... in response to Re: Re: Re: Ukraine on hold 4 now; going..., posted by Frank O on Jul 11, 2005I agree that logistics for a trip east are greater. But, is that really the main consideration?
I mean, you can meet women in Houston with no travel at all! Is how far you travel really the prime motivation here?
Anyway, I personally discarded Colombia for two reasons:
Instability: I remember reading a trip report from a guy who went to Colombia and he talked about how he heard machine guns firing -- but it was in the distance so it didn't bother him.
Don't know about you, but if I'm hearing UZIs going off, its not far enough in the distance for me!
Whole cities are sometimes laid to seige down there. Gringos get kidnapped and held for ransom... no thanks. There may be wonderful women there. But its not worth the risk, IMHO. Maybe if I were single, I would have taken a chance... but I'm a father. I couldn't justify possibly getting kidnapped or worse because I was looking for a wife...
Future Considerations: Frank, you're in Texas, like me. If you marry a woman from Colombia, I hope you're planning on learning fluent Spanish. She'll have no real incentive to learn English once she gets here.
My concern is that a Spanish-speaking wife would quickly become part of the spanish speaking sub-culture here. It's a deceptive crutch. On one hand it makes it look like she has very little transitioning to do... but the reality is that someone who only speaks Spanish will actually be at a huge disadvantage. It's actually far worse for people... but they don't see it.
Of course, you can do what you wish. I am just saying that I ruled out Colombia for those reasons...