Hey Postcrossers - I’m making my 3rd trip to Colombia in November. The last two times… I was completely unable to send postcards or access the Colombian mail service. I walked into a 4/72, the company that is supposed to offer mail service… but they looked at me like I was crazy/I’d they’d never sent a letter or sold a stamp before. I don’t speak Spanish/I bet that would have helped. I’ll be in Bogota for a few days… maybe there is one actual post office in the country? I love visiting Colombia… so wonderful/so big/so much to see and learn… finding someone who understands how to use the Colombian postal service would be nice.
I have had some luck mailing things to friends in Colombia… they act like they had never seen a mail carrier before.
thank you very much. I’m getting so help from a Spanish speaking friend to understand what’s going on the website. I will visit this store when I am in Bogota in November.
I just returned from my 3rd trip to Colombia in two years.
It took me that long to realize that it costs 78,000 Colombian Pesos to mail a postcard to the United States, that is close to 20USD.
I did buy some first day covers at a 472 in Barranquilla and I got a receipt that seems to be from a post office. One of them was a celebration of the Barranquilla Carnival. In Barranquilla I went to a restaurant called Done Esta Javier?
I went to the death bed of The Liberator in Santa Marta. I saw the clock that stopped at the moment of his death and his bathtub of Italian Marble. I saw the Contemporary Art Museum there. I heard about the Lost City near there from a 70 year old Colombian man who remembers when it was discovered and hiked there shortly thereafter.
Last year I lost a whole package of postcards in bi centenial park after purchasing them at the 5th House of the Liberator. Postcards are few and far between in Colombia. I’ll have to stop by there again.
I was excited that there is a Nikolas Capernaicous statue in Bogota. Many countries created stamps to celebrate Nickolas Capernicous’s 500 birthday in 1973. I was born in 1973 and this trip to Colombia was a 50th birthday present to myself. I was so happy to be spending it near the Nikolas Capernicous statue in Bogota.
I was looking for the Observatory. The Observatory stamp was exciting to me because I live near another famous Observatory here in Pittsburgh, PA. That Bogotoa’s was the first Observatory in the America’s is awesome. Now I have Caldes philately to go with my Observatory stamps. I actually found the Observatory when I was visiting the President’s house, it is right outside of the President’s house, between there and the Legislature.
Right behind the Planetarium is the nicholas copernicus statue and the old bull fighting arena. The first time I walked past the Nickolas Kapernicous statue it was during the day and there was a municipal work crew cleaning it up. The second time I visited the statue, a day later, there were wreaths of Columbian flora and a new inscription had been mounted onto the base of the monument. To top it all off I saw a Pink Floyd cover band perform in the Bogota Planetarium.
Hi Kenneth - you have some really good information here. I’m also planning a trip to Colombia later this year (also for my 50th) and had a few questions.
- What are the best places to look for postcards? Stores, museums, post office?
- What about stamps? Where to buy them (or should I buy online before going there)?
- Are there post offices around? I’ll probably spend most of my time in Medellin and Cartagena (with day trips), and a couple days at the end in Bogota.
- Assuming I can buy postcards and stamps, is it possible to get them cancelled (hopefully with less postage than $20 worth of stamps) but not sent? Colombia does not send to 176 (!) countries but it would be nice to be able to send cards with cancellations when I get back home to Japan.
- Any other advice?
Thanks!