Medellin Reports

[Colombia Jake]

I am glad to see that my free casa map is useful to your business. How much are you charging gringos for the Centro casa tour?

Thank you..

Are you being facetious?

Seems to me. A free casa map would hurt tour guides giving casa tours.

Or are you implying that Jake couldn't find the casas without a map. Jajaja.

Yeah, that's a good one the truth is I've been giving tours here for almost 7 years, and several maps have been around just as long! To someone who is new to town to deal with looking around for addresses, and who or what's going around them is just not much fun! Its more fun to go with a guide / buddy and not have to constantly think about where's the next place, rather than just thinking about the sites and sex! The other advantage is I know which casas to avoid because there dirty or bad service. It's just more fun with me or Eric! We have some great massage girls some with happy endings and some just strictly massage depending on what you want. The jacuzzi is hot and we like to keep you busy with massage or tours and of course dates at night so take a look on the Colombia Jake website and see the new place!

Thanks, Colombia Jake.

[JohnnyWishBone]

I understand about reading the forum, but it's not always easy to search for specific answers. And some people don't have the time to read the entire 250 pages of posts. LOL.

Welcome to the board. Here you go:

Where should I stay? For a first timer, I would suggest to stay at the Mansion. http://hotelmedellinplaza.com/ It's a small hotel, and they have english speakers, and girls are invited there daily to hang out. They are available for sessions in your room. They charge 150k-200k COP (about $50-70) for short time (I've had girls stay with me for 4-5 hours for that price if they are having a good time, not all in the room, go to lunch/dinner, go to a bar, etc)..

Thanks for this post. Useful info. Question: have you stayed with Colombia Jake before? If you have, for a newbie like myself, which is more suitable? I am swaying toward Mansion only because they invite a lot of girls to hang out at the pool which sounds really good.

[EstebanH]

Day trips in general are a waste of time. If you have plenty of time to waste they are fine-- but 5 days IMHO is way too short of time to jam in an excursion.

Some people like to be busy. Personally I hate the packing / unpacking, checking in-out of hotels / apartments, arranging taxi to / from airports. If you only have 5 days you will be spending 1/2 your time coming and going. Relax-- there is more than enough for you to enjoy in Medellin. If you are asking this type of question I suspect you do not have Medellin mastered. Go to BOG next time.

I'm with you. It takes me 3-4 days just to decompress and chill out. Traveling is a big time and energy suck. Go to one place or the other, settle in and get to know the place and the people.

[BohnMeister]

No she isn't a goner. Both links worked fine when I posted them. Probably has a sponsor that saw them and beat her over the head for still working on the side.

I think next time I'll have to send them to you in a private message. I know she is still working but giving out her phone number would be crossing the line I think.

Much appreciated. If you get any updated info on any new contact info, I'd take a PM. I think like the last bloke said she might have gotten blown out of the lake. Or her sponsor got wind of if all. I have known a lot of chicas that keep the doors open in spite of their promises to close up shop once they get a sponsor! Hard to say no to that easy Gringo dollar one they get a taste for it.

Thanks again for all of the insight. On to my next conquest!

Cheers.

[Mr Enternational]

Be in MDE next week a few days (5) would a day trip to Bogota be recommended? Or split the stay 50/50 Mde / Bog? Any input appreciated.

To me 5 days is an eternity. Especially when you are somewhere like Medellin. I would recommend either the day trip or split the stay. It does not take days on end to sightsee, and since you are already in Colombia you might as well check it out. If you get there early enough you should be able to fit the 3 biggest attractions in. Go up Monserat, Cathedral of Salt (which is actually out of town) then get back to the city and go to the Gold Museum. I did 4 cities in Vietnam in 10 days, so I am sure it will be easy to cover both Medellin and Bogota in 5 days.

Actually, me, my dad, and my brother did both in 4 days last August. We arrived in Bogota at night and hung out in Santa Fe. The next morning we went to Medellin, hit casas, and set up the Escobar tour. That night the strip clubs and De Greiff. The next day the Escobar tour, lunch in Parque Lleras, more casas. Fase 2 that night. Next morning back to Bogota to see Monserat and the Gold Museum, and that night back on the plane to the States.

