getting started

[davidbitt]

Hello everyone, My name is David and I live in upstate NY. I am a 45 yr old single professional looking for a latina to hook up with...I have been to Costa Rica and was thinking about working with a guy I have seen often advertising in the AM Costa Rica paper, Edward Bridges.....Thanks, Andylee for the info on this guy...he's a crook. Now, I'm taking Andylee's suggestion and looking into Columbian women...love 'em...I'm hearing that the Manizales women are great women for a relationship and to bring back to the US....I'm researching Cupid.com and other agencies, but my question is how do I find women to correspond with without going through an agency. does anyone know where I can go to cam and email latin women that is legitimate? I appreciate any guidance...Thanks!

[thekfc]

Hi David, welcome to PL.

[Micky]

Welcome David and good luck with your quest.  The two main websites are ColombianCupid and Latinamericancupid.  There are others I guess,  but those I think are the largest meeting sites.
 
Micky

[dennislevy]

Hi David

My name is Dennis, I am along time poster on this board and I lived in Colombia for three years, I  m currently on the peruvian coast.

Ive never met Andy Lee but we talked on the telephone  extensively and corresponded extensively. he not jsut good people, he s a great guy, and he gives solid advice.

I dont know how much time you ve got to come to Colombia and date women, but the triangle of cities  Manizles, Pereria and Armenia are good places to do it.
Each of the cities is no more then 90 minutes or 2 hours from each other.

If I were you, I woulld join and pay for a subscription to colombian cupid and wrtie emails to women fom those cities who have been active, checked their accoubnts at least withimn the last month I would start the letter writing campaign about 60 to 90 days befre re you show up the protocol is to chat or email and then do the cam thing

if you have mnore questions or need more help........let us know

[Jeff S]

Hi David and welcome. Best of luck to you. Lots of good advice here, mixed in with with some offbeat conversations. Looking forward to your participation.


- Jeff

[davidbitt]

Thanks everyone, I don't have any problems subscribing to ColumbianCupid .com. I saw a sight called Cupido.com located in Manizales with only local women. I'm planning a trip around January, so It falls into the correspondence protocol timeline....haha, I know all about protocols. I'm a Sr. lab tech in a Microbiology lab. I've spent a lot of time in Brazil and Peru when I was younger and I love the latina's and their culture. I am sooo disenchanted with the American woman, but that's another post. anyway, Glad to meet everyone and look forward to the chat.


Thanks,


David

[dennislevy]

david, if the guy operating cupido.com in Manizales is an American  guy named Joe....and he was a pilot of some sort...

beware...

If I were you, I would stick with the internet dating site...www.colombiancupid.com

Dennis

[fathertime]

I'm researching Cupid.com and other agencies, but my question is how do I find women to correspond with without going through an agency. does anyone know where I can go to cam and email latin women that is legitimate? I appreciate any guidance...Thanks!

David,
To get started you need to get a foothold.  If agencies are not an option for you, then perhaps cupid, hi5.com, facebook.  Get to know some posters here, and see if they know some single ladies.   If you are comfortable, and know some Spanish, you can book a trip after you have made some lady friends, and see how it goes. 


Fathertime! 

[Samuel]

david, if the guy operating cupido.com in Manizales is an American  guy named Joe....and he was a pilot of some sort...

beware...

If I were you, I would stick with the internet dating site...www.colombiancupid.com

Dennis

Hello Dennis,


Question, why don't you recommend ColombianCupido?

[AndyLee]

David,
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search.
I am glad my contribution regarding Edward Bridges and Ed's Ticas in San Jose, Costa Rica was of value to you. I agree, the man is a crook, a very artful scammer. My recollection is he has about 250 women's pictures in his stable, all of whom are very attractive and appear very willing to go on dates with gringos. You pay $500 up front to his bank account then an additional $500 when you arrive in San Jose. He says he will set you up on dates every day you are in San Jose. In my case he set me up with a date the first night which turned out to be a woman who was 11 years older than her profile said. Then he hemmed and hawed the second day and set me up with a date who was 22 years younger than me and clearly only interested in a fancy restaurant meal. The third day I was very suspicious and forthright with him so he set me up with a third date who decided at the last minute she would rather go with her friends to watch a soccer game. When I questioned Ed Bridges further he admitted he didn't have any more women for me to meet. When I asked for my money back he said he had spent it and couldn't return it. After than I went out and arranged my own dates in San Jose by using LatinAmericanCupid.com.
Does anyone know if there a forum in Costa Rica where I can post this story? I'd like to be able to encourage other people to steer clear of Ed's Ticas.

