brad216 has left 68 comments

brad216 comments on Where are all the Uribe haters now?

isn't israel the 51st us state??? just kidding

brad216 comments on It's on Larry King Live!

i am proud to be a democrat but i do not accept anything obama says about colombia. this is a guy that has no interest in colombia and has stated his feelings many times about what he thinks about plan colombia and uribe. i do like that he is against free trade agreement which would only help the colombian wealthy but hurt the poor but i don't like how he talks down about colombia because of how he feels about the gov't and it's dealings with unions. he might have said the right things about the operation today....but just a couple of days ago stated that mccain is only visiting colombia to help him gain the latino vote and win swing states like florida. to me that shows a disrespect for the colombian and latino americans. i still might vote for him..i m not sure...but if i do...it won't be because of his feelings on colombia.

brad216 comments on Where are all the Uribe haters now?

Congrats to Uribe and Colombia. Glad to hear on cnn that the usa is giving all credit to Colombia. Supposedly, all the US did was help with equipment to find exactly where the hostages were being held. it was also very interesting hearing that they had a failed operation in Feb that was with the help of the usa. i guess all you need to do is get rid of those americans to run a successful plan. who else is interested in hearing what chavez has to say now??? do you think he's crying in his oil fields tonight?? lastly, maybe it's my infatuation with jfk assassination but....is it coincidence that this happens the night after mccain is in colombia??? you don't think uribe would plan this while his hand picked candidate for the presidency was in town...do you??? kind of interesting to hear santos point out that mccain was informed of this last night while in cartagena with uribe. congrats again to colombia, uribe, and the families of the released hostages.

brad216 comments on It's on Larry King Live!

anyone else find it interesting that this all goes down today and mccain spends tues night in cartagena???? santos and brownfield both said that mccain was notified last night of the rescue mission and was given total access to all information. was this picked by uribe et all as a way to try to help the person they see as the best ally in office for them???? just wondering.

brad216 comments on State Department double standard?

What's the big deal. If you are an expat living in another country or a Colombian National, why should you get paid the same as someone from the States who is going to move to that country for work? especially paying a col national less should not even be questioned. is it a company's responsibility to pay every employee the same? the col national should be happy that another country's govt is willing to give a non us citizen a job at the embassy. they are being compensated fairly for an avg salary for their country. lastly, wastelandive has it right...if you leave the us to become an expat in another country, you have to come to the realization that you need to adjust to whatever country you have decided to live in and direct feelings towards them. some people on here just want to bash anything cause they have nothing better to do. Next post will be....i just lost my job teaching english at the university here in colombia and the us govt won't let me apply for unemployment because i'm an expat in another country... i'm a citizen....pay me my money. lol.

brad216 comments on Continental service to Cali is no more.

this sucks...personally i hated continental but it was much cheaper option for me to leave from philly. it also was much cheaper option to fly my wife's family here when they visit. rip houston to cali. :(

brad216 comments on Boycott San Pedro !

why is it the restaurants fault when it's an individual who stole the credit card. do you think the restaurant looks at every transaction to see if someone is paying two bills? it's the thief you should be mad at not the restaurant. if it was an employee they will be fired if you bring it to their attention. maybe you can make a list of all the restaurants that have had fraud so we will know not to go there anymore lol. san pedro is a very nice restaurant with excellent food and in a great location next to the church. the manager was one of the nicest people i met while in cartagena. don't try to ruin a restaurants reputation because your friend had fraud on his card. next time tell him to pay cash and avoid the 2 or 3% transaction fee

brad216 comments on

no chance its been renovated. just returned may 12 and it was still bad. the staff even told me they were trying to renovate the place while staying there. if that place is done with renovations, i would hate to have seen it before. i think the bed and everything else in the rooms are at least 20 years old. nothing personal against decameron, i actually like the all-inclusive deal, but i've stayed in hostels as nice as the cartagena decameron. go to san andres or panama's decameron if you want to see the difference

