Medellin Reports

[SpiderRider]

I will be making my first journey to Medellin January 23-28.

I booked my stay at the Mansion figuring it is best place to start.

Surprisingly, I was trading emails regarding availability of rooms. First email was on Monday and they had a good choice of rooms.

I asked to book a room on Tuesday night and only 2 rooms available! One of them was their most expensive room in M2 at 440 k pesos.

I was surprised it booked out so quickly.

2 basic questions, yes I have read the forum and can not find the answers.

1) Best way to get to Mansion from airport? I read the cabs are 70-80 K. Is this better than Uber?

2) Converting US $ to Columbian Pesos- where is best place for converting US $ cash?

Thanks.

Consider buying some Colombian pesos at a bank before you leave. Get familiar with it and the conversion value of 50 mil, 20 mil etc. Mansion books quickly as their Super Bowl party draws near. I and others never miss it. If there is a girl in their taxi she will expect to go to your room with you when you arrive. If you don't want to, let her know and tip her for her effort please.

[Queens35]

What is the visitor policy at San Peter apartments?

I assume visitors check in at the reception desk. Do they copy their ID? Do I need to come down to the lobby to meet them or will they let them up alone?

Do they call you when the girl leaves?

TIA.

[Queens35]

I use a Schwab ATM card and usually pull money out of BanColombia ATMs. One day I needed some quick cash and used Bank of Bogota. One word to the wise. DON'T! The exchange rate I got was about 3,000 cop. Rip off. I do a few hundred COP better with BanColombia.

I've used Bank of Bogota on La 70 many times. Have always gotten a competitive rate using the Schwab card too. Strange.

[ColombiaLover]

Just got back from 9 days in Medellin. Except for beginning of 12/31, weather was super. Because of holidays, a lot less traffic. Although I rarely left Laureles, other than to go to Lleras a few times.

A chica I have known for 4 years actually brought me food from her house on 12/31. It was so nice of her family share their meal with me.

Saw a range of chicas. Regular girls, non-pros and pros. A few of the girls I saw were my go-tos. Love the service. Surprisingly, I think I only saw one new girl. The rest of them were various repeats ranging from 18-34. I had a few other new ones I wanted to try, but never got around to it. I'll go back in 3 weeks anyway, so can hopefully see them there.

Had a few good meals. I actually like the food in Woka, although the drink prices are high (for Medellin). I tried a restaurant in Lleras named Gato. The food was good. The portions were very good and they had an interesting drink menu. I tried two new (to me) bars in Lleras. La Perla and La Octava. La Perla is close to Gato. A few streets over from the Parque. Good music and drinks. Octava is across the street from Triada. The place looks like a dump from the outside. Well it actually is a dump inside also. But if you walk inside and then go downstairs, you enter a open area with an old swimming pool filled with plastic balls (like those places for kids). Tables are set up around the pool. I enjoyed a few drinks watching drunk gringos dive into the pool.

I went out one night to Tabu. Right next to the Parque. My tequila was not cheap, but it was a fun night. The music was a variety and was good. I danced some to salsa and other Latin songs. Had a good time people watching. A few true hotties in there. Probably prepagos, but I was with someone, so I did not attempt to inquire.

I use a Schwab ATM card and usually pull money out of BanColombia ATMs. One day I needed some quick cash and used Bank of Bogota. One word to the wise. DON'T! The exchange rate I got was about 3,000 cop. Rip off. I do a few hundred COP better with BanColombia.

[Mr Enternational]

1) Best way to get to Mansion from airport? I read the cabs are 70-80 K. Is this better than Uber?

Don't matter. Ain't no more Uber.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/01/10/...crackdown.html

[Elvis 2008]

Elvis mentioned Interjet Airlines. I believe their flights from and. American to S. American go through Mexico City and IMO that's something you want to avoid.

There is definitely a learning curve with Mexico City, and the layovers can be a pain with Interjet. Thing is that I would rather fly through Mexico City and come to a more neutral / better place in the USA For customs like Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio than Fort Lauderdale. And if you have an overnight layover, Mexico City is a cool place to have a night to hang out. There are a bevy of babes on twitter for Mexico City.

Aeromexico gets more love than Interjet, but they have more Boeing than Airbus planes and are usually pretty expensive.

[BMo814]

Thank you. I will take the taxi offered by the Mansion. I am assuming building 2 also has a reception desk to check in?

I should also change a little money in the airport to pay for the taxi.

You can pay in dollars you might save a few dollars though if you pay in cop. How it went for me the driver took me to M2 " el Castillo " it was early so the room wasn't ready I talked with the manager for a while and he took me down to M1 to check in, everyone is real cool there, they will take care of you.

[Rwaters]

I think using one of mansiand drivers is easiest. Especially if you are at M2 lots of cabs don't know where it is and it doesn't pop up on GPS it gives a location in the middle of the block I was told and since you never been you would be able to direct them. It's the same price using their driver as a taxi. If you got the doe and like nice accommodations get the master suite. I stayed there it was nice, it's the bosses room I was told. Right down the hill at Oviedo mall all the currency exchanges and ATM' s you need.

