Safety on the Streets of Bogota

I'm on the Streets of Bogota and I give a little advice on personal safety, how not to get mugged and how to stay out of trouble.

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People & Blogs

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• FlipShare
• HD
• Gabe
• Colorado
• Gabe in the city
• Lee
• Colombia
• Safety
• Bogota
• Streets
• Defense
• self defense
• Flip
• Mino

[calipdis2]

I wouldnt recommend you to use ipods in the street, someone could come from behind with a knife and tell you give me everything, with ipods you are more unsafe

[GabeInTheCity]

That was a good observation, It really isn't that unsafe in downtown. during the day listening to your iPod walking the streets is generally OK. I think being white is the biggest issue, we are already such big targets without our iPods and video cameras.

[elchino37]

Bogotá is safer than DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other US cities. It is safer than Rio de Janeiro, a city full of tourists. Colombia has gotten its reputation because of the media, but looking at the murder rate per capita it is much lower than Brazil's or Mexico's.

[GabeInTheCity]

Yea, people think Bogotá is some wild countryside that is ruled by drug dealers and that it is super dangerous. I agree with you, it is just another big city and if you look at the numbers it is not anymore dangerous than many other cities. I woudl rather be in Bogotá than Rio for that reason.

[aeromaximon]

Bogotá is a relatively safe city, but it's still wise to take precautions. That's all he's saying.

[aeromaximon]

@MrSimonsaze Whenever my friends and I went out in Bogotá, we always dressed normal most of the time; nothing fancy, nothing flashy, except for that time we went clubbing near Calle 53

As our Spanish tutor told us before we left, don't do anything in Colombia that you wouldn't do in your own country (Barbados in my case).

[aeromaximon]

One thing I observed while I was in Bogotá is this: crossing the road can be dangerous because unless they're at a red light, motorists don't stop or even slow down to let pedestrians across, not even at a crossing. You have to wait for a fairly long break in traffic and cross quickly. I remember there were times when my friends and I literally had to run just to get across the street before the cars came down because the drivers wouldn't slow down for us. Talk about chaos!

[aeromaximon]

I was in Bogotá back in 2009 with a group of friends from university. What an amazing city it is! It felt like a second home for me, despite the chilly temperatures.

[friki092]

A lot of the comments here make me feel ashamed of being colombian

You're hating too much on this guy; he basically said "Be careful with your things when you're in the street" and that's a very good advice for foreigners who come here

[jasontrail]

what a douche, making a video for saying such bullshit ? dude, if you think Bogota is like Vietnam then go the fuck away. xD

[llamingo]

@vlaquy and you are fucking inferior, and you know it

[ebernall]

As I bogotano myself I can tell you a couple of things from this video:Let's see, foreign looking, fancy sunglasses, backpack and to make matters worse an Ipod or whatever it is and you stand out like sore thumb. When in Bogota, you might want to blend a little better by perhaps dressing down a bit and PLEASE,leave all your fancy items at home.You seem like an easy target. However, I liked the way you were wary of your surroundings by constantly looking around as you were doing this video.

[MrSimonsaze]

I got mugged day 2 in Bogota. Lesson learned, now I know the place, I m more careful, and really feel comfortable in Bogota. Also got mugged in Liverpool ten years ago..that was worse.. just be aware of your surroundings.