jtrapp has left 13 comments

jtrapp comments on Colombia or USA, where to retire?

I've thought about this alot too. Got 5 years to go before I 'retire.' It seems to work for some, for others, no. Life's a gamble, and becomes dull and stagnat if you forever weigh your options. I will just do what I feel is right (not think), and make it work from there. BTW - When you marry a girl (anywhere), you marry her family. If every guy considered this, few would get married.

jtrapp comments on Death (Almost) Hits Home in Medellin

Gringo, People on the site here compare the two countries because they need a frame of reference.

jtrapp comments on This Guy on Yahoo Answers want to come to Colombia and date 14 year olds.

Someone should build a time machine for this guy so that he can go back to 30 B.C. and talk his smack about Jesus's mama straight to his face. If we could, a new verse would magically appear in the Gospels saying, 'And then our Lord turned Dwight T into a giant pile of dung, and cast the dung among the pigs.' Beautiful stained glass windows would be dedicated to this miracle. BTW, where in the Bible say that Joseph was 26 and Mary was 14? It is a hypothesis by studiers of the 'Historical Jesus,' who have a totally different view of Chirst than most Christians would find acceptable.

jtrapp comments on Death (Almost) Hits Home in Medellin

P.S., I was in Colombia for only 2 1/2 weeks (plan to go back for a month or more), but the only crime I witnessed was when I discovered that I accidently packed up the remote from one of the hotels. I wonder if this will give me street cred.

jtrapp comments on Death (Almost) Hits Home in Medellin

My guess, and I could be completely wrong, is that most shootings in Colombian are more 'rational bad behavior' i.e. money, whereas, in the U.S., partly because of all the guns, porportionately more murders are completely senseless. Comparisons may not be as useful as you think. Most of the murders in my neighborhood occurred between 1993 and 98. As you will see, several different cultures and mindsets. - 5 were killed during a Native American Xmas party that got out of hand. - A suicidal Latino killed his sisters boyfriend when he tried to calm him down. - An Asian gang member who killed a former gang members sister while she was working the night shift at a convience store. No money was taken. - A murder-suicide when a White school teacher and his Brazillian boyfriend discovered that they had shot up some poisoned heroin. - The suspicious death (not making this up) of former President Carter's nephew on the lawn of the same above teacher's property the year before. - A middle-eastern clerk was shot during a liquor store hold up. - A husband and wife were mugged. The wife threw something at the dude, and the guy shot the husband. So, I don't think that you can make a direct connection between Colombian murders and American murders. I have visited or lived in other dangerous places, and had a near disaster experience with some skin-heads in Hungary. But, usually our fears are magnified well out of proportion with the danger (knock on wood).

jtrapp comments on from cali to bogota by bus

For certain, the least comfortable aspect will be that you will be force to sit through 4 or 5 of the most violent American-made movies. I further guarantee that most of these movies will include outrageous American police brutality. While watching, please reflect on how the Colombian passengers must think of American society and law and order.

jtrapp comments on Death (Almost) Hits Home in Medellin

christobeldawg says on Tuesday November 20th, 2007 22:39: If anybody has some better stats that might shed light, which is likely, I would like to see more. The FBI just published this information on violent crime - 1.) Detroit, 2.) St. Louis, 4.) Oakland. I know that Oakland's rate has varied greatly over the years, between 20 and 70 per 100,000. All of this talk about there being a murder a day here or there is merely sensationalism. I would like to see some real up to date stats of comparison between Colombian cities and US cities. Yes, the incident described here, while disturbing if you are nearby, is only anecdotal evidence of general violence in a big city.

jtrapp comments on Death (Almost) Hits Home in Medellin

I live in Oakland CA, and stuff like this happens 50 times a year, and Oaktown is about 1/8th the size of Medellin. Twice hearing gunshots in 18 months? I used to hear gunshots 2 times a week, until the cops put out all sorts of gunshot listening devices, and we've averaged about a murder a year in about a 5 block area near my house. Still, I dont feel unsafe here, for many of the reasons talked about on this site, and I like my neighborhood. My neighbors have a camera pointed at a hot spot, and we've nailed all sorts of miscreants. The footage also makes for fine entertainment! Botched car break in s, drugs, sex. It is amazing how many people go to that spot underneath the freeway to have drunken, drugged, farting sex!

jtrapp comments on

I have live all through the U.S. Though I have not lived there, I have done some union negotiations in San Diego, and I was kind of shocked about how old white people dominate the area politically. From that point of view, it's probably the most racist city in the States.

jtrapp comments on

Elmo - have you ever been to Sweden or Norway?

jtrapp comments on

Is gringo really deragatory anyway? Personally, I don't care if someone calls me a gringo - should I care. I was renting a bike in Costa Rica once, and a little girl was at the desk. When I asked her if I could rent a bike, she ran off happily shouting, "Mama, Gringo aqui!"

jtrapp comments on Some Random comments on Colombia and South America

Thanks for the post, and for all of the helpful and amusing comments that I have read here. I am going to Colombia in 10 days. Those of whom I have told my plans have two contradictory opinions of my coming to Colombia, which you all may not find surprising: Those who have not been to Colombia - It's a dangerous place, and you're going to get kidnapped. Those who have been there - It's a great place, and you'll never regret visiting! Joe

jtrapp comments on Help me! Need advice on how to deal with f.....g latin NOVELAS, I can't stand it

Novellas A man walks into a doctor's office and says, "It hurts when I do this!" The doctor says, "So don't do that! That'll be 500 bucks."

So, another solution, other than moving to Bulgaria, would be to stop watching TV. I know a few guys, however, who greatly improved their Spanish by watching them, paying close attention to the girls. My hot, 36-24-38, Cuban/Attorney ex-girlfriend used to watch one a day faithfully, and that encouraged me to learn a little more espanol.