Bogota Trip report, Part 5

[JR n Atl]

NOTE: Let me first apologize for the delay in posting these reports. I’ve been pretty busy with other things the last couple of weeks and haven’t had much spare time to write these reports. I’ll try to finish telling you about my trip within the next week. In the interest of time, though, I’ll make the reports briefer than before. I’ll do my best to give you most of the details without getting bogged down in minutia. If something is not clear or you have a question, by all means ask and I’m happy to give more detail.

Day Five, Wednesday March 5th

P. and I had agreed to meet at noon today. As I mentioned, my plan was to call her that morning and explain to her my feelings thinking that she would likely decide not to meet that day. That would clear out my schedule and I could see L.T. again that afternoon. As it turned out, I never got the chance to make the call. I was up until very late the night before because of my illness and I slept pretty late that morning. Errands, emails, and a meeting with Angela and William and before I knew it, it was time to meet P. at the hotel. Nothing I could do about it now, so I decided the best course of action would be to enjoy things and have the conversation with her at some point that day. I also resigned myself to the fact that L.T. and I probably weren’t going to have an opportunity to meet again during this trip. P. and I had made plans to go to El Centro, el Museo del Oro, la Casa de la Moneda among other things. We first hopped a cab and got off somewhere close to el Museo del Oro. We walked around a bit, did some window shopping and looked for a restaurant to have lunch. We found one, but I don’t remember the name or where exactly it was located. It was like a diner and the food was OK. During the meal, the subject of Cartagena came up and I told her that I’d be going there on Friday. Silence. I figured this was it, but she handled it in a very mature manner. Of course, she knew good and well I wasn’t flying up there just to see the city. It had to involve another lady. (I did want to see Cartagena pretty badly but I had no plans to go during this trip until one of the ladies I’d been corresponding with took a job there the week before I was to arrive in Colombia. She’s a veterinarian, smart as a whip, comes from and upper class family in Bogotá, speaks English well and is pretty to boot. Or at least I think so. So now I had a good reason.) Anyway, things were tense for a few minutes, I could tell she was disappointed but she surprised me and handled this very well. P. definitely has good character. We hit the museum next. Guys, el Museo del Oro is a must see while in Bogotá. Simply amazing. I bought a couple of souvenirs and a gift for P. Next to the museum is an outdoor flea market/crafts fair that is absolutely wonderful. We grabbed a café and then walked down to la Casa de la Moneda. Another must see, lots of Botero but also works of the masters (Renoir and Miro among others). When we finished there it was getting dark (BTW, it’s not a good plan to be in that area after dark) so we grabbed a taxi and headed back north. We were hungry, so P. decided to show me the Hacienda Santa Barbara shopping center and find a restaurant in that area. We walked the mall a bit, stopped in a music shop where I bought the CD’s I’d heard at the dance club. Carlos Vive and Bacilo. I also bought P. a copy of Juanes’ latest. We left to find a restaurant and finally settled in at a place called Infatti. Very nice place and inexpensive, too. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is another area you have to visit while in Bogotá. Behind the shopping center and adjacent to Infatti is park and an old church/cathedral. At night, when the stars are out, DANG!!! Talk about romantic. Anyway, P. and I went out to the park after dinner and sat talking for a while, then we called it a night. She knew I’d be busy the next day but I told her I’d call her in the AM before I left the hotel the following morning. Another great day in Colombia, but I went to bed that night with mixed feelings because of P. She’d shown a lot of character today but I still had serious reservations about compatibility. I hated it because my sense was that she had already invested herself emotionally.

