Medellin Reports

[AmorPorFavor]

Totally agree. I take chicas out to great restaurants in el Poblado & Provenza & we eat good, usually steak, sometimes lobster.

That's how I roll. I stay in a luxury airbnb in one of the best buildings in Poblado. Eat out all lunches and dinners in expensive restaurants. Hire the best looking girls from FB and insta and have one or two of them every day. Uber around the city daily. I don't go into casas or clubs or take street girls. In my 16 2 week trips I have never been in Gustos. Only went down to Lleras once at night for 15 minutes just to see it. I can see why they want to clean that shit up.

[Mr Enternational]

- I've been to 4-5 malls now, and they're packed all hours of the day. I went to Oviedo mall because my doctor is in the tower attached to it and, at midday on a Thursday, the place is overrun with people having lunch, chatting, socializing. A few obvious gringos here and there. But all I saw were wealthier Colombians. Young people, grannies with their old gal-pals, families, professional women and their friends. It was lively, bustling, people spending money. In other places, I notice all the couples holding hands, going to get ice cream, or to have dinner in nice restaurants I was in. Husbands / fathers taking their wives and teenage children out to eat.

Same as the Philippines, it is a mall culture. People go there to walk around, eat, and watch movies. You can count on one hand the number of people who have bought something out of one of the stores.

[Mr Enternational]

I'm walking into massive tower blocks where every single floor is dozens of specialists, labs, clinics, you name it. I went to a place over in. San Antonio, I think, which was a tower block just for eye care. Floor after floor of dozens of opthamologists, opticians, labs, etc. I've never seen anything like that in my life.

That is just how things are done in Colombia. In the States, we have a central place (such as a mall) with a variety of businesses so you can go there and get all you need. In Colombia, they have a central place with all of the same type of businesses. One neighborhood of opticians. One neighborhood of hardware stores. One neighborhood of places that make keys. My friends say it is because if you do not like one place then you can just go next door to another. In my American mind, it is ridiculous. If I want to shop for 10 different things, then I have to spend a lot of time going to 10 different neighborhoods, instead of one neighborhood that has everything.

[Mr Enternational]

The surge in North American sex tourists that started around 2005 did not disrupt the Colombian significantly because the neighborhood in Medellin where it's centered is an outlier in most ways. It's also a tiny slice of the country. The impact is very noticeable in the zone surrounding Provenza and Parque Lleras in the form of loud bars and relentless construction projects. In the rest of the city it is not a thing, nor is it a thing in the rest of the country.

A lot of new apartment buildings and on-going construction in Barranquilla without the tourists or sex tourists of El Poblado.

[CZ6Y48]

I have only tried Bogota and Acacias. Bogota was too cold and wet and Acacias was too hot and wet. I'm thinking Bucaramanga might be a nice middle-ground.

What cities have you tried?

It has gotten much more expensive in the big three cities but in the smaller cities it is still cheap living. My rent for a brand new three bedroom apartment is still less than $500. Usd a month. Life is good here if you know how to roll and the chicas can't be beat if you aren't going with full time prostitutes.

[Emjayem]

Get a lot of pings on seeking from girls in Columbia, did anyone get a contact and did a meet up with them? With lot of girls available probably not needed, but just wondering if anyone done that. Was it safe etc.

[Kazeu]

It has gotten much more expensive in the big three cities but in the smaller cities it is still cheap living. My rent for a brand new three bedroom apartment is still less than $500. Usd a month. Life is good here if you know how to roll and the chicas can't be beat if you aren't going with full time prostitutes.

I may have to expand my horizons in that direction in the near future.

[Kazeu]

Beyond that, I can also see that too many of you are not only in a gringo monger bubble, you're also stuck in the Poblado bubble. And if you are, how the fuck have I never heard a single one of you talk about the massive health industrial complex that makes up a huge part of the Poblado / Tesoro area?

Because this isn't a Health Services board. I mean not that kind of health service at least.

[Manizales911]

Do you know how many people and places that same thing was thought about? Help in Rio, gone. Doll House in Santo Domingo, gone. Pablo Escobar, gone. Nobody and nothing is too big to be wiped away.

Good point, fortunately it doesn't affect me or you either way.

