larryrn has left 718 comments

larryrn comments on Health insurance.

my wife went to the hospital here in SM and had a CT of the brain. We were in the ER for 4 hours. Our ER doctor who is board certificated in Emergency Medicine speaks English and went to University of Miami. Our co-pay was 20,000 pesos (10 dollars). There are no other bills from the doctor, radiologist, hospital, labs, etc) We have Coomeva EPS (67,000 per family) and pre-paid (135,000 per person). With pre-paid medical we have a seperate waiting area, entrance and lobby at the hospital (Prado) all called VIP. Larry

larryrn comments on Snyder's Pretzels in Colombia

yes, that's what i thought..People were indeed buying them - and I didn't see any pretzels here (Colombian's don't eat them I guess).. They are what, $1.89 at Publix (but many times buy one get one free!) Larry

larryrn comments on Importing perishable food into colombia?

I ship horseradish, kashi, triscuits and a bunch of food to Colombia frequently. No problems but not like I am importing beef or chicken..

larryrn comments on Obtaining a Home Loan in colombia

With great credit here the best rate is 18% APR for 20 years with 30% down.

larryrn comments on La Herradura Gourmet - Santa Marta

The McDonalds is in this incredible looking brand new 2 floor large building - and always empty. I have no idea how they can stay open. Larry

larryrn comments on La Herradura Gourmet - Santa Marta

Evan - I have been at your place 4 times now. I reviewed your place initially and have made several positive comments about the large shrimps with avacado and the cevechi. Last week we split an appitizer with a pita garlic bread, mango sauce, guacamole and quesadilla and it was great as well. I also like your black bean soup - but your shrimp dishes are the best. Your restaurant has consistient quality. I really enjoy living here as there are so many places to check out within a short walk. larry

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

I think it's like 10 cents a minute for cell phones in Colombia.

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

Another cool thing you can do with Vonage is program your Vonage number to call your cell phone. Of course you will be picking up the tab for the 10 cents a minute but people can call you using a US number. Of course, you can forward the calls to ANY number in Colombia. So you can set up ANYONE with a US Inbound number. Land lines would of course be FREE. And no, I don't have stock in Vonage.I was offered stock in the IPO and I didn't jump (it's a good thing). I need the money for my business. Larry

larryrn comments on Muelle Restaurant - Santa Marta

What is the address or directions?? Is it on the beach??

larryrn comments on Muelle Restaurant - Santa Marta

We went to a pizza place 2 days ago maybe a block east of Ben and Joseph's -- it was pretty good - we had a large pizza and 20 beers for like 78,000. The inside was white with blue chairs and had air conditioning but we sat outside.. Ironically, Ben (from Ben and Josephs) actually went into the place (my wife pointed him out to me since our experiences with the B&J are less than favorable). Thanks, we will check out Bananas. BTW tomorrow is the 10 year birthday party for Crabs Bar. Larry

larryrn comments on Muelle Restaurant - Santa Marta

We were at Ben and Joseph's in Santa Marta 3 times and all 3 times they told us Ben would be "here" to take the order. On each visit we waited between 15 and 40 minutes then left rather pissed. I really can't imagine their steaks being that good as their service is pretty bad. Mil Carnes and Burukuka has the best steaks in Santa Marta. Burukaka is definitely in a class all it's own. One place we do visit frequently is Agave Azul - everything on their menu is very good. I only wish their beer was much colder Larry

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

Yes, it's unlimited to Colombia - but the other cities (Monteria/Santa Marta) are new since the world plan apparently. What is Fijo?

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

They tell me (Vonage) that all calls except 57 - 3 are free. 57 - 3 is designated for mobile calls.

larryrn comments on Son Tapas Santa Marta

This place actually, my eye doctor is a partner in and she told me about it. It's very nice and what I would consider high-end - but damn, I wish they had other beers from Colombia!! Our housekeeper (I really don't know what you call them by profession) is going home to Medellin for a week or so next weekend so we weill be eating out quite often and I will check out other places.. LS

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

I have a voice and fax number on Vonage - and my wife has been calling Medellin at 600-800 minutes a month. She asked about Monteria and I told her yesterday to "talk all she wants". Yes, when Vonage went to the "World Plan" as long as you are on this plan (and not on the "Latin America Plan") all calls to landlines on Vonage are now included. Now I don't need a land line here in Santa Marta -- however, my Telmex contract requires the landline in the package to get 8 megabits. Otherwise you can't get a 8 megabit internet conneciton here (unless it's bundled with phone and TV). Larry

larryrn comments on war within the next two years

Colombia has a ton of oil and regulates the price with government controls. Colombia if they want could lower the prices and export much more oil than they are.. Larry

larryrn comments on Fort Lauderdale, FL to Santa Marta or Cartagena $199 one way. No limit on luggage - 1 day sale.

