Barranquilla in June, part II

[jumgimbo]

Okay, just when I thought I had this all figured out, I discover there are at least FOUR agencies with tours in BAQ the week starting June 19, 2003.  At present we've got South American Ladies, TLC, I Love Latins, and Latin Dream Tours.  Anybody aware of any others?  It seems to me that having so many tour operators in town the same week will create innumerable problems with the selection of ladies, availability and prices of hotel rooms, the same thing for local tours, interpreters, taxis, party buses, and guides.  

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this one.  While I would prefer to go with a group given the tours offer up a wider selection of available women in a shorter amount of time, I don't want to be there when the best ones have to decide between a minimum of four different parties each day.  I believe that having a feel of exclusivity is important, particularly since these tour operators routinely boast of having "hundreds" of women at their parties each night.  

Having never been to Colombia, I don't want to further reduce my chances at finding a good connection by upping the competition the first time I go, so I'll probably be changing my trip plans to July or some other time when the feeding frenzy dies down a bit.  Whew!

[Pete E]

... in response to Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 11, 2003

I have no experience with Barranquilla but I think you are better off avoiding tours and even avoiding dates tours will be happening.This is providing that there are agencies with lots of girls on their books that you can meet.I think this is definetly the best way to meet them.Pick girls who's bios are compatible with what you are seeking and interview alot of them.
Reasons I think tours are not so hot:
1.You pay alot of money for very little in time and service.Huge money actually,like $1000 for a couple of parties.If you are serious about this endevour you will meet someone and you will need that money for more trips down to follow up.
2.There are too many girls to deal with at once and you will probably wind up with the most aggressive ones who are the worst bets.
3.Many girls just come for the free food and drinks.
4.The girls that are the best bets,perhaps somewhat shy,will either not be there or you will be unlikely to meet them.
5.You are going from looks only without any idea about other issues of compatability untill you spend time with them to perhaps find out no compatability.
6.You have maximum competetion,its the time more other guys will be there.

Reasons I like choosing girls to meet from a bio at an agency:
1.You can pick girls compatable with what you are looking for.
2.They are more serious than tour party girls.
3.You have their undivided attention in an interview.
4.You can meet the more shy good girl types.
5.The chance of getting your time manipulated by a user girl is less.
6.You don't have to go when there is a tour,avoid those dates.
7.It will cost you a bundle less.
8.It is really quite stress and presure free.
I think a good agency is the best bet for a gringo who has limited time and money to spend and perhaps does not speak spanish.
Tours are a big revenue source for operators.don't get hustled in to one.I did have one friend who went despite this advice I gave him.He said he just wanted to experience it.Fair enough,if you have the time and money,just as long as you don't get descouraged and give up or waste your only trip.This guy had no luck with it,wound up spending a couple dates with a real user girl.
Just my $.02.

Pete

[jumgimbo]

... in response to Avoid the tours and tour dates, posted by Pete E on Jan 12, 2003

I agree with your concerns and appreciate your comments very much.  What I intend to do, and I hope I'm making the right choice, is to go with Latindreamtours because they offer features of both the regular party tour and the agency-exclusive experience.  For instance, their week tour cost, inclusive of lodging, is only $695.00.  This gives you access to all the girls in their catalog, unlimited one-on-one introductions, translation services, the parties, a couple of tours, interpreters, a nice room in a luxury hotel or house.  Sounds like a great deal to me and probably a good way to try both approaches at the same time.   Their individual tours also cost the same, so nothing to lose by trying it with a few other guys there to pal around with.

I figure I'll show up a few days early, check out all the ladies in the catalogs I may like, arrange some introductions, and see which of the ones I pick show up at the parties.  I'm also considering working with the agency to get my own personal guide and interpreter to show me around, help me screen the girls, and perhaps be a bit more of my representative than the agency interpreters might be.  I need an advocate, and a critical one at that, particularly since I speak almost no Spanish.  

I'm definitely not going in June, when all those agencies seem to be competing with one another for business.  Anybody know if there is some sort of special holiday or event in Barranquilla starting around June 19th that might justify all the attention?  

You'll probably find me down there at the end of July, if all goes well.  My biggest problem is a paralyzing fear of flying that makes me wish for an express bus all the way to Colombia.  I think John Madden has it right, I just don't have his bucks or the Supercruiser motorhome.  Ha!

