Hola!

I just moved to Bogota and we have a small community with other pokerplayers living here. We have created a skypechat for general talk, meet ups, sports, dinners, nights out etc.

So far its really nice. Taxi's are wide available for a few dollars (order one through the app; Easytaxi). It is in the daytime quite busy on the road so you have to take your time to get somewhere or you can get the 'Transmilenio' which is a public bus that has a special lane only allowing the bus or police/ambulance. The bus costs 0.50$ (1800 peso) and you can pretty much anywhere in the city.

Bogota has an infinity amount of restaurants, lounge places, rooftop bars and nightclubs (with more than just salsa and reggaeton). You wont get bored of going to the same places here. You will be able to find anything in this city. The North of the city is the good part, with the safe richer areas. I haven't feel uncomfortable at all but you should avoid the south of the city.
Apartments are easy to get and for about 500-1000$ you can a modern 1 bedroom for a month in a good area with 24/7 security. if you get multiple bedrooms the price will be significant lower per bedroom. Prices are in general low compared to US / European standards.

Colombian women are considered to be very attractive. A part of the young generation speaks reasonable English and every Tuesday there is a party called 'Gringo Tuesday' with some speed dating and party afterwards. The girls that come there know what they want . Knowing or being open to learn Spanish is recommend. Visa on arrival is 6 months and you are allowed to stay 6 months each calendar year, if you want to stay longer you can get Student visa. On a student visa you get a teacher and will be able to learn Spanish and stay in the country as long as you want!

Temperature is about 18-20 degrees Celsius in the day and it cools down to 10-12 in the night. Normally it rains a bit but I haven't seen much of that yet. Internet seems to be great, I have had zero disconnects. There are some casinos that have cash games and weekly tournaments.

if you want to read more; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogot%C3%A1

Last but not least a few pictures:
1st picture is near the palace of the president. cool area to go for a walk.


La Candelaria, The historical part of Bogota.


Beathtaking view from Mount Monserrate, about 3000 meters high.


Free free to ask any questions. If you want to be part of the Bogota skypechat you can send your skype in PM. Hope to see some of you soon in Bogota!

wow that is definitely a nice view! What is the weather like there for the most part? Is there like a 6 month rainy season there kind of like CR?

Hi, can you add me to Skype chat? jdker.jdker Thanks!

Hola! Even though i arrived here less than two weeks ago, i already love life here lol

Got a very cool apartment in a nice part of the city, already met up with Hids and a couple of other poker players and it seems like we get along well, so we´ll probably have many adventures together to come. Plus im LOVING speaking in spanish (im italian, so it aint that hard for me) with the locals. Especially with the local girls lol

See you in Bogota folks

Things I've found in Bogota after less than two weeks here:

The friendliest people in South America (I've been to most Latin American countries).

Eggs, sausage, toast and coffee for $1.25

Double room in huge house with an amazing view in one of the nicest areas for $300 a month.

Fine dining for less than $15 a head.

Hundreds of bars, clubs and restaurants.

A grid street system that makes sense (I'm from London).

Taxi drivers that don't make you feel like you're playing Russian Roulette every time you get in, unlike the maniacs in Panama City.

Although, I haven't investigated it properly yet, I've heard there is a huge variety of electric music here, which I hope will include some Drum and Bass.

...And I haven't even ventured out a 15-block radius of my house.

I havnt been there that long so i cant really say, in the day its just sunny or cloudy with 20 degrees and at night around 10-12 degees celcius. november will be raining a bit and then december will be fine again.

here is some more info about the weather all year long; http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/l/COXX0004:1:CO

added, see skype.

agree with Joe. there is sooo much here, I am discovering everyday! so far we have got a small close community together. its been good! I can recommend Bogota to anyone! (unless you love the beach and 30+ Celsius / 100F )

Well, this is a long shot, but if you guys become aware of any motorcycle rental places out of Bogota, post up. In the past, I was able to source a moto privately, but that is no longer possible. The only rentals I've seen are out of Medellin/Cartagena that rent expensive bikes for top dollar. I even went searching the neighborhood where all the moto mechanics are a few years back and failed to find anything. I'm hoping to find something in the 200-300cc range - not a scooter, but also not a $100/day imported bike... something in the middle.

Hi
Can you add me to skype? My plans are to move to Bogota, so i would like to ask you few questions, if it possible.

THX

Skype: mityamityamitya

Hi guys, we are still with a small social group here in Bogota. Most of the time we meet up for dinners, drinks & clubbing. Feel free to send a message if you are interesting in visiting or living in Bogota.

Bogota is awesome!

Love your enthusiasm for Colombia; I spent 3 weeks in a Bogota a couple years ago so I know why you're excited.

