THIS IS WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE NEW COLOMBIA

Bogotá Is Not Just for the Brave Anymore

By SETH KUGEL
Published: February 12, 2006

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA, the fourth largest city in South America, with seven million residents, is home to a vibrant restaurant scene, world-class museums and a charming colonial quarter. It is the country's capital and intellectual hub, an enlightened, pedestrian-friendly city with 75 miles of urban arteries turned over to cyclists and walkers every Sunday. And to top it off, the weather is temperate, with highs in the 60's year round.

In other words, Bogotá is a great place to visit.

No, seriously, it is.

Violent reputations can take a long time to shake -- just ask tourism officials in Beirut or the Bronx -- but Bogotá has been shaking hard for about a decade. Several mayors engineered an urban rebirth; since taking office in 2002 the Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe, cracked down on violence. Unesco awarded it the City for Peace Prize for 2002-3, given for developing "a true urban conviviability," and named it the World Book Capital in 2007. And in January, the United States State Department issued a Travel Warning for Colombia that said, "Violence in recent years has decreased markedly in most urban centers, including Bogotá."

"The situation in Bogotá seems to be greatly improved in terms of security and public safety from five years ago, and the atmosphere is much more relaxed," said Marshall Louis, a spokesman for the United States Embassy there.

Bogotá can be dangerous, to be sure, but the primary concern is theft, not kidnappings. And extortion-related kidnappings are becoming rarer across the nation, with the government reporting a 51 percent drop: 369 in 2005, down from 747 in 2004.They remain far more frequent in rural areas.

Visitors should avoid public transportation and call taxis instead of hailing possibly unauthorized cars. Hire a taxi for the day if possible; it is relatively cheap (12,000 pesos an hour -- just over $5 at 2,300 pesos to the dollar), eliminates waiting and the driver can serve as an informal tour guide. Do not wear fancy jewelry and keep a hand on your wallet in crowds.

Once you get the safety drill down, the city is yours to explore. It is laid out in an easy-to-navigate grid of carreras and calles. Here are a few places you'll find:

The Gold Museum (Museo del Oro, Calle 16, 5-41 -- meaning between Carreras 5 and 6, No. 41; phone 57-1-343-2222; entrance 2,500 pesos) with its 34,000 pre-Columbian gold items. The Botero Museum (Calle 11, No. 4-21, 57-1-343-1223), a collection donated by the Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero, including 123 of his own works and others by Picasso, Monet, Renoir and the like. La Candelaria, a colonial neighborhood of steep streets that is practically a museum in itself.

Then there are the fine restaurants in the hot new restaurant district known as the Zona G, and those with a more edgy feel in the Bosque Izquierdo neighborhood. And romantic Usaquén, a small town swallowed up by the fashionable northern reaches of the city, has excellent restaurants, live music venues and a Sunday flea market. (For an introduction to the city see www.english.bogotaturismo.gov.co.)

Colombian food, largely unknown to Americans, has plenty to offer: steaks; corncakes known as arepas; cheese buns called almojábanas; and the Bogotano specialty, a chicken, potato and avocado stew called ajiaco, seasoned with guascas leaves. Where to find the best ajiaco is a matter for debate, but to start, there's Casa Vieja (Avenida Jiménez, No. 3-62, 57-1-334-8908, and two other locations); and on weekends, Entrepués, north of the city (Carretera Central del Norte, kilometer 23, vía Sopó, 57-1-865-0020).

There is as much to do just beyond the city limits, in the lovely rural surroundings that Bogotanos call the Sabana. Rustic restaurants with traditional food abound, and 30 miles from the city in Zipaquirá is the popular Salt Cathedral, literally a cathedral carved from a salt mine.

And then there's Andrés Carne de Res in Chía (Calle 2, No. 11a-56, 57-1-863-7880), a restaurant in name but really a riotously decorated spectacle of art and music and eccentricity (check out, to get an idea).The endless menu is heavy on the beef (that's what Carne de Res means, after all) but they also serve everything from ajiaco to banana splits. Those wanting relative calm should eat in the afternoon; those going at night should go early to get a table, and stay late as the mayhem (eat, drink, dance, dance on tables) ensues.

The Andrés experience is representative of what the world misses out on by not going to Colombia: it manages to be profound, spellbinding, beautiful, tumultuous, confusing and fattening all at once.