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Avoid the tours and tour dates, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 13, 2003

Sounds like you have a good plan.Good luck.
You can't take a Madden cruiser to Barranquilla but you could take a boat to Cartegena and a bus to Barranqilla from there.I immagine the boat would be pretty slow,so probably not a practical plan.
I love to fly and have even thought next to dying in my sleep a plane crash could be a pretty quick way to check out when my time has come.If I am standing on balcony of a high building I can have a fear of height but not when I am in a plane.As a kid I wanted to be a pilot but gave up on it as impractical some where along the way.I remember as a 12 year old kid flying in a 1929 Travelaire 8 passenger monoplane in the mountains of Idaho in a storm,with the plane hitting huge downdrafts.We were sitting on our suitcases,no seat belts.We would lift right off our seats when we hit the downdrafts.I thought it was great fun,while thinking surely the pilot knows what he is doing as is not going to get us killed.The seats had been taken out to fly food in to a snowbound town I used to visit for Christmas.So cold weather guys,I have paid my dues.
I saw Madden describing his fear one time.Its not of flying but Clostrephobia.He got on a plane in Miami and when they closed the door he felt trapped that he could not get out and had a panic attack all the way to San Francisco.He told himself he would never get on a plane again,which he has not.Fortunately he is valuable enough as an announcer for them to pay his huge land travel expenses.Now they pull the horse trailer with pictures of the guys he thinks played the best each Monday night.It kind of adds to his uniqueness as a character.Real good and very down to earth (no pun intended)guy.
I am a little clostrephobic myself and I thought I hope that story doesn't cause me a problem.I have not flown since I heard him tell it.

Pete

[jumgimbo]

... in response to Fear of flying, posted by Pete E on Jan 14, 2003

Very cool!  I've never heard the Madden story, I've just heard about the legend surrounding his fear of flying.  Funny thing is, I have a minor Madden connection from a few years ago.  When he's not on the road he lives up in Pleasanton, CA, about 50 miles northeast from me.  Back in 1998 I dated a woman whose family lives in the same luxury subdivision as John; she said she'd met him on a few occasions and he is a very nice man.  

If I can find a way to avoid flying to Colombia, I don't mind sitting on a boat for a week each way.  My terror at the thought of flying isn't claustrophobia so much as it's a fear of the unknown, sudden and uncontrollable death, the uncertainty that accompanies the experience.  I've flown all over the U.S., to Europe several times, and down to Mexico on many occasions, but back in 1979 I realized flying is potentially dangerous.  Like you, as a kid I thought the bumps and jolts were kinda cool, then that DC-10 went down in Chicago and I started freaking out every time I flew after that.  So, for almost 23 years I've been flying out of necessity and suffering panic attacks and anxiety before, during, and after every flight.  I'm not a neurotic weirdo, I just have a severe phobia I can't cause to subside.

I don't want to belabor this topic, though this might prove interesting or informative for somebody who deals with the same issues.  I've tried Valium, booze, Valium AND booze, sleeping pills, staying up 48 hours before long flights, anything I could to lower the stress and allow me to travel.  None of it works.  Getting drugged up has helped mellow me out a bit but never made me feel perfectly happy to be in a plane.  I can't sleep no matter how much I drink or pill...well, maybe I've passed out once or twice while in the air and those were the most blissful moments of my traveling life.  Only time the medicating backfired was on a flight from Dallas to San Jose, when I stood up and literally passed out, slamming onto my face in another guy's lap.  Didn't know what hit me, woke up to find a flight attendant hovering over me and didn't know why.  Geez, what an embarrassment.

I've also paid my dues in the cold weather, my friend.  I lived in Southeast Idaho off and on for about 11 years (Emmett, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot) and I know all about freezing your butt off.  As a native Californian, I'm quite happy to remain OUT of the snow belt during winter.  I do like the tropics very much, though.  Found Miami in January to be marvelous, found Cancun in August to be oppressively hot and humid, but still love that tropical warmth.  

Peace to you all.

[bogota vet]

... in response to Avoid the tours and tour dates, posted by Pete E on Jan 12, 2003


Many girls go to the tours in BQ and DO NOT join agency.

You could have a dead trip, if skip the tour week.

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Avoid the tours and tour dates, posted by bogota vet on Jan 13, 2003

That might be a good reason for going on a tour.In Cali there are huge numbers of girls at the agencies and I would bet most of the tour party girls belong to one.But you might get some girls who never joined an agency.A friend of mine met a girl in Bogota at a breakfast arranged by the agency I belive because there was a tour.Its the only time she ever went to an event like this.
As In said I have no specific knowlegde regarding Barranquilla.All my experience is with Cali.

Pete

[Tai]

... in response to Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 11, 2003

Yes, it'd be interesting to watch four introduction services/agencies in heated competition for a limited market...during the same week.

Note:

The owner of I Love Latins is a previous employee of TLC, so there is bad blood between those two organizations. I would be surprised if the "coincidence" of their tours being the same week isn't an attempt by TLC to undercut the I Love Latins tour. -Based on the fact that TLC has typically given only one summer tour in Colombia...their famous Cali tour.  

I'm sure it stings the TLC folks that I Love Latins was built using the TLC operational model.

There are only two "premium" hotels in Barranquilla, and I'd venture a guess I Love Latins "host"(hotel) would not allow both companies in the same place, so the other premium spot will likely be tied up by TLC.

