Medellin Reports

[Elvis 2008]

You do not need to show proof of a vax. All you need is to show a completed vax card. I am not sure what access Col Immg has to various online QR linked databases, but the reality is that many countries do not issue such QR cards and Col accepts all types of cards. So a handwritten card is just as valid as a QR card. They chk your card at the airline chk in desk, and again in the queue as you approach the immigration desk on entry. The immigration official at the desk did not look at mine.

You do not need to upload or send your vax card in advance when you do the Check Mig registration.

No one said anything about check MIG last two flights I had to Colombia. Vaccine info is checked by airlines only. It is some minimum wage type employee looking for a few things. You can have the card or even a photo of the card on your phone. It is super easy to fake if you want to go that way.

[Sargon76]

Is there weeks long enough for a newbie to get his bearings in Medellin for a first trip? I speak no Spanish. I want to be there long enough to have a decent understanding of what it's like. Thanks for any help.

I leave Friday for my 1st trip, no Spanish. I will let you know how I make out. I have been overseas before but only to Thailand, but that is kind of easy mode.

[JustTK]

As for the required covid vaccine to enter the country, at what point will I be required to show proof of vaccination? Also does the vaccine need to be registered online or can I simply show them my card? If I'm able to show my physical card. Will Colombian officials attempt to input my info into a database to confirm my card or will they just glance at it and send me on my way?

Also, do I require booster shots to enter the country?

You do not need to show proof of a vax. All you need is to show a completed vax card. I am not sure what access Col Immg has to various online QR linked databases, but the reality is that many countries do not issue such QR cards and Col accepts all types of cards. So a handwritten card is just as valid as a QR card. They chk your card at the airline chk in desk, and again in the queue as you approach the immigration desk on entry. The immigration official at the desk did not look at mine.

You do not need to upload or send your vax card in advance when you do the Check Mig registration.

There is no database to crosscheck your data with. Maybe they could cross check with a few countries if they had the will or desire or thousands of staff to do that. But they don't. Why not just get a card from a country that does handwritten cards? Then they can't cross check anything.

Boosters are not required to enter Col. All your card must show is a useless first round of vaxes that have already become obsolete in terms of effectiveness. That's what they want. Thats what they get. A policy as effective as the useless vaxes that they want you to have.

[Horatio]

Is there weeks long enough for a newbie to get his bearings in Medellin for a first trip? I speak no Spanish. I want to be there long enough to have a decent understanding of what it's like. Thanks for any help.

[Surfer500]

It doesn't really matter what country you purchase your phone in as long as it's unlocked. For example I have an Unlocked Huawei P30 I purchased in Mexico. When I'm in Mexico I have a Telcel sim card that I use and when I'm in Colombia I have a Claro sim card. And when I'm in the US working, the telcel will roam off of T-mobile and I also used to have a prepaid AT&T sim card that works in it as well as a GCI sim card in Alaska. The bottom line is you just need one phone and wherever you go you buy a prepaid simcard and you swap sim cards and it works flawlessly. The Claro sim card litterally cost me I think 3 or 4 k COP and you can load it up with a 6 K recarga. All you people buying extra phones and carrying 2 or 3 phone are just wasting your money. Also to stay connected to the US you can use apps like Talkatone to make unlimited calls to the US thru your data or wifi connection, regardless of where you are in the world.

Yep, I'm old school and technically challenged, but had heard that USA phones don't work with SIM cards from south of the border.

Is that correct?

[El Viajero]

I remember a long time ago having my pants on a nightstand beside the bed and while laying down on the bed and getting blown, the provider was able to sit on the bed and block my view while blowing me and took some money out of my wallet, not all of it, because I hadn't paid yet, apparently I had something like 200 K and she took like 50 K.

Since I always have a small backpack with me, when I take off my pants, I always put them in the backpack, and zipper the pack up, which always remains in sight. And typically when I go with a girl for the first time I take the back-pack into the bathroom with me.

And your right, these girls within 30 seconds can easily rip you off, and are very adept at this. In my case, the girl knew that if she had taken all my money there would of been a problem when I was going to pay her so took a small sum. A bigger issue, more so than money are cell phones being stolen. There's quite a black market for them, with stolen smart phones generally being sold for 100 K and up, so if a girl steals one, she can easily get 50 K for it. This is something guys need to be aware of when they are getting ready to depart the room. And another red flag guys should be aware of is when a girl is in a hurry to leave. In this instance it's best to get in front of the door, and make sure your not missing anything, and besides money or a phone, it could be something else of value you have..