[JohnnyWishBone]

Hello all,

Brand new member to this forum and firstly want to say this forum is fantastic. A lot of helpful information and insight. It's quite hard to find actual reviews on places like The M Hotel (Mansion) but eventually found one. Seems to be the recommended place to stay what with all the WGs that turn up during the day by the pool. What I wanted to know from you all is:

Is there a list of 'visitor friendly' hotels at all? I want to explore all my options accommodation wise as it will be my first time in Colombia (week in Medellin and a week in Cartagena).

Aside from Mansion, are there other hotel bars or pools that have large group of WGs hanging out during the day?

As I'll be travelling by myself, I'm open to meeting up with seasoned pros. Will ask again in Jan.

[TroyBoy]

Be in MDE next week a few days (5) would a day trip to Bogota be recommended? Or split the stay 50/50 Mde / Bog? Any input appreciated.

Day trips in general are a waste of time. If you have plenty of time to waste they are fine-- but 5 days IMHO is way too short of time to jam in an excursion.

Some people like to be busy. Personally I hate the packing / unpacking, checking in-out of hotels / apartments, arranging taxi to / from airports. If you only have 5 days you will be spending 1/2 your time coming and going. Relax-- there is more than enough for you to enjoy in Medellin. If you are asking this type of question I suspect you do not have Medellin mastered. Go to BOG next time.

[SavePros321]

No she isn't a goner. Both links worked fine when I posted them. Probably has a sponsor that saw them and beat her over the head for still working on the side.

What most likely happened was that a bunch of thirsty dudes rushed her pages with friend requests and blew up her inbox asking "how much?" after you posted the links to her info (why would you do that to begin with, LOL?)

The sudden "surge" of traffic to her page probably tipped her off that some gringo posted her info to a gringo sex board and she shut them (her pages) down.

This is why I don't share chica info and details. The one thing you can ALWAYS count on is Westerners fucking up a good thing.

[MedellinGringo]

Thanks mate.

Gave both of those links a go, but all dead ends. I guess for now she really is a goner! If she pops up and someone sees a periscope, drop a line back on the boards.

Thanks for the try.

Cheers!

No she isn't a goner. Both links worked fine when I posted them. Probably has a sponsor that saw them and beat her over the head for still working on the side.

I think next time I'll have to send them to you in a private message. I know she is still working but giving out her phone number would be crossing the line I think.

[MedellinGringo]

I am glad to see that my free casa map is useful to your business. How much are you charging gringos for the Centro casa tour?

Thank you.

.

Are you being facetious?

Seems to me. A free casa map would hurt tour guides giving casa tours.

Or are you implying that Jake couldn't find the casas without a map. Jajaja.

[KingAmongKings]

Oh and BTW, OM Spa charges 90 k COP per hour. The list says 70 k COP.

King.

[Member #4394]

I am glad to see that my free casa map is useful to your business. How much are you charging gringos for the Centro casa tour?

Thank you.

I agree and that's what happened to Noah Goldberg who some of you may remember as well. Buy your stuff at the super cheap retail places one of which we take you by on our day tour. Owing money will get you killed here relatively quickly! We have a new massage girl Lina who takes it to whatever level you want to go with nice hammers and of course is in her panties when she gives you the massage! Take a look on the ColombiaJake site.

Thanks,

Jake

.

[KingAmongKings]

Checked this place out today. Not the best ambiance. Shitty lighting. Decent massage. Got whacked off by a girl with a really pretty face. Couldn't understand her name. Dalia?

Anyways, thought I would mention it was 60 k cop for definitely less than an hour and I gave her 20 k cop propina as she was so pretty and gave me light kisses, which sent tingles down the spine.

That price is different than what it is on the Medellin list massage section so maybe it can be updated.

King.

[Phunluv]

Read this account from a forum (didn't happen to me). Be careful out there folks:

Ouch, that's a depressing story. But there's a few things that I find hard to believe. First of all, this girl is (as claims the storyteller) bringing $1200 worth of her stuff including TWO smartphones, but the guy had to buy her bus ticket? LOL, I guess at the end of the day, if you want the poontang to come to you, the guy has to pay right? Seriously though, I doubt a girl would carry that much expensive merchandise with her to see some gringo she's hooked up with only once before, and to a city she's never been to, and that's known as being dangerous, plus arriving late at night? But even accounting for some naivete on her part, was she a stupid rich girl?, I'm surprised she didn't smell a trap when the taxista beckoned them in.

