{"id":7965,"date":"2015-03-13T03:27:40","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T03:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backpaco.com\/?p=7965"},"modified":"2019-10-09T11:50:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T11:50:44","slug":"cartagena-is-safe-except-for-cocaine-and-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backpaco.com\/columbia\/cartagena-is-safe-except-for-cocaine-and-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartagena is Safe Except For Cocaine and Police"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cartagena is one of the most visited cities of Colombia. Many cruise ships used to go there but a decade ago, after a few incidents affecting tourists, the cruise companies decided to skip that city until things would get safer. Now that the city is much safer, and the country is winning in popularity, several touristic ships can be seen in the old town’s dock once again. Over my time there I realized that the old town of Cartagena is quite peaceful and secure and the biggest problem you might get during the day is dehydration due to the awesome temperature. However, like everywhere else, if you look for trouble you’ll find it.<\/p>\n
In my opinion Cartagena really isn’t dangerous if you are smart. We met some tourists that had some big problems but it was always for the same reason: cocaine. Coke in Colombia is bought for extremely low prices (5 USD) for one of the purest one in the world.Problem is most of the time the deals are in some shady bars; a guy in the street will talk you into a deal and offer you to fallow him.<\/p>\n
A backpacker I met in Santa Marta told me that him and his friend followed a guy in a bar for a deal. The dealer, accompanied by 2 massive henchman, told them that his time is precious and they need to buy at least 500$ of cocaine from him. The two guys said they didn’t have the money and were just looking for a few grams. The Colombian dealer got furious, pulled out a gun and told the guys to give them everything they got and to F__ off if they want to leave; it was the payment for wasting his time. One they cleared the place they had no money, empty pockets but had a story to tell me.<\/p>\n
What do you do after that happens to you? Pretty much nothing considering the cops are often more corrupted then the worst mob of Cartagena… and that you ripped in an illegal drug transaction.<\/p>\n
Don’t be stupid, don’t get into trouble.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don’t want to stir up stereotypes but honestly, in all other cities of Colombia, policemen really were much more decent than in Cartagena. Corrupted cops are everywhere… but there are more of them in certain place for sociopolitical reasons.<\/p>\n