Live Uncomfortably

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• This country has a long history of violence both internationally, and domestically.
• This country has over 1 million people currently living with AIDS
• This country is a major producer and consumer of illicit drugs
• This country has a city which in 2007, had 394 homicides
• This country has above-average homicide rates for a developed nation
• This country has the highest documented incarceration rate
• This country has a popular tourist city, which in 2001, was attacked by terrorists and over 3,000 people died.

Can you guess the country?

Everyone is afraid of something. Death, kidnapping, bad hair, unemployment, etc. This is one of the only consistent themes I’ve discovered in my travels.

When I told my mom I was going to Colombia, she gasped. She literally said, “Derek, nooooo.”

There often is a big disconnect between what you hear and what you actually experience. Everyone knows that news stations across the world sell with fear. The top stories are the ones about murders and death. They’re the most interesting to people because we’re always scared. It’s in our nature.

It’s not my mom’s fault. She’s been told over and over again that Colombia is a dangerous place. That tourists get kidnapped. That drug traffickers roam the streets.

YES, some countries are more dangerous than others.
YES, people have been kidnapped.
YES, there are risks to be taken.

BUT, there is risk everywhere. There are good and bad cities in every country. And good and bad neighborhoods within those cities.

I used to live in Los Angeles in the mid-Wilshire area. My house was approximately 10 minutes from Compton - the 17th most dangerous city in the States. Were people worried for me? Absolutely not.

If I told people I were traveling to New Orleans (the number one most dangerous city) would people warn me not to go? Absolutely not.

I’m in no way saying that you should pack your bags and head to Iraq for vacation this year. My point is that you should question what you’ve been told. Do as much research for yourself as possible. Then make an educated decision.

Is that…danger?

That’s what I did. I found a ton of information online from good sources (people who have been there recently), that said Colombia was a great place to go. So I went, and now I can definitively say that Colombia is one of my favorite places in the world. It has its problems but doesn’t every country? Even…gasp…the States.

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