What's the outlook on getting a bank account there? Can you speak to how hard/easy it is to get money to/from Stars?

PM

What is weather like in Colombia and Bogota in mid-March to April ?

Also June and July. Will like to visit sometime this year.

What is the cost of living for someone who would plan to live a modest life there? By that I mean a decent 1 BR apartment, going out maybe once or twice a week and not a lot of travel.

Also, I am mainly a low stakes live grinder, I don't play a whole lot online so I am looking at somewhere with a low cost of living that has regular cash games at casinos. Do they typically run 24/7, or at least most of the day? And what stakes?

Thanks so much for this thread!

hi man, i havnt checked the thread for a long time^^ sorry about that.

the weather is the same all year round. in the day 15-22 degrees celcius, in evening it cools down a bit and at night 10-12 degrees celcius.

let me know when you are here!

Hi man, also sorry for the late reply. i hope it still helps. avg cost of living for a furnished 1 bedroom apartment is about 600-800$ in good and safe area. total i would say 1500$ maximum is a good budget.

there are a few casinos with poker games, also a few times a year MTT series. but rake is high for livegames as anywhere in latin america (i dont know how much). 100-300NL shouldnt be a problem to find every night. they have a casino in zona T near bars / clubs.

hope it helps, gl!

Why Bogota and not Medellin?

^^^ A couple of pages in the Medellin thread cover this

is there any live poker w/ reasonable rake?

there is daily 100-300nl live (i think Fridays/Saturdays some 3/6$). its next to an area (Zona T) with lots of bars/ restaurants and there is a nightclub above it so i think its pretty good. I don't know about the rake. but here is their facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/luckiabogota/

why Bogota? well Bogota is HUGE, you can here anything. so many restaurants (you can find any cuisine here), clubs, bars and different areas with different people that you wont get bored quickly. girls are really interested in you, in Medellin girls like in general more the money that comes with it. internet is very good here ( I got a private 20mb/s line for 40$ a month). Ordering food/drinks 24/7 (Medellin doesn't have this wide of a cover regarding delivery as far as I know. check-out @ http://domicilios.com/bogota. weather is all year round the same, not too hot not too cold. (Medellin is a little warm imo with 30 degrees in the daytime). here its 5-10 degrees lower which is nice =)

what i also like is that people wont look at you on the streets. like in some countries / cities people look at you like wtf a foreigner, which leads to beggars etc (i heard this is getting a bit of a problem in Medellin because of the thousands of tourists there. i am a tall blonde guy and they leave you alone on the streets. Generally speaking I would say that Bogota is more for the serious grinders and Medellin more for the party guys =) (obv this is not true for all)

Also apartments are nice, streets are clean & its safe. ( I recommend areas around "Chico" to stay. The north of Bogota is in the area were you want to stay. In the south there is a lot of poverty and its in general not the areas you want to show your foreign face

Are the girls easier to deal with in Bogota too? I would be willing to sacrifice a point or two on hotness if it meant not having to put up with stupidity, craziness, flakiness, and nonsense all the time.

all of your assumptions are spot on Ace. To be fair there's a tonnn of rad girls in medellin, but you have to wade through endless seas of dumb hoes to get to them sometimes.

yea chicks are less flakiness & drama i would say in Bogota

Wow im glad I just found this thread , I'm contemplating either a move between panama and colombia , my friend wanted me to move in panama because it's safer apparently and more business opportunities as he doesn't play poker but colombia seems cheaper and very fun , I grind cash game mostly nl 100 I speak English French and little bit of Spanish but I can easily read spanish as its almost the same as French. Do you guys have BBM messenger or whatsapp and would you know anyone with something to rent ?

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Foreigners go to bogota because well- it feels the most like home / is similar to any other huge city. Options are sorta limitless and most gringos can't deal with hot temps.

You'd be lying to yourself if you think bogota girls aren't interested in money. Medellin girls just dgaf about being coy about it. Sorry to say guys.. But if you stick out- anywhere you go in Colombia w/ no Spanish skills you will be targeted for money whether you have it or not. It doesn't exactly help when gringos like to talk real loud about how cheap everything is here as they are buying bottles and the like... When the min daily salary here is like 21.000 pesos (which something like half the country is trying to survive on).

Whether your in Colombia or Tokyo or wherever else- if you are massively outspending the locals and kinda being a jackass / in there face about it- it tends to attract the wrong people. Just some food for thought.

This is just my personal opinion (and i think I might have already said this in another thread). But if foreigners want to live in a huge Spanish speaking city then they should go to buenos aires and it's not even close.

BA > Mexico City > Panama City > bogota