Medellin Reports

[QUOTE=MiamiHeatLuver]Nice follow up AG..

Now fellas. How many of you guys novias have been "robbed and mugged" at gun point of their iphones or new blackberry that you just bought for her, and now she needs you to be replace it immediately or she cannot keep in touch with you? This is a common practice in Colombia. lol

Happy Thanksgiving and Mongering American gringos![/QUOTE]

Thats funny, but allot of truth in it :-)))

The Tall Man

Lights are crap ... WTF!! I love the lights. Last Christmas when I was down it was unreal, like a drug trip. And I'm only talking about the lights in Lleras and El parque Presidential. The lights at Christmas are the bomb!

Avenida la Playa - Danza de la Lluvia
Plazuela Nutibara
Edificio EPM
Paisaje de agua y de luz en el río - Vista desde el edificio EPM
Pabellón 2 - Escenario de Navidad - La lluvia de estrellas
Avenida San Juan - Cielo de estrellas
Avenida San Juan - Cazador de estrellas

You can take these great drunken bus rides with the ladies and see all the lights and have a great time. I never tire of the lights. I don't know what you are comparing it to, but why don't you compare the light display in Medellín to the dump where you live?

[quote=chesrep001]lights are crap ... wtf!! i love the lights. last christmas when i was down it was unreal, like a drug trip. and i'm only talking about the lights in lleras and el parque presidential. the lights at christmas are the bomb!

avenida la playa - danza de la lluvia
plazuela nutibara
edificio epm
paisaje de agua y de luz en el río - vista desde el edificio epm
pabellón 2 - escenario de navidad - la lluvia de estrellas
avenida san juan - cielo de estrellas
avenida san juan - cazador de estrellas

you can take these great drunken bus rides with the ladies and see all the lights and have a great time. i never tire of the lights. i don't know what you are comparing it to, but why don't you compare the light display in medellín to the dump where you live?[/quote]i'm guessing you're talking to me chesrep001 with the subject "slammer" and that i made the comment recently about the light being crap.

let me ask; why do so many people over react when a different opinion is offered?

"you wrote "wtf!! and "why don't you compare the light display in medellín to the dump where you live?" childish and borderline ignorant. why the personal attack just because i disagree with you? i feel sorry for people like you. i do.

relax pal, and yep been there done that. i spent two decembers in mede so i've seen the lights. you live in mede? wow you're special. i've taken the "drunken bus rides", they're called chivas by the way pascero. seen the lights with my buddy and his family(that was pretty cool because little kids make magic during the holidays), taken the chivas with big groups of "normal" chicks and dudes passing around the bottles of aguadente, joints/blunts and beers, and done the lights with me and my (ex)girl.

i stand by my comments. i've seen better lights in peoples front yards when i lived in texas!

i grew up in the north east so please excuse me if a gang of lights over a river and a few streets doesn't ring my bell. no amount of lights can compete with the "christmas magic" of crisp cold air in your lungs, of a quite, light, soft snow falling late at night illuminated by a street light.

granted medellin has better weather and hotter chicas!!

I have been to MDE at least six times and have never been nor seen anything, muggings, robberies or anything else. But then, I don't go out late at night, and always try to keep my wits about me. I do go to the Centro casas during the day, but don't stop to admire the scenery.

If a little hottie EVER came up to me out of the blue in Lleras, I'd be immediately very suspicious, and any other gringo should be as well. There are far safer ways to meet them than that

[QUOTE=Ricker]Hahaha. Well, because Cartagena is no longer Cartagena, it's now called San Jose de Cartagena.

It's all about the tourists in Cartagena.

Medellin is really much more of a normal city, except for your known street walker areas, girls just aren't going to approach you like that, and you don't need to wear shorts to be known as a gringo in those girly areas.

Sometimes it's good and beneficial to stand out as a gringo and well, sometimes it ain't.

Downtown Medellin isn't el Laguito and neither is el Central en Cali.

Crime and gang-wars are up in these cities. Low key is in.

Oh, and in their culture, away from the beach, it looks dorky.

I do have a dream though, and I think it's coming, of the streets of Medellin filled with overweight tourists in Bermuda shorts, Nikes, knee high white socks, fanny packs, and a few cameras around the shoulder heading to a Tea Party, and then in the afternoon a run to a casa to get layed. Hahaha.

Just kidding, about the dream that is.