I had a girl come over to mine for a couple of hours and when she was dressed and ready to leave the bedroom for whatever reason I started looking for my vibrator and couldn't find it. After the third time of asking she pulls it out of her bum bag (fanny pack for all you Americans). LOL. Turns out she liked it so much she thought she would just take it with her. Great girl and hot as fuck, especially when she was enjoying herself with the magic wand, but you generally can't trust these girls alone or even in front of you a lot of the time. Still saw her a few times after that of course, just made sure the vibrator stayed with me when she left.

[Srr300]

Hello all,

I had a question for anybody who has recently visited Medellin. In regards to the mandated covid vaccine. At what point will I be required to show proof? Am I required to pull up my vaccine info on my states website or can I just show the original card? Also will Colombian officials be inputting my info into a date base to confirm my vaccine, or is it as simple as just showing my card, and send me on my way?

[Knowledge]

I've been very lucky to not have lost or had a passport stolen. Years ago I was on a business trip when a colleague had his rental car broken into and his passport was stolen. He had to stay behind for several days and take a flight to the capital to get a replacement at the consulate. I treasure those reminders that don't cost me any pain.

I'm old school, and not technical.

I have three phones in Colombia. Two of them are USA "I" phones, and with Verizon. And I also have two spare Verizon SIM cards I brought from the USA as you mentioned.

The two "I" phones basically stay locked up, except when I'm travelling around the Country.

My USA phones are my lifeline to my family / business in the USA, and I know I'm paying a lot for them, but need the security of not losing contact with the USA.

To illustrate how much of a problem it can be for a visitor to lose an American cell phone in Colombia, I have a buddy that last month had his American cell phone stolen in Centro.

He basically was hosed, being cut off from the USA in regards to all his contacts and other things like online banking, online boarding passes, until he returned home.

So your advice is good for others to think about as I have done exactly as you suggested, having immediate back-up in the event of losing one of my American cell phones.

However, when I'm in Centro, and most places in Medellin, I have a $ 20 USD Nokia burner phone with a Colombian number registered with Claro.

It costs me less than one USD dollar a month to maintain.

Again I'm old school, and don't need a smart phone to navigate and conduct my activities in Medellin, yet know most need a smart phone and / or are totally lost or handicapped without one..

[Knowledge]

Surfer and others who need to access contacts associated with a certain number, US or otherwise, can pull a contact file and set up an account on the domain (msn, gmail, yahoo, etc) of your choice. Once that account is linked any of the smartphones you own you can access them from any of those smartphones. So Surfer you have the spare SIM, that is by far the most important piece. You can recover your service independently of a phone that might get lost, stolen, or damaged. By the way, you aren't really an old fart Luddite until you resort to buying minutes from the cigarette / tinto / candy vendors instead of carrying the burner phone. You are the ultimate Centro rat because your dates have better phones than you. LOL!

It doesn't really matter what country you purchase your phone in as long as it's unlocked. For example I have an Unlocked Huawei P30 I purchased in Mexico. When I'm in Mexico I have a Telcel sim card that I use and when I'm in Colombia I have a Claro sim card. And when I'm in the US working, the telcel will roam off of T-mobile and I also used to have a prepaid AT&T sim card that works in it as well as a GCI sim card in Alaska. The bottom line is you just need one phone and wherever you go you buy a prepaid simcard and you swap sim cards and it works flawlessly. The Claro sim card litterally cost me I think 3 or 4 k COP and you can load it up with a 6 K recarga. All you people buying extra phones and carrying 2 or 3 phone are just wasting your money. Also to stay connected to the US you can use apps like Talkatone to make unlimited calls to the US thru your data or wifi connection, regardless of where you are in the world.

[Gabacho]

I'm old school, and not technical.

I have three phones in Colombia. Two of them are USA "I" phones, and with Verizon. And I also have two spare Verizon SIM cards I brought from the USA as you mentioned.

The two "I" phones basically stay locked up, except when I'm travelling around the Country.

My USA phones are my lifeline to my family / business in the USA, and I know I'm paying a lot for them, but need the security of not losing contact with the USA.

To illustrate how much of a problem it can be for a visitor to lose an American cell phone in Colombia, I have a buddy that last month had his American cell phone stolen in Centro.

