than any we saw in the jewerly stores. We surmised it was made of plastic.

The man wouldn't as much as acknowledge my prescence. He finally left and we say him enter a blog by building and trade packets of emeralds with an associate. He returned to bother my friend a little more.

The only think we could figure out is that he saw my friend in the jewerly store looking at emeralds and took him for a good mark.

The following day we met the emerald dealer and went up stairs to a small office that had some stone cutting equipment in it. The elevator operator locked the front door of the building when people went up the elevator. We spent hours looking at hundreds of emeralds from $50 to $5000 or more.

Most were arranged in sets of various sizes and shapes. The men who showed them to us weren't typical salesmen. They dressed casually and there wasn't a hit of pressure. They could have used a little better scale. I think maybe the batteries were almost run down.

It was certainly a case of information overload and too many choices. If we weren't too interested in a set, one of the men would disappear for a while and return with more.

Each stone was examined through a maganifying glass and weighed. The weights always corresponded to what was written on the packets. The prices were always given in Colombian pesos and at the very end converted to dollars for payment.

After my friend chose the emeralds he wanted, he made an offer in dollars and we went to lunch while the salesmen went to get approval for the transaction. After lunch we had to wait a long time for the building to open and went back upstairs.

The offer was accepted (I guess it was too high). Now my friend was worried about whether we got a good deal and whether the stones were good. I assured him it was a much better deal then doing business with the man in the park.

On one of the domestic flights my friend put a few items in my suitcase including his emeralds. Fortunately he took them out at the last minute as much suitcase ended up in never never land (or somewhere other than on our flight)!

After he returned to the USA all he fears of paying too much or getting a low quality stone quickly vanished as he found a local jeweler would pay 2-3 times what he did!

American Airlines Loves Colombia

In December, 2007 American Airlines will add 14 round trip flights everyweek between Miami and Colombia.

They will add a 148 seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft daily flight to Barranquilla (BAQ) from Miami! This is excellent as other airlines such as Delta Airlines make it difficult to book flights online from outside the USA.

They will also add 3 weekly flights between Miami (MIA) and Medellin (MDE).

For flights between Miami (MIA) and Bogota (BOG) they currently have two nonstop flights everyday. 4 more will be added each week. That will make it easier to see the great sights of Bogota such as Monserrate shown here.

See the South Florida Business Journal

Field trip to Medellin

Field trip in Medellin; the entire middle school was to get on buses to go down and see a play in Medellin. Thank god I am not a teacher

Clinica Corpo perfeito Interview

Name of your website? (NOT url, http://etc)

Clinica Corpo perfeito

Your name?

Andre Silva

Your Location (city, etc)

Bogota - Colombia

When did you start your website and why?

November 2006

Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc

Represent the best in Plastic Surgery in Colombia, targeted to Patients from USA and Europe

What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?

design

What has been the easist past of operating your website?

Writing

What was your biggest mistake?

So far, no mistakes

Who maintains your website and why?

A colombian design company, they are really good

Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?

Yes, a lot

What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?

Nobody will live withouth internet in the future... It's the best service ever created by the man.

What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?

Yes a lot

What method has been most successful for promoting your website?

Web Search

What method has been least successful for promoting your website?

Flyers

What would you like to see change with respect to the internet?

So far looks good for me

What is your website address?

Clinica Corpo perfeito

About the Colombian Flag

Learn what the colors on the Colombian Flag mean.