Now before I start this article I need to first preference it with how you dress, act and treat others will vary this advice.
When I say that the Santa Fe Tolerance Zone isn’t dangerous, I don’t act like a drunken frat boy whose seeing breasts for the first time.
If you’re going to act like a drunken idiot, disrespect the ladies or take cameras into Santa Fe you will have problems. And those problems could send you to hospital.
It may be called the tolerance zone but its workers and inhabitants won’t tolerate aggressive, disrespectful or drunken foreigners. And nor should they need to put up with drunken or disrespectful tourists in their home.
With that said, here’s what you need to know about the Santa Fe ‘Tolerance Zone’.
Santa Fe Tolerance Zone Or Zone Of Tolerance In Bogotá
What Is The Tolerance Zone In Bogota?
The Tolerance Zone or Zone Of Tolerance is several blocks of nightclubs, bars, strip clubs, brothels, prostitutes and casinos. It’s a place where all vices are legal.
The tolerance zone is several city blocks in size. And it operates like Bogotá’s take on Amsterdams red light district.
Beautiful ladies line the streets in attire that is all too skimpy for the atrocious weather of Bogotá.
For those that care to enquire you will find that the majority of the ladies working in Santa Fe are from Venezuela. And indeed most of the inhabitants of Santa Fe are Venezuelan.
Now the beautiful ladies you see lining every street aren’t there of their own volition. They’re working the best paying and sometimes only jobs that they can find.
If given the choice between freezing their beautiful a$$es off in Santa Fe or working a real job, likely all of them would choose the latter.
They’re doing what they need to do to survive in a foreign land. Having left their homeland to escape successive crises.
The ladies of Santa Fe are some of the most beautiful, smart, strong and driven women you could meet. And if you were to meet them anywhere else, you’d likely want to date or marry them.
So you shouldn’t judge people that you don’t know and haven’t met. Particularly if you’re going to visit Santa Fe.
Heck, you might even find the love of your life in Santa Fe. Don’t judge a suburb or it’s inhabitants until you’ve met them.
Where Is The Santa Fe Tolerance Zone?
The Santa Fe tolerance zone is located approximately 600 meters from the Hotel Tequendama. It’s south of Avenida Caracas. And it extends from Calle 24 to Calle 22 between Avenida Caracas and Carrera 17.
North of Calle 22 are the female workers and south of Calle 22 and along Carrera 17 are the transgender workers.
The casinos, bars, nightclubs and food spots are spread throughout the zone.
What Are The Hand Signals Flashed In Santa Fe?
The ladies (and ladyboys) flashing hand signals are the prices for short time sex. They’re not flipping gang signs at you. Don’t panic if you see a lady (or ladyboy) flashing hand signals at you.
They’re telling you that the price for short time sex with them is 50,000COP. Or roughly $10.90USD at todays exchange rate.
Is The Santa Fe Tolerance Zone Dangerous?
The tolerance zone in Santa Fe is not dangerous. Provided that you exercise common sense. It may be called the tolerance zone and all maybe legal, but not everything is accepted or tolerated.
There are rules to follow in Santa Fe. And Santa Fe has law and order. Both official and unofficial.
Now like I mentioned above the inhabitants and workers of Santa Fe are mostly Venezuelan. And Venezuelans have their own version of karma.
How you treat a Venezuelan is returned in kind. If you’re polite, respectful and kind to a Venezuelan they will treat you the same. If you’re not then just remember, karma comes back tenfold.
What Not To Do In The Santa Fe Tolerance Zone!
For those people that choose not to follow the rules in Santa Fe and who seek to profit from its inhabitants by taking in cameras for YouTube or elsewhere you should be warned, you will be noticed. And everyone in Santa Fe will object to being filmed.
To those of you who enter into Santa Fe as part of an organised tour, well, you should also be warned that the inhabitants and workers aren’t there to be gawked at for free.
The people working in Santa Fe are there to earn money to get themselves out of a situation that isn’t of their own making. They aren’t standing around in Bogotás freezing weather in their underwear for you to gawk at.
If you aren’t contributing towards their goals and putting money in their pockets, you should move on.
