Hello and my first question is about Jamie

[Can I have a life please]

Hello and thank you in advance for all those who will respond. I am from Boston. I'm 45... crap does time fly. I am of average looks and I speak only a little Spanish so I thought it would make more sense to look for a wife though an agency. I had written Jamie from Latin Wife a couple of times but I find the guy to be quite curt. Is it me, did I just rub this guy the wrong way?

[raycjs]

can i have a life please? that is up to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!


welcome to the board, and best of luck to you

that is Jamie and that is the way he comes off. he is not a salesmen nor does he try to act like one.... 90% of the time he will tell it like it is and that is that... his service is by far one of the best and his rates are fair for what he has to offer...

Ray

[Woody]

From what I have seen of Jamie, that is just who he is. How he comes off has nothing to do with how he feels about you, so don't take offense.

[euforia51]

... so I thought it would make more sense to look for a wife though an agency. ...

Welcome. I don't know much of Jamie other than the positive feedback I've read from some of the vets. I know of one guy on here who is going to Jamie's in March. Hang around here long enough, and he'll make himself known real quick. He's very excited about it ... and good for him. We're also all excited to see how well he fares!

On a note maybe you haven't considered yet, if you're planning to make a trip to CO, if you're unfamiliar and with your limited espanol, it sounds like having a service like Jamie's in your back pocket is a very good thing, IMO. I would have no problems going this route if it were me.

Good luck!

[Colgando]

LOL....yeah, I would be the character Euforia is talking about, I get excited about everything in life and I have a tendency to make my voice heard in whatever room I am in, I am one of those types of people, I get on people's nerves sometimes 

First time I corresponded with Jamie was over the phone, I thought he was fine, competent, direct and to the point. His emails are the same way but after speaking with him over the phone, that is just his style it seems. Jamie and I do business the same way, no BS, so it works for me.

[AndyLee]

Recently I talked with Jamie, and I agree with your first impression.....curt. I guess its a  style that works for him, but it leaves me apprehensive. Before I talked to him I was into using his agency, now I'm probably not.
One tip I will give you, on his web site the %$$#@#* slideshows are so fast they make you dizzy when you try to read the transcript......just 'right click' on the picture then uncheck PLAY and the picture will stop.

[Gato4Astrid]

Hello and thank you in advance for all those who will respond. I am from Boston. I'm 45... crap does time fly. I am of average looks and I speak only a little Spanish so I thought it would make more sense to look for a wife though an agency. I had written Jamie from Latin Wife a couple of times but I find the guy to be quite curt. Is it me, did I just rub this guy the wrong way?

It depends on what you wrote to him.  I have written to him about 3 years ago.  His response to my letter always in a very professional way, and he always replied.

I have written to another agencies in the past, but all of them either did not reply or had replied to me many days/ weeks later.

[dennislevy]

Gato

BULLS--T....

Graham, when you made an inquiry of Latin American Introductions.....in October of 2008, and I was working there, I answered you promptly, professionallly and in detail

Dennis

[utopiacowboy]

Recently I talked with Jamie, and I agree with your first impression.....curt. I guess its a  style that works for him, but it leaves me apprehensive. Before I talked to him I was into using his agency, now I'm probably not.
One tip I will give you, on his web site the %$$#@#* slideshows are so fast they make you dizzy when you try to read the transcript......just 'right click' on the picture then uncheck PLAY and the picture will stop.

Why on earth would you use an agency??? You're living in Colombia and you speak Spanish. Agency women are an infinitesimal percentage of the available women in Colombia - I just don't see it.

[Gato4Astrid]

Gato

BULLS--T....

Graham, when you made an inquiry of Latin American Introductions.....in October of 2008, and I was working there, I answered you promptly, professionallly and in detail

Dennis

Most of the time - noooooooooooooooooo !!!   I wasn't talking to you personally !!!  Did I mention that YOU have never answered me prfoessionally ??

By the way I was told that you were fired from Latin American Introductions because you were being unprofessional by dating clients!!!!   Care to share with us

[euforia51]

Why on earth would you use an agency??? You're living in Colombia and you speak Spanish. Agency women are an infinitesimal percentage of the available women in Colombia - I just don't see it.

