Cartagena Reports

[QUOTE=Tom Cruze]Florida, California, and even Texas beaches blow Cartegena away for the quality of beaches and eye candy, even in front of the CTG Hilton.
[/QUOTE]

If there was Toni running those beaches who'd need to go to Colombia lol

[QUOTE=Tom Cruze]If someone knows a beach in Cartegena where hot chicks in bikinis frequent, please share that information. I'll deal with the mediocre beaches for decent beach-side eye candy.[/QUOTE]
Try any beach in Bocagrande during high season. Everything is seasonal. Any Tuesday in Feb. will not make it.

I need a little Help.

I'm looking for some girl frindley hotels or apartments.

[QUOTE=Chi Town Hustler]I need a little Help.

I'm looking for some girl frindley hotels or apartments.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.zepelion.com/apartamentos/english.htm[/url]

Did CTG in Sept., must admit it was kind of slow. All in all OK but it got boring save for LDV, hate to admit.

Going back in November Thanksgiving... last year was better that time. Used a taxi driver, Fabian last time, he was OK but seemed coked out one night- not cool. And the guy called me 10 times a day.

Juan's drivers are OK but charge a lot. Hope to find a decent taxi guy to use for multiple hour hire kind of thing, who can fill in language gaps when my espanol falls short with the outside world. What are you paying for such a fare?

[QUOTE=Jobair]Did CTG in Sept., must admit it was kind of slow. All in all OK but it got boring save for LDV, hate to admit.

Going back in November Thanksgiving... last year was better that time. Used a taxi driver, Fabian last time, he was OK but seemed coked out one night- not cool. And the guy called me 10 times a day.

Juan's drivers are OK but charge a lot. Hope to find a decent taxi guy to use for multiple hour hire kind of thing, who can fill in language gaps when my espanol falls short with the outside world. What are you paying for such a fare?[/QUOTE]
There is no need for a taxista in CTG. There is nothing you need to do outside of the tourist zone. And things are getting more unsettled out in the barrios. I lived in CTG for 4 years and never found a decent driver. But then I really didn't need one, either.

[QUOTE=Gonzo]I did a week at the Nueva Lengua school in Gethsemani. I had Ricardo as a teacher, featured at the bottom of their web page: [url]http://www.nuevalengua.com/cartagena.htm[/url]

The school is small and pretty basic, but I thought the instruction was pretty good. Ricardo was a good teacher, and Jesus, the jefe, is a nice guy also. Fairly cheap. One negative is that barrio Gethsemani, located near downtown, is really freakin' hot during the day (I went in June) and there's only fans to keep you cool in many of the rooms which have no windows. The classes are very small so you'll get a lot of personal attention/instruction from the teacher (they have to be, the rooms are very small). I did a half day thing, got out at lunch time, and had some nice meals at the many restaurants nearby. Met some nice gringas there, and we hung out a lot. Who wouda thunk it? PM me if you have any other questions. [url]www.123teachme.com[/url] has rating from former students and I generally agree with their assessments:

[url]http://www.123teachme.com/language_schools/view_rating/655[/url][/QUOTE]

You'd be better off in Quito, Ecuador for language school. There are tons of them. It's major business there.

David B.

[QUOTE=Tom 33]There is no need for a taxista in CTG. There is nothing you need to do outside of the tourist zone. And things are getting more unsettled out in the barrios. I lived in CTG for 4 years and never found a decent driver. But then I really didn't need one, either.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Other than an occasional trip to the mall to see a movie and just walk around, there's pretty much everything you need in laguito. The old city is good for a trip every once in a while too.

David B.

[QUOTE=Tom Cruze]Don't kid yourself about Cartegena beaches unless dirty black colored sand and marginal-to-less than average local girls in bikinis is what you like.

Florida, California, and even Texas beaches blow Cartegena away for the quality of beaches and eye candy, even in front of the CTG Hilton.

If someone knows a beach in Cartegena where hot chicks in bikinis frequent, please share that information. I'll deal with the mediocre beaches for decent beach-side eye candy.[/QUOTE]

I have tended to avoid the beaches all together in CTG. They are a hassle with the tonys trying to pull one over on you every chance they get. The touts are a major pain too. Not only do you have the regular touts but you get the food ones too.

David B.

[QUOTE=Phunluv]I'm thinking about a trip to Cartagena for early 2008. Since I don't get many vacation days from the job, I always travel around a holiday weekend to maximize what I do have so I'm looking at going down around either MLK or President's Day.

Do you guys think there'd be a better selection of chicas at the tail end of the CTG high season around MLK day (which is a little later for 2008, it's on Jan 21) or should I wait for President's Day (Feb 18) ?

