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The weather is not great and many chicas will be visiting their fathers tomorrow in spite of the government telling everybody not to do that.
[QUOTE=SpiderRider;2460142]Thanks. I'm on my way there now. Nobody seems to want to come out tonight at a reasonable price.[/QUOTE]
No worries, I spoke no English. After watching the drum circle for a while I wandered through ground zero and chatted with a couple of the girls. I think you are right about what led to the unpleasantness. I wanted to catch the Exito on Maracaibo before it closed so I cut my travels short and took a room at the Botero Bulevar. I booked over to Maracaibo a little after 5 PM.
[QUOTE=Lugnut;2460125]Yes that was us. I don't have a ponytail. I was probably standing next to you as were talking to the other gringo immediately in front of Tostao, I listened to you to speaking English.
I think the thing that I did wrong was that I was talking to another gringo; I would have been more mobile otherwise, and free to leave the area, but I felt obliged to wait for the other guy. Normally, I stand between Premium Plaza and the liquor store, and watch the scene, with my back to the wall.
Lots of other armchair warrior opinions coming in, but I worked my way out of a knife fight, unharmed, so I can do without. I'm not here for tactical advice. Of course things could have been much different and I don't take that for granted. And others assuming that I was in shorts, or sunglasses, or with a water bottle, all of which I was not, but whatever.
Paulie97, I did not resist a robbery, I responded to an attack. There was not an opportunity to comply.
It was a very fluid situation and I wanted to share it here with our brothers.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Surfer500;2460085]Excellent pointers to lessen getting targeted in El Centro, especially talking with other gringo's at ground zero. This kind of situation is kind of like "flys's on shit" in terms of attracting a lot of attention, even wearing shorts, sunglasses, or carrying a plastic water bottle marks you.
This may sound odd to some, but locals won't spend 2,000 Pesos for a bottle of water, but will pay 500 Pesos for a bag of water. So having a plastic water bottle, and wearing shorts and sunglasses just put's a big "X" on your back as a foreigner, not even taking into account the color of your skin, hair, or eye's.[/QUOTE]Good advice. Whenever I go to centro, I always take off my watch and never reveal my phone unless I'm inside a bar and ready to call my Uber. I never carry more than 200 pesos since I never plan to session at centro, it's not my scene. I don't stop at one spot just to hang. So far out of my 5+ visits to centro, I have not seen any hidden gems people have been talking about, but I do like to experience the rawness of the street.
I look forward to your findings.
[QUOTE=SpiderRider;2460142]Thanks. I'm on my way there now. Nobody seems to want to come out tonight at a reasonable price. Is this a balmy moonlit night in Miami, or Colombia in the midst of a unprecedented economy crushing quarantine... ? geez chicas, get a clue...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Lugnut;2460125]
I think the thing that I did wrong was that I was talking to another gringo; I would have been more mobile otherwise, and free to leave the area, but I felt obliged to wait for the other guy. Normally, I stand between Premium Plaza and the liquor store, and watch the scene, with my back to the wall.
[/QUOTE]Thanks for sharing your experience, it's helpful to many of us.
[QUOTE=SpiderRider;2460113]Approved!! BTW I have a beautiful very young lady who cleans my apartment exquisitely, its really impressive. That is to say not a slob chica, polar opposite. Almost never on the phone, either. Then, we spend 2 or 3 more hours together. Exquisite skills here too. Met her at a juice cart last spring. I adore her. She's really hard to contact most of the time. She came over this week for the first time since before the quarantine. She gives me a a shred of optimism about humans. Angelic face, you'll have to take my word[/QUOTE]I believe it. With time and patience and some effort these types of circumstances happen more often than not here in never never land. You got a super situation and hats-off, good job.
I spent a few hours in Botero / Vera and surrounding areas yesterday afternoon (Saturday June 20th) and the amount of people out and about is back to pre-covid time, just need to get the bars and restaurants back opened up.
