Medellin Reports

[URL]http://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/casos-de-muertes-de-extranjeros-en-medellin-BF6340928[/URL]

[QUOTE=Kick123;2023982][URL]http://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/casos-de-muertes-de-extranjeros-en-medellin-BF6340928[/URL][/QUOTE]"From 2007 to 2017 42 foreigners have been killed in the Aburrá Valley, according to official records. Of the dead, twelve were European, ten American, eight from South America, seven Central Americans, four Asians and one from Oceania (see chart).

According to Carrasquilla, "the main causes of deaths of foreigners, based on preliminary information, are by theft of their belongings and by links, apparently, with the sale of narcotics."

So 10 Americans in 10 years, not to bad for a city of over 3 million. So stay away from narcotic dealings and look poor and give it up if mugged.

[QUOTE=CodyGreen;2023135]
If any of you know the bosses of this area, I'd advise them to interview the people standing around yesterday a 4-15-17 around 5 p, figure out who the boys are, ..........................................[/QUOTE]What you (and some others who I read writing here some times) seem to not have understood is that you are in Medellin Centro, not in Bangkok. Such things can always happen, although not so common as years ago now. That's the environment. Please don't feel offended, but you are so naif in your advice above. I can only imagine their laughs, if anybody would try that.

Centro is dangerous indeed, in the sense that there is some small probability that the wrong person sees you in the wrong time. You made a mistake bringing with you a smartphone (I always use an old Nokia there), but you behaved correctly when robbered. And you did not try it at night time.

Shit happens. Don't be upset.

[QUOTE=BlackPage;2024350]What you (and some others who I read writing here some times) seem to not have understood is that you are in Medellin Centro, not in Bangkok. Such things can always happen, although not so common as years ago now. That's the environment. Please don't feel offended, but you are so naif in your advice above. I can only imagine their laughs, if anybody would try that.

Centro is dangerous indeed, in the sense that there is some small probability that the wrong person sees you in the wrong time. You made a mistake bringing with you a smartphone (I always use an old Nokia there), but you behaved correctly when robbered. And you did not try it at night time.

Shit happens. Don't be upset.[/QUOTE]WARNING. Not only in Centro. Five hours ago I finished my session at ENERGY by the stadium, after exiting and turning right down the front stairs heading to the metro I clearly see, 20 yards in front of me, 3 young early 20's guys walking opposite me, and the one in the middle lifts up his t-shirt and pulls a 9 mm out of his front waist I instinctively ran across the street as in the corner of my eye I see him position back the 9 mm into his waist.

Was he making a move on me, don't know but with only a few others on the sidewalk was not about to hang around.

I grabbed a taxi and got the hell out of there. Mind you this was 2:30 PM in broad day light.

Always be observant and know your surroundings. Don't get complacent. Be safe.

The Tall Man.

P.S. What an incredible experience I session-ed with Ferranda at Energy. Damn, mi dios!

[QUOTE=TheTallMan;2024387]WARNING. Not only in Centro. Five hours ago I finished my session at ENERGY by the stadium, after exiting and turning right down the front stairs heading to the metro I clearly see, 20 yards in front of me, 3 young early 20's guys walking opposite me, and the one in the middle lifts up his t-shirt and pulls a 9 mm out of his front waist I instinctively ran across the street as in the corner of my eye I see him position back the 9 mm into his waist.

Was he making a move on me, don't know but with only a few others on the sidewalk was not about to hang around.

I grabbed a taxi and got the hell out of there. Mind you this was 2:30 PM in broad day light.

Always be observant and know your surroundings. Don't get complacent. Be safe.

The Tall Man.

P.S. What an incredible experience I session-ed with Ferranda at Energy. Damn, mi dios![/QUOTE]Wow!! And this is MY SPOT and I always go there first. How is the LU?

I feel it lately there has been more heighten presence in the street. Always have to be on your guard. I ususally hate that part at the end of energy in between the ATM. I try to get out of there as fast as possible. Especially when there is that asshole homeless person who is trying to have his own parking garage service in the middle of the lot.

Groups of 3 are always the worst. Stay safe!

[QUOTE=BlueChange;2024744]Wow!! And this is MY SPOT and I always go there first. How is the LU?

I feel it lately there has been more heighten presence in the street. Always have to be on your guard. I ususally hate that part at the end of energy in between the ATM. I try to get out of there as fast as possible. Especially when there is that asshole homeless person who is trying to have his own parking garage service in the middle of the lot.