Good luck[/QUOTE]I see douche bag gringos dressed like that everyday in Parque Lleras. They are fucking clueless as to how fucking ridiculous they look. The locals laugh at them. Medellin will be like Costa Rica in a few more years. It's such a shame. I was hanging out with some of my colombian friends and a dick wad gringo walks up to our table and asked about the food, he said he went to Panama several times and all the pretty girls there were colombian so he decided to come to the source. As soon as he walked away one of the colombian girls at the table said in perfect english "what a fucking asshole, that loser is only here to fuck our women do some of our cocaine and will be too fucking cheap to even buy a souvenir t shirt. We don't want assholes like that coming to our country. " you guys are really turning the locals against us other gringos that live here and contribute to the economy and country. 15 colombians work for me, and all my colombian friends treat me really well. If things don't change, soon the good colombians will be turning a blind eye as gringos get robbed in front of them on the streets. Provecho while you can. Because things are a changin fast

[QUOTE=Furysys]I have been to MDE at least six times and have never been nor seen anything, muggings, robberies or anything else. But then, I don't go out late at night, and always try to keep my wits about me. I do go to the Centro casas during the day, but don't stop to admire the scenery.

If a little hottie EVER came up to me out of the blue in Lleras, I'd be immediately very suspicious, and any other gringo should be as well. There are far safer ways to meet them than that[/QUOTE]Hey, If my friend, who is on this board, and a highly experienced traveller, can be taken(threat of gun) by a "couple of well dressed Colombianos" on a Sunday moning in Laurales, then Ya better knock on wood! I have not had a problem in 7 trips there, either, but I was mugged in Costa Rica, and my first trip in Mde my friend and I caught a renegade taxi at 3 am. The taxi was going to an area we knew was dicey. Just then the cops stopped him, and we got out, and they searched the taxisita. Asked us where we were staying. And they told the taxi to get us back, pronto. Hard to say what he had planned. AS AUSSIE SAYS, THIS is not DISNYLAND!

[QUOTE=Schwmmr]Something not right with this poster. Suddenly shows up and he's all over the place quoting posts and then responding with something that has no relevance to the post he's cited or;

in the case of the post quoted above, he cites a post from Golfinho recommending MDE when Golfinho recently said he was done with MDE because he thought it was spent.

No time nor desire to sort out or research this but,

it aint addin up.

Schwmm[/QUOTE]Schwmm, I live here and don't ned help finding girls, therefore I am never on the board. I joined the site when I decided to move out of Costa Rica and a lot of my cr friends returned after colombian vacations telling this was the place to go. A friend of mine came down on vacation a few days ago and I hit the boards for a copy of the most recent casa map for him. Read through some post and thought I would give my. 02. Now do things add up for you?

[QUOTE=MJG Dogs]For starters escobar was killed in 1993.....[/QUOTE]Verdad, sorry I didn't word my report a little better, but the guys I know from Costa Rica were robbed last month on their vacation in Medellin while taking pics of the house where escobar was killed in 1993 a. D. To be more specific.

[QUOTE=Aussie Greg]Just my two cent worth with this guys statements, Aussie Greg.

I live in Medellin, in the last few months 8 gringos I know that live here were robbed at gun point by local guys, and two pairs of guys were drugged then robbed by little hotties they met in parque lleras. One dude was out for 36 hours the thieves ran up 53k in charges on his credit cards while he was sleeping off the drugs.

A.G.
This statement is correct as I know the guys, didnt know about the 35k though, what a catch !!

There is a drug war going on in envigado now and has been for several months. 18 people where shot and killed there a month ago, as a result I think a lot of the street dealers don't have any blow to sell so are turning to robbing gringos to make ends meet.

A.G.
The war has subsided a little, the war was a few months ago, it was between the gangs in Itagui and Envigado, a few pay backs by either side.

Last month at lunch time two locals robbed a colombian lady in the middle of parque lleras, they snatched her purse, but a guard for one of the bars pulled his gun on them and held them until the cops got there to arrest them. There have been a lot more cops in lleras since this happened.

A.G.
This happens all over Medellin, all our employess here at Hotel Casa Blanca Medellin have been mugged so why is this statement any different.

4 guys I know from Costa Rica were robbed at gun point in front of the house where they killed escobar a month ago, they lost their cameras and wallets and cash, it did make it a memorable trip however. Keep I'm mind this isn't disney world.

A.G.
True statement but one of them was a Colombian taxi driver "Hector", tthis isnt Disney World !!! no, its better.

Aussie Greg[/QUOTE]When I say this isn't disney world, no one has ever been robbed at gun point disney world that I know of, and you do not need to have your guard up 24/7 like you do down here. I like to go a lot of places that my colombian pals avoid for safety reasons, but I NEVER get drunk when I go to these places and always watch my 6. Several USA papers have published articles in the last month about how the cocaine days and drug lords are a thing of the past in Medellin. Well that's a crock of shit, just want the people that do come here to be aware that you need to be careful here. A few days ago yahoo had listed Medellin as a great, safe, and inexpensive place to retire, the article was fairly accurate but I think it was a stretch as far as the safety part. Florida is full of crack heads and thieves but I definitely feel a lot safer in fla than Medellin.

