Pamplona Services

By Lorraine Caputo

Tourism Office

The Instituto de Cultura y Turismo de Pamplona, or Pamplona’s Culture and Tourism Institute, has its office in the Museo Casa Colonial (Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-noon, 2-6 p.m. Calle 6 2-56, Tel: 7-568-2043, Web: www.ictp.gov.co). The Centro Cultural Municipal Ramón González Valencia also supplies informative maps of the city (Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-noon, 2-6 p.m. Carrera 7 5-52). 

Money

None of the banks in Pamplona cash travellers cheques. The following have ATMs:

Bancolombia (Calle 7 5-76)—MasterCard, Visa, Cirrus, American Express

Banco de Bogotá (Carrera 6 5-47, on the main plaza)—ATH: Visa, MasterCard, Cirrus, Plus

BBVA (Carrera 6 5-71, main plaza)—Visa, MasterCard, Plus.

There are no casas de cambio, nor does either Western Union or Money Gram have agents here.

Keeping in Touch

The Telecom/Telefónica charge $0.15 per minute for local and national calls, from $0.30 per minute for international calls, and $1.05 per hour for internet (Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.-noon, 2-8 p.m. Corner Calle 7 and Carrera 5A). A national or local call from a shop costs about $0.10 per minute. Generally, internet cafés charge $0.60-0.80 per hour, though some have special hours costing only $0.50. Shop around. Don’t bother looking for Skype, as it seems no-one has it (let alone know what it is).

For letter writers who like to do it the ol’-fashioned way, the post office, Correos de Colombia/Adpostal is the place to go (Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m.-noon, 2-6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.-noon. Calle 6 6-36).

Medical

Hospital San Juan de Dios is at the end of Calle 5, just over the river (Tel: 7-568-2482). Carrera 6, between Parque Águeda Gallardo (the main plaza) and Plazuela Almeida (where the obelisk is) is home to most of the city’s pharmacies.

Laundry

That entity that is few and far between in Colombia, Pamplona happens to have two of, for the convenience of both frazzled university students and travellers: the Laundromat. Lavoexpress can wash your clothes for $0.50 per kilo, or wash and dry them for $1.05 per kilo. If you get your dirty duds in during the morning, they can be done by close the same day (Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.-noon, 2-6 p.m. Calle 5 4-09, Tel: 7-568-2554).Lavaexpress has another outlet at Calle 9 7-89; it has the same hours.

Camera

There are several camera shops in town, two right on the main square, Parque Águeda Gallardo. All are pretty basic, mostly dedicated to photo processing and digital camera sales. Film is hard to find; try one of the droguerías, or drugstores.