Intro and trip report Colombia

[QRCAP2012]

Hi, I’m new here. I retired from DOD and bought a travel trailer and heavy duty pick up truck and toured the US after retirement. I saw all 48 plus I flew to Hawaii for a 7 island cruise. Never did make it to Alaska, but maybe next year. Great stuff but I quickly tired of the confinement of a travel trailer and the loneliness of living on the road where I made only temporary friends. Pulling up levelers and moving every week got old after a couple years and the price of diesel has gotten freaking ridiculous.
I never did find the place I thought I would find in the US. Lots of places where the weather and the cost of living was okay BUT the women for the most part were fat and loaded with baggage. I am not fat and I still like my ex-wife. It’s not her fault our marriage fell apart after 25 years. She and I still talk every other year or so. Most of the biddies I met on the road would kill and eat their ex’s if they could get off their fat ass and go find him.
After not finding what I was looking for in the US I decided to look overseas. I’ve been to Asia and Europe and Mediterranean and Caribbean. I liked Portugal and Scotland both, but not enough to settle down there. I love the Portuguese food and the people so maybe I’ll go back there to live. Scotland has the best beer and best Scotch but the weather is lousy.
I lived in Jamaica for a while and British Virgin Islands. Got Island fever after a while. I thought about Dominican Republic but got sidetracked and wound up in Canada for a few weeks with a pretty latina who spent most of her time brushing and straightening her hair. Beautiful woman and great sex but dumb as a doorknob. She was the one who turned me on to Latin America.
From Canada I went to Cuba for a few weeks. Great beaches but the economy is screwed and I got tired of looking over my shoulder because I was American and apt to get picked up any minute.
From there I went to Costa Rica which turned me off because of the razor wire and broken bottles on every fence. Having armed guards with AK’s guarding every factory was a warning that things ain’t right in that country.
Next I went to Panama but couldn’t stand the heat and the filth. Don’t those people ever pick up after themselves?
How I wound up in Colombia is a long story, but it has to do with a woman in the US who thought I would be an ideal partner for her sister. That deal didn’t work out but it did wind up landing me in Colombia, and I’m glad for that.
I flew from Ft Lauderdale to Armenia, Colombia on Sprint, and that was an adventure in not-so-subtle differences between advertising and truth. It wound up costing me more than I planned because of baggage fees.
When I got to Armenia I checked into a reasonable hotel for $25 night including wifi. NO hot water which is something I came to expect pretty much everywhere I went. I checked out the state “departmento” of Quindio around Armenia. Some decent tourist attractions and lots of pretty women. Weather is reasonable. Places I went are Filandia, Circasia, Salento, Calarca, La Teibaida, Quimbaya and Montenegro. I liked Filandia best. It’s a small city and high in the mountains so it’s cool and fresh. Lots of coffee and cattle farms.
From there I took a 10 hour bus trip to Bogota. It crosses La Linea, a high mountain pass with beautiful scenery. Very slow traffic because of the landslides from last year’s rainy season. Lots of road work going on. We passed the city of Ibuege but I didn’t think much of it. Hot and dry.
Bogota was interesting. Huge city with 8 million people and twice that many motorcycles. Noisy, cold, expensive and the women were stand out gorgeous. I did all the tourist things there. Went to the gold museum and the salt cathedral and rode the steam railroad. Nice city much nicer than I though it would be. I was impressed by the cleanliness compared to cities I saw in Costa Rica and Panama.
After that I went by plane to Bucaramanga. Nice city but a bit dry and gritty. That has to do with a huge construction project that lasts all the way from the airport to the center. More pretty women and they like my accent. Very nice watermelons and pineapples here. The steak was tough and the beer was awful but I enjoyed my stay.
After that I took a bus to Medellin. Excellent scenery. The bus didn’t have a bathroom so when you wanted to pee you yelled Chi Chi and he would pull over and you walk behind the bus and whiz. I’m getting used to it.
Lunch on the road is frijoles and either beef plank or pollo plank. Pretty tasty if you are hungry. Rice is always rice and the fried plantains are pressed into a little pancake. It’s all good if you pour on salt and Ron de Caldas the local rum.
Medellin was what I expected. Three million people crowded into a little mountain valley with too many truck and too many 2 cycle motorcycles. Lots of pollution and stale air and noise. I decided I didn’t like Medellin very much. Later on there were a couple Americans shot dead in Medellin so I’m sort of glad I left there.
I tried Barranquilla next. Nice city with good malls. Huge number of pretty women and some of them were very approachable. I went to Santa Marta beaches and Cartagena beaches but wasn’t impressed. How the hell they can call these good beaches compared to Florida is beyond me. Lousy vendors mess it all up. Plus there are guys pissing all over the place. There aren’t any public restrooms so men just go in the surf or on the seawall or anywhere out in the open. Women just pretend they don’t see it.
Then I flew back to Bogota to meet up with a woman I met through colombian cupid. Spent a fantastic week with her. I’ll go back when I get a chance.
While I was in Medellin I rented a car and went to a lot of the towns up in the mountains. Le ceja, Guarne, Guatape, San Carlos, Santa Elena, Rio negro, el retiro and there were more. I like the mountain air better than I like the valley air around the central city.
