- So, I Got Stabbed In Colombia by Nomadic Matt. I like how despite the negative experience it didn’t let Matt cloud his judgement of all of Colombia or even Bogota. Bogota is probably one of my favorite cities in the world and I can see myself living there at some stage in my life. I’ve been robbed (but never stabbed) a few times during my travels and at the end of the day it’s usually because I wasn’t following a ‘“No dar papaya” or similar rule.
- Judge Resigns On April Fools’ Day But The Joke’s On Him by Huffington Post. I kind of feel if you’re stupid enough to do this and not know the law, then maybe you shouldn’t be a judge?
- United Air’s Former CFO to Launch a New U.S. Budget Airline by Bloomberg. Will be interesting to see how this plays out with Moxy as well.
- Etihad Miles Using AA’s Old Award Chart (best chart today?) by Travel is Free.
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I think everyone should travel to places like Bogota, not necessarily for the sights and culture, but to understand that in most of the world, life is cheap, violence is common and the locals don’t get too worked up about it unless it directly affects them. The only reason Nomadic Matt isn’t dead is because his attacker used a thoroughly sub-par knife.
His suggestions are correct – don’t flash cash or anything valuable in public when in third world countries. The same is true for the “bad parts of town” in the US.
I’d also suggest trying to blend in with the locals, learning at least some of the language, always be alert and keep on eye on your surroundings. Don’t expect to be “untouchable” or treated better just because you’re an American.
A couple easy rules to remember when traveling in Colombia and similar places:
1) Never take you smart phone out of your pocket and display it in the street. Always go into secure location (like a store, restaurant, etc…) before taking your phone out.
2) Between the fight or flight response, always choose flight and hand over the phone or item they want to steal. Your life is worth more than the item.
If these are the rules I think I’ll follow the below rule instead.
3) Never travel to Columbia and similar places.
Just replace the stabbing to a rape if the traveler was female. I don’t imagine that “no dar papaya” would fly then. Sure, life has a lot of risk to it anywhere. However, it is smart to take steps to mitigate those risks. For example, getting vaccinations or staying out of certain neighborhoods in Chicago. I don’t just leave my safety up to fate and say “life happens”.
“I kind of feel if you’re stupid enough to do this and not know the law, then maybe you shouldn’t be a judge?” This is a bit harsh and unnecessary, no? You make mistakes on here all the time – maybe you shouldn’t be a blogger?
When Will or Chuck can throw you in jail then I’d be willing to hold them to a higher standard. Besides, most of the “mistakes” they make are typos and not a fundamental misunderstanding of the topic.
I’m not in a position of power where I have the ability to ruin people’s lives over a simple mistake.
You’ve ruined my life Will. I can’t drive past a bank anymore without looking for a banner or sign about a bonus. 😀
He didn’t ruin it over, “a simple mistake.”
1. Please tell me he got a tetanus shot
2. A longer knife and he would have been dead. Sure you can’t paint the whole country bad but a dude literally almost murdered him for his phone after he had it out for 3 seconds…might want to rethink travel there for a bit….
I would take Bogota over any of the metro wastelands in America. The population is on par with NYC. So figuring population size against a chicago, detoilet, baltimore and LA combined, I would venture to say Bogota is much safer. No problems on many trips there and we party like rock stars during our visits.
The safest parts of bogota are not as safe as the safest parts of chicago, deroit, BM, and LA. you sound like some hipster who watches too much vice when they go to the ghetto only. Rich people dont live in unsafe areas, and last time i checked, those US cities are richer than the richest colombian one.
A place with a ‘“No dar papaya” rule…tough to convince it’s safe.
“Colombia is an amazing country”
Gets stabbed/knifed for having a phone out in public
“Colombia still great guys”
“Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
Did you see at the end that he feels sorry for his attacker? Nuts!
Not abiding by societal morals and norms… ie, stabbing someone… means you are not in a right state of mind. And it’s okay to feel bad for someone who is suffering in that way, isn’t it?
you assume he’s suffering and he’d probably feel different if the injury was worse or if it was someone he personally cared about. Not every criminal is a victim and frankly i’m not interested to understand the mindset of someone who preys on innocent people.
Shouldn’t let one bad experience ruin your perspective. Bad things happen everywhere
I like the “no dar papaya” phrase you used above. 🙂
The “no dar papaya” phrase is the best thing I learned all day today. I also learned from google the second half of the No dar papaya saying: Si te dan, partela. “If they offer it to you, cut off your part.” Thanks!