Medellin Reports

[FunForAll37]

Was looking through the forum for updated information in advance of my return to Medellin in a week. Was struck by a couple things.

First, I checked the exchange rate and noticed it's much lower than the last time I went. Which made me check further and I realized I was literally in Medellin at the all time high for USD to COP! So looks like everything's 20 percent higher this time. Not complaining. I view it more good fortune the first time than bad fortune the second time.

Second, there's been all this discussion of danger in Medellin. One thing I never see get brought up in terms of safety in addition to watching your drinks, building security, not going into certain areas late at night, not flashing expensive items etc. Is looking for a digital trail in who you see. It seems like a lot of people have figured out not to use Tinder in specific because you don't know who the people are as well but I'd apply the same logic to using Facebook. No matter how attractive, if all I see from a woman is a bunch of profile picture changes, I'm not contacting her. I look for women that have a lot of posts and seem to be interacting with other people in a real way. Most of all, if there's a photo of her with a bunch of friends or better yet a family, that seems a much, much safer bet to me than someone who only has photos of herself. Those are people that know her and if she's been on Facebook for 3 years and there's a bunch of other people there that have met her in real life, I think she's substantially less likely to try to drug and kill people given she's going to recognize it's not that hard to locate her and she's not trying to be secretive about who she is. Not foolproof but nothing is and it's something that makes me more confident in addition to the fact security takes down the girl's cedula and I'm still locking up valuables and watching my drinks.

[Dcrist0527]

P.S. Comparisons to cities like Chicago will always remain invalid as, for example murder stats in cities like that are inflated by gang violence in certain areas of town and are neither here nor there to expats and tourists.

Against my better judgement, I'm going to jump in on this one. "Itemizing" crime rates against one another is foolish. Just like a 5 year old in Chicago is caught in the crossfire in "gang violence", a gringo could likewise be caught up in a turf war in Medellin. I'm not saying you are way off base. But I'd say your speculative numbers are more invalid than an apples to apples comparison.

That said, your speculation could be correct. However neither of us have valid data to draw that conclusion. Frankly, I suspect neither Medellin nor Chicago have reliable data to make that comparison. There are too many variables.

[Knowledge]

Nowhere did it say that. There is an Internet trend of adapting any popular content to project a point of view whether or not it has anything to do with the actual events.

Where did it say that he was a sex tourist?

[Knowledge]

Some reporting indicates that the Lithuanian was traveling with his mother. At any rate, I agree it's very good advice to be discreet at all times. All the same there is no justification for encouraging a troubled person to take their own life. With all due respect, I'm very disappointed to see this sort of projection.

The average Medellin citizen does not like the idea of sex tourism. There is a reason why some rentals post " no sex tourists".

Simply, many don't like outspoken, cocky, shorts and flip flop wearing working girl mongers throwing money around and raising prices.

"Fly under the radar or risk getting shot down".

I speculate they saw a vulnerable gringo. They vented, told him to jump then he did.

Some of us could learn a little about respecting the country and residents of destinations we visit?

[Knowledge]

This is pretty solid advice. Be advised however that doormen can work for you or against you and it doesn't have so much to do with tipping. In other words, tipping can help improve service for things like food deliveries as well as protection from misbehaving visitors but, and this is a big but, you should never assume doormen would not get into cahoots with potential robbers. Trust me, it happens.

Strip clubs and brothels are not my thing anymore. I used to frequent Fase dos and La Isla back then, but not anymore. Quality of girls went downhill and way overpriced. I just stick to massage Spas with FS.

Seeking and online (PasionPrepagos) is also my go to now. I picked up girls in LLeras every now and then, but very minimum.

For the safety measures, I just require the girls to come to me all the time. They will have their identification and photo recorded on where I'm staying at. These two pieces of information alone is enough for them to think twice if they happen to have bad intentions to you. I'd also recommend tipping the security staff and befriending them. They are the ones that will always look out for you.

Also, using a local Colombian number for your burner phone is a clutch. As soon as the girls know you have +1 (US phone number) on your WhatsApp, you will become an easy target and she can get you setup. Last one will be, learn Spanish.

[Mr Enternational]

The average Medellin citizen does not like the idea of sex tourism. There is a reason why some rentals post " no sex tourists".

I speculate they saw a vulnerable gringo. They vented, told him to jump then he did.