Next I went by bus to Cali. That was an adventure. We were stopped three times by army patrols. Each time I would show my passport and the army guy would want to practice his English with me. Pretty much all they know is “hello my name is _____, how are you, I am fine, thank you”. They were entertaining at first but I got tired of it after awhile. My Spanish is excellent because I started in high school and it was a requirement at my job but these army guys seem to think I’m a banana head or something.
Cali was interesting. Not as hot as Barranquilla or Cartagena because the breeze from the mountains starts at about 4 pm and cools things off. Super model women everywhere I look. Lots of African influence combined with the indigenous and spanish heritage makes very pretty women. I even saw a few that looked Arabic. Very exotic women in this city.
From Cali I went by bus to Pereira. I like Pereira. It’s a city but not too big and there are little towns nearby where I feel comfortable. I went to Combia, Marseilles, La Virginia, Cartago, Cerritos, Laguneta, La Celia, Balboa, Santuario, Apia, Pueblo Rico, Belecazar. More pretty women than you can imagine. I like it here.
Then I went to Manizales. There are 400,000 people and 25 percent of them are associated with one of the five universities. More pretty girls in the early twenties than you could hope to find anywhere. I actually got bored after a while looking at them because there are so many and they are so pretty. There are cable cars in Manizales and a ride above the city was fun. I was impressed how clean it is compared to other Colomb ian places.
Now I’m back in Pereira. When I flew in I expected a 2 month pass but the immigration guy stamped me for 3 months. I have two weeks left before I go back. I can extend for another 3 months for about $150. I can rent a furnished flat here for about $400 month so I may decide to extend my stay here. From here I could continue my tour of the country. I still haven’t seen the Amazon or the high mountains. I did see the Nevada del Ruiz volcano outside of Manizales. It is spewing ash now and they are predicting an eruption. I’m many miles away so it doesn’t affect me, but the people up close are scrambling to get away to a safe zone.
This are some of my impressions about this country as a possible place to retire.
First, the food isn’t that great. It has good flavor but not much spices and not too much variety. Next, the women are awesome. There are some fat women here but nowhere near the scale as in the US. Also, the weather is freaking awesome. I’m living out of one suitcase full of bermuda shorts and polo shirts. I’ve been here almost two months and so far I haven’t seen a dress up occasion that I couldn’t attend. I have one white shirt and one pair of grey slacks with black shoes and that’s enough.
The beer here is totally bad. The wine is not drinkable. The brandy is acid. The rum is good enough in a pinch. The local wino’s drink aguardiente which is made from sugar cane and it is god awful. A bottle of good Mexican beer (Modelo Especial) costs 3 times more than local beer.
The highways are a joke. Top speed is about 40 miles per hour on the good stretches. A lot of the mountain roads where I’ve been are average about 10 or 20 miles per hour. Two lane roads full of semi trucks and big busses and under powered motorcycles and donkey carts and they take awful chances passing on curves and blind spots.
The problem is made worse by the landslides. Sometimes just a bunch of rocks in the middle of the road and the passengers get off and clean a path for the bus to drive through. A couple times we’ve had to turn back and go another route because a section of road just collapsed. There is a place between Bucaramanga and Medellin where a 200 foot section of road just dropped about 300 feet to the river below. The backhoe cleared a temporary path through the jungle beside the road so we could pass.
I read on Colombian Reports where 80 percent of the roadways have been damaged by the big rainy season and I believe it. It took 9 hours to go from Bucaramanga to medellin, which is normal, but another 12 hours to go from Medellin to Pereira which usually takes only 5 hours.
I saw one river that was up out of it’s banks so high that the center of the river was bulged up because the valley couldn’t hold all the water. The bus drove through foot deep water for about 2 miles until we got up out of the river bottom.
So, my big adventure in Colombia continues. I like it here better than most other places I’ve been. The weather is for the most part decent and the women are absolutely lovely. I guess I’ll stay here another couple months and use it as a base camp to scout out the parts of the country I haven’t seen. Plus, a travel agent here in Pereira has a 9 day tour going to Ecuador next week. It costs only $450 for the 9 days and that includes transportation, meals, hotels and tourist spots.
I’ll get to see most of Ecuador. I’ve heard there are some good beach towns there with a decent climate. I’ve also heard the cost of living in Ecuador is about half what it costs to live in Colombia. I’m not hurting for money but if I can have a higher standard of living for less cost then I’ll consider it.
Colombia is a better place to retire than any of the other places I’ve been. The weather is awesome and the good looking women are just everywhere. I made a bet with a friend how far I could walk without seeing a woman I’d like to date. So far I’m averaging about 1 block per gorgeous woman. That gives you an idea how spectacular they are. Considering I once walked through a big mall in new england and after one hour had counted exactly 2 women I thought were truly hot. One was asian and the other was latina. In one hour here in Pereira I’ll count a hundred or more hot women.
Okay, that’s about it for now. I’ll post part two when I get back from Amazonas.
QR