Lots of chicas out looking for business, many familiar ones and some new ones too. I was not planning to taking any girl to the hotel but happened to run into an old friend from 3 years back who yes is looking for a way to pay her bills. I know her really well as we have vacationed together with her and her best friends a few years back. A good honest paisa who like tens of thousands of others are struggling. Enjoyed a quick 30 minute romp in the hay, hehehehe ok a romp in the no-tel hotel, hehehehe.
The Tall Man.
[QUOTE=Lugnut;2460125]I think the thing that I did wrong was that I was talking to another gringo; I would have been more mobile otherwise, and free to leave the area, but I felt obliged to wait for the other guy. Normally, I stand between Premium Plaza and the liquor store, and watch the scene, with my back to the wall..[/QUOTE]You did nothing wrong.
I have a friend who used to show up in El Centro wearing shorts, and walk all around, and even if he wasn't wearing shorts, he stuck out like a sore thumb but didn't care. He was always on a mission to find something to bang and get the hell out of dodge as quick as he could. I would typically meet up with him after having a session in El Centro and we would go out to dinner in Laureles or Poblado. However I would never hang with him in El Centro, or walk around with him when I was there.
At times when I have spoken with other gringos in El Centro, I go inside the mall with them directly opposite the Premium Plaza as the visibility is way less inside there.
El Centro can be tricky at times, especially for gringos, and there are strategies to lessen the risks such as where you stand when your there, and yes if you have a bottle of water in your hand, that's a dead giveaway that your a foreigner even ignoring the color of your hair or skin.
I am lucky as I can pass looks wise as a Colombian, and have been told this by other Colombians, and dress accordingly in dirty jeans and T-shirt, so I am pretty much under the radar until I open my mouth and the the cat is out of the bag.
I remember one day walking on the backside of the Church in front of all the bars and an obvious gringo was walking in front of me, and he had a ponytail, and girls were coming up to him yelling hola gringo, and when I walked by, I was totally ignored.
This goes back to my analogy of "fly"s on shit", foreigners are going to attract attention and that's just the way it is in Colombia and some guys who are afraid of their shadow won't do well in El Centro where as other's eat it up like a lap dog.
This should be interesting.
"For this reason, the president, Ivand Duque, made an appeal to the citizen conscience and anticipated that the country should prepare to spend a Christmas in quarantine.
We have to prepare ourselves as a society to face this pandemic that is going to last for at least another year as long as we don't have a vaccine, if it comes out before wonderful, but that means that we are going to have love and friendship with the pandemic, that we will have Halloween with the pandemic, that means that we will have Christmas with the pandemic, said the president. ".
[URL]https://www.publimetro.co/co/noticias/2020/06/21/mensaje-ivan-duque-la-navidad-coronavirus-consterno-mas-uno.html?fbclid=IwAR1htaDxi77CLsFUHiPeJC4yLm4f49I9-LGB-9jjELtztDoojWKmKeuLPSs[/URL]
[QUOTE=Orgasmico;2460285]This should be interesting.
"For this reason, the president, Ivand Duque, made an appeal to the citizen conscience and anticipated that the country should prepare to spend a Christmas in quarantine.
[/QUOTE]Thanks for the link, Orgasmico. I would tell Duque good luck getting people to comply with it.
The people I talk to are already at their wit's end with covid. I tell them how open things are in the USA and Mexico, and it is very frustrating to them. I will say that the huge surge in Covid cases (but not deaths) has been greeted by the American people with a yawn.
As of now, I plan on bringing my women to Mexico and seeing them there. I guess they will have to isolate two weeks after they are back though.
[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2460293]Thanks for the link, Orgasmico. I would tell Duque good luck getting people to comply with it.
The people I talk to are already at their wit's end with covid. I tell them how open things are in the USA and Mexico, and it is very frustrating to them. I will say that the huge surge in Covid cases (but not deaths) has been greeted by the American people with a yawn..[/QUOTE]This is how mass psychology works. The way Trump and people with similar brain approaches the problem is: less tests, less positive results, less worry. Who cares if we have 100k tested positive, if they don't die?
