Colombia Any suggestions?

[Songyun]

I have been looking for some up to date travel guide. The review for Lonely planet on Amazon is poor. Any suggestions? I plan to visit Bogota and Cartagena.

[Dan Fromm]

Look at The South American Handbook. I used them when doing fieldwork in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Paraguay. Found some odd boners, but they were very useful. Lonely Planet wasn't nearly as good, was at most a useful supplement.

How's your Spanish?

[Scott Davis]

Anywhere other than Cartagena and big hotels in cities like Bogota and Medellin and you're not likely to find people who speak any English at all. If you're stuck somewhere and need help translating, look for college-aged kids - they're most likely to be able to speak some English.

I get a little frustrated with Lonely Planet guides, because they're really only a step up from Rough Guides in terms of their target audience - they're mostly aimed at backpackers and budget travelers, so they often skip listing, let alone recommending, any place that's much nicer than a hostel or a dive bar (not that there's anything wrong with dive bars, but I do have minimum standards for accommodations - at least en-suite bathrooms). I'd spend some time on TripAdvisor looking for places to stay - their recommendations will be more current than any printed travel guide will be. Don't trust customer reviews on Orbitz - I had a bad problem with a hotel in Buenos Aires I booked through them, and when I went to leave my review, they declined to share it because it was negative.

[Songyun]

Thanks for the advice, I don't speak Spanish at all. I will try the handbook and tripadvisor.

[Scott Davis]

I'd also look in the New York Times online Travel section - I'm sure there have been articles in the last year or two about things to do and places to stay in Colombia. In Cartagena, you've got to decide if you want to stay in the old city (very picturesque) or in the modern tourist beach resort area. Given that you're a photographer, my guess is you want the old city and not the modern high-rise hotel resort complexes. I don't know exactly where in the old city is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's house, but he had a home in the old part of Cartagena.

Bogota and Medellin both have flourishing art scenes and should be well worth checking out. Their reputations of being dangerous are mostly hype based on the situation of ten years ago, but do be careful nonetheless. Also be aware that while a tropical country, Bogota and Medellin are at higher altitude than Cartagena and so they can get cooler at night - it would be wise to pack a jacket or sweater along with beach wear.