[V_Man]

Fantastic report QR!

[aconcepts]

Awesome - thank you. One question, is there air travel between larger cities, or do they use hubs like Medellin and Bogota. Could you fly lets say between Bucaramanga and Pereia? or Peria to Cali. I am not big on buses. A  friend of mine was quite taken with Bucaramanga for investment potential and he said the women were very white and the city very cultured. Would you concur? Also, no Chilean wines??? That seems odd... I am a wine drinker.

[Jeff S]

Hi QRC and welcome. Thanks for the great report. A lot of similarities between your situation and my father's - except he did it on social security - then settled in central Mexico after spending a lot of time traveling all over the US in RVs. He eventually married a younger Mexicana when in his early 80s. Latin America has a lot of advantages for a retiree

[whitey]

Fantastic trip report!  Here's a guy who knows how to get the most out of a trip and out of life.  I envy your ability to visit so many places that I may never have the chance to see.  Thanks for posting ... looking forward to more.

[whitey]

Awesome - thank you. One question, is there air travel between larger cities, or do they use hubs like Medellin and Bogota. Could you fly lets say between Bucaramanga and Pereia? or Peria to Cali. I am not big on buses. A  friend of mine was quite taken with Bucaramanga for investment potential and he said the women were very white and the city very cultured. Would you concur? Also, no Chilean wines??? That seems odd... I am a wine drinker.

aconcepts:


There is cheap air travel between all the major cities, and it's usually only a little more than the cost of bus fare.  Safer too - not just because of the roads, flooding, and crazy drivers, but for security.


The higher end grocery stores like Carrefour have imported wines and liquors, and some beer.  The major cities like Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla, Cali, etc also have specialty stores if you know where to look (I don't).

[utopiacowboy]

I thought it was an excellent report. The only strange part was how you could think Barranquilla was a "nice city" while not liking Medellin. Barranquilla is a complete dump compared to Medellin.

[whitey]

I thought it was an excellent report. The only strange part was how you could think Barranquilla was a "nice city" while not liking Medellin. Barranquilla is a complete dump compared to Medellin.

Haha ... yeah, I was thinking the same thing UC ... I like Barranquilla, but most of the city except for the north is pretty ugly, while I thought Medellin was really nice ...

