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Dez's Digital Nomad Thread: Colombia (1 Viewer)

Was hoping to have a date tonight with a new girl, but she disappeared on me the last couple of days.  Vanessa wrote to me today saying she wanted to see me on Saturday, but I told her I was traveling this weekend and she said ok another day then.

I've never been quite sure about the Instagram model.  We met in Mexico City a couple of years ago when I was there for a long weekend.  At the time she told me that she has cousins there and goes back and forth a lot from Ecuador.  We went out twice that weekend and she actually spent a night in my apartment (passed out, fully clothed :rolleyes: ).  We barely kissed.  She seems to travel quite a bit, and I'm not exactly sure how.  The only thing I remember is that she's in marketing, and I think she must make something from Instagram.  My guess is that she has "friends" who invite her to come visit and they pay her way.  She has an ex who used to take her all over the place.  But I've never given her the idea that I'm going to wine and dine her, take her all over, spend a fortune on her, support her, etc. so I've never been sure of her motivation or level of interest with me.  Especially with so many followers and I'm sure she gets tons of offers and things like that.  My buddy thinks maybe she likes that I was a gentleman with her in CDMX, and most other guys are probably insufferable.

So when she asked me yesterday for a "small favor" I thought here we go, the other shoe is finally dropping.  She's got me now, I've already spent the money, committed to visit, and we're just 3 days out.  So expecting the worse I asked her what she needed.  It turns out that her plancha, her hair straightener, broke and she asked if I could pick one up here and bring it to her because they're cheaper in Colombia (that's where she bought the last one) :lol: .  She even sent me screenshots of the one she wanted with the prices here vs. the prices there.  So I said sure, no problem, and today we ended up in a lengthy discussion about planchas and what features were important.  The one she wanted is discontinued (she bought it 5 years ago) but she didn't want the newer version because it cost too much.  I asked her if she'd let me pick one out based on what she wanted and she said ok, so I went ahead and bought the newer model of hers without telling her.  It was $83 :shock: but I figured it's worth it at the very least as a thank you for being my guide for a few days.  Not sure if she was planning to pay me or not but I'll just consider it a gift.  Bringing a bottle of Bath & Body Works too, of course ;) .

Any predictions of how this is going to go?

 
Was supposed to meet 20-year old Yelis today.  I've been talking to her for a little over a year, but things didn't work out when I was here in April, and she blew me off when I was here in Sep/Oct.  We've been chatting off and on since I've been back and she said we would see each other this time.  She's pretty hot, and posts things all the time about crude messages she gets from guys.  She seems to get asked out, and go out, a lot.  She posted a video two days ago of a guy who she apparently was spying on in a restaurant somewhere saying that she had matched with him on Tinder but he wasn't who he represented himself to be so she wasn't meeting him.  I replied to her status asking if she was going to do that to me.  She laughed and said maybe.

So two days ago we set a date for today at 6pm.  We've been in fairly regular contact since then, made a plan to meet over at the mall, etc.  I confirmed with her again about 9am this morning, and she asked where we were going to meet.  I gave her a couple of ideas but didn't hear back.  About 4:45p I sent her a message asking how it was going.  Nothing.  At 6:30p I see her online and say hola and she immediately says hola back.  I asked if she was still coming and... crickets.  I've seen her online since then but no reply.  Man, I really just don't get it.  Why do they do that?  My guess is that she double-booked and I lost out.  I'm not too worked up about it, I've had enough success already this trip.  But it still never ceases to amaze me.  I guess it's always good to cross one off the list.  But I REALLY wanted to cross her off the other list :cry: .

In the middle of all this at 6:15p Luz starts writing to me saying that she had wanted to see me again today.  I tried to stretch it out a little so that I could be sure I'm not seeing Yelis.  I give her to 7p to respond and she doesn't, so then I tell Luz she should come over.  She hem haws around a while then asks what time could she stay until, or will she stay the night? :excited:   She knows I'm leaving in the morning, etc. we go back and forth, she says it will take her an hour to shower and do her hair and by that time blah blah blah, and better we just see each other when I get back from my trip. :sadbanana:

 
Yelis posted a video out and about last night in Puerto Colombia. Guess she got a better offer  :rolleyes: .

At the airport in Barranquilla. Leave for Bogotá in 30 min, 3-hour layover, then on to Quito! 