Groups of 3 are always the worst. Stay safe![/QUOTE]All I can say is he's got some damn good eyes if he can determine that a pistol 60 yards away is a 9 mm. The picture shows an object the size of a gun 16 yards away. What is it?

Instead of running across the street, why not just step back into Energy and call a Uber or taxi? They were probably younger and faster, and I doubt if he could outrun a bullet? Besides, blindly running across a street in Medellin is a good way to end up as a good ornament.

I'm also confused about walking "opposite" of him. That should mean they were across the street walking north while he walked south, or they were on the same side of the street, behind him and walking away. Were they instead walking "towards" him?

If they were walking towards him, why pull out a gun 20 yards away? There's 3 of them. Step up grab him, show him the gun and take what he has.

The story just doesn't seem to make sense.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2024748]All I can say is he's got some damn good eyes if he can determine that a pistol 60 yards away is a 9 mm. The picture shows an object the size of a gun 16 yards away. What is it?

Instead of running across the street, why not just step back into Energy and call a Uber or taxi? They were probably younger and faster, and I doubt if he could outrun a bullet? Besides, blindly running across a street in Medellin is a good way to end up as a good ornament.

I'm also confused about walking "opposite" of him. That should mean they were across the street walking north while he walked south, or they were on the same side of the street, behind him and walking away. Were they instead walking "towards" him?

If they were walking towards him, why pull out a gun 20 yards away? There's 3 of them. Step up grab him, show him the gun and take what he has.

The story just doesn't seem to make sense.[/QUOTE]I assume he is using "9 mm" as a generic term for a semi-automatic black handgun.

Also surprised they would pull it early, making me think maybe he wasn't the intended target, but someone closer was?

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2024748]All I can say is he's got some damn good eyes if he can determine that a pistol 60 yards away is a 9 mm. The picture shows an object the size of a gun 16 yards away. What is it?
[/QUOTE]I believe he said 20 yards.

[QUOTE]I'm also confused about walking "opposite" of him. That should mean they were across the street walking north while he walked south, or they were on the same side of the street, behind him and walking away. Were they instead walking "towards" him?[/QUOTE]I took it to mean they were on same side of street walking opposite directions- that is, the trio was walking towards him.

[QUOTE]
The story just doesn't seem to make sense.[/QUOTE]I believe the guy had a gun and was repositioning it or showing it to be tough guy. Obviously they were not trying to rob. But if I saw that- and I do believe he saw a gun- I would bolt as well. I imagine he looked before he crossed the road.

There's no reason to question the story, just take it as a warning. There are plenty of people with guns in Medellin.

[QUOTE=Chicafan;2024818]I believe he said 20 yards.

I took it to mean they were on same side of street walking opposite directions- that is, the trio was walking towards him.

I believe the guy had a gun and was repositioning it or showing it to be tough guy. Obviously they were not trying to rob. But if I saw that- and I do believe he saw a gun- I would bolt as well. I imagine he looked before he crossed the road.

There's no reason to question the story, just take it as a warning. There are plenty of people with guns in Medellin.[/QUOTE]Typo on my part. I was thinking 60 feet and typed yards.

I'm still baffled how you can determine the caliber of a handgun 20 yards /60 feet away.

I'm also baffled why he would show the gun at all at that distance. The other businesses are open, there are other people around, there are cars on the street, it's broad daylight. Granted, people often do things that make no sense. I guess this is one of those things.

[QUOTE=Chicafan;2024818]I believe he said 20 yards.

I took it to mean they were on same side of street walking opposite directions- that is, the trio was walking towards him.

I believe the guy had a gun and was repositioning it or showing it to be tough guy. Obviously they were not trying to rob. But if I saw that- and I do believe he saw a gun- I would bolt as well. I imagine he looked before he crossed the road.

There's no reason to question the story, just take it as a warning. There are plenty of people with guns in Medellin.[/QUOTE]Yes 20 yards walking straight towards me (I was headed to metro and they were headed to the Diamante mall), I just past the ATM, for those that know this area you get it, yes it was a semi-automatic and no I assumed the caliber.

When I jolted across the street it was at a moment between a grouping of cars.

There are guns everywhere, hell my Colombian friend who picked me up at the airport always has his auto-matic in his blacked out bullet proof car.

I cannot make this up if I had to but you know that taxi that I quickly flagged down and got out of the stadium area, WELL that same taxi no more that 8 to 10 ten minutes latter we were rear ended by a Toyota Land Cruiser, both drivers (including my taxi driver) got out and an argument ensued in the middle of a traffic congested calle as to the cost of repairs, well smart me I stayed put in the taxi but ready to bolt as the other driver had a gordo body guard with him in his blacked-out bullet proof Land Cruiser displaying his pistol to my taxi driver to help negotiate the car damage costs, which my taxi driver reluctantly accepted and quickly drove off mad as hell.

