Cartagena Reports

also do not want to be around the Italians either whom in some ways are much worse then my esteemed gringo countrymen.. If you do not want to be around gringos or Italians avoid LDV

[QUOTE=MJG Dogs]also do not want to be around the Italians either whom in some ways are much worse then my esteemed gringo countrymen.. If you do not want to be around gringos or Italians avoid LDV[/QUOTE]Thank you so much for sharing, my good friend!

DB

I just returned from 5 nights in Cartegena. In LDV I met Italians, Frenchmen, Germans, Guys from Holland and Colombians ,as well as other americans. Most of them were in town for the flower show. We all got along ok. I suppose some guys respond differently to tetesterone overload and alcohol.

[quote=black page]this is truly unbelievable. it is hard to conceive there is people so narrow-eyed. david, sorry, but i am speechless.
why to take a flight to ctg, if you can find what you seem to like also in tulsa's roads and malls? (tulsa is an example)
(i apologize if i am too direct, david, but i cannot refrain; i am not a "serial antagonist"...)[/quote]

i have spent several months there combined in several trips and i've been to centro a few times. it's a nice place to walk around...but in terms of picking up chicks, i can do that at ldv. centro starts too late. i'm not a real night owl. i prefer to get my business done earlier in the evening (9-10pm max). the heat in ctg wears me out and sucks my energy pretty quick.

i am not a big ctg fan anymore. i discovered quito, ecuador. it's a whole lot cheaper and it suits my needs. ctg is wayyyyy too expensive and it's a pain with all the touts. it will be probably a long time before i return there.

ctg gets to be kinda boring after awhile. dealing with the guys from isreal is not my thing either. they seem to take over the place. i had a specific bar and person i went down to visit...but that bar has changed hands...and the person has moved on.

to each their own. i have been all over the world and quito is something different at the moment. i am likely to go to thailand, vietnam, or cambodia next though. i won't be able to go anywhere, however, for another 6-8 months as i broke my leg/wrist in a motorcycle accident and i'm bed-ridden at the moment. i do enjoy reading people's posts though.

david b.

[QUOTE=Raw13]I just returned from 5 nights in Cartegena. In LDV I met Italians, Frenchmen, Germans, Guys from Holland and Colombians ,as well as other americans. Most of them were in town for the flower show. We all got along ok. I suppose some guys respond differently to tetesterone overload and alcohol.[/QUOTE]

I am so sorry I seem have started this flame. I never meant that.
One time for all: my point was NOT that I dont like the company of Americans at LDV or anywhere else!!
My point is that I travelled 10000 km from Europe to go to Colombia.
I dont do that to be willing to spend my time in a pub where to enjoy the company of 10 American guys, 10 Italians, 10 Dutch, etc. etc. etc. and where the most spoken language is English.
Please dont start to argue about the good or bad behaviour of Americans, Italians, etc. in Cartagena. I know how bad Americans do behave, as I know very well how bad Italians do (also other nations run the same bad competition, though).

I just meant to say that, if I can choose, I prefer to go in a place where the number of non-Colombians is minimum, since I travelled to Colombia and I wish to spend my time with locals as much as possible. Only this.
My ideal bar in Cartagena is a place where 8 sexy Colombian girls are waiting to talk with the only stranger (me). It happened to me in Tu Candela. :-D
I hope I have been clear enough.
Let nobody feel hurted by my posts, please.

[quote=black page]this is truly unbelievable. it is hard to conceive there is people so narrow-eyed. david, sorry, but i am speechless.
why to take a flight to ctg, if you can find what you seem to like also in tulsa's roads and malls? (tulsa is an example)
(i apologize if i am too direct, david, but i cannot refrain; i am not a "serial antagonist"...)
[/quote]

i should add too that not everyone gives a crap about old buildings. it's interesting to look at the first few times but then it's "been there, done that". i go to different cities around the world to bang the chicks. i go where i have an interest due to 1) cost of the city or 2) reputation for hot chicks or 3) i want to see what the excitement is all about.

i found out that ctg is 1) very expensive 2) the chicks are very hot but they migrate to other nearby countries as well so you can still bang a colombian while not in colombia and 3) colombia really isn't that big of a deal. ctg is very safe. santa marta is a relaxing place. i haven't had a big interest in seeing other parts of colombia that may or may not be more problematic. i like nice relaxing, non-dramatic vacations.

mongering in colombia is not much different than any other central/south american country i've been in -- except for cost.

david b.

