cypher has left 25 comments

cypher comments on Minor from us to Bogota

basically
if a minor is gonna travel with a COLOMBIAN passport, then they need the notarised permission from BOTH mother and father

However, if a minor is travelling with a British (or American) passport then you dont need this permission

hope that helps

cypher comments on clubs?

http://www.guiagaycolombia.com/ very big gay population here in colombia

check this website out http://www.guiagaycolombia.com/
it lists i think all

my favourite in cali is baltimore, i really loved it when i went
there, i havent been to ones in teh cities you mentioned but i can imagine they are just as good.

the best in bogota is El Closet, if you go to bogota is a MUST!!
and if you go to bucaramanga the best one there is Angel Negro

cypher comments on Worried about going back to Pereira

Desi,
it wasnt my intention to put down people for not being bilingual.. nor for speaking perfect spanish or perfect english..

my point is this and i say this cos i've had first hand experience.. children if taught from a young age can master two languages..

im not saying that their verbal inteligence is low if people aren't bilingual/multilingual..
if someone has spoken spanish for 9 years, is quite surprising that they would forget.. ok.. maybe out of practice.. but forget.. really doubt it..

as you yourself say. your kids with a few months in colombia.. would be top notch spanish speakers.. i can even say that if i was to go to france for a prolonged period of time my poor french would improve so much.. because even with a week or so there i always come back, speaking better..

its not about inteligence.. is just about practice

also just want to say.. maybe he meant by "poor" that now he cant say a sentence without mixing spanish with english (when you are young, and your friends speak both these languages you find yourself speaking a bit of both) if this is the case.. that was me 3 years ago.. its all habitual.. as soon as i went to colombia for holidays i learnt that by speaking like this most of my buddies their would not understand and therefore "forced" me to think before i spoke and just speak in spanish.. and now i constantly try to continue this, and not mix both spanish and english..

Colombia-Jane..
i wouldnt recommend this normally.. but she could watch TV in english.. i think TV for learning a language is great cos you have the visual aid there in front of you.. specially programs or films she has seen in spanish..

also give her time.. with time she will be speaking english just fine.. a friend of mine came to london when she was 15 after the earthquake in Armenia.. no english, now i could say it is "perfect"

cypher comments on Worried about going back to Pereira

Colombishe i agree with you..
i also had similar experience growing up.. first language i spoke was spanish and english i learnt at school, via tv etc.. my sister was taught in the same way too..
i think these kids forget spanish, when at home they dont speak it..

i mean i know many examples.. all my cousins, friends .. that have grown up here in london who speak very good spanish and who were taught spanish from a young age... i also know those few parent's who thought that the kids would not learn english so talked to them in an "average" english.. and therefore kids didnt speak spanish.. these guys just look stupid, and feel dumb when they see how all their other peers at spanish school speak good spanish and they can barely say "hola"...

so yeh how the hell can you forget spanish?? especially if you grew up in colombia!!

i went to colombia for over year when i was abt 5/6 and didnt practice no english, but then, who was i was going to practice with, my abuela??
but CarlosLDN as soon as i got back to london.. to everyones surprise within a week.. i was fluent english again, so dont worry once their it will all come back to you...

and yeh when i have kids.. spanish at home first.. english you can learn at school, via tv, and through friends.. i see my cousin bringing up her kids.. its brilliant seeing her kids speak spanish first, and then with their little friends speak englsih.. a child can master both perfectly =D

my advice is just this.. act as if you are one of the locals (even if you cant speak spanish).. dont think you are better cos you are going from London.. thats when people started getting jealous of you and therefore more likely to shoot you.. just kidding :p but seriously act as you are one of the locals..

enjoy your holiday.. those 3 weeks going to go by sooo quick

cypher comments on How is the Postal Service in Colombia?

yeh colombian postal sevice is crap to wrap things up..

i had a good experience with them, twice i sent two cards (via normal mail) both got to bogota say 6 weeks later, jaja .. but they got there..

however recently i sent a poster(in one of those tube things) via normal mail just to save a few pounds got to Bucaramanga over two months later.. PLUS it was cut in half!! and where do you complain? the guy who delivered it just said "thats how they gave it to me"...*roll eyes*

best way to send stuff is via a courier.. i use a company called Mensaya from here in the UK.. they're based in the US.. very reliable, cheap and fast!

