"In all my trips, I've never been able to get full exchange rate"
And you never will, in Colombia. I use [URL]XE.com[/URL] to get the official rate and if you get within 100 pesos of that, your doing good. The only place I ever got equal to or even slightly above the official rate was in Rio. There was a small jewelry store on Miguel Lemos that gave great rates if you had $100 bills. It was crazy, this place has the door wide open, no guards nothing but they were changing money like crazy, Never a hold up, nothing! I once said to the boss, you don't need a guard? He looked at me and laughed. Obviously connected. If you messed with these guys you would end up in tires jaja.
Time Needed to go from airport to Santa Fe and back on a layover
The question was recently asked if 4 hours is enough time to leave the airport, get a girl and get back to the airport. The answer is yes.
Last night I left Hotel Aloft, which is a short walk away from the Portal El Dorado Transmilenio station, at 7 pm. I walked to the station, got on the bus and went to Santa Fe. I was in Santa Fe for about 1 hour 30 minutes and was back in the hotel by 9:20.
If you add 20 minutes for the bus from the airport to Portal El Dorado and 20 for the bus back (which is excessive), it can easily by done in 3 hours.
The bus to Santa Fe is route L10 and get off at Calle 22. The bus back is route K10 and Portal El Dorado is the last stop. I think cost was 2350 pesos each way. You'll need to get a Tu Llave card and put some money on it. It doesn't expire. I still had enough on my card from last year, but added 10 k more.
Of course, it helps when you hand the money and the Tu Llave card to the woman in the booth instead of money and your hotel room key card.