[Manizales911]

For a while, one thing that set Colombia apart from its neighbors in the region was the low cost of living. If you want to actually LIVE in Colombia, it was a great deal. Decent living at a low cost. All that has changed now though.

It has gotten much more expensive in the big three cities but in the smaller cities it is still cheap living. My rent for a brand new three bedroom apartment is still less than $500. Usd a month. Life is good here if you know how to roll and the chicas can't be beat if you aren't going with full time prostitutes.

[ChrisD1680]

I swear some of you are so far up your own asses with self-importance.

Reconcile this for me:

How do so many of you complain that "quality is down" in Medellin, because girls are travelling a lot more now. To Panama, Barcelona / EU, Costa Rica, etc. Then in the same breath say that monger tourism is somehow this massive percentage of the local economy? Because if there was so much monger money floating around, wouldn't the girls just stay at home?

Beyond that, I can also see that too many of you are not only in a gringo monger bubble, you're also stuck in the Poblado bubble. And if you are, how the fuck have I never heard a single one of you talk about the massive health industrial complex that makes up a huge part of the Poblado / Tesoro area?

I'm still in Medellin, and I'm here primarily for health reasons. I'm staying in Belen (now Laureles), with all my appointments in Poblado and Tesoro. I'm walking into massive tower blocks where every single floor is dozens of specialists, labs, clinics, you name it. I went to a place over in. San Antonio, I think, which was a tower block just for eye care. Floor after floor of dozens of opthamologists, opticians, labs, etc. I've never seen anything like that in my life.

And, even with the heathcare, it's not aimed primarily at the typical gringo health tourist. I could barely find doctors with availability who speak English. The labs don't have anyone there who speak English, either. Yet the places are packed. You can hardly get appointments. From what I could see, it's locals, plus latinos from other countries. I spotted some other Caribbean nationals in one place as well.

As for "what tourists are coming here? I'll offer up a couple of anecdotes:

- I flew in from Santo Domingo on Arajet. The flight was 80-90% full, and from what I saw, it was almost all Dominicanos. There was this one family in front of me at check-in (and later baggage claim) that were pissing me off because it was an early flight and I was sleepy. 9 of them. Mother, father, and what looked like their older children and nieces or whatever. Huge group. Definitely tourists. Sitting next to me were two late-20's, early-30's Dominicanas that I started talking to. Their English was better than my Spanish, and we chatted about Medellin. I told them this was my first trip. They said they go all the time, and that I'll love it and started telling me all the places I should go check out and restaurants to try.

- When I did get to Medellin, I stayed at a spot in Belen close to the LOS Molinos mall. I'd say about 60-75 rooms based on my rough count of floors and rooms per floor. I stayed a week and a half, and I never heard a word of English spoken while I was there. All the other guests were Spanish-speaking as far as I could tell. I saw families with small children. Couples. Groups of young women. A few groups of older couples. I was one of the only single men there. Certainly the only Black one from what I observed.

I ran into another younger black guy from Florida in the building across the street. He's a digital nomad and traveller, going from country to country. He was doing Spanish classes and salsa lessons. Definitely not the monger type. I saw lots of other foreigners staying in and around the immediate area, too. Pretty much all of them Spanish-speaking from what I noticed.

Beyond that, the local economy is self-sustaining:

- I've been to 4-5 malls now, and they're packed all hours of the day. I went to Oviedo mall because my doctor is in the tower attached to it and, at midday on a Thursday, the place is overrun with people having lunch, chatting, socializing. A few obvious gringos here and there. But all I saw were wealthier Colombians. Young people, grannies with their old gal-pals, families, professional women and their friends. It was lively, bustling, people spending money. In other places, I notice all the couples holding hands, going to get ice cream, or to have dinner in nice restaurants I was in. Husbands / fathers taking their wives and teenage children out to eat.

I say all of this to say that this idea that somehow the city will shrivel up and die if degenerates like you (us) stop coming is completely fucking ridiculous. This is a vibrant city with multifaceted life. Frankly, it offers a lot more than a lot of the places most of you come from. Oviedo mall, which I mentioned, is nicer than 90% of all the malls I've ever been inside in the US.

