Medellin Reports

[QUOTE=Arcangel;2298850]Your preplanning looks pretty good to me.

For taxi money I would say put your credit card in the ATM at the airport. Your bank is likely to hit you with fees but it's still better than changing cash. Cambio is for chumps.

Taxis do not take cards. At a pinch you could try offering the taxista dollars but he may not be familiar with them.

ATMs without fee for foreign cards in Colombia are Davivienda (common), Banco Caja Social (less common) and Banco Pichincha (are they even in Medellin?

On photoprepagos the hot pictures may be of the same girl years ago when she was still hot.

Sildenafil (aka Viagra) is made by many different laboratories. I found best value Sildenafil Genfar 4 x50 MG 5900 cop at Farmacia Pasteur (there's a big one on a corner near Veracruz church).

I use a local SIM card with my foreign whatsapp number. Best of all worlds.[/QUOTE]There's a Banco Pichincha in Poblado. It's on Avenida Poblado south of Santa Fe mall, across the street from the DHL building. I think there's another in El Centro, but not sure of the location.

Last I used it it allowed a max of 1 million per withdrawal, and you could make multiple withdrawals on the same transaction. You just need to re-enter your PIN for each withdrawal. Saves a few seconds if you're pulling out a lot.

Fat asses, what's not to like?

[QUOTE=RiceRocket99;2298964]Just to give you guys an idea of the types of girls I'm into and roll with who are available to those that do their homework. One of them works or use to work at Energy.[/QUOTE]

You got better and better every day of your stay. You will really enjoy you next visit. FYI the neighborhood of Conejitas and Barra Ejecutiva is no worse than the streets around New Life. Luna girls will accept 150 K for hotel dates. I can tell you will figure that and the rest of the prices on your own. We look forward to your next report.

[QUOTE=HeavyD24;2298867]Just got back from Medellin for the first time. I went with a small group of friends and we stayed near the El Poblado area at the Dann Carlton Belfort. I read a good amount of forums that helped a lot with places to visit out there. Let's get to it.

Day 1: We arrived at the airport around 3 pm. Got to our hotel around 5 ish. Called the hotel to pick us before hand and the sent a guy to pick us up in a van. Which was 160 l pesos for 4 of us. Came to find out that was really expensive but split 4 ways it wasn't bad for me. That night we went to La Isla club. There was at least 40 chicas there not night. And a variety of everything! We all got a beer I believe it was 25 k pesos which was a crazy amount as well. I ended up going to the back with a chica in her early 30's with a great body! It was a good time though easily the hottest chick I've been with LOL. All of us paid the same price 300 k pesos for 45 minutes. Experience was good nonetheless. Went back to the hotel and got some rest.[/QUOTE]

Uber accepts credit cards.

[QUOTE=Arcangel;2298850]Your preplanning looks pretty good to me.

For taxi money I would say put your credit card in the ATM at the airport. Your bank is likely to hit you with fees but it's still better than changing cash. Cambio is for chumps.

Taxis do not take cards. At a pinch you could try offering the taxista dollars but he may not be familiar with them.

ATMs without fee for foreign cards in Colombia are Davivienda (common), Banco Caja Social (less common) and Banco Pichincha (are they even in Medellin?.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but 150 k for most is true for the facebook girls. Most are happy with 50 K if you aren't in a Poblado hotel or high end airbnb. You aren't going to get local rates in that kind of lodging. It's only fair I guess.

[QUOTE=RiceRocket99;2298734]The main thing you need to be concerned about is trying not to fall in love with any of them. It'll be easy to get emotionally attached to a hot, young, and passionate paisa thatll do bbbj, bbfs, anal and anything you pretty much want . Best way for me is to have a bunch of them, so if I get too attached to one, I'll just fuck another one LOL. Trust me, if you do it right or halfway decent, you'll be planning a return trip before you even make it back home.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Arcangel;2298850]... ATMs without fee for foreign cards in Colombia are Davivienda (common), Banco Caja Social (less common) and Banco Pichincha (are they even in Medellin? ...[/QUOTE]Last year I checked the Banco Caja Social on calle 10 in Poblado and they charged an ATM fee. Maybe they have changed. BBVA Bank does not charge an ATM fee.