cypher comments on Gay Life in Bogota

SG1002 are you a guy or a girl?

though this is not really important.. but would clear up something for me, lol

cos if you are a guy and interested in girls, then you might not be gay
but if you are a girl interested in girls then maybe you are..

anyway i wouldnt say anything to parents just yet, until you are sure yourself, at least 90%.. it will save you a lot of unnecessary heartache.. and if you are in colombia check out places there, and if you dont like, you can just go back.. and "it was only a holiday thing"..

cypher comments on Information on flights please

thanks everyone.. great info you gave me

going via the US sounded good but the thing was that the person im travelling with needs a US visa.. anyway..

i just booked my flight wooohoooo!!! so excited!! its a trek but for the extra baggage its worth it =)
its london-lisbon-caracas-caracas-lisbon-london got it via TAP,cost me £460 and 2 bags of 32 kilos each =)
then from caracas -bogota -bogota- caracas with aero postal is like 228USD and they allow 2 bags 32 kilos too.. but only in low season.. also as the flight gets into caracas early like 2pm local time, you can catch a connecting flight the same afternoon/evening
but as i am there already.. might aswell see what venezuela has to offer, lol

i have another question though i am going to need connection flights to armenia and bucaramanga, i will arrive on 3rd of june and want to stay the weekend in bogota and then go to armenia on the 5th, is it easy to get flights once im there? or shall i get someone to book them for me? also during my stay i will be making short trips here, there, and everywhere really, lol ... and also need to know if its quite easy to get fligths a few days before or so? by easy i mean that there is availability... oh yeh one more thing anyone know if the price difference of booking say a month in advance is a lot compared to a few days?

cypher comments on Cosianfirulo...

supercocos.. son los mejores! cada vez que voy a colombia me compro una bolsa y me los traigo para comer, y desafortunadamente se acaban como en una semana.. :(

y que me dicen del raspao??? es mi preferido!

cypher comments on Cosianfirulo...

que significa Cosianfirulo? :s

en fin.. uyyy si una chocolatina jet.. si me acuerdo bien venian con unas "stickers", tenia mi severa coleccion.. donde estaran?

y con respecto a Menudo, me recordaste de una cancion.. 15 años

"Hoy tu recuerdo es tan claro
que casi puedo olerte en mi piel
nunca ha habido, ni existido en mi corazon
otro amor

Eras siempre tan dulce
tenias quince años tambien
y tus ojos le cambiaron el color
a mi vida

Coro:
Eran noches y dias eternos
pensando en tus labios
amando con toda mi alma
eran tardes enteras
buscando la forma de hacer
los mas bellos y eternos
quince años

No entendia tu distancia
no pude explicarme tu adios
desde entonces solo en sueños
vuelvo a sentir, sentir tus besos"

cypher comments on why?

En primer lugar, no creo que haya tanto problema en cuanto discriminacion y falta de aceptacion, ya que para mi Colombia es uno de los paises que tienen mas moviemiento gay, yo vivo en Londres y cuando he ido a ciudades como bogota y cali, he visto que exiten cientos de bares, restaurantes, discos y diversas actividades dedicadas a personas homosexuales. .

Claro esta, que obvio hay unos cuantos ignorantes como don "Colombiano X" que aun creen que la vida es blanco o negro y que no entienden y aceptan a personas que por el hecho de vivir diferente no dejan de ser humanos con los mismo derechos y moralidad que cualquier otro.

cypher comments on How do I find a property?

have a look at

www.metrocuadrado.com

it's quite good, and will at least give you indication of cost, areas
etc..

cypher comments on Who's the boss?

haha,
this is a good topic..

i KNOW cos i have seen it time and time again, that in colombia is the
woman who is the boss! as kat1 said the looks..
they are killers! i've seen it time and time again, cousins, friends,
doing it to their husbands/bf, its actually pretty funny..
even between my mum and dad, (though my dad would like to think and
lead us to believe that they both have equal say).. i know my mum is
the one that makes the final decision at the end, hehe

endless times i've seen those looks across parties, clubs, restaurants, on the street.. it's very funny once the man sees the
look, he starts "behaving" again..