 
Dez89 said:
Where's @Major?  I'm gonna need a hug after this.  :sadbanana:
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Flight got in about 5pm on Friday.  Instagram Model was waiting for me at the airport, which is always very nice.  She suggested we could take the bus into town for $2 but it was about an hour long ride.  We checked out Uber which was $28, and so she ended up talking a yellow cab down to $20.  I wasn't really aware of it before talking with her about the trip, but Ecuador was dollarized in 2000.  She kept telling me that for that reason (or as a contributing factor) Ecuador is more expensive than Colombia.  I didn't really believe it but she turned out to be right.  I would have never believed it since I always think of Ecuador as being a little more backward than its neighbors Colombia and Peru.  So that was a little disappointing.

We got to the apartment about 30-40 min later, very nice place in a spacious modern building, with an incredibly comfortable bed/bedding and maybe the best shower I've come across in SA.  I organized a little and cleaned up, then we decided on Al Forno for dinner.  She kept jokingly calling it Al Porno, so I was thinking that was a good sign (silly me).  We had a nice dinner there and then she wanted to go get some drinks, so we caught a ride to another place and had a couple of glasses of sangria and continued the nice visit.  It was maybe around 11pm by that time and we were deciding what to do, so I suggested going back to the apartment and putting on a movie.  She agreed so we headed back. 

We put on some dumb movie about Egyptian gods and were both half falling asleep.  She was snuggled up under my arm but was not giving me any opening or body language.  I kept kissing the top of her head but she never gave me anything to work with.  Finally it was around 1am and we decided it was time for bed.  She said she didn't feel like going home :excited: so I told her I'd get one of my t-shirts for her.  She changed and crawled into the bed in my t-shirt and her panties and nothing else.  I suggested maybe I should sleep on the couch and she said what for, don't be silly.  So I got into bed next to her and started trying to make a move.  She took my arm and pulled it over onto her as she turned her back towards me and said close your eyes and go to sleep. :sadbanana:

I'm sure the average FBG doesn't have to deal with that kind of thing, but a situation like that has never led to a very good night's sleep for me.  I eventually fell asleep and actually did sleep pretty well in that bed.  The next morning I spooned up and rubbed her leg as much as I could and tried to kiss the back of her neck etc.  She eventually cut me off and said it's time to get up.  So I kind of came out and said what's the deal (I at least got a little kissing out of her in Mexico a couple years ago) and she said you're here for tourism.  I said yeah and to see you.  But at least I had it straight now how it was going to be. :rolleyes:

 
So Saturday we got out of bed and decided she was going to go home to change and that I'd pick her up there a little later to head to La Mitad del Mundo.  I got showered up, took care of a few things, and a little while later called an Uber to go pick her up.  We drove about 30 minutes or so outside of Quito.  I hadn't seen much of the city proper by this time, but I was thinking about @[icon]'s comments as we were driving through the outskirts.  I've been to a lot of cities in South America, but I've never seen anything quite so drab.  Almost everywhere I looked it was gray cement block (see first pics).  We arrived at the monument, and I'd have to say the site was pretty cool.  We walked all around, went into the monument, through the museum there, and to the top.  We walked the grounds and went into all the shops and the other small museums.  There was a lot of stuff on the original inhabitants of Ecuador, on the different regions, etc.  There was one museum on the history of cocoa cultivation that was very interesting, not something I'd thought about before but it made me want to do more research on the subject.

Apparently there's somewhat of a controversy of where the true equator line is.  It's actually not where the monument stands but there's an argument on where it is exactly.  One of the shop owners swore that it's in the street in front of his house, and he started his own museum in his house.  He showed us pictures of GPS readings there, etc.  So once we finished up at La Mitad del Mundo, we went to another place down the road called the Museo de Sitio Intiñan which also claims to be on the actual line.  Got a nice little tour there about the original inhabitants, their culture, etc. and of course about the equator and the related phenomenon.

After that we walked a short distance back into the nearby town to a chain restaurant that has a very American menu, which I always appreciate, as I'm not usually into tipica food.  Certainly better than the cuy further up the mountain (see second pics).  We decided we'd eat and rest a bit and then head to Pululahua Crater which was a short drive up the mountain.  We got there around 4pm and it was nothing but a thick fog bank (see pic).  We walked to the mirador (overlook) and it was nothing but thick fog.  We asked around to the workers, and they all said it's always best to come in the morning because by early afternoon the fog rolls in.  I don't know how much higher we were in altitude, but it was cold and wet in the fog and we had just come from sunny and warm.  We had originally decided to hike down into the crater (~2 miles?) but since we weren't sure we'd be able to see much we instead opted to visit the small shop next to the mirador for a hot glass of canelazo (see pic).  Once we finished up we decided to head back to Quito and decide what to do for the evening.

pics

 
Damn, sorry to hear about the IG model.  On the positive side, sounds like you got more than a hug :thumbup:  

 
Damn... i'm curious about this chick's IG handle, now. :lol:  

You saw much more of Quito than I did. I see you saw some Cuy (guinea Pig)... didn't want to try? It's considered a delicacy there and is pretty good. Kinda greasy but tender and flavorful. 

