Just Returned

[TomF3823]

Well, Just Got Back From My First Trip To Bogota. I Am Mostly A Lurker Here, And Posted Once. Got Some Great Tips From This Board.

I Arrived On 12/28. I Was Met At The Airport By A Girl I Had Met On A Latin Dating Website. Latin Cupids. This Girl And I Have Been Talking Over The Computer And Phone For About Six Months. She Was More Beautiful In Person. I Squeezed Into Her Tiny Car And We Headed To The Dan Carlton Hotel. When Getting To The Hotel, We Had To Pop The Hood And Trunk For A Security Inspection, We Are Not In Kansas Anymore.

Checked Into The Dan Carlton At A Rate Of About $110 U.s Per Night.
The Room Was Nice And Cozy, A King Size Bed, Noice Bathroom With Plenty Of Hot Water. View Overlooking The Mountains. Room Was Very Clean And Comfortable, Staff At Hotel Very Nice A Friendly.

Took A Shower, Changed, And We Headed Out To Dinner At A Nice Steak House At Park 93, This Was A Lively Area, Lots Of Nice Restaurants And Clubs. After Diner, We Headed Back To The Hotel. Due To The Climate Change I Believe, I Was Unable To Sleep For The First Day. It Was Like Being Pumped With Oxygen. Took Me Two Days Took Adjust To This Climate,

On The 2nd Day We Headed To Chia To The Andres De Carne Restaurant. Man, What A Blast. I Think They Had Special Entertainement For The New Year. I Had A Blast And The Food Was Very Food As Well, If In Bogota, You Must Go Here. It Is Only Open On Weekends I Think.

On The 30th, We Went Walking Near The Casa De Narina, President House. Very Safe And Secure. Wonderfull Old Buildings. Had A Great Day Seeing The Sights. Went To The Hotel De La Opera For Lunch. Fabulous Restaurant With Great Views. The Fettucini Con Mariscos Was Out Of This World, Went Back For A Second Serving. Highly Recomend This. Hotel Looked Great As Well. Took A Tour Of The Spa And It Was Awesome. When I Return To Bogota, I Think I May Stay At This Hotel.

Booked A New Years Celebration At La Fontana Hotel. Took The Novia And Her Friend. It Was About Four Hundred Us. The Party Was Very Elegant. Looked Like One Of The Most Upscale Party In Bogota For The New Year. I Thought This Was A Bit Expensive, And I Was Right. For The 400, We Got A Buffet Which Was So So. Drinks Were Not Included In This Price. I Was Even Charged For Two Cokes We Ordered. They Did Give A Glass Of Very Cheap Champagne For The Toast Though. So A Buffet And A Band That Was Also So So. Saw Quite A Few Gringos At This Party. At 12, We Had The Customary 12 Grapes And Drank The Awefull Champagne. Althought Getting Ripped Off A Bit, It Was Really Nice To Celebrate The New Year With Her And Her Friend. We Had Fun. Also At End, The Waiter Put High Pressure For Added Gratuity. He Did Not Know That I Am Above Board When It Comes To Tipping, And He Got Burned For Being So Aggresive.

January 1. Bogota Looked Like A Ghost Town. It Was Totally Shut Down. Hung Around The Hotel. Oh The Hotel. Forgot About This One. On The First Day I Was Awoken At 7 Am By Hammering. Guess The Hotel Decided They Were Renovating The Restaurant. Starting At 7 Am. Thought It Was A Nightmare, The Walls Were Shaking. Hotel Promised Me After This That They Would Not Start The Banging Until 9 30 In The Morning. Well, They Were On Another Time Zone, It Began At 730 To 8 Every Day. January One, The Only Person Working In Bogota, Was The Construction Crew At The Dan Carlton. Could Not Believe It. Well Aftern This, I Was Checking Out, Hotel Promised Again Not To Start To Later In The Day, But The Lastest Would Be 8 Am. Was Not Happy About This. I Enjoyed The Clean Room And Hot Water And Friendly Staff, But This Was Totally Unaceptable, And They Could Care Less And Offfered No Compensation For This Nightmare Construction. I Dont Know If I Would Stay At The Dan Carlton Again. I Would Also Want A Pool Next Time Which The Dan Does Not Have.