UC, I remember a post a while back where he and I were kinda talking about how cool it would be to be sitting in a room full of pretty Colombianas doing the interview ... for lack of a better word. Maybe he's decided he'd like to act on this? I don't know ... just a guess...

[Woody]

I have written to another agencies in the past, but all of them either did not reply or had replied to me many days/ weeks later.

Graham, when you made an inquiry of Latin American Introductions.....in October of 2008, and I was working there, I answered you promptly, professionallly and in detail

Most of the time - noooooooooooooooooo !!!   I wasn't talking to you personally !!!  Did I mention that YOU have never answered me prfoessionally ??

Seems pretty cut and dry to me...

[Gato4Astrid]

Seems pretty cut and dry to me...

Well Dennis wasn't always working in LAI when I wrote.............................   "AGENCIES" I wrote therefore it qualifies.  I did not mention "person"

[dennislevy]

GATO

WTF is your problem? 

when we communciated by email in october of 2008, (when I worked at LAI) you were thinking aobut being in Bogota for a day or so, you wanted some kind of price for a day and i told you that we didnt do that and I wished you luck. That is a PROFESSIONBAL response,

For somnone else who comented I havent used a dating or marriage agency in almost two years, my Spanish wasn t fluent in 2008 although I had moved to Colombia in September of that year

And no i wasnt fired because I dated agency clients, and Gato......if you ve got any balls.... tell all of is either n the board or PM me and told me who told you that. 

I was fired because the agenct owner and I couldnt get along....he had his typiclaly Colombianh point of view and I had mine.....and it was a blessing in disguise. The turnover at the LAI agency is very high.

[dennislevy]

OK; I see Utopia Cowboy s comment was directed at Andy and not at me.

[Gato4Astrid]

GATO

WTF is your problem? 

when we communciated by email in october of 2008, (when I worked at LAI) you were thinking aobut being in Bogota for a day or so, you wanted some kind of price for a day and i told you that we didnt do that and I wished you luck. That is a PROFESSIONBAL response,

I never mentioned that you (personally) did not response in a professional manner, but I did mention "agencies" - that including the agency which you have worked for  That was BEFORE and AFTER you worked there.

[Gato4Astrid]

I havent used a dating or marriage agency in almost two years, my Spanish wasn t fluent in 2008 although I had moved to Colombia in September of that year

You do not really need to be obessed in "must to" learn Spanish fluently.   


Can we get over with our "past" business and move on to the future? !!!

[z_k_g]

Why on earth would you use an agency??? You're living in Colombia and you speak Spanish. Agency women are an infinitesimal percentage of the available women in Colombia - I just don't see it.

Utopia,

That has been the question in the back of my mind for awhile....I thought I was the only one.

I'm also curious Andy?

Zulu

[AndyLee]

Why on earth would you use an agency??? You're living in Colombia and you speak Spanish. Agency women are an infinitesimal percentage of the available women in Colombia - I just don't see it.