Heading out to dinner so limited comments now, but looks like you still had a pretty good time! 

 
[icon] said:
Damn... i'm curious about this chick's IG handle, now. :lol:  

You saw much more of Quito than I did. I see you saw some Cuy (guinea Pig)... didn't want to try? It's considered a delicacy there and is pretty good. Kinda greasy but tender and flavorful. 

Heading out to dinner so limited comments now, but looks like you still had a pretty good time! 
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I've always heard it's a delicacy in the Andes, but it's pretty much served everywhere so I think it's more of a staple.  But gross, no I would never try it, especially since it seems to usually be served whole.  And it's unnerving that the places that serve it usually have live ones in their little pet pens and houses.  I guess you're supposed to pick one out like a lobster?

I have tried alpaca and llama in Peru and Bolivia though (yes I know, not quite so adventurous).

 
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i had cuy in northern argentina.  not bad.  a little more work than i was wanting, since it was served whole.  the visual is the hardest part.  otherwise it's all dark meat.

nice pics.  cool shot of the gps on the phone.

 
DA RAIDERS said:
i had cuy in northern argentina.  not bad.  a little more work than i was wanting, since it was served whole.  the visual is the hardest part.  otherwise it's all dark meat.

nice pics.  cool shot of the gps on the phone.
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Thanks!  The picture of the phone was at Museo de Sitio Intiñan (it was the tour guide's phone), and I tried to get the steam coming off the hot canelazo, which was pretty good.

 
So we get back to the apartment sometime in the early evening.  Neither of us is hungry because we had a pretty big lunch after the museum.  She asks how much is left of the movie we watched the night before, and there’s about an hour more to go.  So we decide to watch the rest of the movie.  Up until now I haven’t made one move on her all day.  Haven’t touched her, haven’t flirted with her, etc.  No way I’m going to make an idiot out of myself or give her some satisfaction or whatever.  But everything was normal all day and we got along the same as we always have.  So we’re watching the movie and we’re sitting on this big couch with all this room and she’s right up against me.  The movie finishes and we’re trying to decide what else to watch and she says you know what’s missing, a bottle of wine.  She says there’s a liquor/wine store right down the street and I say ok let’s go take a look.  We walk down there and I’m looking at the wines on the back wall and I’m seeing $48, $62, $120 and thinking no way I’m buying one of these.  But she’s been pretty thrifty up to this point so let’s see.  The guy comes up and asks if we need help and she says how much for this one and he says $18.  What about this one?  $10.  She looks at me and says $10 sounds good, I agree, and we head back to the apartment.

We get back and she pulls out a couple of wine glasses.  Skipping ahead for just a second, by the time it was finished she probably drank 2/3 of the bottle and I had 1/3.  We’re on Netflix trying to find something to watch and she wants to watch some series called “Dark Desires” that I guess a lot of people were talking about and saying was good.  Alright, let’s give it a try.  The opening scene of the first episode starts with a woman packing for a weekend getaway, and at the last second she decides to put a “toy” in her bag.  Instagram Model giggles a little.  The show ends up being sort of drama and mystery but focused around sex and infidelity, and all the sex scenes are pretty much soft pron.  We’re working our way through the episodes and talking about everything that’s happening.  Something comes up again in the show about the toy and she says I have a toy.  I look at her and say oh yeah?  She says yeah, and tells me she used to have two but she gave one to a friend to borrow.  Ok :oldunsure: .  A minute later she repeats I have a toy.  I say yeah, you mentioned that.  She says no, I have it.  I said you mean with you?  Yes, it’s in my purse  :shock: .  Do you want to see it?  Sure? :oldunsure:   She pulls out this little blue thing, switches it on, and holds it onto my arm.  Then she kind of laughs and puts it away and we return to the show.  She’s downing the wine and the little bikini top-like top she’s been wearing all day with no issues is somehow getting looser and looser.  It’s getting late and by now she’s lying on the couch with her legs in my lap, somehow continually falling out of her top and tucking herself back in.  She gets up to go to the bathroom and the strings in the back are completely loose and she’s holding it on with one hand.  When she comes out of the bathroom she’s wearing a towel on top and holding the bikini top thing in her hand and says I got it wet. She lays it on the kitchen counter and returns to her position with her legs in my lap.

