The Mansion Incident #2

[Chido]

The truth will hurt becasue the fact is that Medellin was not long ago one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The same people who made is so still live there and are looking for easy targets and the Mansion and all the non spanish speaking foreigners who go there are the easist (and with money) targets around. Why would someone want to tell the truth about the real dangers when there's a good thing going? The issue is that if you travel to a place like Colombia and are in a high profile situation you will be a target. It goes with the territory. Take this as a warning and those who escaped unhurt and only less some personal items consider yourself lucky. People who commit robberies like these will not hesitate to use deadly force.

[Sylvester]

Spend spend spend! Offer the mansion more money for a room. Lets all make Greg even more rich so he can pick and choose his clients. Greg got tied up and everything for us all so we really should give him our full support at this time. I have heard some stories that it was almost like that very scary scene in Pulp Fiction involving the Gimp if you guys need some imagines of what Grey suffered for us.

Once Poblado is full of gringos who are blowing all kinds of money and have expensive high class girls then the bad perception the Colombians have of us will change. We got to work together to get rid of the Walmart Gringos!

You think a bunch of gringos throwing money around like Daddy Warbucks is a solution? Are you serious? That makes absolutely NO sense! Firstly, doing that attracts MORE, not less attention to yourself. Secondly, doing that will NOT make the locals think better of you. They will conclude you are just another gringo pendejo with more money than brains! This practice did NOT work for Costa Rica and it will NOT work in Colombia.

You mention throwing in an extra c-note, and giving gifts to prepagos. What the hell for? They are not your girlfriend, they are girls you hired for the night or hour. You pay fair market value and treat them decently. Why are you trying to romance a hooker? You think she likes you any better? On the contrary, she is laughing behind your back and telling her friends what a huevon you are.

Throwing money around is a BAD idea. Might as well just paint a bulls-eye your ass. Bring vaseline because you will get fucked!

[Cuba Tourist]

Greg,

Would you be willing to write out a full report on what happened exactly? That would help us to understand the whole incident.

Thank you.

[Mr Lotto]

I LOVE THIS GUYS POST's, on that already exists.

As for the crime, well I expected as much when I moved here, third world has gourgous poor girls desperate to sleep with me for money, wouldn't be a far fetch to think it also has desperate poor guys turning to crime. I think most normal guys living her expect this and made preperations for it, don't take risks always watch your back ect. Its these new guys whom recently moved down here buying property from scam agencys being told Colombia has changed, theres no crime, not in poblado, thinking poblado was like the states, except with poor girls from the barrios runing down the hill to be with them from anywhere between 20 bucks to 500 bucks.

YEAH. No such thing as the perfect place, or paradise; welcome to reality, and gringos arent to blame all tourist are to blame, were being introduced to colombian crime that has always been here LOL what you guys think every building here has the armed guards for nothing? I rember one stupid gringo telling me that poblado has to get rid of those armed guards then adm. Fees for apartments will go down! LOL, WOW he sells apartments. Colombians have had to live with the fear of kidnapings bombings and theft for a long time and they have built their lives around this. To them they rember the days of "la volienca" and the bombings of the narco wars its what kept the tourism at bay preventing ex-pat inflation.

If anything its the so called rich gringo whom will make more of an impact on Medellin then anything eles, they create price inflation This guy wants to pay 400 million for my apartment, creating the hope of ooh I hope a stupid gringo buys my apartment so I can get double or triple the price. With the increase of tourism natrually comes more crime, with the increase of idoits whom over pay comes price inflation and over valued property; I would perfer the crime. Personally

You bring up a lot of interesting points but I believe some of them need clarification. As far as crime goes the murder and crime rates have dropped here significantly over the past seven years and in fact the murder rate for Medellin is now lower than a number of US cities including Wash DC, Baltimore, St Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, New Orleans, to name a few. I feel safer walking at night in El Centro than I do any of those cities and others. Will the crime rate go up as tourism increases here, nobody knows but we do know that Colombia and Medellin have been working hard to improve security here and reduce crime. Are they going to throw all that away as tourism increases?

