some things i've noticed during this and previos trips to bogota is that when taking a taxi, unless you can speak spanish very well, let your novia or friend do the talking. when i was with my novia i would tell the driver the address but many times when i took a cab by myself the cabbie would ask which route i should take or would i prefer going this way or that way. they do this to see if you know your way around and many will take a longer route to jack up the fair, so if you must travel alone, know how to get to your destination. many times i had to say, no, take this way better or that way is faster.
fairs are cheap, much less than nyc for the distance i travelled each day, easily about 1/6th the price and i was told many times not to tip. the cabs have charts on the back of the seats that indicate the cost of the ride, a ride from carrera 7 and calle 140 to the airport was 14,000 pesos. from the airport they charge 18-20,000. nights and weekends they add a service charge of 1,300 pesos so keep that in mind.
get into the habit of having small bills because no one in colombia has change. you would think people with a business would have smaller bills to make change but they don't, cabbies especially. i had to ask a delivery guy at my destination to give me change of 10,000 pesos to pay a 7,000 peso cab ride, the cabbie had all large bills. many times with gringos the cabbies expect that you are in a rush and won't wait to get change so they expect you to just say keep the rest. one time the cabbie hailed 4 cabs to ask the drivers for change, no one had it until finally a bus driver made change, i waited 5 minutes for that, so having 2,000 and 5,000 bills are great along with 500 and 200 and 100 peso coins, they help allot too.
i hailed cabs in the street without a problem, some prefer to call a service if its late at night but a few times they took a long time to arrive and it was quicker to get one at the curb.
between the potholes, construction, busetas stopping in the middle of the street to pick up/drop passengers and sheer number of cars,traffic is horrible in bogota. the absolute best time to be there is at the end of december/beginning of january, many people leave the city and traffic flow is great, no problems whatso ever. after the second week of jan, everyone comes back and its a nightmare again, so give yourself extra time when traveling inthe city.