[QUOTE=Black Page]I just meant to say that, if I can choose, I prefer to go in a place where the number of non-Colombians is minimum, since I travelled to Colombia and I wish to spend my time with locals as much as possible. Only this.
My ideal bar in Cartagena is a place where 8 sexy Colombian girls are waiting to talk with the only stranger (me). It happened to me in Tu Candela. :-D
[/QUOTE]

I actually find it kind of exhausting after a while speaking 100% spanish throughout the day. It's nice to give my brain a rest and speak English with someone. I'm not fluent but I am beyond conversational. Unless you're perfectly fluent, it's exhausting (at least to me) to be translating in your head all the words all day.

You also might discover if you go for more than a week at a time that having a stimulating conversation with someone able to talk about world issues, or issues of mutual interest might be nice. The locals in general are not conversationalists of anything of substance (at least in my experience). I did meet a few that were more worldly or business-like and had something to say. Very few.

David B.

If you want to speak English with people then hit LDV and talk to the gringos. At this time you really do not want to get into political discussions with any other group, especially europeans, for they have a blind hatred of US foreign policy and feel that we should run our country like there's, you know appease appease appease. I would recommend an interesting group to converse with would be the younger Israeli's whom many are on holiday, from military service. they are an interesting group with strong opinions, however they are much more balanced than talking to the Europeans, whom think we are all the Great Satan. You would have not belived the shit that came of out of couple of Italians in Cartagena last summer, how they believe that we kill poor people, that people die in our streets of starvation, un beliveable, and then of course they played the " fucking american jew" card, even though I was born a catholic. I reminded them that it was Italians that mugged and beat American tourists in Naples, where as nobody here bothers Italians visiting.

It is your call to talk politics while on vacation.. Not recommended IMHO

[QUOTE=MJG Dogs]
It is your call to talk politics while on vacation.. Not recommended IMHO[/QUOTE]
Neither here....
Would we just talk about the subject of this forum?
If we start to comment single sentences, we never finish (and I just say that I do not agree with what you wrote: there are stupid Italians and stupid Americans; should we count them?).

Black Page -

Thanks for your posts, it sounds like you covered some places people have not written on this board before. I'm curious about how you came across those motels near Crespo, since it's not the most obvious area to visit, even if you've been to Cartagena previously. Shows some good motivation. I appreciate it. Thanks.

[QUOTE=Jelly Donut]Black Page -
Thanks for your posts, it sounds like you covered some places people have not written on this board before. I'm curious about how you came across those motels near Crespo, since it's not the most obvious area to visit, even if you've been to Cartagena previously. Shows some good motivation. I appreciate it. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for thanking me for the information provided!
I write to help others, as I would like to be helped, not to raise pointless flames.

Motels are NOT a secret. Any pro girl that you may meet in bars of El Centro knows them. They are very well known and well attended by all kinds of couples in CTG (except tourists). This is why I lamented that most people attending this forum remains segregated in Bocagrande and LDV. There's a whole world out there. Why to spend a whole vacation only in LDV?
My policy: ask around, explore, walk, wander, talk, be curious....

I tried Jaiba my second day in CTG last year. The girl I met on the beach suggested me it. This year, I tried it other 3 times, and 1 more time Dunes. In all cases, all taxi drivers and girls knew them very well. It is not a secret.

Black Page, thanks for the report. I heard Tu Candela had more Pros and semi pros working there. When I was there in february there were mostly couples in there.
I guess I will have a look in a few weeks.

This almost reminds me of a thread where a guy from New York wanted to know where he could find overweight American women in the DR.

One poster replied, "Why go to the DR, just go to the lcal mall and hang around the food court."

In my 5 years in Colombia I have run across more asshole Colombians on a percentage basis than any other nationality. If you only want to be with Colombians, stay out of the tourist zone. Better yet, try Cucuta or Buenaventura.

I´m pretty happy hanging with whoever happens to be around, or I go back to my apartment.

There are fewer assholes during the day. Go to bed at 8:00 pm.

¿Que mas?

[QUOTE=Tom 33]In my 5 years in Colombia I have run across more asshole Colombians on a percentage basis than any other nationality. ......¿Que mas?[/QUOTE]From "Killing Pablo": [i]The joke Colombians told was that God had made their land so beautiful, so rich in every natural way, that it was unfair to the rest of the world; He had evened the score by populating it with the most evil race of men.[/i] Hmmmm.

Polvo