This Is not the end- I Hhpe
[QUOTE=Surfer500;1951224]Arrived yesterday afternoon in town and after getting my room ready and stocked with food and beverages I took a stroll down the Strip.
Parts of the strip looked like something out of a war zone!
With the interior demolition work being done inside the former Latinos and the boarded up and deserted Rumbas I couldn't believe what I saw.
And across the street the Bermuda Bar and Cigar place were abandoned. Nobody sitting in chairs on the sidewalks gawking at the Ladies.
And Central Bar in the evening devoid of throngs of Haitians. Well at least the beach was the same![/QUOTE]Well I've been here ten days now and leave tomorrow, this time next week I'll be in Medellin and will miss the beaches here. Yesterday around 4 PM in the afternoon I hung out at the Platinum Bar across from Rumbas and a had a Cuba Libre. I observed lots of girls coming into town walking around in groups like packs of wolves. One girl asked me to go with her and I told her I had already come three times during the day which was true, and that I was out of leche. She said she could get a fourth one out of me but I told her no thanks and to find someone else as it was happy hour!
Anyways, I edged my table to the edge of the sidewalk and spoke with the owner of the Bar at length over the state of affairs. She informed me that her business was off probably at least 40% due to the ban of the tables out on the sidewalk in front of her Bar. She said, which had been previously reported, that the Mayor and others in their infinite wisdom were concerned about families with their children navigating the sidewalk which she thought was a joke. According to the owner there has been a lot of backlash from the business affected by this, and that perhaps in two weeks they were going to allow the tables back on the sidewalk and also thought that Rumbas's may be opening back up as well. The timing is kind of odd, almost seems to correspond to the beginning of tourist season, and perhaps the Mayor doesn't want to be pummeled any more. Perhaps somebody who lives here has more information on this.
This is great news and I hope it's true. As much as I like Medellin, I would hate to see this town go down any more than it has. Additionally there is a new venue in town, Pica Flor which I visited and reported on, but is expensive.