I believe that hitchhiking & couchsurfing in Colombia is the best way how to get to know real Colombia. Real Colombian culture. Its people. Their habits & traditions. However, as everywhere, you have to be careful with the choice of your couchsurfing host as well as your driver for hitchhiking experience.
Before I continue describing my experience with hitchhiking & couchsurfing in Colombia, I want to let you know that I would never ever do hitchhiking by myself, alone, though I know many solo female travellers who do that by themselves. Regarding couchsurfing, yeah, I already have plenty of experience and I do it by myself. I feel more secure with couchsurfing than with hitchhiking as it is officially on website and all is confirmed in advance.
My experience with hitchhiking in Colombia
It was me and my 2 friends (girls) who decided to make our trip across Caribbean coast of Colombia a bit more adventurous. So we wrote on piece of paper sign RIOHACHA (our final destination) and started to hitchhike in Santa Marta. It took us no more than 10 minutes when the first car stopped. Its driver was Juan, 60 year old gentleman, who not only gave us a free ride to the middle of our destination, but also took us to incredible place called Playa Bonita (highly recommended)! We listened to his crazy stories from the times of Pablo Escobar, how was his work in area of tourism and we couldn´t be happier with our first driver. 🙂
The second car stopped in less than 20 minutes and it was a guy with his son heading straight to Riohacha. Could we be luckier? In this case, we didn´t talk that much but he provided us with great and loud Colombian music (mainly vallenato and reggeaton) so our journey was super relaxed.
My experience with couchsurfing in Colombia
To make you better informed, I explain that I have been to Colombia 2 times. Once I was travelling solo using couchsurfing and 2nd time with my 2 Colombian friends. In total I was hosted by 9 different couchsurfing hosts (out of them 7 when I travelled solo) and I couldn´t be happier with my choice of couchsurfing hosts.
Not only they provided me with free accommodation but more importantly they showed me the best of their culture. They took me to places I didn´t know they existed. They introduced me to their families and friends. We cooked together. We partied together. We hanged out together.
Also thanks to couchsurfing I never felt alone during my solo backpacking.
My Colombian couchsurfing hosts made my stay in Colombia unforgettable and I am more than grateful for such experience.
Is hitchhiking & couchsurfing in Colombia SAFE?
Well, as everywhere in the world, even directly in your hometown, anything can happen. There are good people and there are also bad people. There is no place in the world which is 110% safe. That´s why you should be super careful who you choose to give you a ride or to host you through couchsurfing. Use your common sense, listen to you inner voice.
But to sum up, I believe that couchsurfing and hitchhiking in Colombia is completely safe once you are self-confident, positive and use your common sense. Although, I wouldn´t recommend to hitchhike solo. As I never tried by myself …
Do you have your personal good or bad experience with hitchhiking & couchsurfing on Colombia??? How was it?
For more information about couchsurfing, click HERE. For more information about Colombia, click HERE.
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[…] Väčšina krajín Južnej Ameriky má nálepku nebezpečné a Peru, ani Kolumbia nemajú najružovejšiu históriu. V krajinách vládne chudoba, ostnaté drôty na budovách nie su žiadnym prekvapením a vojaci, či policajti v uliciach taktiež nie. To, čo bolo sa už zmeniť nedá, no bezpečnosť v oboch krajinách sa obrátila dobrým smerom. Nepokoje sú však stále ich súčasťou a riadiť sa preto treba vždy zdravým rozumom. A aj keď Kolumbia bola na špičke najnebezpečnejších krajín sveta, necítila som sa tam o nič viac nebezpečne ako v Peru. Prečítaj si napríklad o stopovaní a využití couchsurfingu v Kolumbii u Mili na blogu. […]