Ah, there is a reason...it has to do with success ratio for time invested....yes, I live here and yes I date lots of women, but, the amount of time it takes to first find the woman, then ascertain if she is available-willing-ready-able to meet and possibly fall in love with and live with or marry a gringo (me) is significant.
I can cruise all over my village and the nearby cities and in a couple days see a dozen or more I'd like to date. But, often times they are on the bus going somewhere, waiting on a customer, being waited on in a store, gabbing with girlfriends, trying to catch a cab......many, many times I spot someone I want to meet and by the time the light changes and I cross the street she's already in the taxi and gone...or, I go to a nightclub and hit on the one that attracts me most only to find out she has a boyfriend who is a cop and he gets off duty in an hour...true story, I actually hung around until he showed up just to see if she was fibbing, she wasn't.
So, free range cruising, even if you live here, is NOT as easy as it might seem.....sure, I've met a hundred girls that way but only 2 or 3 of them were actually ready, willing and able.
Next option is the free and low-cost dating sites, I'm currently on Latin American Cupid, and intermittently on Colombian Cupid. Lots of hits on my profile, lots of responses to my winks and intro letters, and lots of spinning of wheels. There are at least 1000 girls available in my age range 40-50 within 50 miles of Pereira. that's not the problem. The problem is 75% of them are high school drop outs and either unemployed or underemployed as in self-employed "I manage a coffee cart" or "I have an arepa stand" or "I'm a hair dresser". Christ, every unemployed woman in this city is a "hair dresser". Out of the 1000 that are available on Cupid in my area there are probably only a few dozen who are educated beyond high school, and out of that few dozen half are fat or ugly and the other half can't seem to string two thoughts together to make a complete paragraph in a letter. Please remember, I'm not talking about the 20-30 year old hotties....I'm talking about their mothers. In my estimation I'm okay dating women that are younger than my own kids, but dang, I can't quite wrap my mind around the concept of dating girls young enough to be my grand kids.
Do I sound bitter, I don't mean to, quite the opposite. I'm very happy that out of the several dozen that I hit it off with I've found several that i have enjoyed dating. Let's face it, I've met over a hundred good looking, sexy, younger than me by 15-20 years women since I've lived in this country, and probably that many more in previous years. Comparatively, in 10 years of being on Match.com in Virginia I met exactly 5 women to date in that whole 10 years. Yep, I'm light years ahead here in Colombia.
Okay, that's where I am at near the end of my first year living in Colombia. I've had 2 live in Colombianas, another 2 who've spent 1 week or several weekends at my house, and another several who have met me for coffee or lunch or dinner and a few one night or two night stands in hotels in the region.
What would I personally like to try next? Yep, as said before, I'd like to sit in a room full of beautiful, hand picked women and just soak it up for a while. If over the course of a week the Intro Agency can introduce me to 40 women who fit my profile then that would be better than I have done on my own in the past 50 weeks.
So far I estimate, just here in-country, I've spent close to $3,000 dating in the past year. If I spend that in one week with an agency and meet 40 women who have been for the most part preselected, either by myself or the agency, then I will accomplish more in one week than in 50 weeks for the same amount of money.
Is this making any sense? Am I rambling?

In a previous post Iz-He-Real said it best, "because learning the hard way sucks"....and sometimes, I feel like I really have been "learning it the hard way"

[utopiacowboy]

You make sense and thanks for the response.

Don't you think you would find more educated women if you lived in one of the cities? Nearly everyone in my wife's circle had been to college but then again she lived in Medellin.

BTW, I think you're doing pretty good with the women you've been dating. If I were you I would continue like that forever and not get married.

[euforia51]

What would I personally like to try next? Yep, as said before, I'd like to sit in a room full of beautiful, hand picked women and just soak it up for a while.

Bingo!  

Is this making any sense? Am I rambling?

No, not at all ... preach on brotha' ... I for one am soaking it up for a while as well ...

BTW, I think you're doing pretty good with the women you've been dating. If I were you I would continue like that forever and not get married.

It's quite the tempting thought, huh UC? But Glory often threatens violence with even the mere thought of another woman in the picture. lol

[dennislevy]

I have to admit that I smiled when i read Andys descrption of his ....quest.

It sounds  like mine...but in reverse. I started with the agencies......and then have gone to the dating sites like Colombian Cupid. I dont do clubs becuase I don t  drink and Ive never had very much sucess in meeting women who worked in a store or on the street. I ve written about 20 notes to women who I admired in a restaurant or if they were working in a store, very gentlemanly notes a sincere compliment aobut their beauty, the fact that I didnt see a ring on their finger and a short self description,  inluded my email....and phone number. i got two responses wert out with one woman 3 times and she was unrealistic and the the other woman was lovely, with a boatload of young kids, and dirt poor..........and we had exactly one date I used this technique in Bogota and Cali. 

I picked up two women without notes...tjey werent young hotties, one was 46 the other 52.....and I had dates one in bogota, one in Chipichape Mall in  Cali...both were more then a little nuts, one was a one night stand that I still regret,

Look, I don t  think the women in agencies are any different then the women on the web sites and somtimes in Bogota...they are the same women! I ve seen profiles of several women, I know that they have been or are registered wth three dating agencies in Bogota, they are on both latin american and Colombian cupid sites...and that s just where Ive seen their profiles.

