Lets take a minute here to go over the money situation since this will be a big part of this report and its always good to know what your dealing with when you hit a foreign country. So if you have never been to Colombia like me, this info should be useful.

Colombia uses pesos, no one in Colombia will take a dollar. They are just not accepted. So there are two ways of getting your dollars into pesos. The first is the casas de cambios. So if you brought American cash with you this is the easiest way to get your pesos. You just have to be aware of a few things.

First you should not change all your money at the airport. They give the shittiest exchange rate. I found that the cambio casas in the city actually had a better exchange rate. Also the airport is a huge elaborate system. Where you have to have your passport, give a fingerprint and sign a few papers. Depending on the clerk this could be smooth or could take a while. Cambio casas in the city never asked me for anything but the cash. This made things way more smoother but you should count your cash and know your exchange rates before you head out because at one point Mr.Ed went to a casa and almost got ripped off by a hundred bucks. I don’t think it was malicious, I just think the girl was a bit of a ditz. Still Mr.Ed primarily used casas, he would break up the exchanges into multiple transactions. I found this a bit of a overkill but its better to be safe than sorry I suppose. Now here is something you should always be aware about when going to casa de cambios. They are watched by street thugs. Frankly I never saw or experienced any kind of issue this trip. But if you are a non Latino I think extra precautions should be taken. Because lets face it you gringos stand out like a sore thumb. I don’t believe the street thugs discriminate by race like in other countries because a lot of Colombians are victims of crime as well as Americans. I just think the odds are that they will go after the gringo more often than the Latino but that’s just me.

So don’t flash your money around, I would suggest doing what I did. I kept half my cash in my pocket, half in my travel wallet around my neck and I actually had a dummy wallet with a few Colombian pesos in case I got into trouble I could just hand the fake wallet and run.

Colombian currency is broken up in the thousands. So coins are 100, 200, and 500 pesos while the cash is 1k, 2k, 5k, 10k, 20k, and 50k. This is the cash I mostly encountered, I am sure there are bigger bills. The big issue I always had was missing that extra zero that changed a 1,000 bill for a 10,000 one. I think its because since they are both similar colors my mind would go on auto pilot sometimes. So there were a few times where I tried to under or overpay. Surprisingly enough when I tried to over pay I was never taken advantage of by the cab drivers or merchants. Was it because they didn’t want the extra headache in case I caught on? Or where they just nice? I cant say, I guess I am used to the D.R where they will try to rip you off 24/7 but I did not encounter this as much in Colombia.

The second way to take out cash was what I primarily used, which of course is the ATMs. Now in my other trips to Costa Rica and D.R I had no issue with using my bank accounts to take cash out. Colombia was a different story. Colombian banks would not let me take any cash out from either my T.D bank or Banco Popular (a huge bank chain all over Latin America) accounts. So I had to find Citibank terminals in order to get cash out and by luck the closest ATM to my apartment was a Banco Popular which would allow me to take cash out from my TD account. My Banco Popular account would be another headache which I will get into later into this report. While Citibank ATMS have grown in Medellin they are not assessable everywhere in Medellin. I only saw one Banco Popular ATM in my entire trip in Medellin.

Speaking from my own personal experience, ATMs always gave the best exchange rates. The cambios that I did business with in Medellin were located in Oviedo. They did ask for ID & paperwork needed to be filled out. Generally it's a hassle for no reward, so I don't bring USD$ anymore when I go to Medellin.

Always call your bank & credit card companies before any trip and tell them of your plans. I always give them a 'travel alert' so that my cards won't be cut off because they think it is fraud. Some banks/companies still mess this up but I have good luck with TD Bank & Chase credit cards.

Remember to bring ATM cards that uses different networks - VISA & MasterCard/Maestro are the most popular. Ditto for credit cards. If one network goes down, you'd have a backup. Make sure you check with your bank about ATM usage fees. I am very happy with my TD Bank card which doesn't charge me any fees. I think Citibank still charges you a fee even when you use the Citibank ATMs in Medellin.

I was in town for the last 2 weeks in May as well and I did not have a hassle using Santander ATMs.

I carry three ATM cards (Yeah, overkill, but I tend to be in Colombia for a long time at a stay). I did have one eaten several years ago by a Bancolombia ATM machine, and it was a pain to get back. I have found that they all work in virtually every ATM machine I tried. I did, however, find quite a difference in the bank charges. The Bancolombia machine were often limited to COP 300,000, so paying rent was a pain.

My credit union will do a wire transfer (Western Union) for $USD 20, so that was the best way to get larger amounts of cash. There are WU offices in several of the large, safer malls. I mostly used the one at Unicentro, then a cab to the safe in the apartment. I picked up a $USD 1,500 transfer one time, and the lady at WU only had COP 20,000 bills, so I had a wad of cash a couple of inches thick. Take several envelopes! Make sure your bag is reasonably tough, and the strap goes across your sholder. Don't be a papaya!

A lady friend told me that her girl friend enlisted the aid of a guard who was a "friend" at Unicentro to help her when she was picking up a large sum. The guard's buddy ripped her off.

The fewer people who know what is going on the better!