He basically was hosed, being cut off from the USA in regards to all his contacts and other things like online banking, online boarding passes, until he returned home.

So your advice is good for others to think about as I have done exactly as you suggested, having immediate back-up in the event of losing one of my American cell phones.

However, when I'm in Centro, and most places in Medellin, I have a $ 20 USD Nokia burner phone with a Colombian number registered with Claro.

It costs me less than one USD dollar a month to maintain.

Again I'm old school, and don't need a smart phone to navigate and conduct my activities in Medellin, yet know most need a smart phone and / or are totally lost or handicapped without one.

I thought about upgrading my burner phone to a cheap smart phone, but I like having all my contact information on my primary USA phone number.

My Colombian burner phone is more just for emergencies then anything else.

My situation is perhaps unique, I'm just an old fart, and maybe should step up to the plate and just get a Colombian smart phone. I know they are in-expensive, and data is cheap.

But you know the saying, you can't teach an old dog a new trick.

Another alternative for visitors is to get a cheap Colombian smart phone upon arriving, and just use it in Colombia, this is what my buddy did.

So my advice to other board members here is very simple. If you you only have a USA cell phone in Colombia, and don't have a back-up phone you can activate within Colombia. You need to be very cautious about losing it.

I have basically only two things of value when travelling abroad, my Passport and my USA cell phone in that order.

It doesn't really matter what country you purchase your phone in as long as it's unlocked. For example I have an Unlocked Huawei P30 I purchased in Mexico. When I'm in Mexico I have a Telcel sim card that I use and when I'm in Colombia I have a Claro sim card. And when I'm in the US working, the telcel will roam off of T-mobile and I also used to have a prepaid AT&T sim card that works in it as well as a GCI sim card in Alaska. The bottom line is you just need one phone and wherever you go you buy a prepaid simcard and you swap sim cards and it works flawlessly. The Claro sim card litterally cost me I think 3 or 4 k COP and you can load it up with a 6 K recarga. All you people buying extra phones and carrying 2 or 3 phone are just wasting your money. Also to stay connected to the US you can use apps like Talkatone to make unlimited calls to the US thru your data or wifi connection, regardless of where you are in the world.

[DirtyDJ]

Anyone know of a good cigar spot? I found one in Parque Lleras with no selection and what they did have, they were charging 80 mil a stick for!

[JjBee62]

So I guess I would want to avoid the meter maids because they are definitely clock watchers! BaDumTiss!

That one deserves an award. Great joke.

[JjBee62]

There is a police station at Botero near the metro station stairs. AT the time there were small groups of police (20+ total) standing around during shift change outside the police station. Some have guns some do not and different uniforms because there are different levels of police (newbie in training, foot patrol, motorcycle).

Thank you for not being there and telling me I am wrong based on the simple location given as Botero. I never mentioned what she was wearing. I assume you personally know the only Filipina face looking girl I am speaking of right because you know everything else about damn near everything on the planet?

Where did that come from? My response was concerning the cop JohnnieWalker said he picked up, it had nothing to do with the cop you saw.

Even if I was talking about the one you saw, read it again. "I believe" is how my post begins. What part of "I believe" makes you think I'm telling you, or anyone else they are wrong?

Let's go one step further. Assume I said "The cop you're talking about probably belongs to the transit police." Do you consider that an attack? Whether she's one of the transit police, or a member of the national police doesn't change anything. She still looks the same. Your experience was still the same. There's nothing in there questioning the accuracy of your report. And that's forgetting that I wasn't even talking about your report.

A simple response, if I had been talking about the cop you saw, would have been "No. She was wearing the national police uniform.

You can take or ignore this advice. Don't read every response as an attack directed at you. Most aren't.

[Srr300]

Hello all,

For those who have recently visited Medellin:

As for the required covid vaccine to enter the country, at what point will I be required to show proof of vaccination? Also does the vaccine need to be registered online or can I simply show them my card? If I'm able to show my physical card. Will Colombian officials attempt to input my info into a database to confirm my card or will they just glance at it and send me on my way?

Also, do I require booster shots to enter the country?

[Nounce]

...I often wonder what happens when you don't have the $$ when you go to pay them...

I was with two pinays one time. One in the bathroom stole from my pant pocket and left the exact amount for me to pay them. This is not the first time I met them so I left my guard down.