The general safety rule in Colombia is you never let a driver choose you, you choose the driver!

That's why flagging down any old taxi on the street isn't always as dangerous as people say it is. Remember, crooked drivers aren't usually roaming up and down the city streets, that's a waste of time and gas for a criminal. The bad guys know where to find the money: the folks queuing up at hotels, clubs, shopping centers, and especially bus terminals and airports, so a "driver" is recruited for a few days or weeks who's in it for just a one-time payoff; then once the driver completes a successful setup, he goes underground for 6-12 months until the heat is off him (there are security cameras that can film these crooked drivers in the bus terminals and airports, as the story mentions).

As for this gringo, he comes off sounding like a complete loser, tries to get with a bunch of girls but ends up with almost no action; then the one sure thing he thinks he's going to get explodes in his face. Bet he didn't have much romance with the chica after the robbery.

Guys: here's a tip when dealing with taxistas. You do need to know how to speak and understand Spanish, LOL! Before even stepping in, talk to him. Ask him a few fake or real questions. Establish eye contact. Get a feel for him, crooked people don't like eye contact when they're getting ready to rob you, it's a guilt thing and a positive ID thing as well. If something doesn't feel right, make any excuse and tell the guy maybe later or something else is coming up. Sometimes, the taxi waiting at the front of the line I'll skip, and take the second or third; if he insists or takes offense, just say there's a specific driver you were waiting for.

As a final note, being a crooked driver is a nerve-wracking business, if you think about what's involved. Plus, if the robbery goes wrong in a crazy way, he could end up being killed too, ha ha, so edgy drivers are definitely a HUGE warning sign.

[Wet Nose]

Read this account from a forum (didn't happen to me). Be careful out there folks:

Backstory: I have been traveling Latin American for a continuous 8. 5 months now with no problems. I had already spent nearly 88 days in Colombia with zero violent incidents. The previous 13 days or so, I had passed in the south of Cali in an highly secure apartment in Ciudad Jardin. Cali was to be my last port of call in the country with 90 days in total before heading south into Ecuador over land. I was having a tough time in Cali up to this point, only doing day-game approaches with essentially zero lays (after several dates with some very sexy but flaky women). Spent almost 2 weeks in the south of the city doing strictly day game around the University del Valle area and Unicentro and some parts of the north around Centenario Mall, with only a sloppy BJ to show for it all. Which admittedly is still better than nothing.

That being said, I decided to ship in a young sexy 21 why / o Colombiana from Manizales (I had met about 5 weeks prior) for my last weekend in Colombia. I had a few lukewarm prospects for the weekend but decided on the sure things instead. She had been hitting me up lately with, "quiero verte antes de irte. " So I decided to go for the guaranteed lovin and bought her a bus ticket to Cali.

I met her at the Terminal de Transportes around 10 PM on a Friday night as her bus was actually on time. From here we grabbed a quick snack before making our way over to the taxi line. Take note this is the official taxi line. We did not hail a cab from the street which is generally not advisable in Colombia, even though I've done it several times without incident. There was a single dark-skinned Colombian guy (looked black) in front of us in the line with several other middle-class people with luggage behind us. Red flag #1, when it was time for the black guy to get a taxi, I noticed that the next available taxi actually waved off this black guy and pointed to us to come get in instead. The thought that crossed my mind was about a Chris Rock standup routine complaining how hard it is for a black person to get a taxi in NYC, but otherwise didn't think anything of it.

Red flag #2 - I was instructed to put my girls luggage in the front passenger seat. When I closed the door (a bit too firmly, apparently), the taxista started angrily complaining that I slammed it way too hard. He clearly seemed to be agitated for some reason. I apolgized and was like, "tranquilo, tranquilo. " Anyway, I gave him the address to my hotel and didn't think anything more of the situation.

Red flag #3 - about 2-3 minutes after leaving the terminal, the taxista pulled into a natural gas refueling station to fill up the tank. We were instructed to get out of the car while it was being refueled for our own safety. The taxista then disappeared for a few minutes and returned once the refueling was complete, probably 4-5 minutes later.