brad216 comments on

I have stayed at the Decameron in San Andres (Aquarium) and it was great. But I do not recommend the Cartagena Decameron. It really needs to be renovated. It's old, the a/c sucks, and you can wait all night for an elevator. The food was just ok compared to San Andres. Breakfast and lunch buffets were much better than the dinners. I do recommend San Pedro restaurant in Old City that is free for the Decameron guests....they offer two choices at San Pedro...the Japanese side or the Thai side...go with the Thai side. Some of the best food we had was there. They also ran great city tours and cruise to Baru Island. One last thing....don't let them sucker you into their Time Share program. They will promise you the world but it only covers the cost of your room but not all-inclusive food and drink. You still will be charged extra money for all you can eat or drink. Your trip ends up being cheaper through travelocity or orbitz. The only thing you get for being in their program is that they treat you nicer if you have a member wrist band instead of a regular guest wrist band

brad216 comments on Why is Avianca so confusing?

Just flew to Cartagena on avianca last week. I had never had any problems with Avianca on many previous trips but they mad me crazy on this past trip. I was purchasing 2 tickets on their websites and when trying to pay, the website would not accept payment and gave me a confirmation id to call up customer service to complete the reservation. When calling, I gave them my record locator and they confirmed the payment did not go through and took the payment info again. Of course they charged me twice for the tickets. After having multiple 3 way calls through my credit card company and Avianca reps...they refused to give back all of the money they charged me. They said i shouldn't have paid for the tickets over the phone but hit the button for online service and dealt with a rep on the computer instead of the phone...although their website said to call them. They only wanted to give 80% back. After the credit card company heard this and spoke to highest ranking person there, they still refused. Thankfully, my credit card company laughed at them and just went into their account and took back the full 100%. As for the origianl topic, i agree with many when they say once you are in the air..you get treated like a king. Of American, Continental, and Avianca...I have always had the most pleasant experiences on Avianca. They have the best food of the 3...and no one else gives free hard liquer to its passengers like Avianca. You have to love Colombians when it comes to liquer...they definately are not shy when mixing a drink. Sometimes you have to remind them that you wanted some juice with your vodka lol. When flying them, just try to remember your experiences on the plane and not their website or booking mishaps.

brad216 comments on Spending the night on the Rosario Islands

scott it was 34,000 pesos per person another 5,000 for dock tax. not much for a day of drinks, the beach, food, kayaking, and more. there is an additional cost for diving. but don't worry, they import locals (though only about 6 or 7) to get the tourists to purchase necklaces, sunglasses, and some nasty ladies to give you a massage. they want to make sure the tourists feel like the beach in boca grande...but at least the few that are on the island don't constantly bother you. by the way, i've been in colombia 14 times now and with my colombian wife we blend in pretty well and we weren't the only ones they were bothering. i will admit in the old city it is not as bad as boca grande and they really only hassle you in old city during the daytime..not at night

brad216 comments on Spending the night on the Rosario Islands

just got back this morning from 5 days/4 nights in Cartagena. ITS NOT WORTH IT!!!!! all you need is maybe 3 days at most. it was crazy hot and the humidity was like florida in august. i would recommend maybe 3-4 days in Cartagena and then head over to Santa Marta. if you enjoy getting hasseled to buy sunglasses, hats, t-shirts, water shoes, etc.... every minute of the day in boca grande and old city by locals, this is the place to be. they will follow you for blocks. my cali wife (never shy) yelled at a few of them in old city. very funny, too bad i didn't understand the spanish though lol. seriously, i did take the tour someone suggested on an earlier post run by the decameron hotel to baru island. it's a wonderful time from the dancing and drinking on the 45 minute ship ride to stuffing your face all day on the beach....it was worth the extra money. for us, we enjoyed san andres much more than cartagena. If you are a couple head to Santa Marta or San Andres...if you are single and looking for fun and dancing until 5 am, you might enjoy Cartagena more than we did.

