Bucaramanga, Colombia

sbf says on Aug 3, 2009, 09:32:

SCT-"Safe Colombian Tours"
Inexpensive English speaking guides and interpeters starting from 3 usd per hour (groups can share the cost, i.e. a group a 4 people will pay less than one dollar per traveler!!!!!!!!)
We can find you the cheaper option available in road and air tickets (clearing out the always present tentation of overpricing goods and services to foregin looking visitors) only paying a very small fee
Low Cost Travel Agency but with a very warm an personal touch.
contact: cafemaya at telefonica.net

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pjerick says on Aug 15, 2009, 11:55:

Everybody´s experience is different.
When I visit Colombia, I am visiting [my wife´s] family. We stay at their place and have managed to cram up to 11 people into a 3 bedroom Condo. Oddly enough, we´re able to do it without too much drama.
As far as places to go:
For computing needs, there´s a huge complex of computer stores on Calle 33. I wanted to upgrade my Cuinada´s computer memory, and while looking for it in the local Exito (MegaWalmart equivalent), we were told to look for a store called CompuMax on Calle 33. So, with that information we hopped into a taxi the next day and gave the driver the vague directions... Of course, like any good Taxi Driver, he knew exactly where to go with no problem, but we discovered once we got to this huge computer mega-plex, kind of like UniLargo in Bogota, it was hard to locate any store in particular, and chose the first one that had the product we were looking for.
For touristy venues, we visited Chicamocha National park: http://www.parquenacionaldelchicamocha.com/
Being nearly 50, I´ve lost my taste for extreme sports, but the park does offer a stunning panorama that ¨out does¨ the California Sierra Mountains for sheer size. Seeing this topography, one can understand why it´s an 8 hour bus ride from Bogota to Bucaramanga. The park has a suspended cable car system that is simply amazing, so you can see the Canyon without any inconvenience and enjoy the experience.
While at the park there are a number or restaurants, tourist shops, and things for people to do: ice skating on a teflon rink, ¨extreme cable flying¨ with three different levels: kiddy, intermidiate and ¨you gotta be "#$% crazy¨. Go to YouTube... there´s bound to be something posted there. For smaller kids, there´s a goat petting zoo, and an area where you can feed ostriches , and another area for petting goats. Oh, and PLENTY of walking. Be prepared.
As for food... most of our family is from Bogota, so for a change of pace, we chose a Santaderian restaurant on the way back from the park on the Hwy to Bucaramamga: the Bonanza... Bonanza as in Hoss & Little Joe, Bonanza. It´s a huge two story Tiki hut with a thatched roof.
To feed our brood, we ordered 4 entré´s and one Santanderian family plate. The food was different from Bogota fare, and beyond all expectations. To drink we bought two pitchers of Tangarine type lemonade... there wasn´t a bite left when we departed... and nothing to take home with us either. The whole dinner tab was about $60.00 USD, which may change of course depending upon exchange rates.

Well, there you go. That´s been my experience so far.

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pjerick says on Aug 25, 2009, 03:27:

What more to do in Bucaramanga?

Yes, there is the Huge Centro Comercial around Carrerra 56... Shoes, shoes and more shoes! My niece and I were looking at a pair of Greatful Dead Converse shoes... and from one shop to the next the price changed from 120,000 pesos to 60,000. We didn´t buy ´em... but when we got back home, we searched the Converse website to find that the same shoes were on sale for $13.00. ¨Now how much would you pay?¨ So the bottom line is.... if you don´t know how to haggle like a Colombian, you need to know what you´re looking for and what a good price is before you head out there.

If you are not visiting a Comercial Center, ie a park or museum, the establishment will probably take a siesta from 12:00 - 2:00pm. Don´t be surprised.

There is a side trip to Giron and it´s a simple bus ride down the major road, so fare is cheap. I don´t know why we got off the bus as soon as we entered the town, which meant that we had to hump our way through Giron to get to the old part of town. Be patient, or be smart and ask somebody. But we caught the same bus from the heart of Old Town back to Bucaramanga, and I was surprised at the distance we had made ourselves walk.