[QRCAP2012]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Just a couple additions:
When I said the beer, wine and brandy were not good I was referring to Colombian brands. The beer Poker, Costena, and Club Colombian are drinkable but not always consistent flavor and not rich like good beer should be. The Colombian brand of wine is too sweet and syrupy, sort of like bad sherry. I forget the name of winery but I think it is Grajales in Valle Del Cauca. The Colombian brandy is Domeq. Drinkable but not overly enjoyable. The Colombian rum Ron de Medellin is not as good in my opinion as the Ron de Caldas which is bottled near here in Manizales. A fifth costs about $12.
Like Whitey pointed out, good foreign wine and beer and whiskies are available at the bigger supermarkets. Here in Pereira I've been to Carrefour, Exito, Makro and La Catorce. They all have  good Chilean wines for good price, plus all the major whiskies, gins, rums, tequillas, scotches.
Air travel is available throughout Bogota for most smaller cities. There are flights between all cities but usually  route through Bogota. Buying air tickets the day you want to travel can be at least 2 or 3 times higher than bus fares. The bus fares are always the same right up to the moment the bus leaves the door. There hasn't been an attack on a bus on any of the major roads for years according to my friends here so the travel is safe from a security viewpoint. All the normal precautions apply just as any city anywhere in the world.
Yes, I agree that Barranquilla as a whole is not as attractive as Medellin. But, I decided I wouldn't live in Medellin because of the air pollution and the high cost of living. For that matter I wouldn't live in Barranquilla either, but mostly because if I do decide to stay here I definitely want to be in the mountains either an hour or so outside Medellin or around Pereira.
I went ahead and extended my visitor visa for another month. That still leaves me with two more months optional, then I have to leave the country for 6  months before I can return, or I have to apply for one of the other kinds of visas.
Staying outside the city of Pereira is pretty cheap. It's costing me $10 night for clean, safe hotel with hot shower. I'm spending about $10 day for meals and coffee and beer. An excellent lunch here in the village  with good beef, pork or chicken, with rice, salad, beans and a fruit juice is called Executive Lunch and costs about $3. A roasted chicken dinner is about $7 for two people.
So far on my journey here I'm averaging about $100 day including all travel and all costs of living. The big expense was getting here in the first place.
I've met a pretty little gal here who likes my accent. I'm her first gringo and she's never heard Spanish spoken with a Texas drawl before. It seems to turn her on:) so I'm going to hang out here a few more weeks.
Quince

[aconcepts]

Hey Quince,


What are your expenses daily, without travel expenses, Sounds very cheap to me. What village are you staying in and what is it like, tiny, you know the kind with a church, soccer field and bar only, with no bank, or a little larger?


$10 a day for a hotel room with hot water?


Is it rustic? How is the bed. Firm or saggy?


Is it dry or damp inside.


Here in Costa Rica it gets humid in areas and I have entered inexpensive hotel room that smell very musty. Same there? I am just trying to get an idea of quality vs cost.

[QRCAP2012]

Good questions aconcept, I also forgot to answer your question about women in Bucaramanga.....First, there aren't any really white women native to Colombia that I've seen. Most of the cities have a fair share of what they call canela, which is a soft brown, then there is morena (and I may be getting these spellings wrong) which is the deeper brown we think of as just before light black. Sort of confusing, but that's the best way I can explain it. I think the women in Bucaramanga looked pretty much like the women of Medellin and Bogota, but in Cali and along the north coast in Cartagena, Barranquilla and Santa Marta I did see more African influence which gives the darker skin color. In my estimation they are all pretty, I am also of the opinion that Medellin and Bucaramanga women are very similar in looks and attitude but that's only after a few days in each city and I didn't go to the ritzy parts of the cities or to the slums.
My room is 20,000 pesos so that's actually $11, that's the weekly rate. The daily rate is 27,000 pesos. Very clean room and fresh mountain air, not musty or dusty or smelly at all. Clean linens only one time week is normal here for the weekly rental.
A hotel similar to this in Pereira-Manizales-Armenia would be 35,000 to 50,000. Look up Filandia on google maps, half way between Pereira and Armenia, about 45 minutes by bus from either. Another small town near here is Salento which is very charming and pretty but higher in the mountains and more cloudy. the bus ride through the valley on the way to Salento is absolutely beautiful.
My other daily expenses are breakfast, about $1.50, lunch about $2.50 and dinner about $4. If I have a date for any of those meals just double the cost. I also like a couple beers each day so that's about $2. Then if I ride the cable cars or take a taxi or a bus anywhere that can be a couple dollars day, depending if I'm by myself or with someone. A small gift occasionally and some souvenirs, toiletries, and if I pay to get into any of the tourist sites can be a few dollars per person. It really is cheap to live here in the smaller cities and villages. When I was in the big cities my costs where easily double or triple what I'm paying here.
This village has one big and several smaller ones. It has a big Catholic church and several smaller protestant churches, a bank, 3 grocery stores, a liquour store, several hardware stores and a lot of little corner stores they call La Tiendas, and a lot of bakeries and cafés. There are 4 primary and high schools and a university extension. One gal I met is about 30 and is studying part time for bachelor's degree in agronomy. Other students are in business or in accounting.
The big stadium up on the hill has two big soccer fields and an indoor soccer field. I saw the police helicopter land in the soccer field on Friday and the neighbors told me it is because the money is brought to the bank by helicopter once a week. Sure enough a police pickup with 4 officers showed up and picked up a big bag from the helicopter and headed back to town.
I'm amazed at the difference in lifestyle here compared to the US and even compared to the big cities in Colombia. Everybody is so relaxed and yet energized at the same time. This is a mountain town and the streets are fairly steep here so everyone gets exercise coming and going so most of the people are in pretty good shape. There are some fat ones, but not anywhere like you see in the cities.