A roomful of handpicvked beauties in an agency in baranquilla isnt that special....at least i think so. What a good agency should do is put women in front of you you re the one thathas to do the filtering and the women will also filter you out. ......not everyone  will be right...and God knows, ive met a lot of agency women in Bogota who werent right for me...and I wasnt right for them...but I had spent the money with the agency and I always think that time spent with any resonable looking Colombian woman is time well spent...because I ll almost always learn SOMETHING. If you date agency women, the cost are usually higher, I can talk for hours aobut that subject!

Andy, if you re lookign for a high level of education. you re talking primarily about Bogota where there is an enormous pool of single or divorced or spparated divorced womaen...but they have careers and familes...and to expect someone to move to a small village outside Pereira may not fly

Lo

[z_k_g]

Next option is the free and low-cost dating sites, I'm currently on Latin American Cupid, and intermittently on Colombian Cupid. Lots of hits on my profile, lots of responses to my winks and intro letters, and lots of spinning of wheels. There are at least 1000 girls available in my age range 40-50 within 50 miles of Pereira. that's not the problem. The problem is 75% of them are high school drop outs and either unemployed or underemployed as in self-employed "I manage a coffee cart" or "I have an arepa stand" or "I'm a hair dresser". Christ, every unemployed woman in this city is a "hair dresser". Out of the 1000 that are available on Cupid in my area there are probably only a few dozen who are educated beyond high school, and out of that few dozen half are fat or ugly and the other half can't seem to string two thoughts together to make a complete paragraph in a letter.

Andy,

In my experience I chatted with over 300 pinays, and had pretty much the same issues you had!
The only significant difference was the lady boys who were masquerading as women, yuck!

Out of the hundreds, I found 3 that were winners and fit all of my criteria. I picked one of the three and we will see how that goes!

I really think when you meet online you are taking huge gamble, its difficult to gauge chemistry, intimacy and compatibility over a computer, cam or cell phone.

Zulu

[AndyLee]

Andy, if you re lookign for a high level of education. you re talking primarily about Bogota where there is an enormous pool of single or divorced or spparated divorced womaen...but they have careers and familes...and to expect someone to move to a small village outside Pereira may not fly

Lo

Several posts in this thread have pointed out the educated women are in the cities, not the country, and quite frankly, you're right. It seems the bright girls that want university leave the villages and never come back, except in rare circumstances.  Although I did have a girlfriend here for a couple months who had a degree in animal husbandry. Yeah, she could actually do artificial insemination on a Brahmin cow, it was pretty impressive.
Another date I had here was the local Notaria, which is a big deal in this village because she is the keeper of the records for births and deaths and property deeds, etc. She has a couple degrees.
Another date was with a park ranger who has a degree in environmental sciences. But, that seems to be it for this neck of the woods in terms of educated women.
Question is, will I be able to go to Medellin or Bogota and find an educated woman who will move out here to the sticks with me? Well, the chances are slim, very slim,  I'll admit. But, I live in a beautiful house on a beautiful mountain with a serene, pastoral surrounding. Some women crave that as much as I do. I just have to find the right one.
BTW, my current girlfriend was born and raised in Medellin and has lived in Cartagena for over 20 years. Her dream is to live in the coffee region. She absolutely loves it here. She spent two weeks with me last month and it was a lot of fun. She's coming back to spend a month with me so we can try out playing house together.
I met her on Colombian Cupid just after the first of the year. She's educated, owns her house and car, successful as a natural therapist, she can start a practice here if she wants, grown children, divorced, does not like Cartagena, loves my village. She is only the third one out of the past couple hundred that I've actually seriously considered living with.
I'm adopting Zulu's attitude, "wait and see and enjoy it while it lasts for as long as it lasts".

[AndyLee]

Incidentally and for what it's worth.....the original poster asked the opening question then never came back. It was his first and only post since he joined the forum February 21.
I'd hate to think this is a set up thread. I opened a separate thread this morning about If I Really Was a Shill how would it do it.

Just food for thought, and probably just my over-active imagination........
Who knows and who really who cares? We're all enjoying this thread so even if the OP never comes back it's still worthwhile.