Bogota Reports

[Woodman09]

Hi,

Could you please. What generic do you buy? Name?

I attached a photo -- I have a special pharmacy I can show you where it's 5 mil for 2.

[Ibespoke]

There no vibe for an area. Its 100% specific to the owner. I was mostly booking in Chapinero in both much nicer and not as nice parts of it when I say this. All you can do is message them before booking and ask. Its very rare that a host was vague when I asked them. I've messaged 75+ airbnbs in Bogota for various bookings over the last couple of years, and almost everyone has been very clear when responding. Now. Some of them responded back with answers I didn't like. But, that was the answer I needed.

I'd say I put 1-2 hours into searching / filtering for an airbnb and messaging hosts before making a decision for each booking. Small effort to avoid a headache.

Appreciate your response. Will report back my experience.

[Igor54]

I have been using the same generic for years-- Works Great and I pay $1 for 2 x 50 MG blisterpack-- Best price I can find-- Great for gifts to bring home.

Hi,

Could you please. What generic do you buy? Name?

[Flawless Zeal]

this comment about the city and food is based on your limited experience.

Of course. Thought I made that pretty transparent in my post. Having said that, Santa Fe is often recommended here as best conglomeration of clubs, so it is not as if I went to a random sketchy part of Bogota.

As to the rest of your post, Bogota objectively has a significantly higher crime rate than NYC or Tampa. To argue they are comparable seems disingenuous. And suggesting that Bogota has as good food as NYC. I mean, come on. Maybe if you're just comparing a grilled steak vs a grilled steak, or factoring in value (no question Bogota is cheaper), but otherwise, I think your bias is fairly apparent there. NYC often makes lists as one of the best cities for food in the entire world, it's not even fair to compare Bogota to it. Not that cuisine was the reason I went to Colombia.

[JackTaggart]

Hello All,

Will be visiting Bogota and it is new for me. I have had varied experiences with varying guest policies based on city, AirBNB building, Hotels, neighborhood etc. Experience has ranged from totally casual, waive at porteria and enter to "full court press" stop and document all details to odd rules like "no vistors after a certain hour etc. ".

Any reccos or experience with the "vibe" in Chapinero? I always message AirBNB hosts but they are usually vague and send "boiler plate" vistory policy text that is perhaps purposefully unclear.

I am always quiet and respectful (don't drink or throw parties) but don't want to book a place only to discover it is visitor inaccessible.

Any experience welcomed and appreciated.

There no vibe for an area. Its 100% specific to the owner. I was mostly booking in Chapinero in both much nicer and not as nice parts of it when I say this. All you can do is message them before booking and ask. Its very rare that a host was vague when I asked them. I've messaged 75+ airbnbs in Bogota for various bookings over the last couple of years, and almost everyone has been very clear when responding. Now. Some of them responded back with answers I didn't like. But, that was the answer I needed.

I'd say I put 1-2 hours into searching / filtering for an airbnb and messaging hosts before making a decision for each booking. Small effort to avoid a headache.

[JackTaggart]

1) Get a local phone and SIM. I was relying on my Tmobile international roaming, but found out when I got there that it was 2-G only, bought some higher speed data for $35, and used that up before the end. And walking around with a new iPhone added a bit of unnecessary anxiety.

You might have had that experience, but I have t-mobile and have not been restricted to 2 g. I agree using a different phone is just easier.

Was not a fan of the city generally -- very dirty with piles of garbage on many streets and homeless people looking through them, and not a lot to do in the city other than mongering. Food there was just okay IMO, even at the more expensive restaurants. Probably will try Medellin or somewhere in Mexico for my next trip.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But this comment about the city and food is based on your limited experience. If you went to a sketchy area of New York City for some mongering and never left that area. Would you say the same thing about NYC? Bad food and lots of garbage and homeless people for the whole city? What about Tampa near the sketchy stuff with adult theaters and where there are prostitutes? Would you feel the same way about all of Tampa?

I love Bogota. So not hiding my bias. But I wouldn't love it the same way if I lived in Santa Fe. Or didn't explore other things in other areas. Based on going to NYC easily 150+ times over the years for 2-3 days at a time with lots of dining out, I certainly haven't had a better food experience compared to Bogota. I am inserting NYC into the conversation here. But I guess whenever people make these types of comments, I try to figure out what people are comparing it to. And NYC is one of the richest cities in the world and I think most would agree it has great food, so I am using it to compare.