Lets See What Else. Went To Cafe Y Libros. Great Club And Gret Salsa Music. Did Lots Of Salsa Dancing Here. Lots Of Fun.

International Seafood Restaurant. Was Horrible, Stay Away, And Very Expensive Here As Well.

Crepes And Waffles, Great Fo Breakfast,

Shopping At The Malls, Lots Of Nice Ladies Walking Around. Neck Got Very Sore,

Met A Great Taxi Driver At The Hotel, Oswaldo, Showed Us Lots Of Sites, Very Accomidating. Always On Time And Reasonable. If Anyone Needs His Numer, I Will Supply It For You. Felt Very Safe And Secure With Oswaldo. Made A Big Difference For Me.

Went To A Casino, The Rio One Night. Hotel Gave Us Two Coupons For Two 25,000 Pesos For Going. Slot Machines, Black Jack And Roulette. We Got Very Lucky, Me Not Understanding The Pessos Fully, And Ended Up Winning Over One Million Pessos Which Was About 6 Hundred Or So Dollars. Had S Fun Time, And Felt Very Secure At This Casino. Saw A Couple Of Other Gringos At This Casino.

Went To Mass One Day. Although In Spanish, I Was Able To Understand Most With My Spanglish. Beautiful Church, Forgot Exact Location.

Went To My Novias Condo Several Times. People In Condo Very Friendly To The Gringo.

Bottom Line Is I Had A Great Time, And Cannot Wait To Return.
I Felt Very Very Safe. At The Hotel, They Have A Policeman Posted There. His Armband Says Policia De Tourismo. Police And Military As Well As Private Security Every Place I Went. Never Had A Concern About Safety. I Thoguht This Was Going To Be A Problem, And Boy Was I Wrong.

Met A Gringo In The Hotel Lobby. Gave Me His Card And Some Advise. He Lives In An Apartment Close By The Hotel.

I Will Return To Colombia In About Two Months. I Am Now Officialy Hooked.

If Anyone Wants Any Further Info, Just Ask.

Once Again, Thanks For The Good Advise From This Board. It Really Made A Big Difference In My Trip.

Sorry For Any Typos

[LastLion]

Tom, wow great scoop on the hotels and restaraunts, you have inspiered me to keep better track of those things!

Hotel de la opera, is that the one you suggest? What neaighborhood is it in? How much per night?

And maybe even more importantly how did it go with your gal?

Another hooked gringo, just like the other drug that comes from COlombia, the women and culture are very allurrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!!!!!!!!

[TomF3823]

The Hotel De La Opera Is By The Casa De Narina. Close To The Presidents House.
It Was Really A Beautiful Hotel. Mi Novia Recomended The Restaurant There. She Was Right. The Views Are Breathtaking As Well.
The Only Thing I Did Not Like The Area At Night. The Hotel Was Really Unique. It Was Like Being In Europe. They Had A Slamming Pool In The Spa Area, Turkish Steam And Massage Rooms.

As For Mi Novia. We Met On Latin Cupid. I Think It Was A Zillion To One Shot That We Met There. We Hit It Off From The Beginning. She Appeared To Be Really Special To Me On Line And On The Phone. We Even Got Internet Cameras So We Could Talk And See Each Other, I Was A Member For About A Year On Cupid Before I Met Her,

When We Met In Person, She Was More Beautiful And More Special, I Have Never Met Such A Nice, Femine, Special Woman Before. She Really Is Something. She Is A Single Mother, She Has A Nine Year Old Son. She Takes Care Of This Boy Like A King. Although Woman With Child Is Something I Would Rather Avoid, At My Age, The Woman Mostly Have Kids. By The Way I Am 42, I Have Been Looking For The Right One For Some Time, And This May Be The One. I Plan On Returning In Mid February To Continue Our Relationship And See How It Goes In The Future. When Leaving Colombia, I Really Felt Sad. I Did Not Want To Leave. I Did Not Want To Leave Her. This Is Something For Me As Well. I Really Miss Her And The Special Things She Would Do For Me. We Really Had A Magical Week Together. We Did So Many Things Together And Got Along So Well. And I Really Felt Accepted In Colombia.