so my theory is this... when a colombian guy finds a gringa he wants to show her he is "boss".. and if he can do it in front of friends even better.. cos he "thinks" that he can get away with it.. cos
definately with a colombiana he would be whiped into shape, hahaha

and girl.. dont let him put you down.. no guy is worth that, lose him.. plenty more colombianos in colombia, lol

p.s. this is not to say all colombianos are like this..

cypher comments on Universities in Colombia

i would stay in the UK
my parent's offered me that same "opportunity".. i rejected it cos a degree from the UK is better recognised anywhere in the world, than a degree from colombia (unless you plan to stay in colombia). i know so many people who have come to the UK with degrees from colombia and they are not even doing what they studied, it is very hard to get the degree validated.

Also, you dont really want to be studying the rest of your life, and there is no point in doing a degree in colombia, then coming back to the UK to redo it, for example.

I took a gap year, actually 2, gave me the opportunity to live in colombia a while, and also decide on what i wanted to do.
If you want the experience of studying in colombia.. take a gap year and go there for a year, if you really like it and dont want to leave, stay.. but if not, you can always come back to start your degree in the UK. Or find a Uni here in the UK that does exchanges to Colombia.. i havent really heard of any.
Or better still go there just to improve your spanish on a long extended holiday =)

cypher comments on Gay Life in Bogota

rockcreek..

there is a brilliant gay life in bogota.. so many bars, clubs, cafes, everything... i was so surprised to see this when i went there, really wasnt expecting it. around zona rosa just of the top of my head i can count, one club, 3 very nice bars..there are plenty more though..
also one of the best party places in bogota is a gay club.. theatron

anyway have a look at this website think you will find all you need to know

http://pwp.etb.net.co/losmonjes/index.htm

p.s in zona rosa i would recommend Blues Bar

cypher comments on IS IT EASY TO FIND A JOB IN THE UK?

i wouldnt say its easy.. and think it makes it worse that you living in swindon... London or another major city will have more jobs.. but specially london.. It is also about luck, i know some girls who have come from colombia and got decent jobs, whilst others havent. check out the website British Paisa said, sometimes its good.

Keep thinking positive.. this country can at times really depress you (been there done that).

cypher comments on Pirate DVDs in Bogota

hi there.. if you want good quality.. then i recommend these people

www.dvdcali.tk
www.dvdmarket.tk

the dvds they sell are copies of orginal dvds and therefore your quality is great, and you get all the menus, subtitles and extra features etc..
i live in london, and have actually bought 30 dvds from dvdcali.tk and he sent them to my house in colombia and from there they sent them to me here.. so they are reliable. so if not happy with quality sold at san andresitos, then check these sites out they're very good. i found them on mercadolibre and deremate. oh yeah also if you gonna buy a lot.. then ask for a discount you might get one ;)

as for films to add to your list in spanish:

amores perros
Antes que anochezca (before night falls)
Carne Tremula
El sexo y lucia
La mala educacion
Los diarios de motocicleta
Mar adentro
Tesis
todo sobre mi madre

cypher comments on Mobile Phones in Colombia from London

just checked for an ola prepay sim card for myself on deremate.com.co
and it costs 50 mil pesos

cypher comments on Sending small packages to Colombia?

agree "COLOMBIAN POSTAL SYSTEM IS CRAP"

i usually send stuff using a company called Mensaya from London.. but in colombia they use servientrega.. they are cheap, fast and reliable :D
however one time i was only sending a poster,.. so i decided to just send it by normal Royal Mail as it wasnt too heavy (in one of those tubes).. not only did it arrive like nearly 6 weeks later but ALSO the *beep**beep**beep* cut the tube in half ruining the poster.. anyways..
never sending stuff using normal post.. is best just to pay that extra bit even if it is for something so small as a poster :p

cypher comments on

thought as much, hahaha

yeah i would recommend this school, been there to see a few of their schools and the ones that i have seen look very good compared to other schools plus it has various locations around london..
my personal favourite was the Oxford Street one as everyone was really friendly..
this is the website

http://www.litetraining.co.uk/

there are others such as this one

http://www.greenvalleycollege.com/

dont recommend it though as a friend of mine went there and from what she told me not a lot people would go to lessons and stuff so quite boring.. plus where it is situated pretty boring too, hehe

http://www.oxfordhousecollege.co.uk/
this one is pretty good too from what i've heard

there are others of course but dont have their websites.. plus i've seen a few and these are the best i've seen

any more info feel free to ask

cypher comments on Colombian TV in the UK~ How do i get it?