The problem, as I see it, is that westerners simply do not know how to handle sexual freedom and ease of access. Prostitution is legal here, and it's really just part of the fabric of daily life. Guys fly down here and lose their fucking minds because of cheap pussy. I've run into a few parceros at casas I've gone to. Regular dudes getting off of work with helmets in hand, just needing to bust a nut so they can get on with their lives. Guys here have been buying pussy forever. And that will never stop.

People hate all the extra shit being blasted all over Youtube making the city look like an open-air brothel, which it's not even close to being. Colombians don't strike me as vulgar people with a loud, vulgar culture. Even the Airbnb listings all seem to now have some house rule about bringing in guests, banning sex tourism, exploitation or women / minors, etc. People really are tired of the bullshit.

It's only taken me 2 weeks to completely understand exactly why they want to get rid of the worst of some of us. And looking at some of the investments on the way, and already started, clearly Medellin can do without a few monger bucks.

[Kazeu]

Solution is simple. Don't go to park lleras or centro. Just stary with other venue casa and clubs. All these are occurring due to exploitation by steaming llera park in various social media. Colombia is not a safe country for solo or family tourism as per state department. This is good in a way.. rates will come down. Medellin places will be only for experienced and risk takers..

I doubt prices will ever go back down. Usually they just stop going up for a while.

[Knowledge]

As a matter of fact, Colombia became a very popular tourism destination for Dominican families. They continue to be among the top nationality of tourists. They buy inexpensive hotel, airfare, and excursion packages that cost less than the same two weeks in Juan Dolio or Punta Cana. The packages include domestic air between Bogota and Medellin, tours of museums, optional day trips to Guatape, and hotel accommodations. Wingo provides the airlift and they developed a network of Dominican tour operators. The tours do not include Parque Lleras but they do include guided tours of Centro. Cartagena is not a primary package destination because of its high cost. The groups use a few of the hotels on la 70. La 70 is relatively peaceful by Dominican standards.

Same as Dominican Republic. In DR all the families and couples go to Punta Cana. In Colombia all the families and couples go to Cartagena.

[Alex Deuce]

Solution is simple. Don't go to park lleras or centro. Just stary with other venue casa and clubs. All these are occurring due to exploitation by steaming llera park in various social media. Colombia is not a safe country for solo or family tourism as per state department. This is good in a way.. rates will come down. Medellin places will be only for experienced and risk takers..

This part.

[Alex Deuce]

What do you mean squeezes out? You think Medellin is operating at capacity?

The only argument that could be made is that other tourist doesn't want to travel to a place built on sex tourism, but Pattaya, Phuket, and Rio shows that to be bullshit.

Another deflection from the subject. It is not a capacity issue. It is about discouraging local and family tourism and changing the area's reputation as a sex tourism destination. Prostitution is legal in Colombia and represents a significant part of the economy, but that does not mean the city has to remain dependent on sex tourism forever. Your inability to understand that basic distinction is embarrassing.

Nobody, especially me, is saying that sex tourism does not help build cities and destinations in the short term. I have explicitly stated that it can provide substantial economic benefits during the early stages of development by generating revenue, employment, and investment. Pretending otherwise is either dishonest or intellectually lazy.

The long term can be very different. Once a tourism base has been established and other industries have developed, revenue from sex tourism can shift from being necessary, to being minimal, and eventually to being viewed as a nuisance, particularly when overt solicitation damages the destination's reputation or discourages local and family tourism.

The cities you mentioned illustrate this shift. Pattaya, Rio, and Phuket have all taken steps to reduce or regulate overt sex tourism outside designated areas. These efforts include closing some venues, relocating others, increasing enforcement, and restricting entry for certain foreign nationals associated with sexual exploitation and related violations. If you cannot recognize that pattern, your understanding of tourism development and basic economics is far more limited than you seem to realize.

The conclusion is straightforward. A destination may benefit from sex tourism in the short term while later deciding that its long term economic and social interests are better served by diversifying its tourism base and reducing overt sex tourism. The current movement and worldwide push over the last six to ten years should disabuse you of the ridiculous notion that a destination known for sex tourism cannot change its focus or eventually impose much stricter restrictions.