Medellin Reports

[FoxesHunter]

Hi,

I'm undecided between booking an apartment with doorkeeper or without doorkeeper. I will stay at Estadio / Laureles and if I have to be sincere I don't like the doorkeeper but at same time I'm afraid for my safety. Could a streetwalker threaten me with a knife inside my apartment? Or is this a difficult thing? What are your suggestions?

[Member #4447]

Centro iis real dangerous. Been robed there also.

[MdeJohn]

I do not know if anyone here is interested in Poker but I enjoy it and this trip I did manage to end up +900,000 cop. There is really only one game in town at Rio Casino in San Diego. Tuesday thru Saturday they have one table of no-limit (small blind 2 k, big blind 5 k) starting at around 3 pm. The table is often full early so you need to get there early or prepare to get on a waiting list. They also run a bigger Omaha game in the VIP section sometimes, but I am not an Omaha player.

On Sunday and Mondays they have a 100,000 cop buy-in tournament upstairs which lasts until about 11 pm. They do not run a cash game on Sunday & Monday. If anyone knows of another game I would sure appreciate info, but this is all I have been able to find in cash games. I think some of the other casinos run small tournaments sometimes.

I have played that table many times and see a few regulars who I consider tight, aggressive and who probably do this for a living. When they are involved in the hand-- be careful. There usually are also a few crazy maniacs who "all in" with nothing or very little just trying to buy pots. Those are the guys to take the money from.

I've been thinking about trying to put together a weekly / biweekly game among expats. Cheap buy-in tournament style just for fun. Thanks for the tip on San Diego. Will probably try it out once but a little leery about showing lots of money around in public, especially at the casinos. Not wild about playing at a table with a 'unregulated' local group that knows each other either, just sets yourself up to be played against.

[Member #4301]

Someone here recommended this hotel a while back. I decided to take a look and agree that this is a very nice cheap Centro option. This hotel located one block East of Iglesias Veracrus / Parque Botero. This is just one block West of the Berro Metro station. The rooms are only 42,000 cop ($24 USD), but they were clean and the place looks very livable; much better than what I would expect for $24 USD. I have no idea if it is guest friendly, but I suspect that if you bring in a somewhat "normal" (not one of the obvious street rats) -- there would be no problem as long as you rented it for 2 people.

If anyone who has actually stayed here could pipe in on their "chica friendliness" I would appreciate it.

Believe it or not 42 k is expensive for Centro so it's obviously a fairly up market hotel by Centro standards. There are a ton of hotels, most of which are decent and clean, starting at 18 k or 9 USD. There are about a dozen small but perfectly ok hotels right behind the Nutibara. None of them will have a problem with a guest as long as she is not a total street rat (of which there are plenty in El cento). Be careful in Centro. Both my room mates have been robbed in this area. Personally I love the area and wouldn't stay anywhere else.

[Hioctane]

I cannot remember what 4 or so banks I tried. Maybe Citi Bank was not one of them. All I am saying is that if you come to Medellin with only a hard-on and your ATM card (with no chip) - you may find yourself frustrated. Have a plan be for getting cash. The ATM at Rio Casino was the only one I found that my card worked. I tried a number of ATMs in Premium Plaza and Centro also.

I use my Schwab card (no chip) and it works at every ATM I have tried except for BanColombia. However, I stick to Citibank, HSBC, ServiBanca because they have the highest withdrawal limits. 700 k+.

[TroyBoy]

Someone here recommended this hotel a while back. I decided to take a look and agree that this is a very nice cheap Centro option. This hotel located one block East of Iglesias Veracrus / Parque Botero. This is just one block West of the Berro Metro station. The rooms are only 42,000 cop ($24 USD), but they were clean and the place looks very livable; much better than what I would expect for $24 USD. I have no idea if it is guest friendly, but I suspect that if you bring in a somewhat "normal" (not one of the obvious street rats) -- there would be no problem as long as you rented it for 2 people.