brad216 comments on Nancy Pelosi & her death blow to FTA

what's everyone getting so pissed about? the fta will not help any colombians except the rich and powerful. the everyday people of colombia will not be helped by this. for all those ripping democrats..remember it was bill clinton who started plancolombia. as far as hillary, she might be against fta,,,i'm fine with that. however she does plan on continuing plancolombia. the same can not be said for obama who wants to kill the fta and plancolombia. dont get so crazy about the fta...remember be careful of what you wish for.

brad216 comments on PBH photo contes...20 members only so far?

i must be an idiot...it took me forever to figure out how to upload pix to the group. couldn't use my nick from here (brad216) so had to upload pix under bradb216.

brad216 comments on Credit Card Fraud ....follow up to previous thread

The worst part of credit card fraud is that it really can't be stopped and it's a pain in the culo. Not many people might know this but if you have an American credit card and it's stolen overseas, expect lots of paperwork for the next year or so. If the theif knows what they are doing, there's no way to stop use of the credit card if they keep all transactions under $100 usd. My sister had her card stolen in Barcelona 2 years ago and is still receiving fraudulant statements even though the card has been closed for 2 years. They keep charging about 80-90 usd on the card and there's no way for the merchant to know it's a bad card because it doesn't receive an authorization overseas for under $100. My sister has not had any problems with the credit card company, but once a month she has to fill out a new fraud claim form. The credit card company said it will keep happening until the expiration date on the card.

brad216 comments on Best US Bank -Exchange/Fees

Just an FYI.... as of August 1, Wachovia and Citibank have increased their international transaction fee from 1% to 2%. This really sucks since Wachovia only started charging 1% about 10-12 months ago and they have already increased it to the 2% mark.

brad216 comments on Does the US Embassy pay Colombia citizens less the US citizens for the same job?

Codazzi. you make me laugh. the more i read your comments, the more i think you love getting a rise out of everyone here. Thanks for the entertainment.

brad216 comments on

First of all, if you live in the US you already know that the tv news and newspapers only report the bad and rarely the good. The reason why??? $$$$$$$ MONEY$$$$$$$. No one buys a paper or watches CNN or Fox all day to see how strong the Col Peso has become. But have a bridge collapse or start a war so your rich oil buddies in Texas get richer....and the ratings and paper buys increase tremendously. As for your comment that there is never good news from Colombia, that is certainly not correct. There has been more good press about Colombia in the last year than the last 20 years combined. The examples you give about the good of Colombia is not of interest to mainstream America so there would be no reason for the press to discuss those things. Also, in case you don't realize it, Colombians have 40% more ownership of cell phones is due to the fact that it's much cheaper to own a cell phone in Colombia (and most of the rest of the world) than it is to own a landline. You also state that there are less Colombians in rest homes than in the US. I hope you realize that unfortunately, most of the poor Colombians can not afford to be cared for except by their family. Unlike the US where most can live on Social Security (or scam the system for SSI like what seems to be half of Philadelphia), in Colombia you get barely anything if not employed. As my Colombian wife tells me, and I have seen over the last couple of years, as the elderly age, there care is totally dependant on their children and grandchildren because once they stop working, unless they had a govt job they are getting next to nothing. I wish it was different and hopefully change will come but as of now, it's the family and not an old age home that cares for Colombian elderly. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife, i love her family, and i love Colombia. I have land about 20 minutes outside of Cali and make numerous trips there over the last 4 years. However, your ranting is very childish. You sound like a complete whiner when stating that Colombians should have equal rights in the news and in immigration. I hate the US immigration laws also, especially the 110% increase in my wife's green card that we have to renew in a couple of months, but c'est la vie. You might now like to admit it but Colombia is not on par with the US, EU, or other countries around the world. The US is not discrimminating just on Colombia....what about other countries like Albania, etc.... Regulations are there for more than yourself so deal with it.

