As I arrive at Bogota Airport at 8:30 p.m. (even later than expected because the plane was broken and needed to be fixed before we even departed from Frankfurt Airport), I am hectically trying to think about everything I am supposed to watch out for, especially concerning security issues.
Waiting for my luggage, I am asking another German backpacker, that has been in Colombia before, about the counter for getting an authorized taxi because I read that it is important to do it that way, so you don't end up in a private one, getting ripped over or robbed. She tells me that system with the counter doesn't exist anymore since they opened the new airport and that I just have to get one myself now, no problem... Great!!
Alright, so I am thinking to first get the couple of dollars I brought for the taxi exchanged into Colombian Pesos and use that as an opportunity to ask the woman behind the counter about how to see the difference about an authorized taxi and a private one. Guess what? "Lo siento senora, no hablo ingles." she says. She doesn't speak English. Great! Since the little basics of Spanish I have really suck, I just try it the good old way and add an "-o" or "-a" to every English or German word that I don't know in Spanish. Seems to work... kind of... Problem though: I don't understand what she is answering! Dammit!
I must look really lost after that because a concerned-looking middle-aged man asks me in Spanish if everything is ok and if he can help me somehow before I even walk out of the Airport. He points in a direction where I see a crowd of people standing more or less in different lines around a lot of yellow taxis, all lined up on the sides of the streets. I feel relieved, as I follow a guy in a suit that asked me where I needed to go. He also doesn't speak any English. Of course, lol!
So I'm walking behind the nice helpful guy in the suit, who meets up with another guy, also in a suit, telling him about where I need to go, I guess. After a couple of hundred meters, I realize, that we are not walking towards the lines of yellow taxis in front of the exit but away from them, to a big dark parking lot. Hm, I'm getting king of concerned and keep on repeating "Es una taxi autorisado, si?!". The guys always nod and keep waving me to follow them. The car we arrive at, kind of looks like a taxi, only that it is not yellow but white and parked in the middle of just regular private cars. I'm really not sure what to think about all that, so the thought of turning around quickly and trying to run back to the airport exit crosses my mind for a second, lol. But I don't actually feel in danger, there is a couple with a baby getting out of the car next to me and I see police patrolling in the parking lot, a few meters away. So I get in the taxi, still a little nervous though and hope for the best.
Inside of the taxi, I don't see a price list as described in the travelers guide but what can I do about it? The driver of course also doesn't speak English! Despite of that, he seems to try to start a conversation during the whole ride, as a wave of rapid Spanish hits me from the front seat, while he keeps on smiling in the little mirror back to me. I only understand about a quarter of it, where I am from, why I came to Colombia and how long I am staying. At least I can answer these few things, even though I have no idea what he comments back on that, so I just nod and smile a lot! :)
After a couple of minutes he hits the button the locks all doors and I'm almost getting a little panic attack there in the back. I suddenly recognize that the areas we passed so far, don't exactly look trustworthy, actually more like a stereotype out of some gangster movie: dirty little houses with graffitis all over them, nobody on the streets, excepts some shady looking guys hanging out in front of bars with neon lights, smoking and drinking or slowly cruising on by in old muscle cars.
Then I remember reading, that you should do that before stopping at a traffic light, so nobody can rob you while you wait for the light to turn green. And of course, there comes the first red traffic light already! Uff!! The driver must have recognized me turning pale while there on the back seat for a moment because he smiles in the mirror with an amused look, asking "Todo es bueno, senorita?", "Everything ok?" I feel a little silly now, "Si senor, todo bueno!" :)
A couple of minutes later, we arrive at the adress I handed over before. The driver gets out and carries my totally overloaded backpack to the secured entrance of a huge building complex. After I give him the amount he told me before at the airport, 35.000 COP, he still asks for a tip. So I give him another 3.000 because he was so nice to carry my stuff all the way. At the airport, the guy who brought me to the taxi already asked me for a tip, so I pay 40.000 COP in total for the trip, which is about 18 EUR or so. Quite a lot for Colombia, I think.
Later on, I will find out that the maximum should have been 25.000 COP and I totally got ripped over as I obviously didn't ride in an authorized taxi, those would have been the yellow ones, but in a private one. I also found out later that regular taxi drivers don't wear suits! ;) Oh well, I guess you could call that learning by doing, now I know how it works and what to watch out for but I didn't learn that out of my smart traveler's guide.
And in the end, I was just happy that I got there in pieces and that only a very common, worldwide stereotype got fulfilled here, that tourists who don't have a clue get ripped over, especially when they are already looking like they are about to pee their pants! ;)
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