Medellin Reports

[El Mechanico]

once you conjugate a reflexive verb, the reflexive pronoun separates from the infinitive and you have the same word as in the non-reflexive related verb.

Very impressive DH!

I don't even know what that means in English!! Although I have no trouble whatsoever when I travel down there, this is why I will never consider myself fluent!!

El Mechanico.

[Eszpresszo]

Also in Batam, my experience turned 180 just as soon as I became able to sustain basic communication with locals in Bahasa Indonesia.

Supposedly that is the easiest language in the world to learn next to Swedish and Esperanto. At least that is what the linguists say. I have been trying to learn BI through book and videos, and so far it seems easier than Spanish! That says a lot. Maybe I will have it down by next summer. In the meantime, I will still work on my Spanish, though my pretty Salvadorena tutor at work found a better job.

Colombia. Indonesia. They share an ocean.

[Black Page]

if you don't mind limiting your communication to hand gestures and grunts, then there's no reason to learn a few Spanish phrases.
(.....)
Do whatever way works for you. There's just no need to insist that nobody should learn Spanish.

Spot on! Well said!

That's the key in every country. Also in Batam, my experience turned 180° just as soon as I became able to sustain basic communication with locals in Bahasa Indonesia (and I learned <<100 words).

But there's no need to insist to lecture people on what they should do. There are things that are either understood autonomously or impossible to get even if explained.

[Dickhead]

Yes, to get engaged is reflexive and to promise is not (unless you are promising yourself, of course). But try putting the English words through a translator and see what you get. And in a lot of parts of the world, Spanish speakers will use comprometir non-reflexively as commitment or promise. Haven't you ever heard in BA, 'no hay ningún compromiso'? In any case, the argentinean woman thought she was getting an engagement ring and the gringo thought he was giving a promise ring. Note that once you conjugate a reflexive verb, the reflexive pronoun separates from the infinitive and you have the same word as in the non-reflexive related verb.

In the third person preterite, for example:

Comprometió.

Se comprometió.

Same thing happens in all the other tenses as well.

[Alliwantislove]

<snip> Now my second example is priceless. Some Captain Save a Ho wanted to give his favorite hooker a ring. Not an engagement ring, but a promise ring. He was very, very careful to make sure he described the ring to her as a "promise" ring, of course using his trusty translator to ensure he had the proper word for "promise. " Well, unfortunately for this douche bag, the word for 'promise' and 'to get engaged' is the exact same word in Spanish: comprometir. <snip>

I sure am not qualified to argue Spanish with you. But I will point out that when I lookup "promise" on Wordreference I get "prometer". When I lookup "get engaged" I get "comprometerSE" and "prometerSE". "ComprometerSE" can translate to either "promise" or "to get engaged". "Prometer" (not reflexive) does not translate to "to get engaged".

I couldn't agree more that machine translation sucks.

Bob.

[JjBee62]

The 'you must know Spanish' thing confuses and bores me. It confuses me because I know so many guys who have no Spanish knowledge but enjoy visiting Colombia regularly. I don't doubt they could enjoy it more if they could speak Spanish but it is a long way between that and the endless references to what guys must do to make it. That gets boring.

I don't think anyone said "you must know Spanish. " I certainly didn't. What several have said is that learning some Spanish opens up more options and can improve the overall experience. If you don't mind pointing at the menu for every meal, or being able to get the hotel to understand there is a dead rat in your room, if you don't mind limiting your communication to hand gestures and grunts, then there's no reason to learn a few Spanish phrases.

What I've found is that when I use my poor (but improving) Spanish, people answer back in their poor English.

What I don't understand is why people get so upset when someone says "you should try to learn a little Spanish. " It's not like we're suggesting you dip your nuts in turpentine or stick your hand in a shark's mouth. Take 20 or 30 minutes a day with an app like Duolingo or Busuu. In a few weeks you'll be able to have basic interactions in Spanish. In a few months you can have basic conversations.

Then when your taxi is about to turn the wrong way you can tell him so.

Do whatever way works for you. There's just no need to insist that nobody should learn Spanish.

[Knowledge]

The 'you must know Spanish' thing confuses and bores me. It confuses me because I know so many guys who have no Spanish knowledge but enjoy visiting Colombia regularly. I don't doubt they could enjoy it more if they could speak Spanish but it is a long way between that and the endless references to what guys must do to make it. That gets boring.

I see people are back to the "you have to know Spanish to really blah blah blah" arguments. Lack of Spanish skills never stopped me from enjoying myself. And no, I've never owned a pair of cargo shorts. Some things are in bad taste anywhere you take them.

