General Info

Diving in the Rosarios is OK, NOT great. Try and find a chica in Cartagena to bring to San Andres though (most would be THRILLED!) as it is slim pickings once you are there. Also, you'll be surprised to see how San Andres seems to be an entirely different country from Colombia (i.e. EVERYBODY speaks English).

I'll select a dive shop from Cartenega for Rosarios and girl . . . maybe a chica from Medellin for San Andreas. Since T. Roosevelt beat Colombia out of Panama, English in San Andreas stands to reason. I may cut San Andreas Island trip to 5 days after emails with Juan. Thanks for the reports Surfer, I appreciate your experience. Z

I never leave Laguito for mine.

Slim pickings on San Andres is more an accepted myth than a reality. I think since that's "the word", no one ever looks for chicas there. During my trip there, a local guy took me around to three casas and two "strip" clubs. There were all kinds of hot Colombianas to choose from. The most upscale club I would rate just a notch below La Dolce Vita in Cartagena, but then not many places anywhere can compare favorably to LDV. Prices are generally higher there than LDV, I think an hour on site was 150,000 and todo la noche was 200,000. But there were chicas de Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, etc just like LDV.
Bringing your own is preferable I agree, but not a necessity.

That's excellent info S2. Thank you. I will probably take a girl and will definitely check the P4P situation on the island and report back to this thread my findings. That info has helped me tremendously.

Damn I am excited about Colombia; Cartegena, Medellin, Bogota, San Andreas Island, diving, hanging at beach. Maybe a mud bath or going some place that would be fun with a woman. Life is GOOD!!!

Colombia is addictive. I was hooked by my second visit. Maybe you are safe the first time.

I bought an unlocked GSM phone yesterday for about $70.00 off e-bay. If I understand this correctly I will purchase a SIM chip when I arrive in Colombia, then have relatively economical domestic phone service by purchasing minutes from a standard calling card vendor. The benefit of buying my own phone is, I will maintain the same number through out my one month stay in Colombia, and the phone will be mine to use through out Latin America, and possibly Eastern Europe and Thailand for furure mongering trips.

So if I understand this, then say in a six months, when I go to Brasil, I will need to purchase another SIM chip for say RIo which will allow me to make economical calls by purchasing minutes while in Rio. Or for that matter, Peru, or Europe and Thailand. Is that correct??

The phone number I obtain (I believe when I acquire the SIM chip in the country I am visiting) will be mine for a certain time frame as long as I am using the phone/chip. Question, is there a CERTAIN time frame of not using my GSM phone in Colombia that will run and preclude me from thereafter preserving that phone number (which I believe is programmed to my SIM chip) assigned to me. In other words, if I go back to Colombia (say three months later) will I have to purchase a NEW SIM chip?? Or, can I use the same (old) SIM chip and just have it reprogrammed (if the number is not branded to the chip)?? Or what?? How does that work??? Can someone please help me understand these techincal phone logistics. It confuses me.

Does Colombia Cartegena, Medellin, Bogota have DSL. In Rio, I happily paid to have a DSL line installed in rental apartments. I have also used pirate equipment (slipped in) that essentially uses Vonage to acguire a USA exchange number through internet. Though legally not considered appropriate there is no apparent way that the source country can be identified from it's internet signal through the USA exchange number. At least this is what I surmise.

Alternatively, with a simple $20-$30 rental of modem provided by Velox while I was in Rio, able to daisy chain my laptop between the moden and telephone and achieve unlimited access to internet in tandem with unlimited (free) USA phone service access. Though with the Velox set up, callers (that is customers and associates), other than my office, had to call and leave messages on my office number voice mail, and I had to call in, and retirive those messages frequently. The only alternative (I believe) would be to have receptionist give out my international (Velox apartment) number or Colombia cell number and thus call me directly. I prefer to have customers and associates think I am hard at work in my office. So if there is a way I could have calls rolled directly to my GSM phone in Colombia or my Velox phone service in the apartment then I would be very cool. The pirate equipment allowed Pacific NW clients to call a Seattle or LA exchange number and that was easy to explain, saying I was simply out of town for the moment. Ha, ha. Unless I want to boast to a few certain associates or clients about mongering while they are working!!

Generally I am able to simply daisy chain a answering machine between the phone and router and place an outgoing message on the machine to answer while I am busy mongering, but that is only useful to my office staff as they are essentially the only ones I want to know that I am out of the country and not behind my desk in Idaho.

Seems like the GSM phone should fit in here somehow, but I refuse to pay ATT $1.99 minute to recieve phone calls from USA to Latin America. This is a terrible quandry for me.

I really enjoy the challenge of maintaining a virtual office wherever I am mongering. My ultimately objective is to carry a Black Berry/phone and work (stocks and mortgages) while doing important mongering on beach, swimming pools, and coffee shops during the day, all with one little device. I basically wish to live and work for mongering, and two months a year outside of USA is just not enough!!

