Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [259]
Email cafes almost always have a few telephone booths (cabinas) where you can make local calls for around a few hundred pesos a minute. Most generally offer a fax service as well.
Return to beginning of chapter
* * *
INTERNATIONAL COLLECT CALLS
Reverse-charge or collect calls (llamadas de pago revertido) are possible to most major countries. Here are the international direct-dialing numbers of some countries.
Canada 01 800 919 0057
France 01 800 933 0057
Italy 01 800 939 0057
Spain 01 800 934 0010
UK 01 800 944 0057
USA AT&T 01 800 911 0010;
MCI 01 800 916 0001;
Sprint 01 800 913 0010
* * *
Return to beginning of chapter
Cell Phones
Colombians love their cell phones, and in urban areas almost everyone has at least one. The three major providers are Movistar, Comcel and Tigo, with newcomer Ola a distant fourth. Comcel has the best nationwide coverage, and is the most useful to the traveler. Cell phones are cheap, and many travelers end up purchasing one – a basic, no-frills handset will set you back around COP$40,000 to COP$50,000, or you could bring your own cell phone from home and buy a Colombian SIM card. A SIM card costs COP$10,000, which includes COP$10,000 worth of prepaid calling minutes. Because it is expensive to call between networks you could, at least in theory, buy a SIM card for each of the three providers and swap them out to change networks.
Colombian cell-phone companies do not charge you to receive calls, only to make them. Street vendors selling minutos (minutes) are seen almost everywhere. Many corner stores also have cell phones you can use. These vendors purchase prepaid minutes in bulk, and it is always cheaper to make calls with them than to use credit on your own handset. For this reason many Colombians use their handsets to receive calls only and use street vendors when they need to make calls.
Vendors generally have at least three cell phones – one for each network. The first three digits of the 10-digit number indicate the cell phone provider, so state the prefix you’re calling to and they’ll give you the right phone. Expect to pay COP$200 to COP$300 per minute for a call to the same network (more late at night or in smaller towns).
To purchase a phone you’ll need to show identification. This is supposedly for security but in fact it’s to prevent the street vendors from purchasing phones in bulk and competing with the cell phone provider’s own call centers. There have been cases of identity theft (they will photocopy your documents) so only purchase a cell phone from a provider’s official retail outlet.
Return to beginning of chapter
TIME
All of Colombia lies within the same time zone, five hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. There is no daylight-saving time.
Return to beginning of chapter
TOILETS
There are a handful of public toilets in Colombia. In their absence use a restaurant’s toilet. Museums and large shopping malls usually have public toilets, as do bus and airport terminals.
You’ll often (but not always) find toilet paper in toilets, so it’s wise to carry some with you. Never flush toilet paper. The pipes are narrow and the water pressure is weak, so toilets can’t cope with toilet paper. A wastebasket is normally provided.
The most common word for toilet is baño. Men’s toilets will usually bear a label saying señores, hombres or caballeros, while the women’s toilets will be marked señoras, mujeres or damas.
Bus-station restrooms will usually charge COP$500 to COP$800 plus COP$200 for toilet paper. If you’re a guy wanting to do some stand-up business, ask a bus company employee where the driver’s urinal (orinario) is, usually outside along a back wall, which they will sometimes let you use for free.
Return to beginning of chapter
TOURIST INFORMATION
Colombia has a number of good regional and national websites offering information (sometimes in English) about what to do and where to stay. The country’s principal