Again, the only point is to stay observant, never get complacent, anywhere in this city.

The Tall Man.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2024748]I'm also confused about walking "opposite" of him. That should mean they were across the street walking north while he walked south, or they were on the same side of the street, behind him and walking away. Were they instead walking "towards" him?[/QUOTE]One thing I have noticed on this INTERNATIONAL board, is a lot of the members are not native English speakers so some of the posts I read are just a bit grammatically incorrect or maybe worded a bit different than the way I speak or write. I don't know where TTM is from but I would be willing to bet that it is not from a country whose primary language is English. I commend and applaud these posters as I could imagine how bad my French, German, Dutch (and Spanish) or whatever other language would appear to a native speaker! Just read between the lines and take in the overall intent of the message and it should all make sense.

Just a thought!

El Mechanico.

[QUOTE=TheTallMan;2025053]There are guns everywhere, hell my Colombian friend who picked me up at the airport always has his auto-matic in his blacked out bullet proof car.

I cannot make this up if I had to but you know that taxi that I quickly flagged down and got out of the stadium area, WELL that same taxi no more that 8 to 10 ten minutes latter we were rear ended by a Toyota Land Cruiser, both drivers (including my taxi driver) got out and an argument ensued in the middle of a traffic congested calle as to the cost of repairs, well smart me I stayed put in the taxi but ready to bolt as the other driver had a gordo body guard with him in his blacked-out bullet proof Land Cruiser displaying his pistol to my taxi driver to help negotiate the car damage costs, which my taxi driver reluctantly accepted and quickly drove off mad as hell.[/QUOTE]Like others, I see red flags in these reports. If your friend told you his car is bullet proof, then I can understand you repeating that here, although I would doubt anyone who told me that. There is no way you can look at a vehicle from the outside and know whether or not it is bullet proof, so your statement about the Land Cruiser is bogus. I think your report is for shock effect. Other than drug related incidents and domestic disputes, how many shootings do you know of in the Medellin area?

[QUOTE=FunLuvr;2025093] Other than drug related incidents and domestic disputes, how many shootings do you know of in the Medellin area?[/QUOTE]Off topic but I wonder what the average police officer in Colombia would do if they knew a person was carrying a gun. I do not know if there are laws allowing concealed weapons in Colombia but there is at least one video on youtube where police in Rio discovered a gun on someone they pulled over and assassinated him. Talk about lawlessness. He didn't even look dangerous, kind of normal. But they shot him dead. The gun battles between police and criminals in Brazil are legendary.

Sense of security in Colombia is mostly superficial. Even if a lot has changed, nothing has changed. This is a recent documentary and it helps to re-examine, re-evaluate and reconfirm the fact that you are not secure at all.

[URL]https://rtd.rt.com/films/escobars-hitman/[/URL]

I've been here 2 weeks now, living at the south end of Poblado. A few different issues have kept me from venturing out much. The worst is any injury that's taking a while to heal. However, today I decided to tough it out and check out Energy. I'll get to that in a few.

I'm far enough away from Parque Lleras that gringos are a rare sight. From here it's a brisk walk to Centro Comercial Santa Fe. If you have time to kill, that's a good place to hang out. If nothing else just for the eye candy.

A little bit closer to Lleras is CC Oviedo. There are several casas de cambio there if you need to exchange dollars. There's also a nice food court where you can get a full lunch for under 15 k.

The Metro is too convenient not to use, especially if you're going farther than a couple of stops. Just 2,300 pesos and trains come by every 4 or 5 minutes. It can be crowded. Taxis are also everywhere and cheap, but you may have to direct the driver. Taxi from the airport was 65 k.

In 2 weeks I've not paid over 20 k for any meal. About half my meals I'm cooking at home. Restaurant food is almost cheaper than I can cook it.

Now back to Energy. I lost count, but the lineup was about a dozen. Only 2 or 3 really curvy, 4 spinners, 1 tall and thin and the rest in between. I picked a tiny A cup spinner, no tats and cute face. Everything was about what I expected from past reviews. Place was clean with plenty of room.

I remember some reports saying they were collecting the fee before, but I wasn't asked to pay until after. Prices are as advertised.

Overall I'm enjoying Medellin. Not much to complain about yet.