Visit to Uruguay

I am on a business visa to Colombia which is valid only for 3 months.  I need to go out of Colombia get my Temporal visa (more or less like a work permit and then enter into Colombia).

I need to travel to Uruguay to get this done and return to Colombia.  I heard Uruguay is a very safe place and you can walk around at any time during day or night.  I got my visa and I will be taking my family as well. 

I cannot imagine that 3 months got over.  Time is flying!!

End of 1st Month

At the end of the 1st month, here it is about Bogota, Colombia.

- I see gun men all over the city.
- If you book a taxi, it is safe. The taxi services have IVR and so you need not know Spanish.
- Almost everything is expensive (Food, Clothing etc). But taxis are cheap.
- There is an excellent mode of public transport called, Transmilenio.
- The weather is good.
- Some parts of the city is new and some old.
- In almost all the places(office, shopping mal etc), the security guard checks your bag.
- Outside office very less people speak English.

How about Bogota...?

I am working for a multi-national company. I was told that a project for Ministry of public credit, Bogota, Colombia. (Yes, in South America!)is in deep red and I may have to travel to onsite for the project.

I had no clue about the project and no idea about the location. As usual, I powered on my computer and started searching about Colombia. At the end of the search I got a reply that was good and bad.

But I could more or less summarise it like this.
- It is a country where drug trafficing and kidnappings are more than any other part of the world.
- It is not safe to walk around on the roads after 8PM or so.
- Cost of living is not too high.
- It is safe to live only in zones 5 or 6.
- Technology is not so advanced (Like mobiles, broadband etc)
- The language spoken is Spanish
- You must book a cab and should not take a cab just by waving hands on the road

The only convincing part, I read in almost all the sites, was that the country has improved a lot in the last 2 years and the crime rate is lesser than some other popular cities in the world.

I should also list the good things that I came across about Bogota, Colombia.
- Rice is a staple diet.
- You get vegetarian food (ask for "arroz con ensalada")
- Weather is always between 18 deg celcius and 22 deg celcius all through the year
- People are kind (?!?)

Ok. I need to pack my bags now!