Tourists heading to Colombia for plastic surgery
By Sergio De Leon, Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia -- It's normal to return from vacation with a deep tan, but what about coming home with bigger breasts, a newly sculpted nose, a nip and tuck and some wrinkle removal.

Mauikai Gold, wearing her post-surgical compression suit, had nose and breast surgery, as well as full-body liposuction in Colombia.
Phelan M. Ebenhack, AP

Vacations promising such corporeal transformations are being promoted by travel agents and plastic surgeons in Colombia, one of those countries along with Venezuela and Brazil where there's no shame in taking your body in for alterations.

"I was unhappy with my breast size and had gained a lot of weight," said Mauikai Gold, a 21-year-old from Miami who recently traveled to Colombia for cosmetic surgery.

She'd done her homework first, consulting friends and a half-dozen local doctors as well as beauticians at her favorite salon before choosing a plastic surgeon.

Next stop, Bogota.

Gold, who works in show business, writing songs and acting, lost 56 pounds to liposuction, added to her chest and got her nose fixed, she said in a telephone interview.

Total cost: about $8,000.

The ethnic Cuban had inquired as to the cost of having similar work done in the United States before opting for Colombia and calculated that she would have paid from $25,000 to $30,000 to have it done at home.

Add the quality reputation of Colombian medicine to the savings and you've got a good product to promote, according to travel agents and doctors in this Andean capital.

It doesn't hurt that this South American nation is enjoying a tourist boom that brought more than a million visitors to the country last year for the first time in two decades, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism.

"Of all those people coming to Colombia, at least 3% come to get medical treatment, said John Anderson, head of Cosmetic Harmony agency. In 2004, he said about 21,000 people came for surgery and in 2005, about 30,000.

Cosmetic Harmony Solutions arranges travel logistics for tourists coming for plastic surgery.

"We help with the hotels, transportation, if they need plane tickets we can help with that," said Anderson.

"Surgery packages" include medical procedures, bilingual nursing, post-operative treatment, transportation, hotel and a tourist guide.

Not included are airfare tickets or dining at one of Bogota's fine restaurants.

The promotion of such vanity tourism got something of a shot in the arm with the signing of a new trade agreement in late February between Washington and Bogota.

President Alvaro Uribe even called for creating free trade hospital zones where medical tourists can get treated tax-free.

It's not just Bogota, but also the Colombian cities of Cali, Armenia and Medellin that get many patients from abroad, noted Uribe.

Gold chose Colombia because it's close to the U.S., but also, she said, because Colombian women are renowned for their beauty. Part of that beauty, she added, is "natural," but part of it is "because they are so pro-plastic surgery."

Gold was initially contacted through an Internet forum where people interested in plastic surgery discuss their concerns and share their experiences. Many of them have traveled to Colombia for operations. Other destinations mentioned on the forums include the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Thailand. Venezuela, Argentina and Ecuador, along with Brazil, also have plastic surgery-tourism industries.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cautions that there are risks to having surgery abroad. "Patients may take unnecessary risks, when choosing cosmetic surgery vacations, by unknowingly selecting unqualified physicians and having procedures performed in non-accredited surgical facilities," the organization states in a briefing paper on the issue.

And U.S. laws do not protect patients treated outside the country. "There may be no legal recourse if surgical negligence by the physician or institution occurs," the society notes.

The organization also says that vacation activity and post-surgery healing don't mix, unequivocally warning: "Patients should not sunbathe, drink alcohol, swim/snorkel, water ski/jet ski, parasail, take extensive tours (walking or bus), or exercise after surgery." The ASPS also recommends waiting five to 10 days, depending on the procedure, before taking a flight after surgery.

No official statistics exist on the number of tourists who visit Colombia on image improvement excursions. But plastic surgeon Andres Mejia says that for cities like Cali the volume is huge.

Anderson said patients come from as nearby as Ecuador and Panama, and as far away as the U.S. and Spain.

Colombia's reputation as a budding destination for plastic surgery got a nice kick from news last year that the Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, who had become obese, slimmed down after stomach-stapling surgery in Cartagena, the country's Caribbean coastal gem.

"Maradona is an international hero and the whole world was very sad for him and now look at him, surgery changed his life. It's attracting lots more people," said Mejia.