You seem to be concerned about rising real estate prices here and the rich Americans are the blame now and more so in the future. Well the nice steady price appreciation that is occurring here (unllike the speculative debacle that recently occurred in the US because of poor lending practices and greed on the part of the banks) is occurring without US buying, which represents well under 1% of sales in Medellin. Conversely here you pay cash or put at least 30% down with a 17% interest rate 15 yr amortization mortgage if you are a Colombian. No speculative frenzy here. But more importatanly is the $ per sq meter for property here. Medellin is one of the lowest priced cosmopolitan cities in the world bsed upon that metric. And the other higher priced cities pale in comparison to what Medellin has to offer.

Finally your concern about continuing higher real estate prices. Yes they probably will go up as more US and European buyers and corporate interests enter the market. But this international particpation will also be doing something else. Creating higher paying jobs (and new jobs) so more of the poor people can move up to the middle class. Creating a growing middle class is the key to shedding a third world status. The educational infrastructure is here and the people are motivated. So they deserve the chance and international investing here will be a major key.

The downside to this scenario is that you sold your aptartment too cheaply and left several million pesos on the table and the rest of us have to pay more for meals, drinks and pussy. It still beats the US.

[Aussie Greg]

T.V. segment.

Did anybody see the two DIM T.V. programs that they did at the Mansion for the football team. !! was the T.V. presenter noce or what.

Aussie Greg

[Marzon]

This surely is the crazy train to funky town. Some of these bedwetters really need to lighten up and enjoy themselves more, which I thought was the whole point of travelling/adventure. Maybe guys like pink & rock would be happier with penis extensions, a new toupe, or maybe a job. Just live life and stop polluting this board.

[Legal Tender]

I'm not sure how to quote a previous post, but Greg wrote:

"Still full at the Mansion, rooms available at El Castillo. We will always set the pace in Medellin."

With all due respect, the Titanic was full, also. By analogy, how about the twin towers of the World Trade Center? The past is the best predictor of the future, unless changes are made. Albert Einstein said that inanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.

My point is simply this: Is it unreasonable to expect an explanation of planned changes at the Mansion to prevent a future similar event? And, was any assistance offered to the guests who were in a world of shit without any cash or passport? For whatever it's worth, I enjoy the Mansion and think Greg is a stand-up guy. But safety is safety and business is business.

When I wrote despairingly about Code Pink, perhaps I was ambiguous. Pink obviously is well versed in the culture of Medellin. But these diatribes about his self labeled "Wal-Mart" gringos are not productive. The issue is not wealth or spending ability, it is about class, respect for all people and especially those who control Medellin, and for ones self. You can take the dude out of Walmart, but you can't take Walmart out of the dude.

The answer to my questions is not “ we are still full . . . . [and] set the pace in Medellin.”

[Tweeners]

It doesn't take a genius to link this incident with these concerns that were mentioned a month back and/or with a certain former security guard at the MM that was fired for skimming the guests when they ordered something from outside.

Having never been there and living through others in this forum and others, I'd suspect that is bang on.

And I agree with both of you, that taking a street walker and parading her through the nicest parts of town shows a complete lack of judgement. Heck that would stand out in Vegas as well!

Lessons to be learned for some, absolutely. But I still think there's another side to this story that's not being told and some of the fear mongering posts are over the top. Who's to say that these nitwits destroying the scene even read here?

For the most part, a large majority of the posters here, do use their heads correctly (both of them!)

[Bango Cheito]

Code Pinker may have only 2 posts to his name, and I don't personally know him from Adam but he's right on the money with his posts. There's NO way this would have happened without the DAS being in on it. Anybody who thinks otherwise has NO CLUE about this country, and frankly, had better just not come here.

[Sailor2006]

I LOVE THIS GUYS POST's, they amuse me in the morning. Very funny. Now all the "rich guys" are scared. LOL the smart and brave ones will now carry guns, the scaredy cats will not return or blame others when it all comes down to increase tourism, its like the beggers on the street, whom do you think they bother more, locals or gringos? Homeless man will litterally RUN if they see a gringo, they RUN.

Crime and tourism are historical, Coastarica saw a spike in crime with tourism, Mexico is seeing its highest kidnapping rates in years, and I am willing to bet also its highest levels of ex-pat communites as well. Even the united states saw killings against forign tourist in florida. Tourists are easy targets, no body likes them anywaz even if they work at "leahman brothers" and not wallmart.

