Some examples, I witnessed an armed robbery one afternoon while eating lunch at a pizza parlor, the robber took a shot in the air, got the owner to turn over the restaurant cash and then he scurried off in a taxi believe it or not.  After that everyone went back to their lunch as if nothing had happened, myself included.  Hey no big deal, no one got hurt and I don't recall the police even coming.  Now if something like that happened here in San Jose, it would be on every news channel and the restaurant patrons would have been traumatized.  In Cali I'm more relaxed about crime, it sounds strange but a person can become accustomed to bombings, robberies and murders.  As long as it doesn't affect you personally, life goes on in the barrio.  

More examples, well I heard a shot while having lunch at my friend's apartment one afternoon in Cali.  It wasn't that far away maybe 50 meters.  We wondered about it but continued with our lunch.  Foty five minutes later, we went out to see what had happened.  A crowd was still gathered, police were there and a young man was zipped up in a body bag to be taken away.  My friend asked what had happened and we were told that the person was shot as he exited the security gate to the complex.  A revenge murder was what people were saying.

Now my first encounter with a little excitement was when I was walking in my ex novia's barrio with her brother in-law and his amigo.  It's a barrio in the East part of Cali and very typical.  Well it was a Sunday night, late and we were walking from my novia's house to her brother in law's apartment about 4 blocks away.  We were laughing, having a good time and as we passed this park, out of nowhere we heard boom boom boom boom.  It was 4 shots, who knows if it was directed at us but it was close, perhaps 40 meters but coming from the darkness of the park.  Anyway the two Colombian guys I was with took off running and not to be left behind I ran to. Well we survived, it was an adreniline rush for sure but an hour later when we returned to my novia's house we walked right past the park again. lol

The time I was most scared in Cali was when two thugs came after my ex novia and I while waiting for a taxi one Sunday night.    We were on Avinida Estacion to be exact and a taxi will usually wiz by now and again.  But while the taxi wasn't coming two thugs definitely were.  They were walking towards us from Sexta and as they got closer they started shouting at us, saying they wanted our money. Generally I'm not afraid of the Sexta homeless people because they're more or less harmless but these guys weren't homeless nor malnutritioned.  They looked scary and so we started walking off in the opposite direction but nevertheless they were getting closer.  I don't know if it was my gaurdian angel or what but a taxi came around a side street and my ex was able to flag him down.  Now that experience for me was more frightening than all the previous stories because I felt threatened.

Bombings happen all the time too.  I was working on my computer the nigt the Torres Hotel was bombed.  I heard it, it sounded like thunder and my apartment lights flickered.  The next day I walked the 8 blocks to the hotel from my apartment and there it was, not as bad as I had read on the internet.

Violence and street crime are a reality in Colombia, you don't have to believe my stories, please ask your novias, fiancees and wives whose families live there.  Every family has stories where really terrible things have happened.  My fiancee's family is no exception, when I was in Cali a few weeks back, my fiancee's grandfather told me the story of how robbers had broken into their house a few years back.   Appearantly at that time there was some kind of banking problem in Colombia and people who have savings were taking there money out of the banks and bringing it home for safe keeping.  Well I guess the theives of Cali figured this out and my fiancee's grandfather's house was one of many who were targeted.  They somehow tricked the maid into opening the door, they gained entrance and tied everyone up.  Once they had the premise secure they brought in a whole team to ramsack the house looking for money and valuables.  They walked away with over $30,000 U.S..  

So what's the point of all these stories, am I trying to scare people away?  No, I go back to Cali ever year despite the risk.  For me the danger of coming in contact with violence in Cali is SIGNIFICANTLY greater than in San Jose, but is it likely to happen my next trip, probably not.  If I lived in Cali permanently like Traveler does, than it would be a different story I think.  But myself, traveler and everyone for that matter must weigh the risks himself.

El Diablo

For the rest I'll agree with you.

HC.

Who's playing games!! I was relating my own experiences of my time in Cali.  I never said there aren't dangerous places in the United States, of course there are.  No, what I was doing was relating my experiences in what would be considered the nicer areas of Cali, on the good side of the tracks.  Cali's not like U.S. cities where some neighboorhoods are safe but others dangerous.  Basicly, in Cali all neighborhoods are dangerous.  

In the United States, I live in a metro area of 6 million people, fourth largest in the United States.  There are places that a person knows to stay away from and are dangerous but there are real safe areas too.  I think those safe areas are much harder to find in Colombia.  Random acts of violence are much more common from my experience in Colombia.

El Diablo

Pete