As for Latin Dream Tours....I don't know much about them, but from the look of photos of the building, it would be in the north area(near the two premium hotels). I'm wondering though if this place is owned by the same owner/owners that run Sexy Safari.

South American Ladies, don't know anything about them, though from what the website says...sounds like the familiar story: a guy met a woman in Barranquilla and caught the bug that many men before him have..."Hey this would be a good idea, to put on tours for guys that want to meet ladies like this." The hotel referenced on the website(Hotel atlantic blue), is one that I am not familiar with. -Unless it is a VERY new hotel, or just unlisted, then I'd guess that the actual name of the hotel is something else because there is no listing of it in Barranquilla.

Final thought....although each of these agencies claim to have X hundred ladies, many of the ladies are also being claimed by the other agencies.
-The "beauty of the week" on one website, is shown on another website as one of the examples of successful gringo/latina marriages.

The moral of the story...the tour biz is very competitive in Barranquilla as you might have guessed. Who knows, it may soon become "Cali jr."

If you are shelling out big dollars for one of the tours in June, choose carefully, because in a city like Barranquilla, all bets are off as to how it will all pan out.

-And don't believe the hype...there WILL be sharks in the water...so think with the big head, and keep you eyes peeled for red flags.

just .02

Tai

[Cali vet]

... in response to Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 11, 2003

I don't know about the overlapping tours but here are three hotel options that could help keep your costs down. Two are uptown and walking distance from the luxurious Hotel Prado:

Hotel Mezzaluna (air)
Cra. 53 con Calle 59
T:3684092
about $20.00US

For an efficiency in an upscale building:

Edificio Carson (air)
(one block from Prado)
Apartment was $70.000 last year
Call Carlos Rodriguez at 3686923 cel: 7213103

The Hotel Monticarlo over on C45 (La Murillo) #33-140, T:3413126 is $12.000 (about $4.36US) with private bath, no air but nice strong breeze (rooms on north side). This is fine if you walk out of the hotel and hop in a cab but not a place for a gringo to go walking around alone at night. Daytime is OK though.

Cali-vet

[Tai]

... in response to Re: Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by Cali vet on Jan 11, 2003

Hey Cali-vet,

Don't forget my personal favorite, the Hotel Sorrento:

Calle 72 con cra 48...only a few short blocks from the prado. The daily rates are good, but the staff there (although quite friendly) speaks little english. For folks that speak spanish...it's a steal. $28-35/night.

Secure building. Accomodations are comfortable(Spotless rooms, AC, hot showers, filtered water, good food) and the service is excellent.

Tai

No offense CV... but I definitely wouldn't advise any first-timers or newbies to stay down near La Murillo.
-Just my opinion.

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by Tai on Jan 11, 2003

Hey Tai,

I tried to stay at the Sorento about six months ago but their prices had skyrocketed while the Mezzaluna actually dropped in price.

No offence taken. I understand your concern about La Murillo and I did add a proviso. However as the newest of newbies on my very first trip to Colombia I started out at Hotel Canadiense on 45 then moved next day two blocks down to the Monticarlo and stayed there for another couple of weeks. The lady I came to visit wouldn't have considered proposing a hotel that cost more than $15US. She didn't think of me as a rich American. Maybe it was dumb luck but I didn't know any different and fortunately never had a dicy moment untill we went to Cartagena.

[Tai]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Barranquilla in June, part I..., posted by Cali vet on Jan 11, 2003

Whoah, that's news about the Sorrento...I guess they must have decided to pass on the cost of renovating the hotel, to the customers.

The other good thing about the Sorrento was that they have hotels in Cartagena and Santa Marta, so if you stayed at one of them, then it automatically entitled you to a "clients discount" if you stayed at one of the other ones.

I stayed in a suite in the Sorrento in Santa Marta(Rodadero) for a weekend(two nights); cost $40, including the taxes.

Oh well...the end of an era I guess.  lol

Tai

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Barranquilla in June, pa..., posted by Tai on Jan 11, 2003

I saw that Sorento at Rodadero, looked nice, that's a darn good price for a hotel at a beach resort!
Cali-vet

[bogota vet]

... in response to Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 11, 2003

Actually you have a good set-up.

Just go around to all of them , it only takes about 30 minutes to scan the crowd.  The hop the cab and go to the next if the party is dead.

It may cost more money then planned, but so what.

By July it will be all pick though.

[Calipro]

... in response to Barranquilla in June, part II, posted by jumgimbo on Jan 11, 2003


 If I were you I would go down when they are having all the tours at once. If you don't speak spanish, go down early and get yourself a good guide preferably a women that can interact easly with other women. I wouldn't depend on the ones at the tour parties. You need some one that is going to make you sound good and not just give direct traslations.

I would try to find out were all the tours are first and then decide which one I wanted to join and which ones I wanted to cherry pick.