We’re still watching the show and finally I start rubbing her feet and she seems to like it.  After a while I’m putting hard pressure on the bottom of her feet with my thumbs and she really starts getting into it, almost like some sort of sexual pleasure.  Her hand starts straying closer to my leg, then closer still until it brushes my leg.  She says that the foot massage is giving her ganas  :excited: .  I say ganas for what?  And she says ganas ganas and her hand comes up to my thigh, then all the way.  I pull the towel open and :pickle: .

 
We got up Sunday and the plan was to go see the Centro Historico (Historic District) in Quito.  We walked a few blocks to Quicentro Mall, which was really nice, where we had breakfast.  That was the first I really got to see of the area I was staying in, and it was pretty nice.  Parque La Carolina (Carolina Park) was nearby, and it was huge with tons of people enjoying their day.  There were a bunch of basketball courts that were all filled with guys playing, something I haven't seen before down here.  There was also a bicycle race going on.

A few pics of the mall and area.

From there we caught an Uber to the Centro Historico, and I'm so glad we went.  This was one of the bigger historic districts I've seen down here, with beautiful ornate churches, shops, plazas, performers, etc.  I really dig this stuff.  For me it also tied into the Andean culture as a whole, as it felt very much like Peru and the Bolivian highlands.  Too much really to describe, but I named all the places in the pictures.  One of the highlights was the Jesuit church Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus.  You weren't supposed to take pictures, but ol' Dez isn't thwarted that easily.  There was an incredible painting at the back of the church that depicted Hell.  I've never seen anything like it.  One thing that struck me as ironic was another painting at the entrance to Iglesia de San Francisco which I'm pretty sure depicted Jesus and the money changers.  Ironic because it's in the middle of a district where people are making a living based on the churches and things there that bring in the tourists.

Pics of the Centro Historico

We left in the afternoon to finally find a good steakhouse.  I always want to try to find the best steakhouse in a new city and typically order the lomo (beef tenderloin) as part of an ongoing comparison.  We settled on Los Troncos, which was pretty highly rated.  I got the lomo and she got rack of lamb.  It was alright, but not worth the $93 I spent on dinner.  I know I've mentioned in here before that I can get the best lomo ever in Bogota for $14, so that place is my standard for comparison.

Pics at Los Troncos

After dinner we went back to the apartment, she gathered her things up, and we said our goodbyes.  I was leaving the next morning at 7am so it didn't make sense for her to stay.  No real affection or playtime before parting but that's ok, I was still plenty satisfied from the previous night.  We both said we hoped it won't be another 2 years before seeing each other again, but who knows?  Kind of a strange situation in general, I still can't really figure her out, but that's the life of a vagabond like me.

 
Got up at 6am Monday morning to leave for the airport by 7am.  Uber guy picked me up and it's a fairly long ride, and I ended up having a great conversation with the driver.  He was from Venezuela and has been in Quito since 2017.  Anyone who's been in Latin America in the last 5 years or so knows that everywhere is overrun with Venezuelans fleeing the disaster that socialism created in their country.  You see them in the streets selling candies, begging for handouts, etc.  It's really sad.  Anyway, I asked him if the car was his and he said yes, and I said then Ecuador is treating you very well.  He told me he had arrived like everyone else, with basically nothing.  He worked on the buses (selling candies) and jobs like that until he could save up the $300 needed to get his visa.  Once that was approved he was able to get a real job at a factory, started making decent money, and eventually bought the car.  He's mostly just been doing Uber now.  I was very glad to hear his story, as it reaffirms that people with the drive and desire can overcome their situation, etc.  Venezuelans have it pretty rough, in my opinion, and I always wonder what can be done.  So I was happy for him and his story.

The Quito airport is pretty nice.  I didn't have access to the lounge, so I can't say what that's like (though I'm sure it's awesome if @[icon] approves).  But there were a lot of shops and restaurants, all looking clean and new.  Love airports like that.  No issues on the way home and was back in my apartment in Barranquilla at 5pm.

 
Tuesday (yesterday) Vanessa and Luz were writing to me.  Neither came out and said it but they were both angling to see me in the evening.  But I had already made plans with a new girl, 18-year old Dani L. an aspiring model (they're all aspiring models, just some more aspiring than others).  Met on Tinder and we've been talking for a few weeks.  I've been wanting to meet her so when she agreed to meet up at 6pm over at Buenavista, I was set on her and sort of ignored the other two and/or didn't give them anything to work with.

