... in response to Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by Pete E on Dec 31, 2004

Hey Pete, I was in BAQ one time with a date and a taxi tried to rip me off with the fare – I paid him half and somewhere along the way he picked up an English expression: the MF word which he yelled at my date and me profusely as we exited his taxi at the mall. I turned around and told him to call the police which shut him up.  I used to hang out with a gringo in Cali that used to say there was a "special place in hell for taxi drivers and whores."  Frankly, i don't know about the latter, but most taxi drivers are bandits. Happy new year!

... in response to Re: Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by Ken2 on Jan 1, 2005

60,000 COP for a taxi ride to El Dorado?
Uh huh, should run about 15,000.

I'd have refused to pay.

... in response to Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by Pete E on Dec 31, 2004

Only 2 confrontations I ever had in Colombia were both with crooked taxistas.  My wife's dad owns a couple of taxis, and even he'll tell you there are some really crooked ones out there.  Just like in any other profession.  

Which agency by the way?  -TNC

... in response to Re: Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by doombug on Dec 31, 2004

[This message has been edited by Traveller]

Now I have been accused of being kind of stand-offish with Grnigos when I lived in Cali. (I know Pete's story isn't about Gringos.)
But, I will only get taken so many times before I start getting wary about people I don't know. And, they don't have to exclusively from the States. Some people are just a**holes. A German guy in particular......
Anyway, some examples. I met a guy at BB and were talking and we were tossing back quite a few drinks. He was getting ready to go and I said, out of the spirit of drunkness, I'll pay the bill. 50,000 or so. The guy said thanks and that he would pick up the tab the next night. Yeah well, he went home the next morning.
One time a group of guys, including myself, went to Galileo from BB. One of the guys offered to pay for the taxis. Hey cool, that's awful nice of you. The tab for the 3 taxis was something like 30,000 pesos. The guy practically has his head explode when the guys were asking for a total of 32,000. This guy was yelling and waving his arms, in English, that the taxi drivers were trying to rip him off. Seriously, I thought the guy was going to have a stroke. Then the guy started yelling, "Call the police!" WTF! I told the guy that the price was about right. The guy, on his SECOND trip to Colombia, told me that he could get these guys down to 28,000. WTF! He was doing this stuff to get a cheaper fare? The guy was pitching a fit over a $1.40. That's about 46 cents per cab. I said screw it, I paid the drivers myself, 32,000 pesos. The guy acted like such an ass I had no doubt someone WAS going to call the cops. I asked my friend who is a bouncer at Galileo not admit that guy because he had had waaaayyyy too much coke. The party went in and I don't know if my buddy didn't admit him or what, but we didn't see the guy anymore. Might seem kind of mean, but if that guy was willing to draw that much attention to himself over $1.40, I didn't want to see what he would do at the end of the night when we got the bill from Galileo.
This one didn't happen to me personally, but I know the guy who tried to help the other guy out. A guy comes down to Cali and stays at LE. This guy comes down from L.A. with a total of $182 in his pocket for 2 weeks in Cali. After, 3 days, Margreth tells the guy he has to pay for his room. The guy assures Margreth that his uncle is wiring some money to him. She let's him slide another couple of days. On the fifth day she tells him, you either have to pay or go. Well of course he didn't have the money. I think Margreth even gave him taxi fare to the Aristi. He checks in there and after a couple of days the Aristi asks him to pay, he assures them that his uncle is wiring money to him. The Aristi was not as accomodating. They locked him out of his room until he paid. So, having nowhere else to go, he goes back to LE. Margreth lets him hang out but not spend the night there. The guy tells my friend his whole sob story. Tom feels sorry for the guy and gives him 50,000 pesos to maybe get a place to stay and something to eat. The next day at LE, the guy is there again and Tom is there too. The guy tells Tom about a hooker he got the night beore. WTF! And THEN has the gaul to ask Tom for some more money. Loser! This story ends when a wheelchair bound customer is asked to leave LE. He ended up helping the loser out. That's an interesting story too.
Some of you might have heard about the Gringo I almost killed one night. Anybody can ask Andres, he'll tell you about it. LOL! BUT, just because you are paying for the drinks does NOT mean you can feel up my girlfriend. Especially, not when I'm sittng 2 feet away. He knew he f**cked up because he just took off. No goodbye, C-YA, nothing. Bumped into me leaving. That's when my girlfriend told me what he did. I caught that guy outside of BB and had him by the throat when the cops came over. They saw it was 2 Gringos and turned and walked away. Hilarious! That night that guy tapped the dormant 20 year old evil Grunt Marine. Ok, he was fine after everything was said and done (A few bruises, nothing more), but just because you are paying for the drinks does not give you certain liberties.
So, there are a FEW examples of what I have witnessed Gringos do in Cali. So, take no offense if I am not exactly warm and fuzzy when meeting you. Your actions will speak much louder than what you can say and bulls**t me with. It's just I have been and seen people burned by these types of Gringos over the years and when I meet you for the first time, I don't know which kind of Gringo you might be.
Don't even get me started on the guys who sought me out because I own LatinModelos. LOL!
I hope this might give you some insight one what some the guys who live in Cali might have to go through now and again. Like I said before, don't take offense if we aren't warm and fuzzy the first time you meet some of us. Me, anyway.

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by OkieMan on Dec 31, 2004

Hi,
Yeah, 4 for the Corps. and 7 in the Army.
started as Security Forces Pacific. They liked me so much I got sent to Security Force (Operations). Don't even know if that exists anymore. Then went to 1st Battalion 5th Marines, Weapons Company (Camp San Mateo, Camp Pendeleton). Went to the first Gulf War with them.  We were sent from Panama, back to camp Penedelton for 24 hours, to "The Stumps" for 24 hours,  then on to Saudi Arabia for 7 months. We got there in Aug.(I think Daharan)and when the great Heat Tab came up it was 135 degrees that first day. So, I feel for those guys. Especially, the Devil Puppies ( Antonia and I can call them that) in Fallujah. If you get a chance Okie read "Generation Kill" if you want to know how Marines over there talk and think. That book will bring you as close to what your son is experiencing than anything else I read. It'll also show just how nuts some Marines are. LOL! It's about the First Marine Recon Battalion going up to Nassariya. Excellent, excellent book.
Knuckleheads abound anywhere you go. There are a number of Gringos I have met that are that way. It amazes you how they got as far as they did. Cheap, A**holes, Spazzes, Dickheads, you name it guys like me or Pete, or Heat, or Thunder, or Pacino, or any of the guys who travel to Colombia alot or lived in Colombia have met them all. I mean, I met a guy once who was scared to death (No pun intended cause he did die in Cali) to talk to any women. What the Hell did you come to Cali then? UGH! The guy even shared my name. Go figure.
There are a very small group of guys I will sit down and have beers with and actually talk to. And, that's kind of strange cause I'll talk your damn ear off.

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Greedy  f--king  bastard, posted by Traveller on Dec 31, 2004

Hey, I tried to edit Antonio's name from Antonia to Antonio and all of sudden the board says that I have used language that is disallowed by the board. So, it wouldn't let me do the edit.
Didn't mean to slight you there Antonio. Something screwy happend when I tried to edit it.

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Greedy  f--king ..., posted by thundernco on Dec 31, 2004

I went to Table Mountain last night. Saw Taylor Dane and Joan Jett. I tell you what, those women age well. Taylor was great and Joan rocked! Got a good dose of two New york acts. Great New Years!