I think I've finally learned my lesson(s).
I've tried correspondence (via TLC & Amigos.com) & agencies. (Not interested in tours.) I've been to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Honduras & once to the Philippines. I'm dumb enough to have been unsuccessful at this process for years, but smart enough to know what works best, for me at least.
The best place to find a wife is an agency in Cali.
As Pete E. so wisely remarked, it's a numbers game, and Cali has the highest concentration of attractive, available ladies. (See the archives for Pete's excellent discussion of the pros/cons of "Agency Girls." I took a copy w/me on this trip, & his advice proved very useful.)
But it took me a while to learn this. I started my recent post-Christmas trip in Monteria, Colombia of all places, meeting a 23-y.o. recent college grad I'd met via Amigos.com. These long-distance blind dates have low odds of success, because there's a good chance one of you will not feel chemistry toward the other. In this case, the girl was hot-looking, but cool towards me. I gave it 4 days, just to make sure. D'oh!!
Monteria, BTW, is not a happenin' place, unless you like cow towns. Needless to say, I declined her invitation to spend Dec. 31st w/her relatives in rebel-infested southern Bolivar dept.
Plan B was back to Bogota, for New Year's w/C., a p/t college student I'd already met in Bqlla. (via AFA). C. is a young 24, cute, sweet, liked me a lot. We'd spent a couple of days together in August, & got along pretty well. But this time around, things felt different to me. Getting to know her better, I felt her to be emotionally fragile, a bit childish or lost. No huge red flags, really. Just didn't relate to her in an adult way, & don't want to be anyone's daddy. I hated hurting C's feelings. But after another 4 days, it was time to implement... Plan C.
(to be continued)
