Pilot Launches His Paragliding Wing with Rainbow Behind in Buccaramanga
- Title: Pilot launches his paragliding wing with rainbow behind in Buccaramanga
- City: Buccaramanga
- ExposureTime: 1/45 sec
- Aperture: f/8
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Two Paragliders Soar Above Trees in Bucaramanaga
- Title: Two paragliders soar above trees in Bucaramanaga
- City: Bucamanga
- ExposureTime: 1/3000 sec
- Aperture: f/4
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Learner Pilot Kites a Small Paraglider on Grassy Hill Overlooking Bucaramanga
- Title: Learner pilot kites a small paraglider on grassy hill overlooking Bucaramanga
- City: Bucamanga
- ExposureTime: 1/250 sec
- Aperture: f/8
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Red Paraglider Launches Over Buccaramanga
- Title: Red paraglider launches over Buccaramanga
- City: Buccaramanga
- ExposureTime: 1/350 sec
- Aperture: f/5.6
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Motorcycle Tourers Caught in Rear View Mirror
- Title: Motorcycle tourers caught in rear view mirror
- City: Bucamanga
- ExposureTime: 1/125 sec
- Aperture: f/5.6
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Preparing for the Final Flights Just Before Sunset in Buccaramanga
- Title: Preparing for the final flights just before sunset in Buccaramanga
- City: Buccaramanga
- ExposureTime: 1/250 sec
- Aperture: f/11
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
View Down to the Parque Caldas from la Ermita in Popay??n
- Title: View down to the Parque Caldas from La Ermita in Popay??n
- City: Popayan
- ExposureTime: 1/60 sec
- Aperture: f/5.6
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
Tandem Paragliding Pilot Comes Into Land on the Hills Near Buccaramanga
- Title: Tandem paragliding pilot comes into land on the hills near Buccaramanga
- City: Buccaramanga
- ExposureTime: 1/500 sec
- Aperture: f/4
- Model: Canon EOS 7D
What are my chances of dying while travelling??
My Father, bless him, is paranoid that I will be killed in Columbia and doesn’t want me to go. According to his source, “a book he is reading by Jeffrey Archerâ€, there are 25 murders in the Capital, Bogota every day… That’s 9,815 a year!! Happily that is no longer true and if we look here we see the murder rate in 2006 was 18,8 for every 100,000 inhabitants. That’s dropped from 81,2 for every 100,000 in 1993. The capital’s population is around 8,5m so we have about 1600 murders a year, and a figure that is likely to have be dropping in the last 4 years. Incidentally, the murder rate for the whole country was 33/100,000 in 2006 so one could argue the capital is more dangerous than the rest of the country.
So, what are my chances of meeting a grisly end in the Romantic streets of old Cartagena.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a handy website that details the advise they give to British Nationals travelling around the world and it reveals that in 2008 out of all the 18,000 British tourist that visited only one was killed. That’s killed, not necessarily murdered… Can you really make a decent argument out of a figure that has only one statistic?
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
What is clear is that tourists (at least not British ones) are not dropping like flies in hails of bullets any more. It seems that people have very long memories when it comes to dangerous places. When I visited Uganda in 2006 and mentioned to a few people that I might go over to Rwanda, everyone was terrified for my life. I ended up near the border and didn’t have time to go, but I met several people who said it was perfectly safe. The genocide was 12 years earlier but in most people’s minds there were still bodies piled up on the street and gangs of machete wielding thugs roaming the streets. Columbia still has problems but the usual perception is that it’s still very dangerous.
The FCO site has a list of countries it advises against travel to as well as figures for deaths and other problems in nearly every country in the world. I decided to do a little digging…
Tags: tourist murders, columbia, crime, statistics, safest countryFarewall yer salty dog! :p
Day 152
La Paz, BCS, Mexico
We dropped Sheena off with her sailor at noon as directed today, he seemed to still be a bit sick, I hope she’s ok.
Captain Scott, Roland and Sheena
Scott is sailing to Columbia and after sailing 6,000 solo from Hawaii obviously needs some help :p Sheena knows how to mix drinks though so I’m sure she’ll be fine :p
Roland and I took a drive up to one of the beaches north of La Paz, Balandria, or something. The water was azure blue and quite refreshing. I tried to muster the courage to get cold and go snorkelling, while Roland went rock scrambling, I offered him my biking helmet but he refused. He nearly lived to regret it…..
When he was up, he was up…
and when he was down, he was down (and lucky to be alive)
He only fell 2.5 meters but landed on his side, between some large and particularly sharp rocks! Crazy Germans! Roland is travelling for a few months in Mexico, and speaks Spanish, he’s a useful guy to have around. I would have to work on reducing this, expensive behaviour :p
Back at the car park, all bones checked for breakages, we discovered that my car door was unlocked…… uh oh. Some guy came to tell us someone was messing with my car and had just ran off. Nothing was taken so we were lucky. I really need to get all my windows tinted and an alarm…..
Tags: drinks, thumb, salty dog, tent, trousers, blog, beaches, captain scott, blue, car park, bones, crazy germans, disco, la pazLazy La Paz
Day 149
La Paz, BCS, Mexico
We returned to Super Tacos and this time they had Manta-ray, which was kind of weird. It had the consistency of cheap tuna all mashed up and I got the deep fried one which was a mistake. Around the corner we went shopping at the Pastry place Sheena had spotted as we drove in and bought a few tasty items which I then managed to get all over my face. Yum! Sheena set off to the harbour to see if she could catch a ride to the mainland and I went for a walk around town. That morning in the shower I discovered I had a rash and decided I should probably get it checked out. My lonely planet advised me that a Hospital in town had English speaking doctors and I set off in search of it. The road signs don’t exactly make it easy, half of them are missing but I eventually found it and stood at the reception until someone noticed me. No one spoke English but I knew enough to Spanish to say I needed a English speaking Doctor. The nurse mentioned some Doctor and waved in a vague direction making me think he had his own practice outside the Hospital so I set off looking for him. No use. After 20 minutes I was back in the Hospital and now everyone ignored me. I found the original nurse and after she finally understood I understood nothing took me to the Doctor who worked in the ER. Typically my rash was now gone but he gave me a prescription for an anti-fungal cream and sent me on my way. God help me if I need to go to Hospital for something more serious.
Mike said something about going to the beach at 3pm and I got back for that but he was too busy supervising the creation of his new gate post into the field he owned. He lives next door to a load of Mexicans and takes an interesting stance on his relationship with them. They will accumulate trash and pollute the area which he will then buy and pay to haul away so the place looks respectable again. He will also employ his neighbours if they have no work and he needs something doing, in this case building gateposts for his ‘nature preserve’. I stood chatting for a while and observing the work but it became obvious he wasn’t going to the beach anytime soon, if he left the work would end for the day but he would still be paying his $5 a hour. He was also having trouble getting his cleaner to come clean the place, she wanted paying for the time he wasn’t there and she wasn’t cleaning. It didn’t make any sense to me either.
I went to pick up Sheena in town and found she had maybe found a ride from a guy called Scott who was sailing his boat from Hawaii to Columbia. She had arranged to meet up with him again on Sunday. Apparently its that easy (if you’re a 25 year old girl).
super tacos/pastries/docs/back to mikes/wall/beach?/pick up sheena/boat/supermarket/dinner
Tags: girls, english speaking doctor, sun, yum, sheena, eve, tuna, going to the beach, manta ray, heap, mexico