I think Giron was a town that was frequented by General Santander... or maybe his horse slept here one night... I´m not completely clear. Very quaint, whitewashed adobe buildings and cobble stone streets. Sidewalks are irregular, more so than in metropolitan areas: often tall and narrow. The central plaza offers the regular set of food vendors etc... and there are several cafeterias for a sit down lunch. There is a collective of artesan shops... and of course, the Catholic Church. The church is beautiful, and unless you´re there during mass, it offers a peaceful, cool place to sit and rest for a minute.

In Bucaramanga, there is the park of biodiversity?? Or something like that. The cost is minimal, and it is a pleasant walk through lush greenery. This is not like a zoo... there are no caged animals, but there is life all around. As we entered the zoo, we observed a sloth hanging in a bamboo grove, and throughout the park there are tortuses and turtles. I am sure there was much more that we missed... but you have to have an eye to see what´s around you.

In the center of Bucaramanga, there is the house of Simon Bolivar. Well, he lived here for 2 months. It´s around Calle 37... They have convereted the home into a museum with several artifacts of precolombian [Guanes] pottery, textiles and some mummies. There is a display of the skulls and cranial body modification employed by the Guanes. Intereresting. Also included is some politial stuff & Junk... like the medalions presented to Colombia by visiting presidents... (or that´s how my wife described them to me.)

Across from the house of Simon Bolivar, is the Cultural Center, and another place of interest would be the library or the archives of Santander...

[my tantrum]
Of course, we didn´t get to visit either of these places that because traveling with a horde of people ranging from ages 6 to 73... we can´t manage to leave home before 11:00am. Oh, and included into travel time, you have to include time to bicker and argue on the sidewalk as to the most economical means of transportation, whether it would be cheaper to cram all 9 of us into two taxis or to pay bus fare for each of us.
Generally we arrive to our destination just in time for siesta... which means we have to wait for an hour or two. So, how do we spend our time? Browsing a gift shop! Of course... so once siesta´s over... we can´t go yet ´cause grandma´s hungry... We have to stop and eat. So finally we get to our destination where we might spare 30 minutes to visit before we have to leave to find a bathroom. But because you can´t find a public bathroom, you have to buy a cup of coffee [Tinto] to access a restaurant´s restroom... and since one person has to buy a cup of coffee, everybody needs to have a coffee or a soda and of course a buñuelo or pandeyucca.
Who sets the pace? The Suegra of course! At 70 some odd years old, she can set a blistering pace up impossible hills leaving everybody in her dust... when she wants to... but if she doesn´t ¨feel it¨ she will walk at the pace of a funeral dirge, and stop at every shop to point out something that is ¨So precious... how devine... oh, look at that. How beautiful.¨
I´m dead in the water. I had hoped that somewhere along the way, I would be able to swing by a bike shop to pick up some pieces parts to the kids´ bikes that have been languishing in the driveway with several flat tires and a broken pedal, begging for attention. And it´s not like I had kept that secret. I asked my cuiñada to select a bike shop from the yellow pages that was closest to our destination. But once we get there... ¨oh, no. it´s too far out of our way, and besides, it´s probably closed by now... you should have done that this morning before we had all the family along.¨

Well, today we plan to visit the Parque del Agua... Somewhere her in Brr... My expectations aren´t too high... I don´t expect to get there before noon... and... ¨Whatever!¨

Cheers!

Peter.

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pjerick says on Aug 27, 2009, 04:52:

Revisiting my tantrum...
As it turns out, on that particular day my wife was spooked by an old lady who ¨cursed her¨ by wishing aloud to her that someone would ¨steal everything she had.¨ No, it wasn´t a direct threat, but it was enough to raise my wife´s radar. That´s why we ducked into the EXITO and didn´t go any further till it was past time to go home.

Now I know the rest of the story.

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