I don't see the $199 price.

larryrn comments on Vonage offers FREE calls to ALL landlines in Colombia

Iniitally it was only for certain cities lIke Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla - I wasn't aware that they upgraded their plan and that ALL landlines were free which is great. Vonage is loosing tons of customers - I really don't know why as I am very pleased with their service. I also have a Packet 8 account for "historical" reasons but I think I will drop them and move to another Vonage account as well. Larry

larryrn comments on Cable TV Nightmare

In Monteria our friends had illegal cable and cable internet. No clue on how they did it but it worked and was 2 megabits. Also, "some guy" would come around and reset the electric meters for 50,000 pesos saving a good amount of money. He had a laptop and kept track of the usage and previous meter readings - and he always showed up 2 days before the meter was read..

larryrn comments on Mail Forwarding

TCC I've been using for almost a year now. Excellent service - direct - biweekly forwarding of all my mail from a PO Box in Florida. Door to door service - arrives here in SM at my apartment in 3 business days.. Larry

larryrn comments on Blackberry Tour De Venta por $900,000 (NUEVO)

HSPA for 3G networks in the old continent - what is this about? AT&T is using HSPA in their 3G network? old continent??

larryrn comments on Blackberry Tour De Venta por $900,000 (NUEVO)

What city are you in?

larryrn comments on Homeless dogs in Barranquilla. What can be done about the problem?

The dog situation is horrible here in SM with them everywhere, always pregnant and having sex on the streets.. Really pisses me off..

larryrn comments on BUYING COMPUTERS FOR INTERNET BUSINESS IN COLOMBIA

Go to the computer stores and have them build a box for you. There are a couple at Prado Plaza and at Oceans Mall. They can build a box for like 450,000. The retailers (Exito, etc.) while they do provide factory products you pay a premium. Larry

larryrn comments on war within the next two years

Chavez speaks and acts without thinking. If he messes with Colombia the US would be here in force.

larryrn comments on

In Medellin (Poblado) we didn't have a tub and here we are in a new place and there is no tub. Our friends here in SM don't have tubs as well. Actually, I haven't seen a tub since I have been in America now that I think of it.. Larry

larryrn comments on Yerba Mate in Santa Marta?

Carrefour would be the only place here that I could imagine that being sold - but I could be wrong. Does Juan Valdez have any teas? Larry

larryrn comments on INTERNET PROVIDER

Nope, not that I am aware of however the quality of their digital TV is incredible. True it's not HD but it's very, very good on a large LCD. Their infrastructure is incredible - same as Comcast in CT. Same Motorola decoders and their telephone service is VoIP using Cisco hardware. In the building here they have 5/8"rigid coax - 3 seperate runs feeding throught the building from the ground up.

larryrn comments on Spirit Airlines -- is there a catch?

you get what you pay for. Spirit is a disaster but I am forced to fly them as I don't want to pay twice as much using another airline. nickle and dime you for everything and they totally ruined terminal 4 at FLL as every gate is full and the people are waiting in lines for food, bathrooms, etc. And when you get to the airport at FLL - the lines are horrible but tell them you want to apply for their credit card and they will send you to a seperate line that is for VIPs and you get to bypass the thousands of other people waiting in a line which is like at DIsney world in August.

larryrn comments on Free WIFI at MIA and FTL till Jan 15, 2010!

if you are in the right location - all the airports (I have been at) have free wifi - even, grin Monteria!! While waiting I just scan for wifi networks using my blackberry and ding!! WIFI then UMA and then Tmobile - EPM and then free calls to and from the US! Gotta love Tmobile and their UMA.

larryrn comments on

Living in SM i miss a good bandeja paisa con heuvos. The meats are different here and don't taste as good as they do in Medellin..

larryrn comments on Colombian Cupid and Gieco Insurance.

When I surf on my Colombian IP I see completely different ads vs when I surf on my Dallas IP. With a VPN you can have an IP anywhere.. Larry

larryrn comments on A few items for sale

Way to expensive on the TV. I bought the same TV 3 months ago for 1.900,000. I would offer 1,400,000 for the TV if you deliver to SM.. Larry

larryrn comments on Free WIFI at MIA and FTL till Jan 15, 2010!