This has been said many times before, but it's worth repeating because it's literally the best thing I did when I first read about it on this forum a few years back. Get a Charles Schawb checkings account that requires no minimum balance, they charge no ATM fees and reimburse any third party fees worldwide.

[QUOTE=FunLuvr;2299054]Last year I checked the Banco Caja Social on calle 10 in Poblado and they charged an ATM fee. Maybe they have changed. BBVA Bank does not charge an ATM fee.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=RiceRocket99;2299079]This has been said many times before, but it's worth repeating because it's literally the best thing I did when I first read about it on this forum a few years back. Get a Charles Schawb checkings account that requires no minimum balance, they charge no ATM fees and reimburse any third party fees worldwide.[/QUOTE]I am thinking the Schwab "no fee" card is smoke and mirrors since they give a poor exchange rate. I have a Charles Schwab card that charges no ATM fees and reimburses any third party fees worldwide. I used it in Indonesia just recently. As a test, immediately following getting money with the Schwab card, I used my normal wells fargo bank ATM card that DOES charge fees. I then compared the total cash I received after all fees and exchange rates were taken into account. I was charged a 5 usd fee for using the Wells Fargo card. However, even though the two transactions were only seconds apart, I got a better rate using the Wells Fargo card. So, after the 5 usd fee, the amount of money I received was almost identical. The amount of the withdrawal in both cases was about 150 usd. At that amount, I saved about 50 cents using the Schwab card after fees and exchange rates were taken into account. Had I withdrawn 300 usd, the Wells Fargo withdrawal would have been a better deal.

Admittedly, this was only one test, but the results were interesting.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2299084]I am thinking the Schwab "no fee" card is smoke and mirrors since they give a poor exchange rate. I have a Charles Schwab card that charges no ATM fees and reimburses any third party fees worldwide. I used it in Indonesia just recently. As a test, immediately following getting money with the Schwab card, I used my normal wells fargo bank ATM card that DOES charge fees. I then compared the total cash I received after all fees and exchange rates were taken into account. I was charged a 5 usd fee for using the Wells Fargo card. However, even though the two transactions were only seconds apart, I got a better rate using the Wells Fargo card. So, after the 5 usd fee, the amount of money I received was almost identical. The amount of the withdrawal in both cases was about 150 usd. At that amount, I saved about 50 cents using the Schwab card after fees and exchange rates were taken into account. Had I withdrawn 300 usd, the Wells Fargo withdrawal would have been a better deal.

Admittedly, this was only one test, but the results were interesting.[/QUOTE]On my last MDE trip I used Davivienda exclusively, which doesn't have ATM fees. When I went back home and looked at my statement, I compared the amount I withdrew that day to the official exchange rate reported by Visa or Google for that day and the effective rate I received from Davividenda / Schwab is very very close to the official rate.

Example transaction, on Feb 7th I withdrew 320 k COP which is that Davividenda ATM's max amount, Schwab deducted 103.42 from my account. Visa's exchange rate calculator for that day reports 103.36. [URL]XE.com[/URL] reported 3110.78 USD to COP that day, which amounts to 102.86. Visa makes about 60 cents from that exchange, not that much.

Take a look at this website for an analysis of how Schwab does its conversion: [URL]https://moneymattersforglobetrotters.com/no-foreign-transaction-fee-or-exchange-rate-markup-account/[/URL].

Basically if Schwab and the ATM operator does not charge you fees, any difference must come from the interbank network. In your case, since you didn't mention that the ATM didn't charge fees, I'll assume it does. It's possible then that the ATM charges more fees for certain cards or the transaction went through different interbank networks.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2299084]I am thinking the Schwab "no fee" card is smoke and mirrors since they give a poor exchange rate. I have a Charles Schwab card that charges no ATM fees and reimburses any third party fees worldwide. I used it in Indonesia just recently. As a test, immediately following getting money with the Schwab card, I used my normal wells fargo bank ATM card that DOES charge fees. I then compared the total cash I received after all fees and exchange rates were taken into account. I was charged a 5 usd fee for using the Wells Fargo card. However, even though the two transactions were only seconds apart, I got a better rate using the Wells Fargo card. So, after the 5 usd fee, the amount of money I received was almost identical. The amount of the withdrawal in both cases was about 150 usd. At that amount, I saved about 50 cents using the Schwab card after fees and exchange rates were taken into account. Had I withdrawn 300 usd, the Wells Fargo withdrawal would have been a better deal.