brad216 comments on Wire Transfers to Colombia

Working for a bank I can tell you wiring money to Colombia is a pain. It really has nothing to do with the US bank but everything to do with the Colombian Bank. It seems that any funds over 2 or 3000 needs an appostile sent saying the funds are from earnings or savings before they will release it. Me and my wife wired 5000 to her mom's account but they refused to release it without the apostille. I have also sent wires for clients for between 4-10,000 us and wires were sent back to usa if an apostille was not received within 2 weeks of the wire. I have also sent 500-1000 wires for clients that went into their accounts within 2 days. Moral of the story...it doesn't really matter which US bank sends the wire, get info from Colombian bank manager and be prepared with the apostille if you want the money to arrive quickly.

brad216 comments on Colombian Tamales

Desi is absolutely correct...the best tamals are the pork/chicken ones in Cali. Rice does not belong in Colombian tamals. Thank god my wife learned to make those tamals from family members and makes them every couple of months and we freeze them. We also are fortunate enough to have a great Colombian (Cali cooking) restaurant in Philly called La Fonda Colombiana where the owner Maria makes them a couple of times a year and i think they might even be better than my wifes. mmmmmmm getting hungry just thinking about them.

brad216 comments on Over 600,000 to attend Sunday’s Colombian Festival in Queens NY

i'll be driving up from philly with my colombian wife and her mom and brother who will arrive from cali wed night. we keep saying we're going to go for three years but something always comes up..hopefully we make it this year.

brad216 comments on Advice for a foreigner living in Colombia..

unfortunately, don't live there yet. have been down there 12 times in last few years. my wife is from cali and we just bought land in Candelaria, about 15-20 min outside of cali. hope to build in next few years (hopefully dollar goes up) and spend few months a year there...probably summer to get out of Philly humidity. Can't leave the snow, it's my wife's favorite part of living in the North....and football season.

brad216 comments on Advice for a foreigner living in Colombia..

I don't know what people are talking about when they say Cali is humid. Try living in Florida or the northeast like Philadelphia and you will know what humid is. Yes it gets hot for a few hours in the afternoon....but heat does not equal humidity. As far as the city, I agree it has aged quite a bit in the last few years. It has also become quite dirty. But my experience there is it's a fun place to chill. as was said earlier...any city has highs and lows...but it's the people you are with that make your experiences. Loving photography and making many trips to europe and the middle east...Cali is not the place to go for architecture or sightseeing (unless girl watching is enjoyable to you).. but the kindness of the people and the wonderful food makes it a must visit.

brad216 comments on Life is great

Hey Philly. I'm living in Philadelphia with my Colombian wife and we are spending our 2 yr anniversary together this week. I have been to Cali 12 times in the past 4 years and look forward to every visit down there (even though i still can't speak spanish). Glad you're enjoying life down there and hope to join you one day soon as we just bought land about 20 minutes outside Cali. Don't know what city you are in but it can't be worse than living in Philadelphia with the most killings of any big city in the US. Never thought we'd pass Detroit.
Hope you, your wife, and your child nothing but the best and welcome to the website.

brad216 comments on apostille

my mother in law banks at banco popular and we are sending 5000 down there. the branch manager gave us wiring instructions and said this was needed to release the funds because they want to make sure the funds are coming from a legal source and not any type of money laundering. thanks tinto for the reply.

brad216 comments on

macgringo.
guess everyone macgringo.
guess everyone has their own opinion. what i can say is the flight attendants were very rude, even hitting the backs of seats of some of the colombians who didn't speak english when informing them of the need to put their seat backs up. i made formal complaints to management of the service that i received and they said i was not the only one on that plane to file a complaint. continental also has a history of not being on time and might have the worst food served. the other real complaint we had was that because of problems with our flight from philly to houston, we missed the connection to cali and had to wait a full day to get there. when arriving at houston at 9pm, they had no one there to speak spanish to those with no english skills and my wife ended up translating to those with no english skills to explain how to get hotel room (which was only discounted, not free even though it was continentals fault we missed connection) and when to arrive the next day. overall, i felt they had total disregard to those with little or no english skills. if it was a plane of americans, you know they would have been more attentive in their dealings with the passengers.