At 5:30 I wrote asking if we were still on and she replied with a video from the gym saying that she was finishing up.  At 6:30 she wrote saying she had one round of exercises then was going to head home to change.  I told her no problem.  Never heard from her again.  I wrote to her at 7:30 and again at 8:30 but no reply.  Too bad, she seemed like a really good prospect.

Again, I still don't get it. :no:

Then I replied to Vanessa and Luz and they both said they'd been hoping to see me.  Evening lost. :hot:

 
Dez89 said:
 Venezuelans have it pretty rough, in my opinion, and I always wonder what can be done.  So I was happy for him and his story.
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Yep many Venezuelans sought refuge in Ecuador. Ecuadorians seemed to be very kind, but it came at a bad time economically. This led to a serious classist/ethnic issue. Even when we were there a few years ago it was a problem.  
 

The "locals" looked down on the vagrant Venezuelans because times got lean even for locals. I developed friendships with a couple Venezuelan immigrants during our time there.

One was a cute young waitress at my friends Resturant. Another was a very talented videographer who we hired to follow us during the festival we were hired  to present at,

Both spoke VERY candidly about socialism when we mentioned that some young Americans favor the system.

The waitress friend got downright angry (she was never not smiling) and mentored that America wasn't perfect but if we lost our democracy in favor of socialism it would be a crushing blow to global morale.... and she said she wished she had two minutes with any American who thought socialism was okay.

There were certainly some bad Venezuelans there, but I think most were out of desperation. It's a horrible situation :(  

 
[icon] said:
Yep many Venezuelans sought refuge in Ecuador. Ecuadorians seemed to be very kind, but it came at a bad time economically. This led to a serious classist/ethnic issue. Even when we were there a few years ago it was a problem.  
 

The "locals" looked down on the vagrant Venezuelans because times got lean even for locals. I developed friendships with a couple Venezuelan immigrants during our time there.

One was a cute young waitress at my friends Resturant. Another was a very talented videographer who we hired to follow us during the festival we were hired  to present at,

Both spoke VERY candidly about socialism when we mentioned that some young Americans favor the system.

The waitress friend got downright angry (she was never not smiling) and mentored that America wasn't perfect but if we lost our democracy in favor of socialism it would be a crushing blow to global morale.... and she said she wished she had two minutes with any American who thought socialism was okay.

There were certainly some bad Venezuelans there, but I think most were out of desperation. It's a horrible situation :(  
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It's been similar in Colombia.  The Uber driver said that there had been a conference of Latin American nations at some point and they came up with the idea of a "blue visa" that Venezuelans could apply for.  He also said that they could enter the U.S. without a visa.  I was speaking with an Uber driver in Bogota a couple of years ago and he was saying that back in the 90's Venezuela opened up to Colombians fleeing the violence here, and now it was time to return the favor.  That was the first time I'd heard about that or that point of view.  I'd guess most Colombians are unaware of that.  Before the collapse, my impression was that Colombians and Venezuelans went back and forth a lot, had families in one spot or the other, etc.  Maybe that's the result of what happened in the 90s.

 
Luz wrote to me yesterday saying that she was going to be at Buenavista and wanted to see me.  She expected to be there a little after 5pm but of course didn't get there until 6:30.  She told me where she was, so I went over and accompanied her while she bought what she had come for.  I asked what she wanted to do and she said let's go back to your apartment.  We came back and talked a while, and watched the last 30 minutes of the movie we had started the last time.  She was telling me about her search for a new place to live closer to the university and some other stuff.  Her class had gotten cancelled that day so she was happy.  Just as we were starting to get comfortable, she got a group message from her classmates or the professor saying that the assignment that was given in place of the class was due by the end of the day.  It was around 8pm by then, so she had to head home to complete and send the assignment.  Curses, foiled again!

 
Dez89 said:
Update from Delight: she's got a new job that allows her to work from home from anywhere, so she's moving from Bogota back to Riohacha which is about a 4-hour car ride from here.  I told her she should come work from my apartment for a few days after she moves and she said she would like to do that.
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Delight called me the other night and said that she was staying in Bogota, and was mad at me for going to Cartagena and Quito and not coming to see her.  She said if I don't come to see her she will never talk (or more) to me again.  I'm sure she was mostly joking.  But going to see if I can get a quick trip in maybe next weekend.