Day Six, Thursday March 6th

Not long after I awoke, T.I. called and we arranged a time for her to meet me at the hotel. I did manage to call P. that morning before T.I. showed up and told her that I needed some time to think (No lie, I did need some time. I’d spent way more time with P. than any of the other ladies and was a little confused after Wednesday’s outing. I needed some time away from P. to sort things out a bit. I told her I’d try to call from Cartagena but if that didn’t work out, I’d touch base with her on Monday when I returned to Bogotá. She seemed OK with that.) T.I. had planned a lot of stuff for us today and in reality I had been looking forward to this since our dinner three days earlier. She showed up lookin’ like home cookin’ and we busted out towards El Centro then headed up into the mountains to a place called Tramonti, another excellent restaurant with a killer view of the city. After eating we took off to Chia, a city just outside of Bogotá. The countryside is beautiful and she wanted to show me a little of it. All the while we are having a great time. As I said before she’s very energetic and quite a talker. She asked way more questions of me than any of the other ladies. We stopped a couple of times to take some photos, she showed me some funky restaurant in Chia that is supposed to be very popular. Andres' Carne de Res is the name I think. Too bad, it’s only open on weekends and I’d be gone. Maybe next time. While in Chia we stopped to visit a friend of hers, then went to the mall for a bit. Chia is a nice place with much of the character of the typical American suburb. Many who work in Bogotá live there, including William from Odee. About dark we drove back to Bogotá to a restaurant where we had reservations, the Four Seasons close to the World Trade Center. Another great place, very classy. At around 10P we decided to call it a night. She had to get up early for an appointment for her business and I had to pack and get to the airport by 11A to catch a plane to Cartagena. I had a great time and wanted to spend some more time with her, so I decided I’d look into extending my stay for an additional day or so after I returned from Cartagena. We agreed that if I could work it out, we’d spend at least another day hanging out the following week. I really liked T.I., we connected on many levels and had a lot in common. I did have some reservations, though, but really wanted to spend some more time together to see how things played out. Another great day in Bogotá. Why did I wait so long to come here?

Coming up: CARTAGENA!!!!

JR

[Pete E]

... in response to Bogota Trip report, Part 5, posted by JR n Atl on Mar 31, 2003

JR,
Just a comment and I know this is well after the fact,but it sounds like you spent alot of time with women you were not really interested in,like this P lady,when it sounds like you would rather have followed up with the LT lady.It almost sounds like you are being too polite or doing some sort of duty thing.I suggest to guys not wasting time on women they  have little interest in,it keeps them from finding the woman they you could be interested in.Sometimes I think guys do it out of lack of anything else to do,but you have other possibilties here.

Pete

[JR n Atl]

... in response to Re: Bogota Trip report, Part 5, posted by Pete E on Apr 1, 2003

Not duty, just bad time management. In retrospect I should never have agreed to spend a whole day with P. so early in the week. We'd agreed on Monday, I think, to spend the day together on Wednesday. At that time I still hadn't met or talked on the phone to LT or OL. Given the doubts I had, I should have left my options open for Wednesday. My problem was due in large part to the fact that I'd already agreed to meet 7 ladies in Bogotá before I found out that one of them would be in Cartagena instead. What started out as an 9-day stint in Bogotá turned into only 5. However, I still had meetings with 6 of the 7 ladies during that time. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have cancelled at least two of those meetings. The lesson for those who are thinking of doing this is that your time is so valuable while you are there so manage it well. Always be polite, but guard your time. It goes faster than you can imagine.

JR

[lswote]

... in response to Re: Re: Bogota Trip report, Part 5, posted by JR n Atl on Apr 1, 2003

I have to comment that even though you were very organized and managed to meet 6 of the 7 ladies you had written to, it really doesn't compare to a tour.  The week I met my wife, I saw several hundred women, met 100 of them, went on a date with 25 of them, and had repeat dates with 3.  And this was in only 5 days.  My costs for 5 days were probably comparable to your costs for 9 if you include your flight to Cartagena.

I admire your organizational skills and your boldness to venture into this alone, but your return was pretty low for all your trouble. You really might want to consider a tour next time so you can maximize your chances.  In my case, I hadn't even written any of the ladies at the agency before the tour and yet my end result was I started relationships with 2 women I had great compatibility and chemistry with and that led to me marrying one of them.

[JR n Atl]

... in response to Consider an agency next time, posted by lswote on Apr 2, 2003

I chose not to do the tour thing but I was signed up with an agency, Odee. I considered the tour route, but as I stated earlier, they just aren't my cup of tea. I have to say I am impressed at the way some of you guys can do the tours, but sorting through 100 women in one week is just more than I can deal with. Also, I had email exchanges with many more women than I've mentioned here and eliminated most, basically cherry picking to arrive at the ones I'd eventually meet while there. William and Angela at Odee were helping me with logistics. Having said all that, I think that for many (maybe even most) guys your approach is the correct one.  As I see it, the main thing we guys need to have is crystal clarity about who we are and what we are looking for. The method used is secondary and really depends on the person, his ability and level of comfort with the process. For example, if you speak no Spanish, forget about doing things the way I did and hit the tours.

One more thing. Don't assume my return was low. I haven't revealed the ending yet ;-)!

JR