I am not trying to change your opinion. Because your experience is your experience. I just think comments like this provide incomplete information for people looking to visit Bogota. Or any new place for that matter. Not going to reveal my home usa city. But there are way more homeless people hanging out at the local gas station that bother me compared to when I am in Bogota. And I live in a nice area in the USA. I don't have that issue in Bogota and I don't stay in a fancy area at all.

[Nomars777]

Great report! I had very near the exact same experience on 2 trips. Hard bed included.

3 and 4 of the lessons learned are spot on. Although after my next Medellin trip, I'm leaning toward a return to San Jose Costa Rica after nearly 15 years to see how it's changed.

A few lessons learned from my first trip:



3) If you see a particularly hot girl at the club, approach her immediately, or she will be soon gone.

4) Biggest lesson for myself was not to pinch pennies when everything is so damn cheap. Don't walk home at night if you feel a bit uneasy on dark empty streets with homeless people and piles of garbage, just catch the $5 uber home immediately and uber almost everywhere else too. Don't sit and watch a girl you're uninterested in dance on stage, or even worse, wait at an empty stage. Dances are about $7, decently long, and as much touching T&A as you want, even kissing T&A, for $7. If the beer kinda sucks, but you want more than water, find a club with good girls early on and buy a bottle for the upper level. If you're flying out late at night and the hotel is only $30/ night, just pay for an extra night, and similarly, don't factor in saving money on a hotel by doing red eye (s), was not worth how unrested I was, and ended up not getting sleep on the plane in either direction. I was worried about arriving at the hotel too late at night, but in retrospect, it would have been fine.

In conclusion, being able to reliably get 7. 5-8. 5 girls at clubs for $25-40 in Bogota was pretty amazing. Did not love having to deal with the horrible club music, or having to change clubs multiple times when they would go periods of time with hardly any girls there and none on stage, particularly with the annoying AF guys outside every club pestering you. Was not a fan of the city generally -- very dirty with piles of garbage on many streets and homeless people looking through them, and not a lot to do in the city other than mongering. Food there was just okay IMO, even at the more expensive restaurants. Probably will try Medellin or somewhere in Mexico for my next trip.

[Woodman09]

Quick report from Bogota, Santa Fe.

Walked around Calle 20 and Carrera 15 Bis (and wider), where there were a bunch of street walkers a few open casas around 10 pm. Surprisingly empty from what I remember the last time. I'll likely walk a little further down this week.

Found a vennie who was a 6. 5/10 but had great energy. Asked for 50 k (seems to be the average rate here) which surprises me as Medellin is 40-50 k, and previously Medellin felt more expensive. Anyways.

Any tips for where else I should be looking (mainly street)?

Head north to Calle 23 and Cra 15 that is the North stroll, More better girls there.

[JjBee62]

How much is the play for short time and or overnight, in American dollars? I see quotes on here like 600 k but I don't know the exchange.

Learn the exchange rate. Most places will not take dollars and not knowing the exchange rate guarantees you'll be ripped off.

You can simply type "USD to COP" into Google and get the current rate. Right now it's about 4200 pesos per dollar. Ballpark it and 600 k is under $150.

Short time costs vary depending on location. If someone is talking about 600 k (600,000 Colombian pesos) for short time they are way above most price ranges.

[JjBee62]

Sure you can buy them all in any pharmacy. I think tadalafil is better than viagra, as a single dose lasts for three days. Any local brand is ok like genfar, sandoz, mk. Just make sure to buy them in a pharmacy such as farmatodo or colsubsidio. There is plenty of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Colombia.

Depends on the person. For me, tadalafil works great, but leaves me with severe pain in my lower back and legs. Sildenafil usually causes no problems.

[PineTree]

Sure you can buy them all in any pharmacy. I think tadalafil is better than viagra, as a single dose lasts for three days. Any local brand is ok like genfar, sandoz, mk. Just make sure to buy them in a pharmacy such as farmatodo or colsubsidio. There is plenty of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Colombia.

Thank you.

[Flawless Zeal]

Only had just under four days to stay (Sat-Tue), but was a decent experience overall. Tequendama Suites was okay, except that wifi was completely unusable from my room, which sucked for looking things up online at all (phone service not great either) and I had some work I needed to do while there. I also forgot how much harder beds are in SA, but not sure you can do anything about that.

Did tour with Woodman, very good guy. This was my first mongering abroad, much less Bogota specifically, so definitely I appreciated getting a lay of the land from him, rundown of how things worked there, and someone to go with on my first night there.

I looked at Seeking earlier that week and found some potential leads, but the first one demanded 300 USD for a "session", so that turned me off from negotiating with the others. And with my short stay I didn't want to risk getting unlucky with girls flaking, possibly wasting time going to dinner or drinks with a significant language barrier, and the stories about scopolamine seem to mostly come from FB / Tinder / SA, so I decided to stick with pros at clubs and spas.