brad216 comments on

continental service is baaaaaddddddddd anyone looking at flying continental to save a couple of dollars, let me and my wife tell you.....it is NOT worth it. we went from philly to houston to cali and in my 10 visits to Colombia...this was the worst airline ever. i know many of you dont like avianca, but continental's flight attendants, food, and service make avianca look like a first class service. in my first 10 trips, i flew american 6 times and avianca 4 times and enjoyed both very much. this past trip i saved $275 by flying continental and i regret every cent that i saved. beware continental sucks!!

brad216 comments on Adopting, popular girl names in Colombia

another common name that is more in the cities....no barrio girls for me...is Marcela

brad216 comments on Christmas Trees (real or artificial)

There are christmas trees in Colombia! Christmas trees in Colombia are very popular, almost everybody in big cities have them as well as the "pesebre"
You don't have to send it from the US, in fact there are a lot of stores that sell christmas trees in Colombia (Exito, Carrefour,etc.) Just send her the money to buy one, about $100 Us.

brad216 comments on Hotels in Cali

4 points sheraton This hotel is my favorite when visiting cali. Great rooms, soft beds, free breakfast the next day, walking distance to avenue sexta, and most importantly...they will pick you up and take you to the airport for free!!! just book on their website 14 days in advance and you get great prices. You can get cheaper elsewhere, but i find the safety and free airport service as a huge plus.

brad216 comments on warning:eat a few of these delicious kiwi like fruits("pintallas") and you will be in and out of the bathroom for 24hrs

Don't bite the seeds Expatriate is correct. If you don't bite down on the seeds you will not spend the day in the bathroom. Had some of them on my last trip and I learned the hard way...or the liquid way depending on what you want to call it. lol

brad216 comments on Traveling to Colombia in august

philly to colombia hey shawn.
good to see another person from philly on here. i have been to colombia 8 times and will be leaving from philly to cali next week with my wife to visit her family.

i can tell you all my flights have been from philly to miami to cali or bogota on either american or avianca. they are pretty much the same and have not had major problems on either. next week i am traveling from philly to houston to cali on continental airlines. i recommend not only hitting the airline websites but also using travelocity. this trip is my first purchase on travelocity but i was able to get roundtrip for $500 from philly while the same flight on continetal's web page was $750.

The others are correct in telling you that you will have to fly into bogota and then probably have to stay overnight. i suggest making the best of it and enjoy a night of fun in bogota before going forward to Manizales.

enjoy your trip.
brad

brad216 comments on Money to Colombia

I opened a seperate account with Wachovia Bank and brought an atm card down to colombia to give my mother-in-law (did not want to mail it). she withdrawls about 2-3 times per month. Because of my other accounts with Wachovia, we pay no atm w/d fee for the first 2 transactions and then $2 for any over the 2 per month. I know there's an internal transfer exchange fee but I have always had great exchanges compared to the rate i look at on Oanda.com

I have been using this system for 2 years so far with no problems...(knock on wood).

brad216 comments on How do you make Colombian Food?

Colombian Food link Here's a link with some great colombian recipes. The downside is that it's in spanish so you will need to translate them. My wife uses these recipes all the time and they taste great.
Good Luck.
http://www.cocinavino.com/mundo/pais.php?origen=Colombia&id_pais=045

brad216 comments on Do Banks in the US finance loans for foreign property

I work for the 5th largest us bank and have to agree with crazy4cali. I do not believe any us bank is going to finance foreign property. The best thing for you to do is take a home equity loan or line of credit against your usa property. By doing this you should have more negotiating leverage since you are basically purchasing the prop with cash. I don't care what country you are in....cash talks and will get you a better deal. good luck.

brad216 comments on help needed from Colombians and lovers of Colombia worldwide!

