This is my trip #7 to Colombia and #4 to Cali. Arrived on a plane
half empty, no gringos. First I went to see the national beauty
contest in Cartagena. And beauty contest it was. (I posted a link
with pix) Cartagena is hot year around average around 90-95
Fahrenheit. Beautiful city full of beautiful women. Safe, touristy,
affordable. If you go there try to stay at a place close to the water,
so there is a seabreeze. Mornings are bearable, if you have to do
something try to do it before 10. Between 10 and 2 it is very hot,
luckily after 2 a nice wind comes from the sea. Beauty contest is
a big thing in Colombia. My personal favorite is Srta. Valle who
happened to be the winner also. Midweek during the beauty
contest CTG has a carneval Rio style. Masses of people
dancing, drinking, singing and having fun all possible ways.
Women in CTG: very informal, approachable and very pretty. They
are not so gringo-savy as calenas. A friend of mine introduced
me to his wife's girlfriend. Intelligent, elegant, good manners, but
neither of us wanted to go beyond one dinner engagement. Next
day I got acquinted with a young beautiful woman by chance. She
was sweet, passionate but not wife material. We danced away
two hot nights and I left for Cali.
In Cali I went the agency routine because of lack of time. This
time I tried LB. LB has been around for a long time has a lot of
experience and LA takes care of business. She calls, schedules
has a lot of info about the culture and the city and the girls. I
arrived on Friday afternoon, looked at the books, she made
some calls, scheduled 6-7 citas for Sat, maybe 4-5 for Sun, 2-3
for Mo. Hear this: NONE of the women showed up on time. Of
course there is a different perception of time in Co., but if you on
a time crunch it can be somewhat challenging to juggle the
meetings. Generally the girls do not like it if you have a lot of
appointments.Imagine when they are late they see with whom
you are talking and you can bet these girls compare notes. Who
knows ..... maybe this is the reason why they are always late.
Overall I talked maybe with 15 or so women age between 29
and 40. All were kind and respectful, some of them more formal
than others. About 80 % had college education, maybe 50 % had
a job, 90% had a friend or relative living in the US, some of them
had cars others came with taxi. All of them had numerous
meetings before, none of them looked very sure about gringos.
And gringos they were. None of the gringos I met dressed
decently. There was one guy maybe 45 or so, he was especially
embarassing. Lotsa jewelry, shorts tennis shoes and he
stinked. He ran in demanded to see the books before he paid
anything. Bad remarks about the girls in the books. The agency
owner as a true professional went along the program, only
looked at the ceiling a couple times. Out of the 15 women I had
interest in three or so. Two were not interested, the one I saw a
couple times more has a good job, nice car, stable family
situation. Does not really have an interest leaving Cali. One of
the three I went out with lost interest after a nice expensive
dinner and a night out on town. The one women I really liked did
not call me back after we had a communication issue about
gringo tiempo and colombiano tiempo. At this point I do not see
any chance for future development with any of the women I met. I
am not totally picky, but she has to be intelligent, attractive and
dedicated with room to grow upstairs.
As far as the agency I visited: LB has a lot of women in the
books, but the books are somewhat outdated. Most of the girls
have experience with gringos one way or the other and
thoroughly gringionized. All of the women I talked with have been
in the books for a while. And guys (unless you have the
experience and attitude of Calipro) forget that you can outsmart a
calena in the dating game. Overall I was somewhat
disappointed with the results visiting this agency. Yet it seemed
that the agency owner did everything possible to facilitate the
process. My suggestions? Do not date just one girl until you get
involved. The women see more gringos in the same time also.
Always believe in their actions and not so much in the words.
Gringo dating is a national pasttime in Cali. Be nice, considerate
and a gentleman. If they have interest in you they will find a way
to be with you despite communication, job, cost, family or other
issues. It is hard not to be blinded by beauty in Cali. Speak the
language and learn the culture. Do not throw your money around,
impresses only the bad ones. Go slow with the ones you like,
but do it eyes wide open. There is a different sense of reality int
Co., takes a little (or a lot) time to get used to. If you are lucky and
you find a gem fast, sooner or later you have to relate to the
colombian way of thinking otherwise it will not last.
Safety: Cartagena is very safe, Cali is fairly safe if you use some
simple precautions. Always use taxi at night (it is cheap), be
aware of streetcrime (one of the girls got robbed the night before
I met her). Locals more of less know what part of town is ok for
gringos. On the other hand you never know, see the bombing in
Zona Rosa or the suitcase with remains they found in the river in
Cali a couple days ago. The dangers in Cali sometimes obvious
sometimes hidden. Do not run around half drunk on Ave Sexta
after midnight.
So why all this trouble, money spent, uncertainity, red tape etc.? If
you went there you already know. If you did not you will know after
the first trip. BECAUSE OF THE WOMEN OF COLOMBIA OF
COURSE!
My CP 56 worth. ($0.02)
