No Fox I'm not spanish, Italian,German, English. Born in a small beach town near Atlantic City. Kinda like that town in the movie Jaws.It was a cool place to grow up. I just realized a few years ago it wasn't for me anymore. too much work, too expensive, and the truth is I didn't like the way the peope behaved anymore, Everyones stressed out. I took a trip to Colombia in 2004 and fell in love with the place.Came back, sold my things a moved to there.
It is a beautiful country, look up some photos on the internet.Cartegena, Barranquilla, Cali, Medellin,are all beautiful cities .Medellin and Bogota are very modern cities. In between the cities are mountians and forests and lakes that are just beautiful also. Everywhere I've been i've been treated with respect and kindness. Even the police are great, you don't bother them. they dont bother you. Its a low stress culture with very peaceable people.
You just gotta blend in, My fear is too many loud mouth gringos going there and treating it like is spring break,acting like jerks, then the opinions of foreigners will change.
As far as driving there, No. I dont recommend it. Ive only known one guy who did it and that was on a motorcycle, alone.
You need to drive through all of mexico, guatamala,el salvador honduras a little,nicaruaga, costa rica and panama. Theyre not all straight roads and you dont what you'll encounter. You can get lost easily, or robbed.
In Colombia understand there is alot of space between the cities, very rural. And in these mountains is where the FARC and the paramilitarys live. These are guerrillas, counter government armies, who have a very strong military and are anti U.S. because the U.S. gives billions in aid to Colombia to combat drugs, which is FARC's source of income. The chances of you encountering them are not likely, but possible. Understand the cities are peaceful enough but you never know what you might run into in the mountians, even passenger buses are very wary.I was in a bus going from Medellin to Bogota and the driver waited for like 2 hours for the sun to come up rather than drive through a certain stretch at dark,Also the chance of encountering some starving desperate guy or group is possible. Its alot like the old west outside the cities. So everybody needs to be careful where they drive.The city folk always fly or take busses in between citys. Stuff does happen so why take the chance.
Besides you can fly for like 500.00, rent a brand new car for like 20 a day, or just take taxis everywhere, they're very cheap and are abundant. imagine how you'll feel after like what 40 or 50 or 60 hours of driving? youll need a week to recuperate.
Ok if any of you read this dont tell anyone Colombia is a nice place, keep it our secret.