FLL has always had free wifi!! MIA has always charged..

larryrn comments on INTERNET PROVIDER

ETB leases lines from Telefonica and provides DSL internet but better customer service, faster (4 megs at certain locations) and a fixed IP. Telefonica provides 2 megs and horrible customer service. Une (EPM) provides WiMax with horrible latency as the connection is backhauled to Medellin. With Telmex - 2 digital TVs with 200 channels, 60 digital music channels, PPV - 2 analog TVs and local phone service the price is 270,000 with the first month free (contract). The only thing I don't like is the upload speed is 400kb. The quality of the TV is incredible - and the Latin network have all the latest American network shows like CSI LA, Vegas, etc. The latency is 3 hops to the backbone in Miami at NAP of the Americas. Larry

larryrn comments on Setup a live camera in Barranquilla.

i'm not able to connect either on either IP. Ironically, I also setup a live camera here last week - and I am on Telmex as well (your IP address belongs to cable.net.co which is Telmex). While my download speed is 8000 kb my upload is 400kb and with all my other traffic I didn't have the bandwidth for a Java based camera doing real time video. As mentioned above, you need to open up port forward on your router and consider using a dynamic DNS provider since the Telmex address changes frequently. I am using dyndns.org and the router every hour give the current IP address so it's always reflected in the DNS. Larry

larryrn comments on Capital One Direct Banking account withdrawl @ Carrefour in Barranquilla

With Capital One I usually get a high rate - I always try to use BBVA. Larry

larryrn comments on INTERNET PROVIDER

I have Telmex and I get a solid 8.10 megabits (I pay for 8 megabits) back to the US on my VPN. I am 3 hops from the Colombia Fiber connection to Florida. Telmex absolutely rocks and blows the other provider I had (ETB, EPM, Telefonica) out of the water.. Larry

larryrn comments on Fish Market in Cartagnea/other

Usually just hanging down at the beach - here in SM where the rivers meet the ocean in the morning you can always see guys selling fish - usually red snappers.. Larry

larryrn comments on Mid-range restaurant in Poblado?

I would vote for Il Forno - I miss so much - and their location on Transversal Superior is a great location for talking, drinking, etc. And their food is great too!

larryrn comments on LCD Prices - Samsung and LG

Today my shipment arrived from Florida - Amazing - shipped on Wednesday afternoon and delivered here in Santa Marta to my house for 1.35 a pound. The coolest thing is an Aluratek Internet Clock Radio from Amazon.com - picks up thousands of radio stations and the sound is incredible.

larryrn comments on LCD Prices - Samsung and LG

True- but bringing the TV here would cost 250 dollars plus impuesto (30% based on the Google of the model by DIAN).

larryrn comments on Rock n Roll Bars - Santa Marta

Exito's house beer is brewed by the company that makes Polar. They call it here "Regional Light" - in English.

larryrn comments on LCD Prices - Samsung and LG

yes but there would be no warranty. Exito had a LG with 3 year on-site warranty last weekend for 1899 which is 900 bucks.

larryrn comments on LCD Prices - Samsung and LG

it's so sunny, hot and bright here in Santa Marta that Plasma would be ruled out. I rule out LED because of the price so all that is left is LCD

larryrn comments on LCD Prices - Samsung and LG

LCD not LED.

larryrn comments on ECONOMICAL RATES!!!! TO SHIP FROM USA TO COLOMBIA

With TCC everything is opened and marked as being used (nothing in factory sealed boxes prior to shipping). Door to door to my house here in Santa Marta is great - I get all my mail and stuff usually in 4 days - TCC makes the delivery and the delcared value is based on the "garage sale value". Larry

larryrn comments on Bar Lilias - Rodadero

Large black doors and the name Bar Lilias is over a red heart on the top.

larryrn comments on here in colombia

I always eat Mojarra at Playa Blanca and never have problems. Actually, a bunch of us where there and we were at the 2nd covered place from the right and we filled up half the guys tables. Most of us ate fish but a couple had chicken and a lot of beers. That is one of my favorite afternoon things to do (walk over the mountain and eat there).. Also, I what bank where you using in Rodadero that wasn't working? I used the ATH ATM on KR 3 - it's two shops down from scuba diving place. I haven't had any problems in quite a while (using the Capital One ATM card). No ATM of foreign transaction fees..

larryrn comments on

I agree with the tipping. Last night for Sushi it was 42 and I gave a 8k tip and left 50k. So what about the real estate you looked at here?? Avelon is a project that is in pre-sales in the older (kind-of dumpy but being updated) part of Rodadero (west Rodadero) I know 2 people buying in their - single family homes in a gated community but a walk of 100m to the beach. And the builder here of Bahia Linda is starting a new project in the same neightborhood (west Rodadero) but on the beach called Playa Linda. The builder told me he is 70% sold and they are starting construction.