Now, Those Is Search Of A Beautiful Latina. Colombia Is It. There Were Many Many Attractive Woman In Colombia. They Appeared To Outnumber The Men About Ten To One. They Have Good Family And Work Values. They Take Care Of Themeselves And They Are Looking For The Same Thing We Are Looking For, That Special Person In Their Life. Although I Was With My Novia, I Could Have Met Many Many More Woman On My Own, Just Talk To The Ladies At The Hotel, Shopping Malls, Restaurants And Clubs. They Will Talk To You. It Is So Different Than From The States, Some Of The Woman In The States Would Not Spit On You If You Were On Fire, Colombia, You Just Have To Say Hola.

I Would Also Advise Some Of You Fellas To Take Some Salsa Lessons. When I Danced Salsa In The Clubs, It Really Got The Interest Of Many Of The Ladies. They Could Not Believe The Gringo Could Dance Salsa So Well. It Was A Magnet. I Also Have A So So Command Of The Spanish Language. Purchase A Tape And Learn A Little, It Will Go A Long Way.

And Yes, It Is A Drug. I Dont Know What It Is, But I Cant Wait To Get Back There. I Really Am Hooked. As I Said Before, I Lurked Here For Some Time Before Going. I Really Was Worried About Safety And Crime. When Getting There, I Had No Real Worries. It Really Felt Safe. I Am Sorry I Had Not Gone Years Earlier.

[LastLion]

Which is the Hotel o Casa you want to stay at? Is it near Zona Rosa District ??

Well Tom, I hope we get to hear a lot more from you. I loved hearing that a lurker stepped out of the American Jack in the Box and into real livin! Thanks for the report, we may be in Bogota at the same time? I will be celebrating my 40th there! I hope? We will see the economy right now is taking a toll on my business! But maybe we can have a double date! or just a cup of cafe?

[TomF3823]

Lion-
I Am Going To Try To Get There On February 14 To The 20th. I Am Going To See If My Business Can Survie Another Week Without Me. I Would Love To Get Together For A Drink. I Am Also Getting Killed With This Economy And See What The Next Two Weeks Will Be Doing.

I Am Not Sure Of The Zone Where The Opera Is. Mi Novia Recomended The Radison Hotel As Well. Once Again The Dan Carlton Was Fine Minus The Construction. But For The Money, I Would Want Some More Amenities And A Pool.

See You In Bogota My Friend For Your 40th.

[LastLion]

I stayed at the Radison very nice indoor pool !!! I can see an outdoor pool getting more use though! At least on those sunny bogota days!

Well I hope we both make it htere and I don't have to spend my savings on saving my biz cause of our great Presdient Bush!

[Cap'n Jib]

Great report. Nice to see someone else enjoying themselves.

[STM]

Tomf nice report on Bogota, my preffered stomping ground,, but which casino table game did you play to win $600 USD? You took 25,000 pesos into a million pesos in a night?

[Cubafro]

Very nice report TOMF
At least you jumped in and had a good time .
Thanks at least to share your experiences after being a board member and after reading in the forum; it's cool


CUBA

[TomF3823]

Stm-
I Was Playing Blackjack. Hit A Real Lucky Streak. They Gave Us Two Of Those 25,000 Coupons, I Cashed In For 300 Us. I Got That 300 Back As Well As The Million Two In Co Pesos, Mi Novia Also Went Home With 100,000 Co Pesos. I Will Tell You This Much, The Casino Does Not Like Loosing That Much Cash. A Few Suits Were Paying Very Close Attention To My Game. That Is When It Was Time To Go,