I know this email is convuluted, appologize for not editing, but if someone could advise me I would really appraciate some good techincial advise on this problem. Thanks and happy mongering. Z

Just my 2 Pesos.

phone numbers connected to SIM Cards (pay per minute) of fixed credit SIM cards : yes when not "reloaded" after a specific moment in time, your number is no longer "yours". It goes back into the pool of available numbers of the phone company. This is the case although in Thailand, where I had to buy a SECOND SIM CARD within 8 months time. the first number was no longer useable.

I do not know IF it will be suspended when there still would be credit left on the simcard when you leave back home and put it on rest. No can tell amigo !! Mine was completely emptied before I left.

There is always the possibility to give the sim card to a girfriend abroad, so she can use it from time to time. So you keep your number, she can reload the card, and you can use it again once back into town. There are (off course) also disadvantages .... as you know :-)

DSL exists in Colombia. I cannot tell more about it. sorry.

A good friend of mine who lives in Peru and manages a hedge fund travels to Columbia often (MDE). He brings his Vonnage phone with him and uses it in hotels in (MDE) without a problem. He has a Houston TX number that he keeps for clients. I am not familiar with Velox, so I can not comment.

LB

I've been using the same SIM card for about 9 months now. I am back in Colombia about every three months. You do not need to reprogram it, just buy a new phone card anywhere and you're good to go. You may want to inquire at Comcel as to how long you can go without using the SIM before it will expire, I have heard that happens sometime. One thing to keep in mind, no one at Comcel (in Bocagrande) speaks any english that I know of, and I've been there three times. If you're not fluent, it'll be a struggle. PM me if you'd like a cheap translator to accompany you. Might be worth the 5-10 dollars extra...

I didn't use my Colombian cel phone for about 9 months ... just had to go by Comcel office and they did something to it in about 5 minutes it was ready to go again.

I believe they said 6 months was the cut off.

Wow what a responsive board!! Thanks Ricker, S2, LB, & COT.

I believe if I go to . . . say Rio . . . or say Thailand then I must buy a SIM chip there to have the cheap domestic calls. Or, can one single SIM chip be programmed with a new local calling number in each of these countries?

LB, the Vonage configuration is the only way I can see to make what I want to do somewhat practicle. I believe with the Vonage equipment (once it is connected through a DSL door) there is no way that Vonage can determine where the equipment is actually connected. So if I can get a Boise, Idaho, or Salt Lake City, or Seattle exchange number from Vonage, then when I make a call the recipient sees a Major city phone number on their caller ID. I give that number out and they may have to pay 5 cents a minute to call me but that is OK. I see that as the only practicle way I can be working in my apartment/office and send/recieve calls directly to and from USA. And the only way to keep a consistent USA mongering phone number. The alternative I supppose ($1.19-$1.99 per minute) is to have a GSM world phone but that is way expensive very quick.

My objective is simple, I want to be able to sit on the beach in South America or Asia, answering phone calls like I am at my desk in Idaho. Then tell them I am busy, will call them back in say one hour and then go back to my apartment call my office, or log onto my server and get the info I need, then place the calls without incurring extreme long distance fees and without my clients/associates knowing I am mongering myself into heaven. Until Vonage set's up an exchange in my home town and until I can figure out a way to roll my Vonage calls directly to an unlocked GSM phone in Colombia then I have to play like I am simply out of town on a small business trip and just use the Vonage voice mail box to handle incoming calls when I am on the beach or out of the apartment playing. I'll check with Vonage and let the board know what I have discovered but if I learn it is illegal to take Vonage equipment out of the USA then you will likely not be hearing much more about this Vonage configuration from me again.

Anyway I bought a set of Bushnel binoculars (8 x 30) yesterday at Best Buy for about $150.00 they are cool because they have a digital camera built in with standard camera memory card allowing me to snap 2.1 MP digital photos, (about 300 pictures) at a time, then pull the card out or USB them into my laptop. I can't wait to use them on the beach!!

I also bought an 80Gig small portable external hard drive at Costco for $100.00. Place to hold all the pics!! I plan on taking lots of pictures, not quite as obvious as a camera while outdoors and besides it will make me feel like I am a private dick doing mongering espionage for my fellow cuntryman.

I wish I could find a place in Cartegena that rents lighting equipment. Once I get a Colombiana in my room I can play like I am a professional photographer get her to do some hot and sexy model poses and perhaps inspire her to try harder and be nicer for more of a GFE for me. Hummmm, seems like I remember a monger saying he used that angle to get some quality talent. Oh well just a thought, actually I generally get way to busy with the quantity being what it is in South America. Nevertheless, shooting some porn does sound like fun. Geeez, I just know I should be a porn star, well at my age maybe the producer! Hummmm, no I'd still rather be the porn star!! Z

Once you get the SIM card, calls are still not cheap. Those pre-paid cards burn fast.

The LDV girls are becoming camera shy because of Internet postings. Try the street girls if you like photography.

Make sure it operates on 850mhz.