[AndyLee]

The website Cupido.com is an erotica/porn site with 35,000 members and appears to be in German language.


The website ColombianCupido.com is a blank
The website ColombiaCupido redirects to ManizalesCupido.com which is a very nice web site that appears to offer about 300 women and has a range of services for translations, apartment, fiancee visa etc.
In a couple of places on their website they say it is okay if you just want to have a girlfriend to visit occasionally in Manizales they will help arrange it. Hmmmmmm prepago or sponsored girl or prostitution? You decide.
The owner of the agency is not listed in the web site. The web site claims to be active since 2003. The manager is listed and her name appears Colombian.
I wonder who is the owner of this agency, does anybody know?
The agency was started by Dick Dickerman, here's an excerpt from a 2008 trip report here on P-L
http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=2840.msg38676#msg38676
Quote
The Agency

Dick is a nice guy and he tries to run his agency with an American flair.  He says that he has only been in business for about 11 months, so he is still learning the business.  The agency is managed and pretty much run by a Colombiana.  I don't feel that Dick is involved as much in the agency as Jamie is in his agency.  I didn't get the feeling that the women in the agency were aggressive enough in making phone calls to the ladies.  They always gave an impression like they were over-worked, but I personally didn't see it when I was at the office.  I also feel Christmas or any holiday would be a bad time to go, although I was told otherwise when I initially inquired a few months prior to confirming my trip.

Overall in my opinion, I didn't feel that I got any benefit from my Manizales trip.  I expressed this to Dick and he invited me back as his guest.  Although I spent maybe twice the amount of money at Jamie's place in the past, I left feeling very satisified with my purchase.  When using ColombiaCupido, I think that you are basically own your own.  I would just pick a bunch of women that I wanted to meet and go for what I know.  I wouldn't recommend Manizales for a newbie or someone who isn't comfortable speaking or trying to speak spanish.
End Quote
Later in the same thread here is a post from DL:
Quote
FYI, Cupido, the Manizlaes agency changed hands last week. 

Dick Dickerman sold the agency to another American, Bob Horne, a former customer of agencues in Bogota and Manizales who has been to Colombia before,

Bob relocated to Manziales a few days ago and will be taking over the full management of the agency next month. 

I spoke with him several times on the telephone whike I was in the US and when I arrived in Colombiam he was friendly, open and sounded like a straight shooter.

Dennis
End Quote

[Samuel]

Andy,


Sorry, I meant to write ColombiaCupido.  Thanks for the additional information and the link back to Ebony Prince's trip report. 


The last time I was in town (Manizales) it appeared that ManizalesCupido was closed down or had moved.


I found another link on the agency, apparently from the original owner.


http://www.planet-love.com/index.php?topic=3572.0


It appears this agency has had three American owners.

[Researcher]

   Welcome to the board David! AndyLee did you a favor for sure.

   Researcher

[AndyLee]

Here is the response I got to the email I sent to ManizalesCupido.com this morning. It appears there is now a new owner whose name is Chuck. This letter is from the office manager Paula Andrea Cardona

Hi Andy,   Manizales Cupido is a friendship and marriage agency. We make contacts with foreign men with girls from Manizales. We don't sell e-mails, we invite our clients to come to the city and meet them in person. The agency's owner is Chuck. He is now in the city and he will be around for one more week. He is an american citizen.   If you are interested in meeting some of the beautiful girls that we have in the agency, you can call us. Our phones are in the bottom of the web site.   Have a nice day,       Paula Andrea Cardona Administradora Cupido Manizales

[raycjs]

David,
 
welcome to the board
 
best of luck to you on your search
 
Ray

[dennislevy]

Ask Chuck or Andrea how Chuck acquired the agency.
 