Philly In Philly, the best is http://www.tierracolombianaphilly.com/home.asp

Only place that my wife thinks comes close to being home in Colombia.

brad216 comments on K-1 Interview. Important for me to be there?

go if u can. i just got back from bogota and i was happy i went. there were about 10 k1 interviews on my day and 8 were approved and 2 were declined. i was the only fiance there but i was happy i went. the 9 girls who went before us (we were last to go) all spent about 10-15 min at window being interviewed and were asked all sorts of questions like where does fiance live, where do they work, what is their phone number, etc... when my fiancee was interviewed, they asked her 2 questions (when did we meet and how many times had i traveled to colombia) and we were done in 3 minutes. i feel it went very quickly and smoothly because i was there.
it's not the end of the world if u dont go...but if u want to have no worries, i suggest going if at all possible.

brad216 comments on Flying with Avianca oh my god

Avianca In the past I have defended Avianca because of the many flights I have had with them and never a problem. All of that has now changed as of 2 days ago. I'm leaving Sat to head down to Cali and they call me this past Sat and tell me there's a flight change and that they no longer will have direct flights from Miami to Cali. I now have a stop over in Barranq. and do not arrive to Cali until 10pm instead of 7:30pm (basically wasting a whole night). The problem is that on my way home to Philly, because of the stop in Baranq., I will now miss my connecting flight home. When they called me to tell me of the change I informed them of this problem and they said it's not their concern. I asked for my $$ back since they changed the terms I agreed to and they said they would credit me back...but only after taking out a fee for cancellation. To change my flight with American would cost $400 because of the late notice so I informed Avianca that I will be sending them the bill and I expect them to pay. They laughed when I told them and said you can try but don't bother and then they said it's not a good thing to make them angry because they can cause problems with my baggage. I was not happy about being threatened and have written a letter to my Senator, Avianca, and the Miami International Airport to report this employee and their actions. ****All I can say now is that you get what you pay for***** I never believed all of the posts regarding this airline but now I understand what everyone talks about with this disgraceful airline.

brad216 comments on My next trip, San Andrés. I'm looking for suggestions from this list of likely packages...

neonovo I flew from Cali to Bogota to San Andres on Avianca. I made the hotel reservations on Travelocity and called Avianca. Since it's roundtrip from Bog to San Andres, they'll give you price in pesos which is good. I went over holidays so i think prices should have dropped a little bit. The prices are not bad compared to other Carribean islands and if you like to drink..you'll enjoy not having to pay for drinks for a few days. Good Luck and enjoy.
Brad

brad216 comments on My next trip, San Andrés. I'm looking for suggestions from this list of likely packages...

don't know them but i just got back from a week in San Andres. I had a great time staying at the Decammeron Aquarium. It's all inclusive with free booze all day and night...mmmmmm. If going with a girl would highly recommend this place...nice rooms, good food..but if going by yourself would look elsewhere.

brad216 comments on I hate Ignorance - Wachovia compliance mgt story

gringoinbogota yes, working for them i have heard walk over ya...
but the more poplular name since Patriot Act is..
Watch over ya. hahaha.

by the way...hugs and kisses to you fzrdan...there's nothing personal.
just make sure you root for Eagles in Super Bowl...that's all i care about right now after sitting in -3 F wind chill for 5 hours yesterday.

brad216 comments on Avianca Advisory

Avianca I've flown Avianca 3 times between Miami and Cali, once to Bogota, and once to San Andres. All 5 trips have gone fine so I think this is not a normal problem. All trips were purchased on internet and have recv'd emails. The only problem i had was that Bogota trip had a time change but they called me and informed me of time change 2 weeks before trip. Actually, I had given my fiancee's number in Cali and they called her instead of leaving message on my machine since i didn't answer phone. I have nothing but good things to say about them, especially since they are much cheaper than traveling on American Airlines. Good luck.

brad216 comments on I hate Ignorance - Wachovia compliance mgt story

fzrdan If all you took out of my earlier post was political, it's only because you are looking to engage in further discussion. The point was that working for a bank I understand why the banks take their actions but I don't agree with it. I was also offering advice for people who don't know that they might be getting double charged for atm w/d's with out their knowledge. Just another fyi for you.. i really don't care who is a supporter and who isn't..but not including the maker of the law when someone is complaining about it would not help further conversation regarding it.