 
I mentioned when I went to Cartagena that I'd hoped to see 21-year old Martha there.  We've been talking for 2 years and she's got some weird fetishes.  She was traveling when I went to Cartagena, so we've still never met.  She's been studying to be a flight attendant and due to some issue with her program will likely be studying in Barranquilla in the near future.  Yesterday she wrote to me and said that she's going to be arriving to Barranquilla today (not sure for how long) and will have to wait until her aunt and uncle can pick her up later.  So she was wondering if she can come to my apartment and wait here. :oldunsure:   I told her I have to work, but she can hang out here as long as she keeps quiet while I'm on calls.  She wrote to me this morning while waiting at the bus station, so I guess she's on her way and should probably arrive to BAQ in another 30 minutes.

 
Martha arrived to BAQ at about 10am and took a taxi over to Buenavista.  She wrote to me to let me know she was there.  I had just finished a scheduled call and didn't have another until 1pm so I left immediately to go get her.  She was very close, so we were back to the apartment lickity split.  I made sure she was comfortable, gave her the B&BW lotion I'd brought for her, and sat back down to work.  We were talking while I was doing things and after a little while she opened up the lotion and put some on her leg.  I asked if she wanted help, she said ok, so I went over and rubbed lotion on the other leg then went back and sat down.  I asked her if she wanted to see my work and she came over and sat on my lap while I showed her a few things.  about 11:30 we went over to Buenavista and picked up lunch.  We came back to the apartment, ate and talked, and I made my 1pm call with no issues.  I had until 2:30 until my next call, yadda yadda yadda :pickle: .

She ended up leaving a little before 4pm when her aunt wrote to her to say she was home.  She called a car and I walked her downstairs.  After sending her off I stopped and talked to the portero for a while on the way back up.  He asked me about the chica and said she was muy linda.  Then he asked how old I was and when I told him he was surprised and said I look 10 years younger.  He wanted to know my secret and said no smoking? No drinking?  My answer, of course, was colágeno ;) .  After a little while, another guy staying in one of the apartments came down and stopped to talk with us.  He was Colombian but has been living in Switzerland for 6 years.  He said he spent 12 years in the Colombian air force and has seen it all, and knew exactly what the problems are here in Colombia.  Of course it boiled down to government corruption.  EVERYONE says that the politicians rob the money, they rob and rob, and they make their own laws and they're all in on it so they get away with it.  I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but it's this mantra that everyone just says like 2+2=4.  I never know exactly what to think about it.  But the guy was pretty cool and interesting, and his opinion was that cocaine and other drugs should be legalized.  He laid out how difficult it is for farmers, and the cartels come in and give them security that the banks don't, and better income than their regular crops.  His thought was that violence and crime would end immediately if drugs were legalized.  I told him my opinion that it would just be something else.

 
Dez89 said:
I'd guess most Colombians are unaware of that.  Before the collapse, my impression was that Colombians and Venezuelans went back and forth a lot, had families in one spot or the other, etc.  Maybe that's the result of what happened in the 90s.
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It happened a lot before the 90s too.  My wife is from the western part of Venezuela and a lot of the domestic help in that area came from Colombia.  They fled the guerilla and narco wars in Colombia from the 70s onward.  Venezuela was stable and middle income and had a solid middle class.

That situation is now flipped on its head with Venezuela becoming a narco-state (without the guerilla this time) and the middle class being wiped out.  Those with family ties back to Colombia had an easier time of it, since they could have a place to land and possibly even get residency / passport more easily.  Anyone with the means to leave VLZA left 5+ years ago.  Some people cling on in Caracas if they have access to hard currency.

It's tragic for sure.  We recently sent $300 to the daughter of the maid that used to work in my FIL's house.  The maid was a fixture in my wife's life as a child and we even named our daughter after her.  The daughter was educated in Venezuela and has a college degree in accounting.  She's now destitute and living hand to mouth in Colombia while clinging on to a dream that she can come to the USA.  We told her to spend that money trying to get Colombian residency rather than trying to cross into the US through central america and Mexico. 

 
The Z Machine said:
It happened a lot before the 90s too.  My wife is from the western part of Venezuela and a lot of the domestic help in that area came from Colombia.  They fled the guerilla and narco wars in Colombia from the 70s onward.  Venezuela was stable and middle income and had a solid middle class.

That situation is now flipped on its head with Venezuela becoming a narco-state (without the guerilla this time) and the middle class being wiped out.  Those with family ties back to Colombia had an easier time of it, since they could have a place to land and possibly even get residency / passport more easily.  Anyone with the means to leave VLZA left 5+ years ago.  Some people cling on in Caracas if they have access to hard currency.