I am curious however, if anyone down there recently noticed a lot of hype about the upcoming season of "Juego de Tronos". When I was last down there in April of last year, "Juego de Tronos" (Game of Thrones) was the main buzz on TV and in advertising media. Nothing about Zika, though that was big in the US media. Why? Well, if you think about it, the pretext of Game of Thrones is really just a metaphor for modern Latin American history. Despite its superficial trappings, it doesn't have much in common with Europe in antiquity. That's just casting, sets, and costumes you see there. On the other hand, all aspects of Latin American politics are represented in "Juego De Tronaos": Generalissimos, juntas, druglords, revolutionaries, religious fanatics, repression of peasantry, the Catholic church, superstition and lots and lots of wh*res. They just have different names and titles. Think about it for a while, and you will see what I mean. And naturally it will appeal to Latin American audiences, because it is familiar to them, whereas it seems like fantasy to American audiences (I can't vouch for how it projects to European audiences). If George Martin ever wants to do another HBO series, all he will have to do is rehash these old GoT scripts with a setting in a fictitious LA nation set in more modern times. Love in the Time of Zika.

[Eszpresszo]

I see people are back to the "you have to know Spanish to really blah blah blah" arguments. Lack of Spanish skills never stopped me from enjoying myself. And no, I've never owned a pair of cargo shorts. Some things are in bad taste anywhere you take them.

I am curious however, if anyone down there recently noticed a lot of hype about the upcoming season of "Juego de Tronos". When I was last down there in April of last year, "Juego de Tronos" (Game of Thrones) was the main buzz on TV and in advertising media. Nothing about Zika, though that was big in the US media. Why? Well, if you think about it, the pretext of Game of Thrones is really just a metaphor for modern Latin American history. Despite its superficial trappings, it doesn't have much in common with Europe in antiquity. That's just casting, sets, and costumes you see there. On the other hand, all aspects of Latin American politics are represented in "Juego De Tronaos": Generalissimos, juntas, druglords, revolutionaries, religious fanatics, repression of peasantry, the Catholic church, superstition and lots and lots of wh*res. They just have different names and titles. Think about it for a while, and you will see what I mean. And naturally it will appeal to Latin American audiences, because it is familiar to them, whereas it seems like fantasy to American audiences (I can't vouch for how it projects to European audiences). If George Martin ever wants to do another HBO series, all he will have to do is rehash these old GoT scripts with a setting in a fictitious LA nation set in more modern times. Love in the Time of Zika.

[JjBee62]

Oh sorry, yes, you are correct. They spend the rest of the time is sitting in a bar / restaurant drinking. As long as they can say "Ser-vey-sa pour fah-vour" the majority of sex tourists will be good.

Sex tourists will always be offensive to the locals. To make things worse, sex tourists are even more offensive to the authorities. You can argue about how it helps the economy, you can point out that most of the customers are locals, but that doesn't change the native's perception.

I'm not a sex tourist. Occasionally I'll partake, but I no longer have the desire or energy to do 20 girls every week. How the sex tourists behave has no effect on me, even though I'm an obvious gringo. If I go to Parque Lleras, I'm with a group of Colombian fiends. When I'm out alone, very few people take obvious notice, and those who do are friendly and helpful, because I'm making an effort to embrace the culture.

Obvious sex tourists are targets. They're targets for thieves, targets for scam artists and targets for the police. They're targets because most of the locals don't want them here. More obvious sex tourists who speak no Spanish won't convince everyone to learn English, it will only make the sex tourists bigger targets.

It doesn't matter to me, but it should matter to you. When that target gets too big, the fun and games will be over.

There are other ways to spend your free time than sitting in a restaurant or bar drinking. Go see a movie. Most are in English with Spanish subtitles. Go to a museum, or the botanical gardens, or Explora. Or take a few hours to ride the metro. Talk to a few people. Take a bus to Guatape or Santa Fe. There's plenty of ways to spend your free time.

The catch is, you need to learn a little bit of Spanish to do those things.

Do things however you want. As I've said, it has no effect on me, other than taxi and Uber drivers being worried I will slam the door. Enjoy things in your way and tell everyone they don't need to bother with Spanish. In 2, 5 or 10 years you'll be complaining about Medellin no longer being a good place to monger and whining about the people who ruined it for everyone.

Meanwhile I'll still be here, eating mondongo and sipping my jugo con leche.