no it wont intefere with your sky box..
they will install another satelite, and another box that will receive these channels, i just phoned and i was told that for the motorised system it would cost £380 and for the standard one it wil cost £270 (or something like that) with the motorised system you can get up to 80 channels in spanish(this is what i was told).. they are not colombian channels.. there is one
that is called TV Colombia and it shows various colombian tv shows.

These are the numbers i got from the Directorio latino

Satelites Colombia ... 020 7394 7957 or 079 5646 8333 (this is the one i phoned)

Por Fin... 079 4949 2878

Al Sat... 079 0492 8309

(also note that these channels are free at times.. but sometimes they will stop airing them and you'll need to pay for a card to watch them again.. im sure the people who will install it will be able to give more info regarding this)

cypher comments on Money question

i guess that 8,500,000 would be enough.. but i would try to increase it at least to 10,000,000.. but it all does depend on what you gonna do..considering a bottle of aguardiente in a club costs at least 50,000 pesos if your not careful you'll party away your money.. another thing and this is from experience.. money seems to evaporate for me in colombia.. from spending a couple of pesos here and there eating snacks and drinks, and trust me you will be wanting to savour all the beautiful food thsi country has to offer.. buying some small gifts, clothes maybe and shoes, lol to treating family and friends.. and come on family and friends expect to be treated =) i guess you lucky cos you are not going to be paying rent and stuff.. as someone said before make sure you have extra cash available incase of an emergency.. and regarding a trip to san andres.. if you check out www.despegar.com you can see that 4 days 3 nighths all inclusive costing 818,000 per person so i would try and budget the trip outside of your spending money if posible..

and yeah you are right life is nothing like it was 12 years ago.. they even have 50,000 pesos notes, i remember the days when the biggest note was like 10,000, hahaha and things are much more expensive in general

p.s. i went to colombia in 2002 and spent double the amount, haha bad budgeting =)

cypher comments on Inbound call charges on Col cell phones?

they do not get charged.. you just pay a little bit extra for calling a mobile number, for example, from london i call to bogota and i get 90 minutes for £5 but if i call a mobile number it will only give me like
60 minutes

cypher comments on i want to go to college in Colombia-any english speaking universities there?my spanish is horrible

to vladimiro and purpleglasses86 i would say now anyone who is under 35 in colombia will definately be well aware of all the English songs and who sings them regardless of their social status.. you only need to hear La Mega..

and regarding the original topic check this site out
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~nanzola/univer.html
it lists all (i think) colombian universities, though i havent heard of any that teach solely in english

cypher comments on Maria full of Grace UK DVD release?

for Kat You are right... you dont hear much about this film here in the UK, even in the Oscar show that was on Sky 1 they only mentioned it very briefly.. saying that here in London on the tube there are some massive posters of the film =).. it comes out next week 25th March.. from what i saw of the posters on the tube, i saw it was only being released at some cinemas in London and not on general release.. so maybe it wont get to Wales.. but if it does its a MUST SEE!

p.s. if you would like it on dvd i know someone that is selling copies for £3 (not that i'm encouraging piracy :p)

cypher comments on London Finsbury Park, Finsbury Giros

Giros well it depends on how much you actually send..
the usual charge amongst most of these money transfer agencies is 3%
of what you sent.. so if your sent £200 then you would have paid £6..
also have to add.. that if you send less than £100, the majority will charge you £3 anyway..

i never used them.. but i recommend Giros Don Pedro in Seven Sisters (El Pueblito Paisa) ..they have been established for some years now.. and are very realiable and fast..plus you can enjoy some nice colombian food at one of the restaurants in El Pueblito Paisa after =)