Unfortunately, the virus spreading follows an exponential law. Parameters may vary, but it's an exponetial law. Once attention is relaxed, the average distance between people is reduced, the average time of contiguity, etc. , the magic number "average number of infected caused by a single, throughout its overall time of activity" goes above 1, and the exponential starts to inflate. You know the rice bean on box #1 of the chess table, which becomes 2 on the #2, 4 on the #3, etc.
Second thing to say "unfortunately", the curve of "tested positive" is followed by the curve of "deaths" with a significant delay. If you have 100k entering disease today, maybe few thousands will be dead but in a few weeks. When you start to be worried because you have 10k deaths, the number of "probably dead" on the way has already grown. It's past already.
Mass people starts to detect the problem when the number of people in hospital grows to a number that makes it evident, when everyone knows at least one in his circle who is in hospital, or is dead. There are areas in Northern Italy where 50% of population is now positive to antibodies, and families have been decimated from February to April. Each family has someone passed away. At this point, it is too late to understand and exclamate "Hey! there is a problem!". The problem has already entered your home. You will not see much people in those areas crowding pubs even today, because they have seen it and they are scared to hell.
Brazil is an interesting social experiment. A big country led by an idiot who believes the epidemic is not a serious problem. The number of dead today is already large, but it can quickly become overwhelming.
I wish this will not happen in USA and Mexico, but unfortunately mass people do not understand a problem if not big and directly affecting their personal life. Very sad.
"I think the thing that I did wrong was that I was talking to another gringo."
What I notice about Americans is that we often speak in public very loud and often with our hands to the point of almost putting on a show.
We can unknowingly draw unwanted attention to ourselves.
This is not the norm in many countries and can be looked down upon or possibly an attention deficit? Not saying this happened but just a particular oddity that is very noticeable about the stereotypical American foreigner.
If anyone gets the chance, try to pick up on what I'm saying the next time a group of the aforementioned gets together and the reactions of the locals, not just in Medellin.
A particular instance comes to mind where at a hotel I stay at in MDE, was an oblivious dufus sat resting right on the middle steps of the entrance to the hotel and local guests had to walk around him.
He was very comfortable having his loud conversation with another english speaker across the street to the dismay of hotel staff and guests, as well as curious average people walking around the calle.
Maybe its best to blend in when in Centro.
[QUOTE=Bill;2460305]"I think the thing that I did wrong was that I was talking to another gringo."
What I notice about Americans is that we often speak in public very loud and often with our hands to the point of almost putting on a show.
We can unknowingly draw unwanted attention to ourselves.
This is not the norm in many countries and can be looked down upon or possibly an attention deficit? Not saying this happened but just a particular oddity that is very noticeable about the stereotypical American foreigner.
If anyone gets the chance, try to pick up on what I'm saying the next time a group of the aforementioned gets together and the reactions of the locals, not just in Medellin.
A particular instance comes to mind where at a hotel I stay at in MDE, was an oblivious dufus sat resting right on the middle steps of the entrance to the hotel and local guests had to walk around him.
He was very comfortable having his loud conversation with another english speaker across the street to the dismay of hotel staff and guests, as well as curious average people walking around the calle.
Maybe its best to blend in when in Centro.[/QUOTE]Myself, I typically avoid US Americans / gringos, they just kinda bug me. Perhaps I see too much of myself in them. I left there for a lot of reasons. If I wanted gringo friends I would have stayed up there. Although its quite hard to have friends in the US, everybody is so damned busy, stressed out, and lock themselves away with a TV after 6:30 pm. I typically make a thoughtful and strategic effort to blend in the best that I can. Sometimes its effective, other times not. At least, often times people recognize me as a foreigner but they are surprised a bit that I am not European or Argentinian. I count those instances as victories.
I remember once sitting in the airport in Costa Rica and group of loud, obnoxious US Americans came barreling through. It was disturbing.
[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2460293]Thanks for the link, Orgasmico. I would tell Duque good luck getting people to comply with it.
The people I talk to are already at their wit's end with covid. I tell them how open things are in the USA and Mexico, and it is very frustrating to them. I will say that the huge surge in Covid cases (but not deaths) has been greeted by the American people with a yawn.