Did he buy it from Bob Horne?
 
If so, it s in all probability a legit operation. In 2009 when i was still living in Bogota, I had corresponded at length  with Bob about buying the agency, but I passed on it.

[AndyLee]

Thanks for your input Dennis.....I just sent this thread link to the ManizalesCupido.com and explained there is some confusion about whether they are legitimate and asked them to contribute to the thread if they can shed light on current ownership, etc.


Dennis, someday I'd like to discuss with you the whys and why nots of starting or buying an Introduction Agency. I'm not really in the market, yet, but I am curious.


Thanks
AL

[dennislevy]

AL
I am happy to discuss it now
 
As far as an investment to START one, its just making a job ...and I don t  think its a good one.....Ive only seen two personal intros agencies that have consistenly  maintained quality standards....Jamie in Baranquilla and Consuelo  Romero in Bogota. If an owner is dedicated to customer satisfaction (and the agency will survive only if it can attract men to come to Colombia...economically a male client is worth AT LEAST 5 female customers) that OWNER must be there every day...
 
If the owner isn t there and the workers turn over too quickly, no one knows or culls the database and so there is a database that has a lot of profiles and fotos of beautiful but a great majorityof the women arent availabale, they have come and gone, so if the database is out of date, it doesnt have any value as part of a sale
 
With the advent of all the dating web sites, the cupidos, etc.....why should a man pay a premium to get anything less then very good to great service? 
 
In 2009 I was a client at Consuelo, and I respect Jamie s business model.....they both give very good to great service.....I met 34 women from Consuelo s agency and I had 1 thats one NO SHOW...Jamie works at contacting and answering mens s questions and he gets clients who have been pre sold by the comments made by men on this web site.....Both of these owners are INVOLVED in their agencies on a daily basis.
 
There isnt any signifcant intrinsic economic value in an agency, unless, there is real estate a house a apartment...... Other  then that, its just some databases a web site, a couple of PCs and some furniture. 
 
One of the reasons I said no to Bob Horne s offer to sell me the Manizles agency was that he had acquired some short term apartment leases from Dick Dickerman (to rent to male clients) but he couldn t or wouldnt leglly transfer them to me and that was a deal killer. As later events proved, I was right to pass.
 
If an agency is to work without rooms rental ncome, the owner has to keep low overhead.  What Jamie does is REQUIRE that clients BOTH first timers and returnees RENT from him......in order to meet his agency s women.  i certainly understand why he does it.   
 
Also going to Manizles is another plane ride from Bogota, it isnt too convient to get to and almost all first time visitors to Colombia who are male agency clients arent confident enough to travel past their primary destination, Bogota, Medlellin, Cali, Cartagena........Baranquilla.  In other words if a flght fromthe States (and at least 80 % of male agecny clients are from the US or Canada) doesn t land there, its not a very good place for an agency, unless  the owner has other business interests.
 
A gringo agency owner needs a Colombian female employee(s) who can talk with girls and women and make them trust her, and she has to be someone that men will at least respect and trust and she has to speak decent English and is hopefully discrete. That s not an very easy combination to find.
 
15 years ago, the personal introductions agency  was a very good business, but I think the orginal agency owners(a couple of which stll own agencies) didnt manage their agencies for growth or for quality. Almost any foreign man with money was accepted and that led to problems.
 
Anyway thats my take.............
 
 

[AndyLee]

Thanks for an excellent overview DL.....you've just reduced my curiosity from medium to lukewarm......I can't imagine the number of hours it must take to manage an agency successfully.
AL

[davidbitt]

Wow, thanks guys...You all are really on the ball! and Andylee...you have saved me soo much money and a possible murder charge...haha..I'm staying clear from Ed inCR...Nice, Colombian cupid.com has been good to me since your suggestion. i have corresponded with so many girls; it becomes overwhelming... I need to focus in on only a handful and go to visit them...There is so many of them and they keep coming at you...I get like a kid in a candy store..but seriously, I have met ( I think) a couple sincere mom's looking for a good Americano..I am not intimidated to travel south america. I have been to brazil, costa rica and Peru recently. I am thinking about a trip to visit the girls in columbia in January...Question: Does anyone have any suggestions of a decent place i can stay in cartagena or should I stay somewhere else and drive in?


