Medellin Reports

[QUOTE=Cheerfull;1874600]I will be attending the Medellin tango festival the week of June 20th and having some fun on the side (hehe). My usual haunts are Buenos Aires, Toronto, and lately Tijuana. This will be my first visit to Colombia and Medellin. Plane arrives into MDE at 0100 hrs. Is it safe to take a taxi from the airport to the downtown area at this hour? Any tango aficionados on this board that reside in Medellin?

Best.[/QUOTE]You should be fine airport-side; don't let anyone shake you down for more than 60 k COP for the ride (before any type of tipping you may want to do), and it's not impossible to get an Uber at that time of night if you have the app downloaded. As for downtown it really depends on where you're going and how well you know it. I can't speak for being out with your luggage at that time because I generally stay in the Poblado, but you should probably be fine if you're not drawing attention to yourself.

[QUOTE=ElMechanico;1874400]Watch Tyrant, the Fx Mini series.

OK so this is my 7th post I believe. So far on this board I've been called clueless & had my keyboard sequences called out (the sentences continue on in a straight line & don't automatically drop down a line at the end of the cell like every other blog site input cell in the world does! Then when someone asks a question that was addressed 5 years ago he gets told to RTFF. How TF was I supposed to know what a hard enter of whatever TF you call it is? I was advised to go back 2 years & start reading the posts which I am currently doing, hence the response to a post from July of 2014. So what I'm going to do is continue to post responses to these 2 year old posts so I can give you guys something to guff me about all in the name of chastising me about not being to MDE before & calling yourselves Medellin experts. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

El Mechanico[/QUOTE]I'm sure that'll really motivate people to help you out. You definitely won't come off as a tool either. Nope.

Just got back from MDE. I have to admit the most beautiful women I've seen anywhere in the world especially on the street. Had a great time until a member of our group died of a heart attack Saturday night. His wife thought he was on a golfing trip in the USA If you can't tell your wife or significant other that you are on a fishing or hiking trip or whatever exactly where you are going, it is best to just stay home. Anything can happen. We had to leave his body in Colombia.

Welcome to the forumn😊.

[QUOTE=ElMechanico;1874400]Watch Tyrant, the Fx Mini series.

OK so this is my 7th post I believe. So far on this board I've been called clueless & had my keyboard sequences called out (the sentences continue on in a straight line & don't automatically drop down a line at the end of the cell like every other blog site input cell in the world does! Then when someone asks a question that was addressed 5 years ago he gets told to RTFF. How TF was I supposed to know what a hard enter of whatever TF you call it is? I was advised to go back 2 years & start reading the posts which I am currently doing, hence the response to a post from July of 2014. So what I'm going to do is continue to post responses to these 2 year old posts so I can give you guys something to guff me about all in the name of chastising me about not being to MDE before & calling yourselves Medellin experts. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

El Mechanico[/QUOTE]

Going to be in Medellin from mid July through September. Going to take a bunch of side trips while in country but wondering about getting to Mach Picchu. Thinking of going early August while the flower festival is on or early September when the site will be less crowded. Seems airfare (such as I can see it on Kayak) are about 300 to 400 round trip, will I do better booking when I get to MDE? Any other advise appreciated.

If anyone is going to be in town then and interested in planning the trip with me let me know.

[QUOTE=CharmCityDave;1874832]Going to be in Medellin from mid July through September. Going to take a bunch of side trips while in country but wondering about getting to Mach Picchu. Thinking of going early August while the flower festival is on or early September when the site will be less crowded. Seems airfare (such as I can see it on Kayak) are about 300 to 400 round trip, will I do better booking when I get to MDE? Any other advise appreciated.

If anyone is going to be in town then and interested in planning the trip with me let me know.[/QUOTE]You might get more luck on the Peru board? Hmmmmm Oh yeah I'd look up the fares under the Colombian or Peru or Spanish portal vs USA. I lived in Lima / Cuszco for 3 months during and after college and the fare will be 30+% cheaper.

As for time to go it depends. Is it South America vacation week or holiday? Talking the bus & train there or the Inca Trail? It will be COLD at night like east coast cold Fall night cold. Be mindful of that.

There is a working girl house behind a shrimp / ceviche stand last time I went and a local brothel sort of like Amsterdam where the girls stand in door ways and the guys rush to see the girl when the door opens. My buddy is a Gui de MP and he took me there.

I was a broke ass back packer so I didn't do too much mongering and was up in the Club with local chicas. Who if you can dance and buy drinks are 100% pull able. Note they are not as pretty as paisas.

[QUOTE=CharmCityDave;1874832]Going to be in Medellin from mid July through September. Going to take a bunch of side trips while in country but wondering about getting to Mach Picchu. Thinking of going early August while the flower festival is on or early September when the site will be less crowded. Seems airfare (such as I can see it on Kayak) are about 300 to 400 round trip, will I do better booking when I get to MDE? Any other advise appreciated.

If anyone is going to be in town then and interested in planning the trip with me let me know.[/QUOTE]I'm not sure when Machu has a slower time. I've been there 3 times and it seems to get busier each time. Personally I would just book everything from here and have something less to worry about once I started traveling. My advice for Machu would be to go see it Day 1 after you get off the train or hike it and then definitely overnight in Aguacalientes and go back and see it again at dawn. One trip I was on the weather was very socked in on day 2, photos were absolute crap and the day trippers going back on the train that afternoon were pretty upset. No big deal for me since I had arrived at lunch the day before and spent the previous afternoon there getting good shoots. Also allot some days for Cusco its a pretty cool city.

