What wives say...

I came across this image while I was surfing the Internet. 

It is funny (for those who have not thought of marriage yet), it is unbelievable (for those who have decided to get married) and I leave it to the imagination of those who are married, to decide what it could mean to them!

Bogota is unsafe!

Don't be surprised at this.  Anybody traveling to Colombia would have investigated about the safety and other things.  If you read my blog (Dec 2007 to Feb 2008), I would have done the analysis as well.

You can easily get mugged on the road.  The government also does not seem to take it seriously(may be there are plenty of such incidents coming to their notice and it became a day to day affair for them).  But people in Colombia say things have improved in the last 5 years.  I cannot imagine how bad things could have been.

Recently, one of my colleagues got mugged on Halloween night when he was walking towards his apartment.  The thieves took advantage of the Halloween and were dressed like witches, covering their face etc.  They pressed a knife on my colleague's back and robbed his mobile and the cash that he had.

There is another group of thieves who target foreigners.  They catch hold of you and say they are special officers from narcotics division.  They ask you relevant questions like where are you from, how long you have been here, do you have your passport or identity card and the like.  They tell you that they have classified information that some foreigners are trafficking drugs in and out of Colombia and it is for your safety that you should go with them and get registered in a police station nearby.  They take you to a deserted place nearby check your ID card, ask you to provide all that you carry (Eg: Camera) to them so that they can register it in the police station.  They also ask you whether you have any currency and they are checking whether the currency is fake or not.  You will be asked to handover the currency to them.

If you ask for the police identity card, they will show you the identity card!!  Needless to say they faked it.  To make everything look natural they make one of their own person to participate along with you as a foreigner.  That *foreigner* will say that he/she has traveled to Colombia many times and it is quite natural in Colombia and they do this check at times and it is safe to you give your things to the *policeman*.  They fully cooperate with the *policeman* by giving away all that they have and make you believe.

Not knowing what to do and out of fear of accusation of drug trafficking you will give all your money, belongings etc.  Once their mission gets accomplished, they ask you to wait and then they walk away in different directions.  You will still be confused, what's happening and in which direction you should go and look for them.  By the time you realize that something is wrong they vanish into thin air.

The thieves sometimes carry weapons and so it is better to give away things and come back home unscathed.

The only thing that you can do is lodge a complaint in the police station.  But you will never get your things back. 

You can ask "Are these not happening in any other country?".  The answer is "Yes, they happen!".  I have witnessed these and so I am writing to create awareness.