If anyone who has actually stayed here could pipe in on their "chica friendliness" I would appreciate it.

[TroyBoy]

I do not know if anyone here is interested in Poker but I enjoy it and this trip I did manage to end up +900,000 cop. There is really only one game in town at Rio Casino in San Diego. Tuesday thru Saturday they have one table of no-limit (small blind 2 k, big blind 5 k) starting at around 3 pm. The table is often full early so you need to get there early or prepare to get on a waiting list. They also run a bigger Omaha game in the VIP section sometimes, but I am not an Omaha player.

On Sunday and Mondays they have a 100,000 cop buy-in tournament upstairs which lasts until about 11 pm. They do not run a cash game on Sunday & Monday. If anyone knows of another game I would sure appreciate info, but this is all I have been able to find in cash games. I think some of the other casinos run small tournaments sometimes.

I have played that table many times and see a few regulars who I consider tight, aggressive and who probably do this for a living. When they are involved in the hand-- be careful. There usually are also a few crazy maniacs who "all in" with nothing or very little just trying to buy pots. Those are the guys to take the money from.

[TroyBoy]

Did you have problems using the Citi Bank ATMs in El Poblado? They are quite a few and they never required a chip. Did those require ATM cards with chips also?

I cannot remember what 4 or so banks I tried. Maybe Citi Bank was not one of them. All I am saying is that if you come to Medellin with only a hard-on and your ATM card (with no chip) - you may find yourself frustrated. Have a plan be for getting cash. The ATM at Rio Casino was the only one I found that my card worked. I tried a number of ATMs in Premium Plaza and Centro also.

[TroyBoy]

Troy -- the Mansion goes in good and bad phases. But the chicas there are most certainly not "semipros. " They are about as pro as you can get, although some may be newer than others to the profession. I've had visits where the talent is off the chain and I've had visits where there's very little to pick from. I always manage to have a good time either way.

YEP-- it is very possible the poor numbers / quality were just a statistical blip. I also know that timing is everything. I may show up at the pool at 3:30 pm and see only one gordo hanging. BUT- had I arrived at 3:00 am two other real cuties / newbies maybe were there who are now up in one of the rooms making memories for one of my brothers in arms. I can also imagine how difficult it is for management to plan for getting adequate #s to actually show up with their invitation policy. All I was saying is that in my last two stays (March & May) I noticed a real drop in both numbers & quality.

Any woman who accepts money for sex is a professional and YES every chica coming to the Mansion fits this definition. In past stays of a week or so I would often run into 4--6 new faces who were tipping their toes in the waters of this profession. Usually they were tagging along with friends for their first visits. They were often college students who needed tuition $ or the like. My March stay I had the pleasure of spending time with one such newbie. This May I met nobody new. Most of the faces I have seen working the mansion 3 years on a very regular basis. Some of these regulars are still very pretty and are certainly worth spending your money on, but I personally prefer a fresh face.

[Voyajer1]

Did you have problems using the Citi Bank ATMs in El Poblado? They are quite a few and they never required a chip. Did those require ATM cards with chips also?

MONEY-- Poblado Oviedo cambio giving 1,950 cop / USD. The airport cambio I previously recommended was giving 1,930 which still is in the ball park. I like this airport cambio because at the airport you have your required passport handy and I am going directly to my hotel anyways where I can put the cash safely away in my safe. In the past this cambio was giving the exact same rate as Oviedo / Centro cambios. It is the one located on the departure level down by security entrance. So when you come out of customs you need to go upstairs one flight. I usually change big bills for pesos at cambios rather than paying the hidden exchange fees associated with ATM machines. I did take out a few hundred at the Rio casino ATM mainly to see what the final rate was. It ended up being about 1,860 cop / USD, so this is not a good way for me to get my pesos. HEADS UP-- Medellin ATMs are almost all moving to requiring chips in the debit / credit cards. My bank in USA has yet to provide a chip card. The only ATM I found I could use was the one at the Rio Casino.