Nights out I ended up going to the five or so clubs clustered together in SF, checking the girls out until I found some I liked, paid for dances to see what they were like 1 on 1, then would decide who to take upstairs. I never monger below a 7, and since I was there only for a few days, I was only looking for 7. 5-8. 5's (the only 9 I saw was giving a guy a dance and disappeared). Finding girls in that range was doable, but it definitely required going to multiple clubs and when I saw a girl I liked, asking for her immediately, since unless you have particularly unique taste, she'll usually be snapped up pretty quick.

Never got GFE, though my lack of Spanish fluency didn't help. I am decent at understanding it and mediocre at speaking during normal times, but in a loud club it was a struggle and a bit frustrating. In a weird way I almost wonder if I would have done better going in as if I knew zero Spanish, since the translate app works well (when there is reception) and sometimes I thought I understood but later learned I had not, or else was 80% of the way there and just feigned understanding the rest to get on with whatever rather than start the conversation over using the app.

Went to Via Spa but simply could not find the entrance anywhere. Eventually gave up and went to the spa on the other side of the building on the next street, Colorin. Got to see seven or so girls, first and last were easily in my range, and had a very good time with the first. May have overpaid by forgetting to ask price until I had already selected the girl, but had a great time regardless.

A few lessons learned from my first trip:

1) Get a local phone and SIM. I was relying on my Tmobile international roaming, but found out when I got there that it was 2-G only, bought some higher speed data for $35, and used that up before the end. And walking around with a new iPhone added a bit of unnecessary anxiety.

2) Along the same lines, I should have gone immediately to the hotel lobby the first day and asked for a room with working wifi. Was pretty annoying, particularly since I had some work I had to do while there.

3) If you see a particularly hot girl at the club, approach her immediately, or she will be soon gone.

4) Biggest lesson for myself was not to pinch pennies when everything is so damn cheap. Don't walk home at night if you feel a bit uneasy on dark empty streets with homeless people and piles of garbage, just catch the $5 uber home immediately and uber almost everywhere else too. Don't sit and watch a girl you're uninterested in dance on stage, or even worse, wait at an empty stage. Dances are about $7, decently long, and as much touching T&A as you want, even kissing T&A, for $7. If the beer kinda sucks, but you want more than water, find a club with good girls early on and buy a bottle for the upper level. If you're flying out late at night and the hotel is only $30/ night, just pay for an extra night, and similarly, don't factor in saving money on a hotel by doing red eye (s), was not worth how unrested I was, and ended up not getting sleep on the plane in either direction. I was worried about arriving at the hotel too late at night, but in retrospect, it would have been fine.

In conclusion, being able to reliably get 7. 5-8. 5 girls at clubs for $25-40 in Bogota was pretty amazing. Did not love having to deal with the horrible club music, or having to change clubs multiple times when they would go periods of time with hardly any girls there and none on stage, particularly with the annoying AF guys outside every club pestering you. Was not a fan of the city generally -- very dirty with piles of garbage on many streets and homeless people looking through them, and not a lot to do in the city other than mongering. Food there was just okay IMO, even at the more expensive restaurants. Probably will try Medellin or somewhere in Mexico for my next trip.

[Ibespoke]

Hello All,

Will be visiting Bogota and it is new for me. I have had varied experiences with varying guest policies based on city, AirBNB building, Hotels, neighborhood etc. Experience has ranged from totally casual, waive at porteria and enter to "full court press" stop and document all details to odd rules like "no vistors after a certain hour etc. ".

Any reccos or experience with the "vibe" in Chapinero? I always message AirBNB hosts but they are usually vague and send "boiler plate" vistory policy text that is perhaps purposefully unclear.

I am always quiet and respectful (don't drink or throw parties) but don't want to book a place only to discover it is visitor inaccessible.

Any experience welcomed and appreciated.

[KindAn]

Quick report from Bogota, Santa Fe.

Walked around Calle 20 and Carrera 15 Bis (and wider), where there were a bunch of street walkers a few open casas around 10 pm. Surprisingly empty from what I remember the last time. I'll likely walk a little further down this week.

Found a vennie who was a 6. 5/10 but had great energy. Asked for 50 k (seems to be the average rate here) which surprises me as Medellin is 40-50 k, and previously Medellin felt more expensive. Anyways.

Any tips for where else I should be looking (mainly street)?

[JustWatching69]

How much is the play for short time and or overnight, in American dollars? I see quotes on here like 600 k but I don't know the exchange.