Rm

[QUOTE=Schwmmr]Something not right with this poster. Suddenly shows up and he's all over the place quoting posts and then responding with something that has no relevance to the post he's cited or;

in the case of the post quoted above, he cites a post from Golfinho recommending MDE when Golfinho recently said he was done with MDE because he thought it was spent.

No time nor desire to sort out or research this but,

it aint addin up.

Schwmm[/QUOTE]BTW Schwmm,

I'm also a member of another site but never posted there either, because I was living in cr and to busy partying to spend time posting. Kinda like now that I'm living in Medellin I never spend time on ISG because I'm partying my balls off all the time. I can see how if you live in the states and have lots of free time, you might enjoy spending hours on the board planning your next trip or keeping tabs on your western union novia. LOL things starting to add up for ya now? Cierto! Oops have to go as it's prime time at La mayorista. Suerte

[QUOTE=Caliguy 2010]Hi Guys, What is the problem with appearing Americanized. While I was in CTG I mostly wore khaki shorts and Nike polos. This worked to my advantage there because everyone knew I was not from there. I would say after about 5 sec of making eye contact the girl would ask " de donde eres". Where are you from. Just replied and smiled California USA. Girls lved that I hooked up with mor locL girls than pros and each encounter with a local gis happend that way. Why is this different in MDE. I it because of the weather?[/QUOTE]There are a lot of people in Medellin with huge coin, the gringos I know that have lived here for more than 5 or 6 years tell me things are changing for the worse. My buddys tell me 6 years ago a gringo in parque lleras would get a lot of attention from the local gals, but not anymore. Sometimes it is hard to even make eye contact with some girls in lleras. I think they are growing tiered of the gringos in a hurry. Look at what Costa Rica has become! I won't take as long to happen in Colombia as I think the colombians are a lot smarter and prouder people than the ticos. Medllin is a really beautiful city I hope it doesn't start getting scary dangerous like it was 20 years ago.

Time will tell.

[QUOTE=Ratman1]Every time I go to San Diego the door man asks me to buy him a beer. And a do mean every time.[/QUOTE]Ratman1,

I hear that at San Diego and at the El Centro strip clubs. It doesn't faze me any more than it fazes the door men with my response; "Proximo vez, amigo"!
("Next time, friend"!). Just a game they play. No ones feelings get hurt. The only thing I would gripe about is that they only ask Gringos

BTW- For those regulars that are raising a brow at Ratman1 several postings:

I for one like to see that a new arrival to the board is actually taking the time to go through and read up on the older posts. How many times have we heard the same questions asked over and over by those that don't take the time to study up on the valuable info in those reports? This guys digging deep and commenting appropriately.

Cheers,

Cubanut

[QUOTE=Knowledge]Ignore him and he will go away.[/QUOTE]You could just stick you head in a hole like an ostrich. You might have noticed I do not have a business to promote here in Medellin. As some folks on the board do. I call them as I see them, and do not sugar coat things. Feel free to come on down and enjoy Medellin but you really do need to watch your 6 down here. I have a lot of colombian friends and they all tell me it is getting more dangerous, my gringo friends that have lived here for many years tell me the same thing. If I say had a business that relied on gringos coming here to make money I too would want to play down the crime and violence, but like I said I live here to have fun and have no tourist related businesses to promote! The gringos that live here we meet for lunch everyday at cafe juan valdez in parque lleras at 11:45 then go have lunch together. A lot of the guys in the group have lived here for years and have tons of knowledge about Medellin. Several of the guys are x military and have worked with the colombian government combating FARC and the drug gangs. Feel free to join us, the guys can hook you up with any service you might need as far a doctors, dentists, lawyers, visa help, plus they are a lot of fun to hang out with. They helped me a lot when I decided to move here, I was introduced to an honest lawyer which is hard to come by in Central and South America. LOL

Absolutely true what you said, what I was saying effectively is agreeing with the point that MDE is anything but Disneyland, and one always has to have their wits about them. Also, one can get mugged anywhere, Latin America or anyplace else, but what one of the other posters mentioned was about how to dress. Any gringo who does not fall into the local mode of dressing, and stands out, could be asking for trouble.


My point was more about a chica in PL coming up to you out of the blue for no apparent reason. The last time I was in MDE (a couple months ago), I met someone where that very thing happened, she must have put dope in his drink or something, and wound up robbing him. This guy appeared very naive, the kind that a girl could pick up on. They are all on the lookout for the stupid gringo who is busy thinking with his johnson

[QUOTE=Ratman1]When I say this isn't disney world, no one has ever been robbed at gun point disney world that I know of, and you do not need to have your guard up 24/7 like you do down here. Rm[/QUOTE]Disney World actually encompasses a large area, not just the Magic Kingdom that many people think of as Disney World. When Pleasure Island was open, there were quite a few crimes committed there, including robberies and at least one shooting. Maybe that is why Pleasure Island is history. There are still some robberies at Disney World, but not widely reported.