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Cúcuta, Colombia

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70 km from Pamplona, Cucuta is a busy and modern city, not particularly interesting, but you might pass here on your way to or from Venezuela. It's hot (29 degrees C). There's a bridge between Colombia and Venezuela south of the city.

Population: 520,000 Elevation: 210 meters. Average temperature: 27 degrees Celcius. | Editing history.

Getting around & transportation:

Warning: the bus station has many thieves and pickpockets that try all sorts of tricks - pay the driver directly, and don't let your bags out of sight.

Note that there is a 1 hour time difference between Colombia and Venezuela.

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pjerick says on Aug 25, 2009, 02:00:

Written 8-2009

We planned to visit Cucuta while we were in Colombia this time... but things just didn´t work out.
Uncle Elutario lives in Cucuta and had strongly discouraged my wife from traveling by bus from Bucaramanga to Cucuta explaining that it wouldn´t be entirely safe for her gringo husband. He claims that there is a lot of anti-gringo sentiment in the city due to the US military agreement to use Colombian air bases.

While visiting Uncle Thomas in Bucaramanga she was warned that there are a lot of profiteers on the highway between the town Pamplona and Cucuta. Often times, he claims, the bus driver is in on a scheme to shake down passengers and abduct likely kidnap victims.

So... Like I said. I wasn´t able to write a review of Cucuta. Not that I´m scared. As far as I´m concerned... ¨you can´t get blood from a turnip.¨ I don´t feel I have anything to worry about. But it´s my wife´s peace of mind. that concerns me.

Thoughts of flying to Cucuta were bandied about; however, now that we were in colombia, our travel plans also had to include the extended family, which makes flying cost prohibitive. Had we included these flight plans into our initial vacation plans... we would have been that much farther ahead.

Cheers!

Peter.

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