[Combo]

Troy -- the Mansion goes in good and bad phases. But the chicas there are most certainly not "semipros. " They are about as pro as you can get, although some may be newer than others to the profession. I've had visits where the talent is off the chain and I've had visits where there's very little to pick from. I always manage to have a good time either way.

I just returned from 9 nights in Medellin; some at the mansion and some in an apartment.

OVERVIEW of MANSION- The mansion has always served it's purpose as being a means to meet up with some stunningly beautiful semipro prepagos. My previous trip I noted a marked reduction in numbers and quality of mansion newbies. I wrote it off as maybe just bad timing on my part. This trip I felt it was even worse. In the past a Sunday afternoon at the pool would have 8-10 really fresh barrio cuties looking for pesos to pay for tuition due Monday. This trip some days nothing showed up in the afternoon and when they did it was the usual B squad who has been working the scene for 4 years. In the evening it wasn't much better. I only pulled one cutie from the mansion selection my entire 6 night stay there. It is obvious the mansion is trying to distance themselves from the PREPAGO scene. I do understand why they are doing this, but I certainly hope they look at the big picture and realize that "that scene" is the reason men travel there and choose to stay there.

SOooooooo- Maybe it is time for me to move on to different options. If the mansion is not delivering a supply of chicas, then what is left is an overpriced frat house which I can do without. I still had a great time and did meet some nice guys there, but the chica action I got was from my previous contact list and centro casas.

MONEY-- Poblado Oviedo cambio giving 1,950 cop / USD. The airport cambio I previously recommended was giving 1,930 which still is in the ball park. I like this airport cambio because at the airport you have your required passport handy and I am going directly to my hotel anyways where I can put the cash safely away in my safe. In the past this cambio was giving the exact same rate as Oviedo / Centro cambios. It is the one located on the departure level down by security entrance. So when you come out of customs you need to go upstairs one flight. I usually change big bills for pesos at cambios rather than paying the hidden exchange fees associated with ATM machines. I did take out a few hundred at the Rio casino ATM mainly to see what the final rate was. It ended up being about 1,860 cop / USD, so this is not a good way for me to get my pesos. HEADS UP-- Medellin ATMs are almost all moving to requiring chips in the debit / credit cards. My bank in USA has yet to provide a chip card. The only ATM I found I could use was the one at the Rio Casino.

The poker table at Rio Casino (San Diego) was again good to me-- up 900,000 cop for the trip.

WIFI- Both the mansion and my apartment had very good wifi, which to me is important for staying in touch with my office. This trip I was able to get my smart phone to receive data. I had to update my sim and in system settings add a new APN (Access Point Names) with Clairo settings. The Clairo girl at KTRONIX (near corner of Loma Alijandria / Poblado ave-- just down the hill from mansion) sold me 2 sims /5,000 cop one with 1 month free data-- special promo. In the future I can opt for data on a daily basis for 4,000/ day by texting to "464" and putting in the content box "1" (do not include parenthesis). I believe you can also get a months data for about 28,000 peso with a different code. I usually have access to wifi, but it is nice having data in my cell for GPS, google maps and translate when I am out and about.

The photo of this KTROIX was taken frm the balcony of my apartment 2 blks away with the zoom of my Panosonic / Lumix ZS25 -- $160 at Costco.com That zoom is awesome.

CENTRO CASAS- Talent is always hit and miss, but every day I found some nice options. Here is a nice find at Chica Punto.com; 20 yr all natural, no baby-- cute. (about 50 k for one hour).

[TroyBoy]

I just returned from 9 nights in Medellin; some at the mansion and some in an apartment.