[Black Page]

They are always more interested in a multa than in my passport. I've been stopped a total of five times both in Medellin and Cartagena after 2 am for a frisk. Both times they never asked for ID. One time he asked what kind of ID I had but never looked at it.

My experience is totally different.

As I widely reported, I've been stopped by police at least once in each trip I had in Colombia, at night and at day, in Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena (except my last two times! Ahah, what's changing??). Police has been always very professional. They look for drugs and check ID. The first approach is strong, but never rude. Once they understand I am not a drug consumer, I have my ID although not the original passport (I have my national picture ID and a photocopy of my passport) they smoothen down. Every time the check ended up with smiles, even pat on shoulder, and "bienvenido". Sure, my decent Spanish helps.

Colombian police is great. Always very professional in my experience (I paid tips to police in many countries including Panama, Mexico, Uganda, Ghana, and others. But never in Colombia).

Twice I was asked to give a donation of 5 mil pesos Once I had a local drug dealer tell me "no -da- la plata para la polizia" (And Dickhead don't correct my Spanish that's what he said). I don't partake BTW in any drugs. Not even MJ.

No need to disturb Master Dickhead. That Spanish is crap (sorry to express an objective fact with unpolite words, it's just to add some spice). At least the Italian "polizia" will be never heard in Medellin, unless a Napoli's drug dealer was outstationed there for some internship in local organizations.

90% of the conversations I've had with North American white men about Colombia always involves the questioning of safety in Colombia. Your average uncultured white North American male assumes Colombia looks like the Netflix series 'Narcos. ' I think this has acted as a bit of a gate.

I totally agree. I add that we don't really need to increase the percentage of that type of Americans in Colombia (sorry: COLUMBIA), so it is better to leave them explore the world from the chair of their living room by way of TV serials.

I bet those guys had an awesome time at NL and Colombia. The rest is irrelevant.

They had awesome time, while people was laughing at them from all sides. It is probably irrelevant for them, but I would not like to be considered an idiot by people surrounding me.

[Dickhead]

The gringo sex tourist who speaks zero Spanish would say / do the exact same thing as the yuppie eco-tourist who speaks zero Spanish would say / do.

BTW- Do cops actually do that? I have never carried any kind of ID or papers with me anywhere in Medellin. I'm not giving my passport to some mugger, so I prefer to leave it in the hotel. If they ever stop me, I will tell them when I arrived. I'm sure it won't be a problem.

Yes, they do. What you want to do is carry a photocopy of your passport. One side of the paper should have the declaration page with your photo and the other side should show the entry stamp with the date. If you think you won't have a problem, though, just keep on doing what you've been doing. And no, your US driver's license won't cut it.

[Knowledge]

I think that is a load of crap too. I believe that is why it appears so often on here. We all know it's true that you can pay to be with girls in casas. That is why you don't' see people insisting it's true most every day. It brings to mind the "thou dost protest too much" quote.

I agree with all these statements. I never said that speaking Spanish (at least some) has no effect on the quality of your sessions. I agree that it does and give you more options. My point was to discredit the statement "Unless you speak decent Spanish, you shouldn't come (or even think about coming) to Colombia". That's a load of crap.

[YippieKayay]

BTW- Do cops actually do that? I have never carried any kind of ID or papers with me anywhere in Medellin.

They are always more interested in a multa than in my passport. I'vebeen stopped a total of five times both in Medellin and Cartagena after 2 am for a frisk. Both times they never asked for ID. One time he asked what kind of ID I had but never looked at it.

Twice I was asked to give a donation of 5 mil pesos Once I had a local drug dealer tell me "no -da- la plata para la polizia" (And Dickhead don't correct my Spanish that's what he said). I don't partake BTW in any drugs. Not even MJ.

EDIT: fixing the auto-respelling for the spanish part.

[Queens35]

Last trip I was in New Life and there was a group of cargo shorts wearing gringos talking so loud you could hear them all over the building. They were making fun of the girl's names while laughing at the prices. When addressed they made no attempt at all to use the local language. Nearby Colombianos were rolling their eyes. But if we listen to guys like Queens what is needed is more of these so the locals will ultimately adapt and learn to speak English. Lololol.

I bet those guys had an awesome time at NL and Colombia. The rest is irrelevant.

[Queens35]

However, some people, when visiting another country, don't spend every waking hour fucking.

Oh sorry, yes, you are correct. They spend the rest of the time is sitting in a bar / restaurant drinking. As long as they can say "Ser-vey-sa pour fah-vour" the majority of sex tourists will be good.