Ref flag #4 - we get back in the car and the guy is complaining about how expensive it cost to have to refuel his car (50,000 COP) and about how he has already been working 20 hours straight today. I was starting to now get uncomfortable at this guy's negativity but me and my girl just kinda brushed him off and thought it better to ignore him.

We slowly approach my hostel now and it is probably 10:45 PM. My hostel is located on Calle 5 across from the Library. It is quite dark, there isn't much traffic, but I didn't think anything further. The taxista approached my hostel very slowly as he appeared to be looking at the numbers to see where the hotel was. Eventually, I just said, "this is close enough, we will walk 3-4 buildings. Gracias. " We get out of the taxi, my girl gets our on the opposite side toward the driver's side / street and I get out on the opposite side on the sidewalk / passenger side. Pay the man 20 k and get about 9 k change. I have the change now in my left hand and my girl's wheeled suitcase in my right hand. Close the door gently, and the guy pulls away about 20 ft and stops.

As I turn to my right I see a guy on a motorcycle (engine quietly running) wearing all black clothing and immediately notice a semi-automatic pistol in his lap, full face helmet on his head. Immediately I knew we were fucked. Next thing I know I feel a cold hard metal object being repeatedly rammed into my right shoulder blade. I knew it was a gun (#2). I dropped the taxi fare change to the ground, and we both simultaneously put our hands up. Then, I slowly went for my iphone 4 in my left pocket and just held it up. It was snatched up immediately. I look out of the corner of my eye and I see my girl in a hysterical panic. The girl was now being approached by guy on motorbike #1, gun shoved in her face. The guy takes her huge purse and her wheeled suitcase, when a third guy on motorbike pulls up now and scoops up her suitcase. The guy then starts patting her down with one hand while holding her at gunpoint with the other. From here, I still have a gun in my back, and my guy tells me "Cartera, Cartera. " I reach into my right pocket and give him my moneyclip. From here, the guys slowly walk towards their waiting motorbikes while looking back over their shoulders at us.

Then, they just drive off, while occasionally looking back at us. I grab my girl and we immediately run into the front entrance of my hostel. The robbery is over, although she is absolutely hysterical and can barely breathe.

Overall damage: she lost what amounted to easily over $1200 USD in merchandise. For her, this is about a 3 month salary. Two smartphones, lots of nice clothing, her wallet, bank card, 30,000 pesos in cash, makeup, purse, etc. I lost about 150,000 pesos in cash, my travel bank card, my ID, and a beat-up iphone 4.

Lessons learned / advice from this experience:

(1) Whenever possible, always use easytaxi, uber, or a similar app when calling taxis in Colombia. This will ensure that you have the driver's information in the event shit hits the fan. I personally prefer using public transport when possible, but in a city like Cali this isn't really possible.

(2) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver stop en route to your destination. Taxi drivers are specifically prohibited from doing this during a taxi fare. Didn't know this at the time.

(3) Under no circumstances should your taxi driver be on his phone. People in Colombia are generally very wary / paranoid of a taxi driver on their phone because it is easy for them to tip off some waiting robbers.

(4) If your taxi driver seems agitated or in a negative mood at all whatsoever, get the fuck out of the cab and get a new one. There is no reason you should be dealing with a taxi driver with a bad attitude or bad mood.

Final thoughts.

It turns out we firmly believe that we were set up. The whole thing was planned. When we stopped to fill up the tank, we believe that the taxi driver called in the muscle during the time that he disappeared to use the bathroom. Next day, we filed a police report at the police station in the centro of Cali, then I went to the bus station and we watched the video of the registered taxi line. While at the police station telling our story, one of the clerks just shakes her head, let's out a sigh, and says, "Cali es Cali" (Cali is Cali). She seemed disappointed but completely unsurprised. Luckily, our taxi driver's vehicle was on video and we were able to get his plate number. That being said, it is highly unlikely that there will be any sort of justice done on our case. After talking with the police detective, we realized how swamped and understaffed their office seemed to be. We realize and understand that there will probably be no justice in this case, given how inefficient the justice system seems to be in this country. Lesson learned, and I hope at least one person can learn from this too.