Bombs use to go off in poblado, kidnappings occured not too long ago, and they are still homeless who often wonder in "park illares". Ever wonder why the most popular place in "el poblado" where the "rich and powerfull" go to dinner and clubbing, where all the prettiest girls can be found has beggers selling gum or just plain begging, those guys and kids can get pretty annyoing no? . Its becuase the police don't dare throw them out, as long as they obey the rules, and are not in high numbers they are allowed to do as they wish for fear of not creating more class tension that already exists.

As for the crime, well I expected as much when I moved here, third world has gourgous poor girls desperate to sleep with me for money, wouldn't be a far fetch to think it also has desperate poor guys turning to crime. I think most normal guys living her expect this and made preperations for it, don't take risks always watch your back ect. Its these new guys whom recently moved down here buying property from scam agencys being told Colombia has changed, theres no crime, not in poblado, thinking poblado was like the states, except with poor girls from the barrios runing down the hill to be with them from anywhere between 20 bucks to 500 bucks.

YEAH. No such thing as the perfect place, or paradise; welcome to reality, and gringos arent to blame all tourist are to blame, were being introduced to colombian crime that has always been here LOL what you guys think every building here has the armed guards for nothing? I rember one stupid gringo telling me that poblado has to get rid of those armed guards then adm. Fees for apartments will go down! LOL, WOW he sells apartments. Colombians have had to live with the fear of kidnapings bombings and theft for a long time and they have built their lives around this. To them they rember the days of "la volienca" and the bombings of the narco wars its what kept the tourism at bay preventing ex-pat inflation.

If anything its the so called rich gringo whom will make more of an impact on Medellin then anything eles, they create price inflation This guy wants to pay 400 million for my apartment, creating the hope of ooh I hope a stupid gringo buys my apartment so I can get double or triple the price. With the increase of tourism natrually comes more crime, with the increase of idoits whom over pay comes price inflation and over valued property; I would perfer the crime. Personally

[Phunluv]

Although Pink's posts are a bit over the top, there IS a grain of truth regarding the "social cleansing" aspect when it comes to the paracos (paramilitaries). And I DID post here about a month ago that the MM and gringos in general were getting too high-profile in MDE because of a TV segment that did NOT portray gringos visiting MDE in a positive way. Not to mention some of the silly gringo behavior that's becoming more common, like parading your tacky looking street puta in the swankiest part of town.

It doesn't take a genius to link this incident with these concerns that were mentioned a month back and/or with a certain former security guard at the MM that was fired for skimming the guests when they ordered something from outside.

[Tweeners]

I hope no one reads this post

Unfortunately I did, a couple minutes of my life I'll never get back.

When all the facts are in regarding what happened, people can make some more informed decisions about where they want to go and what they want to do.

Obviously this puts AG in the cross-hairs as to how he intends to rectify the situation going forward, I'm sure he understands that.

I will agree 100% that you're guests in a third world country and if you feel the need to draw attention to yourself then be prepared for the consequences.

I prefer being low key myself, I just find it easier to get around if you're under the radar.

[Code Pinker]

Sailor: I do not consider Medellin to be my private playground. But I am tired of the lowlife gringos who are treating it like it is only a playground. There are women and children in Pobaldo and people who are trying to raise families. Good honest people. They do not want to see Walmart Gringos running around everywhere with grillas.

Here is what happened at the Mansion for all those inquiring minds. I have confirmed this story with several people who live in Poblado as well as two cops.

A girl showed up late at night. She knocks on the door. Given the fact that hookers go in and out of the mansion all night this was not something that seemed unusual. When they opened the door she pulled out a gun and then two armed men appeared who all entered the house.

None of the 6 security guards in the other buildings saw shit. You know why that is? Probably because the cops had given the green light to hit the place and it was approved by the people who control Pobaldo. The same people who do not enjoy looking at low class gringos in Parque Lleras.

None of the bandits wore gloves. There are finger prints everywhere. They did not hide their faces. They stayed inside the mansion ransacking the place for 30 minutes. They went room to room opening all safes. They wanted the passports so they knew who all the gringos were.

These guys clearly know the police are not going to find them. And the reason for that is because the police are not even going to look. They will say they are doing their best but nothing is going to ever be found.