Admittedly, this was only one test, but the results were interesting.[/QUOTE]Using the debit card is risky and not preferable in mongering countries. Why not purchase a pre paid visa card for $100 each and use at any ATM machines that are free.

[QUOTE=HappyShiva;2299177]Using the debit card is risky and not preferable in mongering countries.[/QUOTE]Man what the heck are you talking about? How is using a debit card risky and what bearing does a place having widespread prostitution have to do with whether using a debit card is preferable or not? Come back to earth. Billions of people are using them all over the world. The main difference is where your card is from. My exgirlfriend in Bogota got her info stolen and the bank would not return her money. The times my info has been stolen, the US banks have always returned my money if by chance they did not detect it while it was being jacked.

[QUOTE=HeavyD24;2298867]
Wish I would've stayed longer but I had a great experience. I understand Spanish well and I speak a little Spanish so I felt like that kind of helped. I wish I was fluent. But I will be back April 26 to May 2nd. I wanted to try Conejitas and Bara executivos but the neighborhood was sketchy and I chickened out LOL I know there is a lot more spots I have to try as well until next time![/QUOTE]I live in NJ, USA, PM me and let me know your plans. Maybe I can join you.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2299181]Man what the heck are you talking about? How is using a debit card risky and what bearing does a place having widespread prostitution have to do with whether using a debit card is preferable or not? Come back to earth. Billions of people are using them all over the world. The main difference is where your card is from. My exgirlfriend in Bogota got her info stolen and the bank would not return her money. The times my info has been stolen, the US banks have always returned my money if by chance they did not detect it while it was being jacked.[/QUOTE]I am always advised by the bank to use credit cards instead of debit cards in foreign countries. Because if your pin number get stolen and the money is debited out of your savings or checking the bank will not reimburse. Instead, most of credit cards are secured.

[QUOTE=HappyShiva;2299203]I am always advised by the bank to use credit cards instead of debit cards in foreign countries. Because if your pin number get stolen and the money is debited out of your savings or checking the bank will not reimburse. Instead, most of credit cards are secured.[/QUOTE]One could of course just use the debit card to draw cash and use cash everywhere.

That way, you have privacy and your loss is capped at whatever you are carrying.

I have found there are real benefits to that. Agree with credit cards. I do use them.

And have the protection from my issuer and money back benefits. Never had fraud outside.

Of the country on my credit card. A few times in the US.

[QUOTE=HappyShiva;2299203]I am always advised by the bank to use credit cards instead of debit cards in foreign countries. Because if your pin number get stolen and the money is debited out of your savings or checking the bank will not reimburse. Instead, most of credit cards are secured.[/QUOTE]Bull-shhit at purest level. I am not even sure whether you are just playing with us or you really believe that.

Your bank gives you a disinterested advice, right? Considered the difference in transaction fees between a debit card and a credit card, your bank really found its ideal customer, if you trust such a gross BS.

It is not just wrong by a financial standpoint, but even wrong versus logic.

1) If write your PIN with your credit card, and someone takes money from your credit card using its PIN, you will not be reimboursed. Period. Because you failed to practice normal measures of caution, like leaving a car with the keys on then claiming reimbourse from the insurance.

2) A credit card can be used without the PIN, by just showing it at the shop (where they do not care to check who is the owner) or online. A debit card CANNOT be used without its PIN. Therefore, the debit card is safer.

I am astonished, frankly.
By the way, whenever I am in the world, I use routinely both debit cards at ATMs to get local money, and credit cards to pay shops and service providers (no, not THAT service providers).

[QUOTE=HappyShiva;2299177]Using the debit card is risky and not preferable in mongering countries. Why not purchase a pre paid visa card for $100 each and use at any ATM machines that are free.[/QUOTE]
There's a simple answer: the commission fee. Are you an employee of Mastercard trying to revamp company business surreptitiously?