It's tragic for sure.  We recently sent $300 to the daughter of the maid that used to work in my FIL's house.  The maid was a fixture in my wife's life as a child and we even named our daughter after her.  The daughter was educated in Venezuela and has a college degree in accounting.  She's now destitute and living hand to mouth in Colombia while clinging on to a dream that she can come to the USA.  We told her to spend that money trying to get Colombian residency rather than trying to cross into the US through central america and Mexico. 
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Great post and insight, thank you.  My feeling was always that Colombians and Venezuelans were basically the same people (culture, bloodlines, etc.) moving freely back and forth.  Much like the people of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, and (now for me) Ecuador are the same people.  It's so sad to think of the daughter being out here in the street like that.  You want to help them all but what can you do?  I feel like a complete jerk.  When I was in Cartagena a couple of weeks ago, I was going into a drug store in Bocagrande to pick up some water and a woman with a baby asked me for some help.  I didn't say anything but I picked up some bread in the store and handed it to her on the way out.

 
I keep forgetting to mention something.  When I was getting ready to come down to Barranquilla this time I said I was excited because I would be here during los carnavales (Carnaval).  But shortly after I arrived, they postponed them until later in March (either the weekend I'm leaving or the weekend after) due to stupid Covid.  They would have started today. :cry:   You can see things gearing up now, the decorations starting to come out, the presentations, etc.  Carnaval is such a great and festive time to be here in Barranquilla.  Ugh.  Soooo disappointing.  :cry:   Even more irritating is this week they announced lifting the mask restriction, now supposedly you don't have to wear a mask in "open spaces."  So there's really no reason that Carnaval couldn't have happened as scheduled :rant: . 

I just happened to catch this over at Buenavista 3 the other day when I went to meet Luz.  This is la reina de los carnavales (the Carnaval Queen) Valeria Charris :wub: .  Sorry for the crappy video, but I was unprepared.

https://imgur.com/a/fr178Xo

Valeria Charris :wub:

Some good news is that the big concert they have for Carnaval is still supposed to take a place tonight, featuring Marc Anthony, Christian Nodal, and Silvestre Dangond (a very popular and famous Colombian vallenato singer).  My friend (who found the place for us to watch the Super Bowl) and I are trying to get tickets.

 
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Picked up two tickets to the show last night for ~$60 each.  Some tickets on the floor were going for big money, as high as ~$5000 if you can believe it.  Had a fantastic time but holy cow what a grind.  We got to our seats just before 7pm and didn't leave until after 3:30am.  There were 6-7 artists total who performed, as well as the DJ getting the crowd going in between acts. 

Silvestre Dangond is a great showman and I like him even though I don't really like his music.  But oh man do the costeños love their vallenato.  I always think of vallenato as the country version of Latin music, but I don't really know if that's accurate.  You other guys will have to chime in with a more elegant description.  Maybe it's more like the polka of Latin music.  There is one song of his that I love, Casate Conmigo, but I don't think it's vallenato and it's sort of a duet, so not surprisingly he didn't sing it :kicksrock: .

Marc Anthony was awesome and I recommend going to see his show if you have the opportunity.  Man I love watching Colombians getting into their music, dancing, etc.  It's so much fun.

Christian Nodal came on last for some reason, which to me was a mistake because after the first two his music was kind of boring.  I mean, it's good and everyone knew and loved it, but it's kind of slow after getting amped up by the other two.  And he sang foreverrrrrr.  We were just waiting to hear what we knew would be his last song, Adios Amor, but he just kept going.  It was so late and like 2/3 of the crowd was gone by the time he finished.  I was like read the room, dude.

I was trying to load the videos I took but Imgur is giving me all kinds of problems, so don't know if I'll get to it or not.

 
first one is latin pop.  2nd is ranchero.  marc anthony is straight 🔥as the kids say.  love him.  his music is often referred to as tropical salsa.

 
DA RAIDERS said:
first one is latin pop.  2nd is ranchero.  marc anthony is straight 🔥as the kids say.  love him.  his music is often referred to as tropical salsa.
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Yeah, that's pop.  I wish he'd sing more of that, because I don't really like the vallenato, but man they love it here.  There's something that I don't get about it, but I'm sure that has more to do with some musical understanding that I lack.  These Colombians have music and rhythm in their bones.

Yes, ranchero!  Good call.  So I guess that would be the country version of Latin music.  So I'm going with vallenato being the polka of Latin music.