Some of us could learn a little about respecting the country and residents of destinations we visit?

Where did it say that he was a sex tourist?

[Mr Enternational]

I heard of something called pattaya flying club where people self delete from there.

Probably an accident half the time though with the crazy way shit is built. Add in alcohol and. My balcony only comes to the middle of my thigh. So if there is talk about me joining a flying club without an airplane then you know it was not on purpose.

[Paulie97]

Whenever I am traveling and I mention to someone that I live in Colombia, more often than not they ask me "is it safe?" My stock response is "it's a city of two million plus people so crime is a problem and you have to take precautions. " The real answer is of course that yes it is safe for some and no it is not safe for some others.

To you it's all in your hands until you run out of luck. Truth is that Colombia has very weak law enforcement and judicial systems thus criminals thrive. Medellin, though not the most dangerous city in the world, is much more dangerous than many other large cities. The locals will all tell you it is dangerous. It's only some foreigners, and especially some posting online that say otherwise.

P.S. Comparisons to cities like Chicago will always remain invalid as, for example murder stats in cities like that are inflated by gang violence in certain areas of town and are neither here nor there to expats and tourists.

[ElSexoChino7]

With all the reports of the uptick in violence especially druggings are you guys moving differently when it comes to meeting girls from online sites like facebook, photoprepagos, seeking, tinder etc?

Would you guys recommend only going to strip clubs and brothels and if you want to bring a girl back to your place get their number from one of these establishments and do it that way or not? What are you guys doing to safe guard yourself in 2024 and beyond in Medellin?

Strip clubs and brothels are not my thing anymore. I used to frequent Fase dos and La Isla back then, but not anymore. Quality of girls went downhill and way overpriced. I just stick to massage Spas with FS.

Seeking and online (PasionPrepagos) is also my go to now. I picked up girls in LLeras every now and then, but very minimum.

For the safety measures, I just require the girls to come to me all the time. They will have their identification and photo recorded on where I'm staying at. These two pieces of information alone is enough for them to think twice if they happen to have bad intentions to you. I'd also recommend tipping the security staff and befriending them. They are the ones that will always look out for you.

Also, using a local Colombian number for your burner phone is a clutch. As soon as the girls know you have +1 (US phone number) on your WhatsApp, you will become an easy target and she can get you setup. Last one will be, learn Spanish.

[RudeBwoy100]

With all the reports of the uptick in violence especially druggings are you guys moving differently when it comes to meeting girls from online sites like facebook, photoprepagos, seeking, tinder etc?

Would you guys recommend only going to strip clubs and brothels and if you want to bring a girl back to your place get their number from one of these establishments and do it that way or not? What are you guys doing to safe guard yourself in 2024 and beyond in Medellin?

[Turgid]

I remember my first trip to Colombia, burning both ends, left a strip club, walked outside, and it was like a nuke hit. I didn't see a soul. It was frightening. I went back inside and asked the guy to call me a taxi and tipped him a couple bucks. Colombia late at night in the wrong area is pretty scary. The funny part was I think I would have preferred a bunch of shady characters everywhere than empty. It's like the whole town knew don't stay out past this time.

You know how rough the area you are in is when even the shady characters are afraid to be out and about.

[Bill]

I saw a couple of videos. People in the crowd were absolutely yelling at him to jump. I don't understand that mentality.

The average Medellin citizen does not like the idea of sex tourism. There is a reason why some rentals post " no sex tourists".

Simply, many don't like outspoken, cocky, shorts and flip flop wearing working girl mongers throwing money around and raising prices.

"Fly under the radar or risk getting shot down".

I speculate they saw a vulnerable gringo. They vented, told him to jump then he did.

Some of us could learn a little about respecting the country and residents of destinations we visit?

[TjBrazil]

I heard of something called pattaya flying club where people self delete from there. I don't know how common it is there but maybe it's making its way to Latin America now.

[LvZooMan211]

I saw a couple of videos. People in the crowd were absolutely yelling at him to jump. I don't understand that mentality.

There is a very graphic video on a site called livegore.com that showed the whole event. It's disturbing so I don't want to post it here. Do a google search and you'll find it.

[Knowledge]

I saw a couple of videos. People in the crowd were absolutely yelling at him to jump. I don't understand that mentality.

According to that article, he was Lithuanian.