[Buckmarston]

Thank you QR.  This is a great report and observations.

[utopiacowboy]

Good questions aconcept, I also forgot to answer your question about women in Bucaramanga.....First, there aren't any really white women native to Colombia that I've seen. Most of the cities have a fair share of what they call canela, which is a soft brown, then there is morena (and I may be getting these spellings wrong) which is the deeper brown we think of as just before light black. Sort of confusing, but that's the best way I can explain it.

You didn't see any "white" women? My wife thinks she is "white" and I have to agree with her up to a point. She burns easily and has to slather on the suntan lotion - much more than me. Nevertheless her jet black hair makes me think there's some indigenous blood in her gene pool somewhere.  In Medellin I see a ton of women that I would readily describe as white with light hair and blue or green eyes.

[aconcepts]

Hi Quince,


Thanks for the info and quick response.


Can you email me at cr4me1234@yahoo.com / I don't have private mail ability on PL!


Is the bed what we call in Costa Rica "orthopedic" (very firm) or is it a foam cushion on a wooden base. I do not like soft beds. What size is it. full queen?


I did not mean white as in Irish or German, but I have exchanged photos on the web with many women there that regardless of their gene pool appear to be what most would refer to as white. I love all colors myself, but when you have been eating chocolate and coffee all the time sometimes vanilla is good for a change!


So when your visa runs out where are you heading.


How do visas work in Colombia. Do they allow the perpetual tourist thing.


Here in CR they usually give you 90 days, then you have to leave and re enter for another 90 days. But unless they notice this many continue to reside here perpetually.


Same in Colombia?


Also I am a massage and spa guy.


are massage techs available most anywhere outside of Med and Bog?

[rscott4]

Hi QR,
Thanks for sharing, great descriptive imagery and color in your report! The important part that I got underneath out of your travels in Colombia is knowing Spanish, being able to communicate well is everything I think. I've been kicking around a trip as soon as September but think I will wait another year, continue to relearn and expand what I actually forgot from college Spanish. I'm using a software program at the moment that goes into intermediate Spanish and a bit beyond. It is helping.
The Senoritas will have to wait. Patience and planning I guess. What is another year, heck I'll only be 52 yrs young.
I may just buy a nice well seasoned modest live-aboard sailboat, early retire there on the coast, use it as a base- camp and explore.
Scott

[QRCAP2012]

Scott, having the Spanish is not necessary to have a good time. I speak it because I like it and I'm probably 80% fluent and getting better. But I traveled in a lot of other countries in Asia and Eurpe with just rudimentary knowledge of their language and did just fine. Portugal for example was my first adventure into portuguese and I did okay. Having a laptop with a USB Modem and access to google translator helps a lot.
I'm a decade older than you and I've been traveling since I was 17 and I never get tired of it. In my opinion you should start traveling now instead of waiting for Someday. Another country you might want to check out is Ecuador. I'm going there next, then to Peru. I'm satisfied with Colombia, but it isn't easy to retire here and you can't bring anything with you. I want my car and household goods but that's improbable or even impossible here. Plus, the Colombian exchange rate sucks. It's about 20% below normal, so I'd be giving up 1/5th of my retirement income to live here.