Besides chica selection, I also want to try to avoid hordes of the Italo-Israeli crowd, not to mention the high season right after Christmas when I suppose the old city is full of Colombian families from all over the country.

I've been to Cali, Medellin, and Bogota. Will I find CTG disappointing compared to these other places? Is LDV and the rest of the scene really as dead/overpriced as some people say it is?[/QUOTE]

I'd skip the January trip and go later. January is still high season in CTG. Prices will reflect it.

David B.

[QUOTE=Water Boy]I want to travel to Colombia in the next 1-2 months - I am VERY worried about being kidnapped.

Questions:
1. How many mongers get kidnapped each year in Colombia?
2. It seems that Cartagena is probably one of the safest cities - is this true?
3. What are the safest cities in Col. that still offer good mongering?
4. What are the best practices to keep from getting kidnapped?

Gracias In Advance For Your Replies/Help.

Water Boy[/QUOTE]

As tom said, go to Cartagena. It's very safe. All my worries (like yours) dried up in a few minutes after I arrived. I've traveled by road outside of Cartagena (to Santa Marta) and had a good time also.

David B.

It is really unsafe for people like you in Cartagena yet alone Colombia. May I suggest you go to Costa Rica. There you can surrounded by Gringos at the Hotel Del rey, everyone speaks english. There are a lot of girls, that will gladly part you from your money for 50 minutes of fun.

In san Jose you can get drunk, speak silly spanish and everyone will love you....

Oh yes, wear that Miami Hurricanes jersey with your sandals., during the day and your rolex with the Tony Lama Butch Ostrich boots at night, you will blend right in...

Basically the advantage of the driver was to go to Pleyboy, clubs or casas at night. Someone to roam with a little- just being stuck in Laguito gets a little tiring, it's not a big place really. In Sept. went to a late night club in old city, Electra, or something like that. It gets going at 3 am, was packed with talent. I mean really off the hook, saw a lot of the beach chicas there and others. Way better and different than the Tu Candela mainstream crowd, and of course a lot of the LDV crowd rotates there as well. Great brick oven thin crust pizza. But went with a random taxi and a chica. Actually got stopped on way home and frisked by the cops at a roadblock back to Laguito at 4 am. They were looking for drugs. They let me go after they saw I had no drugs. Pretty scary, they only searched me too. Was sad to see that Tripletera closed, I really enjoyed that as an alternate to LDV. Must say that I'd like to hit Chica Linda again, but really that's a good distance out and you want a reliable driver for that kind of roll.

My first trip to Cartegena was late Jan 2007. the beaches were pretty full, hot chicks in bikinis and all. I just got back from a 5 night stay in Cartegena and the beaches were slow except for sunday. If you cant find a hot chica that suits you in LDV your either queer or just to dam picky. I sat in there for hours in some kind of erotic transe. The hardest part is picking one out as there are many. The folks at colombiarental.net did a nice job, check in was smooth. I stayed in sc 803, its clean, comfortable , well equiped and acroos the street from LDV, close to resteraunts and stores. I suggest checking out Borrochitas, its a small bar about 150 feet from Sol de Caribe. They play American rock and roll and have a great selection of bourbon which is rare in Cartegena. There are usually other english speaking patrons in there which is nice if you travel solo as I do. The Loco Gringo has great coffee, internet and international phone calling for a very reasonable price. Andre is an english speaking driver that is very knowledgable, he knows lots of girls as well. His number is 377-415-8374. I had a great time, everthing is close, I never felt threatened or any danger at all but ALWAYS use caution.

[QUOTE=Raw13]My first trip to Cartegena was late Jan 2007. the beaches were pretty full, hot chicks in bikinis and all. I just got back from a 5 night stay in Cartegena and the beaches were slow except for sunday. If you cant find a hot chica that suits you in LDV your either queer or just to dam picky. I sat in there for hours in some kind of erotic transe. The hardest part is picking one out as there are many. The folks at colombiarental.net did a nice job, check in was smooth. I stayed in sc 803, its clean, comfortable , well equiped and acroos the street from LDV, close to resteraunts and stores. I suggest checking out Borrochitas, its a small bar about 150 feet from Sol de Caribe. They play American rock and roll and have a great selection of bourbon which is rare in Cartegena. There are usually other english speaking patrons in there which is nice if you travel solo as I do. The Loco Gringo has great coffee, internet and international phone calling for a very reasonable price. Andre is an english speaking driver that is very knowledgable, he knows lots of girls as well. His number is 377-415-8374. I had a great time, everthing is close, I never felt threatened or any danger at all but ALWAYS use caution.[/QUOTE]

Check that number again, because 377 is not a Colombian pre-fix..