Based upon feedback in the past, I decided to post my trip report in sections. I haven't decided yet, but I may just modify this post or create separate postings. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.
My goal is to present an open and honest report from my perspective. As always I am open and will answer any questions here or via private message.
Sometime in April, I had contacted Jamie at Latin-Wife.com (LW) regarding a plan that I had to meet women that met my profile. I had been to Barranquilla twice using Jamie's service. Although I had met at lot of nice and attractive women, I didn’t feel that I found that special someone that I sought. Basically my idea was to have my previous translator and Jamie to screen for women that met my profile who also was interested in meeting me. Typically at introductions, you have women that are selected by other women. From my experience, women typically do not know what a man is looking for. I had gotten pretty close to my past translator, and I felt that she knew exactly what I was looking for. Jamie informed me that he thought that it was a good idea, but he didn’t feel that my translator would have the time. Jamie decided to send out my profile, and he would screen the women that he sent to me. Once I gave the approval, he would set up a telephone call to see if I was interested in remaining in contact with the person.
After about a week or so, Jamie began emailing a list of women that were interested in me. I had received lists of several people within a weeks time. I continued to stay in contact with one particular women. In that time frame, I had also clicked on Amor de Cartagena’s (ADE) link from the planet-love website. I was impressed with some of the ladies on the site. Around the same timeframe, a friend of mine emailed me that he had planned to return to Cartagena in June. He mentioned that he would like for me to join him, but he understood if I couldn’t get away from work. I decided that I could “kill two birds with one stoneâ€, so I made plans to visit the lady that I met through LW. I also intended to check out ADE as a plan B and visit friends in BAQ. My original plan was to fly into BAQ and stay for three days, since my friend wasn’t coming until later in the week. Since I wasn’t going to be able to see my favorite translator, I felt it was a waste to go to BAQ. I decided to invite the lady that I met through LW to join me in CTG. I made it clear that if I didn’t feel any chemistry when we met I was going to meet other women in BAQ and CTG.
In the meantime I called Mark to inform him of my plans. I mentioned that I was meeting a lady in BAQ, and if things went well with her she would join me in CTG. I shared with him my plan to initially utilize the translator as a local concierge. He informed me to communicate my plans with Luis. I made out a list of 22 women and emailed it to Luis. Luis mailed me back about 7 of the girl’s email and phone numbers. He mentioned that I could get the rest when I arrived. There was woman that was absent from this list that I wanted to meet, so I emailed Luis asking for her name and number. I never heard back from him. I arranged an apartment through Juan Ventura (
http://www.venpro.net/fotosapartamentos/index.htm). The apartment was in El Laguito, which is a nice area by the Hilton Hotel. I rented it for $70 per night. All his apartments have A/C and hot water. I highly recommend Juan.
Since I hadn’t heard from Luis regarding my last email, I decided to call to ensure that he was planning to pick me up. I called all the numbers from the website, but I didn’t get anyone. I left a message explaining what I wanted. I followed up by calling Mark. Mark informed me to call Luis’ cell phone, which I had already called. I called again later in the evening, but Luis still didn’t answer. I waited till Saturday about noon again to call Luis but still no answer. I called Mark again. He said that he would call Luis’ brother. Later Mark called me about 4pm to tell me everything was set. Coincidently Luis sent me an email, saying that he would see me at the airport.
SundayI arrived at Cartagena airport about an 1 ½ hours late from Miami, which I later discovered was due to the weather in Cartagena. I met Luis and Yobany (Luis’ brother). Luis informed me that I would be working with Yobany, because he had another client that he was working with. I inquired about him getting my email and scheduling appointments with the girls for that day. I planned to drive to go to BAQ on Monday, but I wanted to meet 3-4 women on Sunday. Yobany mentioned that since it was Sunday, the girls would be out partying. So I was told that I wouldn’t meet anyone from the site that day, but they told me that we could meet girls out that night. We headed to the apartment to drop off my luggage. We stopped at the grocery store. We then headed out to some night spots. I made a few phone calls to some friends. I was back home by about 11:30, which was 12:30 to my body due to the time difference.
MondayYobany arranged for a cab to take us to BAQ to meet Yerley. Yobany introduced me to some Cartagena breakfast items as vendor on the street. About 9:30am we headed up to BAQ. I swear we were stopped by every checkpoint. An older lady was in the cab, and she commented that they were only stopping us because of an American in the car
. I met Yerley at the Buena Vista mall. We went to a little restaurant called Varadero to have lunch, drinks, and talk. We rode the bumper cars at a Vivero or Exito. We saw Spiderman 3, which I realized later was in Spanish. Apparently BAQ is getting more pictures in Spanish and English versions, so make sure that you read the marquee. Do not assume that they are English with Spanish subtitles.
After the movie, we headed for the Pradomar hotel beach. We ate dinner and talked some more. We then headed over to Henry’s for a drink. Since it was so late, we had to call a service to get us back to CTG that evening. We grabbed some ice cream, and I put her in a cab home. We made plans to meet up Wednesday in CTG, because she had an aunt that was leaving for Venezuela on Tuesday afternoon. So rather than have her come down late Tuesday, I suggested that she come down Wednesday morning. Me and my friend had reserved a private boat for Wednesday. I pretty much slept the rest of the way back to CTG. We got back to CTG about 10:30pm, so it was a long busy day. It was hot as hell, but I enjoyed the day.
