Colombia is beautiful, I really enjoyed my time there. Good place and time to be single too haha ahh those were the days. Do you live there?
Warriorrrrrssssss come out to playyyyyyyyâŚ
ArrrrrcherrrrrrâŚ
Especially that, if you go you have to go alone without a woman or you will have problems 
⌠I am from Colombia brother, but I live in Europe, I try to go every year when the economy allows it.
As a friend of mine would say
âYou donât bring sand to a beach, do ya?â
Iâd like to visit Colombia. My fathers entire side of the family is from Bogota, Cali and Cartagena. We couldnât visit when we were younger, there were some high ranking military members in the family and we were targets for FARC back then. Things are changing now though. Sadly pops passed in 2007, but Iâd still like to visitâŚ
Yes brother, those times were very sad and hard, now it is very different, everything has changed a lot for the better, tourism has gained importance, people are tired of violence, they were many years, there is still common crime, robberies and so on, but I guess that is a little more ânormalâ and with a little common sense is easy to avoid it.
Robberies and petty thefts I can deal with, spent a lot of time in Honduras and Mexico. Kidnappings for ransom are a wee bit different.
Even the last time my pops visited, I recall a story of how a little kid reached thru the car window and snatched a necklace from my dad. His moral of the story was âlose the necklace, or lose the car, if you gave chase, the kid probably had a friend nearby ready to steal your carâ.
But he also told many stories of trips to the jungle or beaches, and well, lets be honest, Colombian women are some of the sexiest ladies in South America 
My uncle was a high ranking General in the Army, and he died of suspicious circumstances in the late 80âs / early 90âs when the president wanted to negotiate with FARC and allow them safe passage thru the streets in exchange for stopping the kidnappings (My uncle vehemently opposed the idea). Very healthy man who suddenly had a heart attack. Timing was too suspiciousâŚ
But the Colombia of today IS much better. Common sense usually avoids crimes of opportunity, so use your head a little and generally youâre gonna be safe there. Doesnât hurt that I have family there to show me around either, and that I wonât be a total tourist
I donât wear jewelry, other than a wedding band. And I donât wear that when I travel. If youâre not showing it off they arenât going to want it. They can have my wallet with 65 cents in Canadian Tire money.
My wedding band is tattooed on. Not going to steal my finger, I hope. 
Religious medallion, nothing fancy or expensive, fairly common jewelry among the catholics there. And he was born / raised there, moved to the US in his late 20âsâŚ
Definitely agree with donât show what ya donât want stolen. Problem for me is most of my travel is for diving, and I bring crazy camera rigs and a decent laptop to process it all (spherical video), one large bag is literally tech gear including tons of micro sd cards, a few external drives (spherical video takes up TONS of space), and lets not forget my scuba kit / dive computer. They are top-dollar, not because I wanna show off but because I value my life and buy good gear. In Utila, HN, petty theft is a way of life for some, and things like action cams, dive watches, phones and bluetooth speakers are common, easily fenced on the mainland, and have good value. Even parts of your kit like your dive computer / regulator cost a LOT of money (compared to the avg salary there, my $1400 dive computer is like a few months living). And its just a wristwatch, so easily pocketed. You canât even take a nap in the mid afternoon with your door unlocked 
I am no stranger to seeing lots of people lose things to petty theft Made me so paranoid on the island that my first house had a front door lock, bedroom lock, AND a locked closet in the bedroom, where I kept my shit. Second house was more sturdy, lol, and deadbolt front door and bars on the windows. Total deathtrap in the event of a fire, but nobody was getting inside⌠Sad that I had to think like that, but STILL loved my time on that magical little islandâŚ
Ya, Iâm just saying if you wear jewelry youâre a target.
I get the dive gear thing (been to Roatan), if you need it you need it. A little tougher to grab dive gear and run off like you can with jewelry. Laptop or camera is a different story. My wife once bought me this beautiful camera bag for a trip. I told her I wasnât putting that target on us. I carried my camera in a beat up old backpack that looked 2 years past garbage time.
My friend had his safe TORCHED in Costa Rica. The figured someone at the hotel was in cahoots with the guys doing steelwork on a building down the road (kinda jungle area). They were the only ones likely to have the oxy acetelene torches to do this.
Thats some crazy shit.
Iâd love to leave the laptop at home, but I have learned, if I donât review footage daily, and thereâs a problem on day 1, it carries thru and I have shit to work with at home. Just 1 wrong setting between 9 cameras (they all need to be identical), and its worthless. Rather find that out on night 1, and correct for day 2 than record it wrong for 7 days and lose it all. Paying for the baggage hurts, when 1 bag is scuba kit, 1 bag is tech, and you still need 1 bag for everything else despite using carryon allowances and your personal item allowance.
My only other negative is I have a large scuba-pro bag for my gear, and its REALLY nice stuff, but I put bright pink duct tape over all the logos. 1. helps me spot it on the luggage carousel, and 2. at least sorta hides whats inside. 3. makes it look a bit more beat up 
lol