Thank you. I will take the taxi offered by the Mansion. I am assuming building 2 also has a reception desk to check in?

I should also change a little money in the airport to pay for the taxi.

[BMo814]

I will be making my first journey to Medellin January 23-28.

I booked my stay at the Mansion figuring it is best place to start.

Surprisingly, I was trading emails regarding availability of rooms. First email was on Monday and they had a good choice of rooms.

I asked to book a room on Tuesday night and only 2 rooms available! One of them was their most expensive room in M2 at 440 k pesos.

I was surprised it booked out so quickly.

2 basic questions, yes I have read the forum and can not find the answers.

1) Best way to get to Mansion from airport? I read the cabs are 70-80 K. Is this better than Uber?

2) Converting US $ to Columbian Pesos- where is best place for converting US $ cash?

Thanks.

I think using one of mansióand drivers is easiest. Especially if you are at M2 lots of cabs don't know where it is and it doesn't pop up on GPS it gives a location in the middle of the block I was told and since you never been you would be able to direct them. It's the same price using their driver as a taxi. If you got the doe and like nice accommodations get the master suite. I stayed there it was nice, it's the bosses room I was told. Right down the hill at Oviedo mall all the currency exchanges and ATM' s you need.

[Mr Enternational]

The truth eventually comes out. I stopped talking to her. I guess I got on to her early and got a little lucky. The funny thing is that she continued to tell me that she was not a prepago. That people were lying to me about her. Even though the evidence was obvious.

In that case I would have told her I am sorry. I am only looking for prepagos. She would have turned into a prepago in no seconds flat then.

[JjBee62]

What do these people do if they party for five month straight and spending 50 k on a single hookers and blow, do they not have to work for living? How can they not want threesomes and how can they be satisfied with a single women for five month? There is no way this can be true.

I have my doubts about the truth of that particular story. If nothing else, there's a lot of stuff left out.

Met a guy more than 20 years ago. He was 62, just a few years away from retirement. Him and his wife were moving from Florida to Las Vegas. He was hoping to find a job and his wife was going to work with their daughter-in-law, in her catering business.

He'd worked for the same auto parts supplier for over 40 years. Had a big pension built up. Less than a year away from his retirement, the owner "fell in love". With an 18 year old stripper. In just a few months he bankrupted the business and stole everything out of the pension fund to spend on his new love. As soon as he was broke the love of his life disappeared.

Meanwhile, his employee needed to make ends meet until social security kicked in.

[JjBee62]

Elvis mentioned Interjet Airlines. I believe their flights from and. American to S. American go through Mexico City and IMO that's something you want to avoid.

He also mentioned Viva. If you live convenient to Miami or FLL, if you can travel on extremely short notice, you can sometimes find crazy deals on Viva's website. Usually they are last minute seats, so you will only have a few hours to get to the airport. I remember seeing one that was about $75 one way, but the flight left in under 12 hours.

[JjBee62]

Elvis mentioned Interjet Airlines. I believe their flights from and. American to S. American go through Mexico City and IMO that's something you want to avoid.

Unless you can get a cheap Interjet flight to Mexico City that matches up with the Aeromexico flight to Medellin. Flew them last July and I was quite pleased with the experience. Aeromexico, not Interjet.

[ChuchoLoco]

Elvis mentioned Interjet Airlines. I believe their flights from and. American to S. American go through Mexico City and IMO that's something you want to avoid.

They do stop there and it's a long layover and maybe not where I want to be. More research.

Thanks.

[ChuchoLoco]

Spirit is a pain in the ass with all the fees, but if you play it right, you can get by on the cheap. Other dirt cheap carrier is Viva Air but they only fly out of Miami to Medellin. If you fly into Lauderdale and need to transfer to Miami Airport, there is a train that you can use that connects you that costs like $5.

Still, Viva doesn't gauge you as badly fee wise as Sprint. For the most part, I like Airbus more than Boeings, and both carriers fly airbuses. I found Copa flights to be crazy cramped, and I usually got a 737.

One other cheap carrier I love is Interjet: big roomy seats, free food and drink, and they too fly Aibuses. They have long delays though which kind of sucks. At times, Jet Blue can compete with Spirit and take Jet Blue if you have the chance.

Wingo is a dirt cheap carrier that flies sporadically out of Bogota. Wingo flies to neighboring countries like Aruba, Panama, DR, and Costa Rica. So if you happen to find dirt cheap flights to those countries, add on Wingo flight, and you might have a bargain. Southwest Air flies to Aruba and Costa Rica..

Great options E! Thanks. I've got some thinking and more research to do but I have the time, retired!

Thanks again to everyone. You guys are some seasoned travellers and I'm learning some new options to get there. Was putting all my eggs / tickets in one basket.