If you’re going in there with a high and mighty attitude to look down on the ladies working in Santa Fe you too should think again.
You should instead stay out of Santa Fe. You should stay at home and think about just how far you’d go to make ends meet. And to survive in a foreign land.
Wouldn’t you do all that it takes to rebuild your life or put food on the table for your family?
When I said that the ladies of Santa Fe are some of the most beautiful, smart, strong and driven women I meant it. They’re using their beauty to make ends meet and to achieve their goals. They’re working to get themselves out of a situation that isn’t of their own making.
The ladies of Santa Fe are doing what they need to do in order to get where they want to be in life. Don’t be someone who goes into Santa Fe to judge or disrespect it’s inhabitants and workers. Or someone who takes an organised tour through the barrio just to look down on others.
The Santa Fe Zone Of Tolerance Is Not Dangerous!
If you don’t act like a drunken fool or disrespect the inhabitants and workers of Santa Fe, you will have no problems. Santa Fe won’t be dangerous for you.
If you choose to act like a drunken idiot, disrespect the ladies or take cameras into Santa Fe you will have problems. And those problems could send you to hospital.
Is Santa Fe Tolerance Zone More Dangerous At Night?
The Tolerance Zone has 24/7 video surveillance and a large police presence both day and night. It is not more dangerous at night.
Provided you act with respect and follow both the written and unwritten rules of Santa Fe you will not have a single problem.
I regularly wander in there in the early hours to get food. Because it’s the only place in the area where you can get empanadas, kebabs and all types of fried foods at any time of the day or night.
Whether it’s 2am or 2pm your safety in the Santa Fe tolerance zone is dependent on you exercising commonsense. And acting in the appropriate manner.
The Tolerance Zone is safe both in the daylight and at night. If you follow the rules.
Are There Drugs In Santa Fe?
I’m sure if you went looking for drugs you’d probably find them. It is South America after all. Yet you won’t have people randomly walking up to you on the street trying to sell you drugs like in other Latin American cities.
You will also notice if you look carefully that most of the ladies don’t even drink. Contrary to popular opinion on the internet the ladies of Santa Fe aren’t drug addicts or victims of organised crime.
Not only are the ladies not doing drugs, you’ll rarely see them drinking alcohol. More often than not they’re sipping on coffee trying not to freeze in their skimpy attire.
Some of them are even ardent gym bunnies and are either alcohol free or rarely drink at all. Some are very carful of what they eat as they take fitness seriously.
One particularly beautiful Venezuelan woman on Calle 15 is so into her gym routine that as a 5ft tall woman she can squat more than me, back when I was going to the gym every day and was almost 100kg. And I’m a 6ft tall man.
This particular Venezuelan woman if she’s ever reading this should know she’s an absolute queen. And the man that one day gets her phone number and has her say yes to a real date is going to be the luckiest man alive.
See, if you’re expecting a drug riddled barrio full of addicts and victims of organised crime you have the wrong perception of Santa Fe. Most inhabitants and workers in Santa Fe are victims of communism and populist politics. Not drugs and crime.
Always Respect The Ladies Of Santa Fe
I can’t harp on this enough. Always respect the ladies of Santa Fe. Because the Venezuelan ladies working in Santa Fe are worthy of your respect. They aren’t like Cuban women that I’ve written on before.
A Cuban woman will sleep with anybody for money to spend on junk, like nights out so they can take selfies for Instagram. In contrast a Venezuelan woman working in Santa Fe is there to get money to make ends meet.
Venezuelan women are not only some of the most beautiful women in the world they’re smart, loyal, hard working and driven. They really are solid partner material.
So if you are going to visit the Tolerance Zone do respect the ladies. If you do respect the ladies I’m certain that you will be safe in the ‘tolerance zone’.
Where Can I Get More Information On Bogotá?
I’ve made my Bogotá Colombia City Guide available on this website. And I would strongly advise you to read it before traveling to Colombia. It will help you navigate Bogotá and Colombian society.
My Bogotá Colombia City Guide will save you a lot of time and a significant amount of money on your trip to Colombia. Colombia is not the sort of destination in which you can just arrive unprepared.
Read the Bogotá Colombia City Guide here.