[QUOTE=TicaToj;1874810]Just got back from MDE. I have to admit the most beautiful women I've seen anywhere in the world especially on the street. Had a great time until a member of our group died of a heart attack Saturday night. His wife thought he was on a golfing trip in the USA If you can't tell your wife or significant other that you are on a fishing or hiking trip or whatever exactly where you are going, it is best to just stay home. Anything can happen. We had to leave his body in Colombia.[/QUOTE]WTF! That is terrible. I am curious what happened to the guy in your group. How did he get a heart attack? What is with a chica and too much Viagra or Cialis? Was he very old or extremely obese? You guys had to leave his body in Colombia. Is the wife in the USA coming to Colombia to get the body and who is telling her what he was doing in Colombia? You are right is not good to lie to your significant others about where you are when you traveling because anything can happen. Please share more about what happened to the poor guy even thought is not Puta related or who knows.

Cerebro

[QUOTE=TicaToj;1874810]Just got back from MDE. I have to admit the most beautiful women I've seen anywhere in the world especially on the street. Had a great time until a member of our group died of a heart attack Saturday night. His wife thought he was on a golfing trip in the USA If you can't tell your wife or significant other that you are on a fishing or hiking trip or whatever exactly where you are going, it is best to just stay home. Anything can happen. We had to leave his body in Colombia.[/QUOTE]That's awful! For everyone including his wife and the guy who has to break the news to her. Was he indulging excessively on anything or was it straight out of the blue with no warning signs?

Tough situation man and good advice about at least telling the truth about the country you will be in.

[QUOTE=YouCan;1874814]Welcome to the forumn.[/QUOTE]Thank you YouCan! I only have 306 pages to catch up on until I'm current! Lots of good intel from 2 years ago but I don't know how relevant it will be when I get there in June.

El Mechanico

[QUOTE=Advantageous;1874809]I'm sure that'll really motivate people to help you out. You definitely won't come off as a tool either. Nope.[/QUOTE]Read the replies to some of my posts and you'll see what I'm referring to!

El Mechanico

[QUOTE=TicaToj;1874810]Just got back from MDE. I have to admit the most beautiful women I've seen anywhere in the world especially on the street. Had a great time until a member of our group died of a heart attack Saturday night. His wife thought he was on a golfing trip in the USA If you can't tell your wife or significant other that you are on a fishing or hiking trip or whatever exactly where you are going, it is best to just stay home. Anything can happen. We had to leave his body in Colombia.[/QUOTE]Sorry to read about your friend. The article mentioned two girls, and my thoughts went right to the girls possible poisoned him, with a drug called Scopolamina which can easily be delivered by dropping it in liquor, which I read was around the room along with vomit. I figured the girls may have given him too much and his body tried to eliminate it. Any take on this?

Colombia Jake

[QUOTE=Cerebro;1874938]WTF! That is terrible. I am curious what happened to the guy in your group. How did he get a heart attack? What is with a chica and too much Viagra or Cialis? Was he very old or extremely obese? You guys had to leave his body in Colombia. Is the wife in the USA coming to Colombia to get the body and who is telling her what he was doing in Colombia? You are right is not good to lie to your significant others about where you are when you traveling because anything can happen. Please share more about what happened to the poor guy even thought is not Puta related or who knows.

Cerebro[/QUOTE]How old was he and where were you guys staying, if you don't mind sharing? Just curious if it was another Mansion incident?

[QUOTE=SlamCity7777;1874839]You might get more luck on the Peru board? Hmmmmm Oh yeah I'd look up the fares under the Colombian or Peru or Spanish portal vs USA. I lived in Lima / Cuszco for 3 months during and after college and the fare will be 30+% cheaper.[/QUOTE]Although you can get fares cheaper in Colombia under the Colombia portal, LAN Peru has prices listed and says that the cheaper prices are only for Peruvians. If you show up having purchased that fare and do not have Peruvian ID then you will be made to pay the difference.

Same thing happened to me going to MP. The night before in Aguas Calientes I bought my ticket at a student discount at the civic center using my old grad school ID. The next morning when I got up to the gate at MP all of the foreign students who had done that were made to go to the ticket booth and pay the balance of a full ticket. Evidently you had to be connected to a Peruvian school to get the student discount.

Also, to contradict Soldier, I arrived in Aguas Calientes after dark. The next morning at 5 I was at the ticket booth to get my ticket for the 6 am bus to MP. I think MP opens at 8. It was very foggy and made for shitty pictures. Later on in the morning the fog lifted and we were able to get our shots. In the early afternoon we went back to our hotel and checked out and were on the 3 pm train back to Ollantaytambo. So we were not in the area even 24 hours and I do not think we missed anything. Went to a club the first night even.

For me it does not take all day to sightsee. I do all my research beforehand so I know what I am looking at when I get there. I arrive and check everything out and take my pictures and get the hell out of there.

[QUOTE=JamesDandy;1875158]How old was he and where were you guys staying, if you don't mind sharing? Just curious if it was another Mansion incident?[/QUOTE]I don't know him but I have read a news report about a 57 year old guy who died in the streets of heart attack. There was also a report about a 45 yo guy who found dead naked in a hotel. Both were "Gringos".