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[QUOTE=Coupe66;2285108]Well, what pre-paid cash card are you talking about, something you can get in Colombia (as a non-resident), or something else? I would be interested to get one myself.[/QUOTE]Not a good idea. Colombia is a 95% cash-based place.
If you're paying with a credit card, unless it's a pharmacy a supermarket or a gas station, you're almost certainly overpaying like crazy.
Get cash and use it. If you're worried about theft, get a money belt.
[QUOTE=MrDebt;2284993]Using a Schwab Investor Checking Visa Debit card at Colpatria ATM's has been the sweet spot for me. I've been able to go up to 780,000 pesos with $0 fee.[/QUOTE]THIS! If you're a frequent traveller outside the US GET A SCHWAB ACCOUNT. You will hold on to so much of your money!
Servibanca ATMs are the best not just because of the highest limit, but they seem to work flawlessly with whatever card you may have. YMMV with other ATMs. Davivienda also seems to work perfectly all the time, they have a limit of 400 k per withdrawal but have a lower fee than Servi.
Routard is a great long-standing member here and I respect him, but he couldn't be more wrong on this one. Do NOT bring USD or any other hard currency into Colombia! Colombia is trying to get RID of all the excess foreign currency floating around. Every time I leave Colombia for abroad I actually go to Cambios Vancouver and liquidate everything I can into USD then put it right back into my US account ASAP and I usually make around 10% on my money right there. If you try the operation in reverse you are going to be doing 15% or worse off of market rates.
[QUOTE=BangoCheito;2285223]Not a good idea. Colombia is a 95% cash-based place.
If you're paying with a credit card, unless it's a pharmacy a supermarket or a gas station, you're almost certainly overpaying like crazy.
Get cash and use it. If you're worried about theft, get a money belt.[/QUOTE]So I walk into an Exito and buy something off the shelf that is 5,200 COP I pay more if I use my credit card? I'm not sure I am following you. Where else other than pharmacy, supermarket, gas station, restaurants etc. are you using your credit card at?
Smaller businesses may be cash only but I rarely interact with them. If you're staying in the northern part of Bogota you almost never need cash.
[QUOTE=BangoCheito;2285225]THIS! Do NOT bring USD or any other hard currency into Colombia! Colombia is trying to get RID of all the excess foreign currency floating around[/QUOTE]That is exactly what I said also ;)
[QUOTE=BangoCheito;2285225]THIS! If you're a frequent traveller outside the US GET A SCHWAB ACCOUNT. You will hold on to so much of your money!
Servibanca ATMs are the best not just because of the highest limit, but they seem to work flawlessly with whatever card you may have. YMMV with other ATMs. Davivienda also seems to work perfectly all the time, they have a limit of 400 k per withdrawal but have a lower fee than Servi.
Routard is a great long-standing member here and I respect him, but he couldn't be more wrong on this one. Do NOT bring USD or any other hard currency into Colombia! Colombia is trying to get RID of all the excess foreign currency floating around. Every time I leave Colombia for abroad I actually go to Cambios Vancouver and liquidate everything I can into USD then put it right back into my US account ASAP and I usually make around 10% on my money right there. If you try the operation in reverse you are going to be doing 15% or worse off of market rates.[/QUOTE]I've noticed a wide variation on the max allowed per withdrawal on Davivienda ATMs. For a long time it was 720 k, then close to Christmas I saw higher limits. In one case 2 million was the limit. Now I'm hearing 400 k. If you can find a branch, Banco Pichincha (at least in Medellin) had a 1 million limit, no fee and you could do multiple withdrawals on the san transaction. Just needed to re-enter your PIN. Quicker than waiting for the machine to reset and then starting the process over, if you're pulling a large amount.
[QUOTE=YippieKayay;2285294]So I walk into an Exito and buy something off the shelf that is 5,200 COP I pay more if I use my credit card? I'm not sure I am following you. Where else other than pharmacy, supermarket, gas station, restaurants etc. are you using your credit card at?
Smaller businesses may be cash only but I rarely interact with them. If you're staying in the northern part of Bogota you almost never need cash.[/QUOTE]1. Exito qualifies as a supermarket.
2. If you're buying something at Exito, instead of a smaller, neighborhood market, you're automatically paying between 10-40% more whether you use card or cash.
3. Every time you use a card, there's a risk it will be run through a skimmer. Using cash, your risk is limited to the amount of change you have coming.
4. At least some businesses charge more for card transactions. Not only do they have to pay a transaction fee, but they can't hide that transaction from the taxman.
Using a card is a convenience we are all used to. I just prefer to stick with cash when traveling.
If you are from EU / UK, get TransferWise card. Best possible rate, tiny fees.
What is the best club or bars area where I can pick up a freelancer (if there is such thing in Bogota)? Or maybe the best high end club and try my luck. Thanks in advance.
I see pages of credit card and bank / money info on this thread, so I thought I'd steer it back to the objectives of this forum and post a question about meeting females, no offense.
[QUOTE=SeanEZ;2285649]What is the best club or bars area where I can pick up a freelancer (if there is such thing in Bogota)? Or maybe the best high end club and try my luck.[/QUOTE]What do you mean by freelancer? Strictly speaking, all the street girls in Santa Fe are freelancers because they have no obligation to an establishment. Maybe you are looking for part-timers who have something going on in their life other than getting paid for sex. I think that in this day and age, part-timers don't sit in bars hoping to get lucky, they get on with their life while looking for oportunities online.