thanks guys,


David

[Kiltboy1]

Welcome to the board and here to help with any questions you might have.
Oh
 
Unless you are going to watch a Gamecock Football Game with Ole Ball Coach at the helm, it's  COLOMBIA not COLUMBIA
 
KB

[AndyLee]

and Andylee...you have saved me soo much money

thanks guys,

David

You are welcome David, I am glad to do it.


An update on the ManizalesCupido.com thing.....I have not heard back from the new owner Chuck or his office manager Paula asking them to clarify their situation. My guess is they are not likely to come on P-L and say anything which I think is too bad. For the most part P-L posters are friendly to agency owners.
Anyway, what we know right now is that the agency was started by a guy named Joe who ripped pages out of Jamie Morrow's Latin-Wife.com web site then when he was called out Joe disappeared.
Next the agency resurfaced under ownership of Dick Dickerman who has also now disappeared. Apprently he sold the agency to Bob Horne who is likewise now disappeared and finally, the agency is owned by a man named "Chuck" who is not accessible except through his office manager Paula.
My conclusion is that this may be a legitimate business or it may not. Someday I will be in Manizales and I will stop in at their address to see what I can find out. In the meantime, if anyone has new information I personally would appreciate anything you post because I think the Manizales-Pereira-Armenia triangle would be a decent place for a boutique introduction agency patterned after (BUT NOT A RIPP OFF OF) latin-wife.com.
B the way, I've studied dozens of introduction agency web pages and latin-wife.com in my estimation is the best lay out of them all, and NO I am not shilling for Jamie Morrow.

[davidbitt]

Hello everyone,


I have a few questions about Colombia. How hard is it for a women and her two children 3 and 6 years of age to acquire a visa to visit the States? Also, is Cartagena a safe city for an american to stay in and is it a good choice to land there instead of alternative airports? If so, does anyone have any recommendations for a decent hotel or B & B in Cartagena? I am looking to travel around January or february.


Thanks,


David

[michaelb]

Chances of the visas you asked about are somewhere between Fat and Slim....and Slim just saddled up and rode out of town. Not saying it is not possible, but the chief criteria is "Does it look like they will return to Colombia at the time of expiration of the visa?"......So let's say she doesn't own a business, doesn't own any real estate and has a job that is mediocre at best......if you let her into the US, with her children (to visit a man romantically interested in her, no less) why would she go back? See the problem? Another problem is that Colombia won't let children leave the country without the consent of both parents. What if the father says no to their leaving? (and some of them will, just out of meanness and/or wanting a payoff). Not trying to rain on your parade, just don't want you to get your hopes up too high too soon.

[AndyLee]

I have flown into Cartagena twice, it is a sweet little airport, very friendly. Cartagena is a nice city, but remember it has the same problems every other city has; gangs, drugs, crime, crooked police, so it's always good to be aware of your surroundings and don't talk to strangers in dark alleys.
Getting tourist visa for Colombianas is challenging. They have to go to Bogota with a lot of doucments and plead their case. the turn down rate is fairly high. The women who have a job, own property, have children, have a bank account etc., seem to do better.
Getting a fiancee visa is also challenging but probably a much higher success rate than those applying for tourist visa.
I stayed in a hotel across the street from the beach for 50,000 pesos night. The room was small, just enough room to walk around the bed, and the bath was just big enough to stand and turn around in. But it was clean and air conditioned and had good security. I don't recall the name but it was something like Hotel Navel. I found it by driving around in a taxi and inquiring at several hotels till I found the one I liked. My instructions to the taxi driver were take me to a hotel that is clean, safe, not too cheap, not too pricey, near the beach, air conditioned. There are a lot of them to choose from.
Enjoy your trip, and check on the dates for the high season in Cartagena. If I recall the high season starts first week of December through first week of January and prices are higher.