You guys know all Colombians get finger printed many, many times over a year. If you buy a cell phone you are finger printed. If you exchange money you are finger printed. You are finger printed when you get your identification card that ALL Colombians must carry. You are finger printed when you open a bank account. You are finger printed when you get a drives licence. There are probably 100 other examples where you are finger printed.

These guys did not care about putting prints on anything. That is because they had permission to go in there. These were not petty desperate thieves. The fact the girl knew how to use a gun would make me think she was probably military or had some police training. It is unusual to see Colombians female act this ballsy. They were not worried about the cops which are 3 minutes away from responding. You guys really need a lesson on how things work in Colombia.

The politicians know killing a bunch of gringos will get very bad international media attention. But scaring a bunch of Walmart Gringos is ok. They have sent you guys all a message that is loud and clear. The next time the lesson is going to be a little more extreme. I am betting they are going to have one of the paracos beatup and rob someone at Majorista. I will put money on something like this happening very, very soon.

These robbers walked away with a LOT of money. I have heard it was over $20, 000 dollars. That makes all gringos the target of crime now. They are all saying to their pals "those gringos have bags of cash and no guns".

I would like to congradulate you all on making the city I love a little more dangerous for us all. Good fucking work!

I suggest Greg beefs up the security a lot. But more importantly is he has to stop letting these Walmart Gringos stay there. Start explaining to these guys to not make assholes of themselves in public. Write up a list of "rules" for how to act in public in Medellin. Learn to give the girls more money so not to make us all look like cheapasses. When you see a Walmart Gringo wondering around Parque Lleras cluelessly with his grilla dressed in hooker boots tell him this conduct is unacceptable. Tell him to go to a shitty area like Laureles or anywhere outside of Poblado. If he does not listen then esculate the situation.

Guys, we all have to work together! We got to save our Medellin from the Walmart Gringos. As I said before an excellent way of doing this is to spend lots of MONEY! Walmart Gringos HATE seeing others spend money since they have none to spend. Give the girl a brand new hundred dollar bill and tell her she diserves more. Buy her a box of chocolates as well. The girls love presents and will be much more passionate in bed if they think you care about them. The Walmart Gringos go crazy when I give the girls presents but I love doing it if only so I can tell Walmarters about it.

Spend spend spend! Offer the mansion more money for a room. Lets all make Greg even more rich so he can pick and choose his clients. Greg got tied up and everything for us all so we really should give him our full support at this time. I have heard some stories that it was almost like that very scary scene in Pulp Fiction involving the Gimp if you guys need some imagines of what Grey suffered for us.

Once Poblado is full of gringos who are blowing all kinds of money and have expensive high class girls then the bad perception the Colombians have of us will change. We got to work together to get rid of the Walmart Gringos!

[Aussie Greg]

LT,

Mmmmmmmmm, I guess still being full says alot for what you have to say.

Aussie Greg

This distraction with Code Pinker’s rants and raves does us all a disservice. The incident at the Mansion is as serious as cancer. Other than the acknowledgment of the robbery and the sketchy details, we don’t know what happened. Knowledge is power and we need to know the details in order to evaluate the safety at the Mansion. More importantly, what measures have been taken by Greg and his partners to insure, to the greatest extent possible, that this will type of event will not be repeated in the future. And, what was done for those guests that lost their personal property, money, and PASSPORTS?

Now is the time for some answers without the distraction generated by this gnat who calls himself Code Pink a/k/a Code Pinker.

[Aussie Greg]

Still full at the Mansion, rooms available at El Castillo.

We will always set the pace in Medellin.

Aussie Greg

This distraction with Code Pinker’s rants and raves does us all a disservice. The incident at the Mansion is as serious as cancer. Other than the acknowledgment of the robbery and the sketchy details, we don’t know what happened. Knowledge is power and we need to know the details in order to evaluate the safety at the Mansion. More importantly, what measures have been taken by Greg and his partners to insure, to the greatest extent possible, that this will type of event will not be repeated in the future. And, what was done for those guests that lost their personal property, money, and PASSPORTS?

Now is the time for some answers without the distraction generated by this gnat who calls himself Code Pink a/k/a Code Pinker.