 
Joe Bryant said:
Thanks. Can you elaborate? Or was the ;)  that you were joking? 
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I mentioned earlier that collagen is a euphemism for "dating" much younger than your age.  Like you're taking or robbing a younger person of their collagen/youth (like a vampire or something), or simply that it keeps you young.  So it's kind of a joke (and almost always guaranteed to get a laugh) but also true in my case.

 
Speaking of music, one of the videos I posted was of a song by Joe Arroyo, a Colombian salsa legend.  He was born in Cartagena and grew up there and in Barranquilla.  He lived hard and fast and died in 2011 at the age of 55, a real national loss.  There's a big statue and a transmetro station named after him by the stadium where the concert was.  His music is one of the first things I came to know when I first started coming here, and one of the reasons I came to really like salsa.  His two biggest hits are:

La Rebelion - a song about a slave uprising in Cartagena.
En Barranquilla Me Quedo - his tribute to this wonderful city, the official unofficial song of Barranquilla, and the song in the video I posted.

You salsa aficionados might also know this classic salsa song by another Colombian group, Fruko y Sus Tesos, called El Preso - a song about the despair of a prisoner condemned for 30 years.

Some Colombian singers have made it big recently.  J Balvin had his own McDonald's meal in the U.S. not long ago, which I found astonishing.  I came to know him a few years ago from this song, Mi Gente, which I think Beyonce sampled shortly after it came out.  Karol G is another, and I really like this song of hers, Don't Be Shy (I fancy myself as the custodian guy).

Finally, one of the videos I posted was the crowd dancing to Marc Anthony, and this is the song that he was performing at that time, Pa'lla Voy, it's relatively new and is on his new album of the same name to be released March 1. *added to playlist*

ETA: Not to mention Shakira, of course, who is from Barranquilla.

 
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Dez89 said:
Speaking of music, one of the videos I posted was of a song by Joe Arroyo, a Colombian salsa legend.  He was born in Cartagena and grew up there and in Barranquilla.  He lived hard and fast and died in 2011 at the age of 55, a real national loss.  There's a big statue and a transmetro station named after him by the stadium where the concert was.  His music is one of the first things I came to know when I first started coming here, and one of the reasons I came to really like salsa.  His two biggest hits are:

La Rebelion - a song about a slave uprising in Cartagena.
En Barranquilla Me Quedo - his tribute to this wonderful city, the official unofficial song of Barranquilla, and the song in the video I posted.

You salsa aficionados might also know this classic salsa song by another Colombian group, Fruko y Sus Tesos, called El Preso - a song about the despair of a prisoner condemned for 30 years.

Some Colombian singers have made it big recently.  J Balvin had his own McDonald's meal in the U.S. not long ago, which I found astonishing.  I came to know him a few years ago from this song, Mi Gente, which I think Beyonce sampled shortly after it came out.  Karol G is another, and I really like this song of hers, Don't Be Shy (I fancy myself as the custodian guy).

Finally, one of the videos I posted was the crowd dancing to Marc Anthony, and this is the song that he was performing at that time, Pa'lla Voy, it's relatively new and is on his new album of the same name to be released March 1. *added to playlist*

ETA: Not to mention Shakira, of course, who is from Barranquilla.
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I always thought J Balvin was a boriqua. Learn something everyday. I guess I’m thinking of the Bad Bunny guy.

 
I saw Vanessa last night for just the second time on this trip (the first time being when we "made up").  We had plans to make tacos and watch a movie (we watched Shrek when I was here last fall so it was going to be Shrek 2 this time).  Whenever I make what I've started calling "American tacos" I'll post some pictures and the chicas always comment.  Vanessa wanted to try them so I brought the shells and flavor packet with me from home as a surprise.  She showed up in a little while dress looking smoking hot.  We went to the grocery store and picked up what we needed, came back and had a fun time cooking.  We ate and watched the movie, and the whole night was playful and fun.

After a while things started progressing and we were just at the point where it was about to get interesting, and she stopped me and said that if I wanted to :pickle: then we were going to have to be exclusive.  I started to protest and bring up everything that had happened and she pulled the "what happened happened, I'm talking about from here forward" card.  That it wouldn't be a noviazgo (formal boyfriend/girlfriend) but it would be exclusive (which for me of course would basically mean the same thing).  She said would it really be that difficult for you, and I just basically said I didn't want to limit myself and I don't trust chicas (i.e. her I guess).  So we pretty much just left it there.  She stuck around for a while longer and it was still nice, but I guess no more fun time :sadbanana: . 

 
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