As of now, I plan on bringing my women to Mexico and seeing them there. I guess they will have to isolate two weeks after they are back though.[/QUOTE]In very simple terms, and mentioned in what Duque said, was that until their is a vaccine, at least an effective one, that Colombia was 'hosed", and I think a lot of people have thrown in the towel meaning their at their wit's end (fuck it is all I hear now) as you mentioned, and that's what a lot of other Countries around the world think of the USA in how we have handled things meaning we have "given up".
I'm honestly ashamed at how were doing, and think we are the laughing stock of the world.
As a side note, you mentioned Mexico, and I experienced something I found perplexing this week, but perhaps should not of been given how things have been, or perhaps, not handled by Washington. I decided to go to Tijuana on Wednesday and all non-essential travel to Mexico has been banned by Washington for over a month now and was just recently extended. So I parked my car by the border and walked to the entry, I was expecting to see CBP personnel on the USA side advising people of the ban, along with postings that any non-essential travel was not allowed.
But there was nothing, not a single sign or CBP personnel at the entrance or along the pathway into Mexico. Upon crossing the turnstile and entering I got to the immigration booth and was asked how long I was going to be there with not a single other question asked and they issued me a tourist card, I then walked about 15 feet, they checked my temperature, and was in. And it was the same returning back in the USA, no questions asked about how long I was there, what was I doing there, no temperature checks, only what was I bringing back.
Without going into any detail as to what was going on in Mexico, entering and exiting was like there was no Pandemic, yet all non-essential travel was banned yet no enforcement. This is what I found perplexing, but maybe I shouldn't of.
[QUOTE=BlackPage;2460302]This is how mass psychology works. The way Trump and people with similar brain approaches the problem is: less tests, less positive results, less worry. Who cares if we have 100k tested positive, if they don't die?
Unfortunately, the virus spreading follows an exponential law. Parameters may vary, but it's an exponetial law. Once attention is relaxed, the average distance between people is reduced, the average time of contiguity, etc. , the magic number "average number of infected caused by a single, throughout its overall time of activity" goes above 1, and the exponential starts to inflate. You know the rice bean on box #1 of the chess table, which becomes 2 on the #2, 4 on the #3, etc.
Second thing to say "unfortunately", the curve of "tested positive" is followed by the curve of "deaths" with a significant delay. If you have 100k entering disease today, maybe few thousands will be dead but in a few weeks. When you start to be worried because you have 10k deaths, the number of "probably dead" on the way has already grown. It's past already.
Mass people starts to detect the problem when the number of people in hospital grows to a number that makes it evident, when everyone knows at least one in his circle who is in hospital, or is dead. There are areas in Northern Italy where 50% of population is now positive to antibodies, and families have been decimated from February to April. Each family has someone passed away. At this point, it is too late to understand and exclamate "Hey! there is a problem!". The problem has already entered your home. You will not see much people in those areas crowding pubs even today, because they have seen it and they are scared to hell.
Brazil is an interesting social experiment. A big country led by an idiot who believes the epidemic is not a serious problem. The number of dead today is already large, but it can quickly become overwhelming.
I wish this will not happen in USA and Mexico, but unfortunately mass people do not understand a problem if not big and directly affecting their personal life. Very sad.[/QUOTE]If ruling class's intention is to reduce population and implement a new Marxist world order. , I wish they would just do it quickly instead of torturing the underclass with fear, indignity, and destruction of prosperity. Unleash the virus and get it over with already.
[QUOTE=Bill;2460305]
What I notice about Americans is that we often speak in public very loud and often with our hands to the point of almost putting on a show.
We can unknowingly draw unwanted attention to ourselves.
This is not the norm in many countries and can be looked down upon or possibly an attention deficit? Not saying this happened but just a particular oddity that is very noticeable about the stereotypical American foreigner.
[/QUOTE]Given how expressive the Spanish are known to be, it's kind of funny to think that Americans in general could be louder than Colombians.