I prefer to have sex with real girls who have a life and I have had sucess on [URL]seeking.com[/URL], finding bona-fide full-time students trying to make ends meet. I have gone on a number of pleasant dates with good-looking educated girls, several of which lead easily to hot girl friend sex without time pressure. To me that's worth a lot more than any number of quickies in Santa Fe or half-hours in Chapinero.
I made myself an atractive profile, paid 90 USD to [URL]seeking.com[/URL] two days before my flight to Colombia and started contacting a lot of girls (many contacted me first). During the stopover changing planes to Bogota, I was busy in various texting conversations, so I had a lot of leads when I arrived. Only a few I ended up seeing, but it was worth it. And there's new profiles popping up every day, I have one month to keep making fresh connections. Disclaimer: I speak fluent spanish. (But the odds of finding an english speaker are higher on [URL]seeking.com[/URL] than elsewhere in Colombia.).
Why would you want to go to a "high end club"? The same scotch will be a lot more expensive there than at a normal bar or at a liquor store, and the same girls will be a lot more expensive, too, than elsewhere. If you enjoy paying more money for an exclusive ambience, go ahead, but don't expect better experience with the girls, or better tasting scotch.
If you want to got out in the evening to a place where you can drink, meet girls and fuck them, all with excelent value for money, I would suggest the dancing bars in Chapinero like Las Divas Calle 61 #13-79, or opposite Pussy House Calle 61 #13-64.
[QUOTE=Arcangel;2285684].[/QUOTE]Thanks Arcangel for detailed reply, the info is much appreciated. Ill just hit the bars you suggested and then there is Santa Fe, I forgot about that place.
As far as SA, I have been banned, as it happens quite regularly to people now with the passage of some new laws in 2018 combating online sex stuff (this includes craigslist and backpage even in countries where prostitution is not illegal. Which is most countries in EU). I don't know maybe I can create another profile but I haven't tried. It worked well for me, but then because prostitution is not illegal in UK (it is legal), girls and clients frequently and openly discuss pay per meet scenarios, etc. SA is American company, they will ban you at a mention of anything remotely suggesting P4 P. Damn.
[QUOTE=SeanEZ;2285702]
As far as SA, I have been banned,
... SA is American company, they will ban you at a mention of anything remotely suggesting P4 P. Damn.[/QUOTE]That's interesting about getting banned on SA for explicitly discussing a monetary arrangement, I thought that was the main idea of the site, its USP. Me, I've never discussed money on SA, though girls usually bring it up online, saying something like "Que clase de acuerdo buscas? I don't want to commit to anything until meeting in person, I'm playing a long game rather than quick p4 p.
But there are other sites you can go to. Some guys report success on Colombia Cupid. And there's Tinder which has full-time and part-time prepagos on it.
In Medellin there is the facebook scene, but I'm not sure if there is anything like it in Bogota or elsewhere in Colombia.
[QUOTE=SeanEZ;2285702]Thanks Arcangel for detailed reply, the info is much appreciated. Ill just hit the bars you suggested and then there is Santa Fe, I forgot about that place.
As far as SA, I have been banned, as it happens quite regularly to people now with the passage of some new laws in 2018 combating online sex stuff (this includes craigslist and backpage even in countries where prostitution is not illegal. SA is American company, they will ban you at a mention of anything remotely suggesting P4 P. Damn.[/QUOTE]My buddy was just talking about this the other day. For some reason I got kicked off Tinder in November and they would not give me a reason why. Hell I was hardly ever on the site. I kept getting an error message so I decided to google it and saw it meant I got the boot. I ended up signing back on with one of my SIM cards from another country.
But if what you said is true how are all these chicks getting away with it? Here in Colombia many chicks' profiles blatantly say sex for money and shit like that. Then they come trying to sell sex in the messages and think I am bullshitting around and wasting their time when I pussyfoot around the issue and tell them to take it to whatsapp.
Mr Enternational and Arcangel.
I'd strongly suggest to anyone to avoid using any suggestive words on SA, take it to WhatsApp and discuss in private and offline. They probably have quotas to show they ban members and avoid being shutdown altogether (I can see this happen the way things are going). SA is thinly disguised prostitution network, and in countries like UK you'll have lots of escorts advertising. One day I might use different photos and prepaid credit card, didn't bother with that.
I agree Medellin has great facebook scene and a network of girls all pimping each other, that's just great.
[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2285704]My buddy was just talking about this the other day. For some reason I got kicked off Tinder in November and they would not give me a reason why. Hell I was hardly ever on the site. I kept getting an error message so I decided to google it and saw it meant I got the boot.
[/QUOTE]Yes. If you discuss money on Tinder, they will shut you down.
Make the initial contact on Tinder, then move the discussion to WhatsApp. You are safe on WhatsApp since your messages are encrypted.
This applies to any country from Colombia to Zambia.
[QUOTE=Arcangel;2285703]That's interesting about getting banned on SA for explicitly discussing a monetary arrangement, .[/QUOTE]I am sorry to ask stupid question, but what is SA.