brad216 comments on Hotel Rates in Cali

go2pr Dont' know if they have a pool or not since website doesn't say...
but forgot to mention a very important fact about Sheraton...they offer FREE transportation shuttle to and from airport. You just give them airline, flight#, and time and they will have a shuttle there for you. That is a nice savings for anyone that has had to pay taxi costs in the past.

brad216 comments on I hate Ignorance - Wachovia compliance mgt story

fyi... Nice to hear some press about Wachovia since I work for them. Sorry about your problem but due to all the idiots that voted for Bush, these laws are here to stay. Just a fyi.... Wachovia also does not charge a % fee when converting funds for atm withdrawls in foreign currency. What that means is that when a person w/d funds in a foreign currency, they don't realize that their bank may or may not charge an internal conversion rate fee that you will never see because all the client sees is the us dollar amt and atm fee. Unless your read the fine print of your bank agreement about foreign atm w/d's... you will never know and if you ask your local banker...they will probably not even know. I would recommend if you are interested in finding out more info...contact your banks customer service area to see if they are DOUBLE charging you.

PS...Go EAGLES!!!!! the Super Bowl is ours!!!!

brad216 comments on Hotel Rates in Cali

hotels On my 5 previous visits, i've stayed at intercontinental where if you reserve the rooms 2-3 wks in advance, can be had for 65-70 us dollars. For the service and locations i would highly recommend. I will be traveling jan 28-31 and will be trying the new Four Points by Sheraton hotel. It is newly renovated as of Dec 2004 and for $66 us per night you can get a queen bed, free buffet breakfast, and free internet service. I will let you know when I return how hotel is and whether i will be changing my hotel preference for upcoming trips.

brad216 comments on WHY IS THE FOOD AND HYGIENE SO BAD IN COLOMBIA

england gourmet??? i'm an american and there's nothing more that i enjoy than the food in colombia on my visits. i've been to england on many trips and no one from england should be complaining too much about food or hygiene. i felt even the irish had better food than the english and everyone knows ireland is not known for their food. no one can beat colombian fresh fruit juices and where better to be on an atkins diet than colombia??? my suggestion is to put away your blood pudding and high tea and enjoy all the local dishes that colombia has to offer.

by the way, as much as i hate to admit it...the one thing that still takes a lot of getting used to is not flushing the toilet paper. that kind of still freaks me out but i will eventually get used to it.

brad216 comments on I want to hear opinions about how foreigners feel visiting Colombia

Don't believe the papers. I have been to Colombia 5 times since September (Cali) and have had no problems. Not being able to speak spanish, i depend on my fiancee who lives in cali to do all the talking in taxis, etc.. If you believe all that is written in the US papers, you would think the worst of this country but once you get there, you will have nothing but great things to say. The people are warm and friendly and even if they don't speak english, they will try to speak the few words they might know to make you feel comfortable. Although my fiancee will be moving with me to the US, I look forward to the day when I will learn enough Spanish to be able to speak to more of the locals who have opened up their hearts, homes, and lives to me.

brad216 comments on And Peace On Earth

Happy Holidays to all of you out there who have helped me the last 4 months on this site. Special thanks to Desi who is always the first one to lend a helping hand...i mean email regarding all topics. Now that my fiancee has recv'd her final divorce papers..I have finally been able to start the visa process. This site has been a tremendous help with not only discovering the beauty of Colombia and its people, but also with everything from the visa process, to calling cards, to restaurants and places to visit in Colombia. As the New Year approaches I would like to give thanks to this site and hope that it gets back to real topics so that other people may benefit like i have. I'm off to San Andres with my Jenny for New Years and the start of a New Year of hope since I am hoping she will be with me by April. What more can i ask for??
Again, happy holidays to all and be thankful for all you have as there are many people who aren't as fortunate as many of us on this site.
Brad

brad216 comments on how to get dumped by a young colombiana, anybody know?

haha Elmo...thanks for the entertainment. You can always be counted on to brighten a boring day at work. I'm only going on 7 months and I can only hope to have your "problem" 5 years from now. Happy holidays.
brad