OVERVIEW of MANSION- The mansion has always served it's purpose as being a means to meet up with some stunningly beautiful semipro prepagos. My previous trip I noted a marked reduction in numbers and quality of mansion newbies. I wrote it off as maybe just bad timing on my part. This trip I felt it was even worse. In the past a Sunday afternoon at the pool would have 8-10 really fresh barrio cuties looking for pesos to pay for tuition due Monday. This trip some days nothing showed up in the afternoon and when they did it was the usual B squad who has been working the scene for 4 years. In the evening it wasn't much better. I only pulled one cutie from the mansion selection my entire 6 night stay there. It is obvious the mansion is trying to distance themselves from the PREPAGO scene. I do understand why they are doing this, but I certainly hope they look at the big picture and realize that "that scene" is the reason men travel there and choose to stay there.

SOooooooo- Maybe it is time for me to move on to different options. If the mansion is not delivering a supply of chicas, then what is left is an overpriced frat house which I can do without. I still had a great time and did meet some nice guys there, but the chica action I got was from my previous contact list and centro casas.

MONEY-- Poblado Oviedo cambio giving 1,950 cop / USD. The airport cambio I previously recommended was giving 1,930 which still is in the ball park. I like this airport cambio because at the airport you have your required passport handy and I am going directly to my hotel anyways where I can put the cash safely away in my safe. In the past this cambio was giving the exact same rate as Oviedo / Centro cambios. It is the one located on the departure level down by security entrance. So when you come out of customs you need to go upstairs one flight. I usually change big bills for pesos at cambios rather than paying the hidden exchange fees associated with ATM machines. I did take out a few hundred at the Rio casino ATM mainly to see what the final rate was. It ended up being about 1,860 cop / USD, so this is not a good way for me to get my pesos. HEADS UP-- Medellin ATMs are almost all moving to requiring chips in the debit / credit cards. My bank in USA has yet to provide a chip card. The only ATM I found I could use was the one at the Rio Casino.

The poker table at Rio Casino (San Diego) was again good to me-- up 900,000 cop for the trip.

WIFI- Both the mansion and my apartment had very good wifi, which to me is important for staying in touch with my office. This trip I was able to get my smart phone to receive data. I had to update my sim and in system settings add a new APN (Access Point Names) with Clairo settings. The Clairo girl at KTRONIX (near corner of Loma Alijandria / Poblado ave-- just down the hill from mansion) sold me 2 sims /5,000 cop one with 1 month free data-- special promo. In the future I can opt for data on a daily basis for 4,000/ day by texting to "464" and putting in the content box "1" (do not include parenthesis). I believe you can also get a months data for about 28,000 peso with a different code. I usually have access to wifi, but it is nice having data in my cell for GPS, google maps and translate when I am out and about.

The photo of this KTROIX was taken frm the balcony of my apartment 2 blks away with the zoom of my Panosonic / Lumix ZS25 -- $160 at Costco.com That zoom is awesome.

CENTRO CASAS- Talent is always hit and miss, but every day I found some nice options. Here is a nice find at Chica Punto.com; 20 yr all natural, no baby-- cute. (about 50 k for one hour).

[El Bacano]

Men, Get out there and hit el central in groups, ask questions, get answers. Just do it baby.

[Orgasmico]

Shamester, Combo, Orgasmico. A huge thanks to all of you. I really appreciate it. Santo Domingo sounds well worth a month (I work mainly on-line so can be away for extended periods no problem) of my time to see how I get on. I am a decent dancer and love going out and having a good time so the city sounds ideal for me. If the girls are open to being approached on the streets that's perfect for me.

I'll do my best to give back to the forum and answer any MDE questions that arise if I feel I can contribute.

The electricity and internet in SDQ are less stable than MDE, on average. Outages are much more common in the DR.

http://www.economist.com/news/americ...es?frsc=dg%7ca

[Artisttyp]

Hey BF, it was good hanging with you also.

I want to mention that there are more police in El Centro than I have ever seen recently. I have had some close encounters where I flicked away joints at the last second causing me to rethink things.

Where were your close encounters?