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podborski comments on French tourists seen as world's worst: survey

My experience says that survey is pretty much bang on, EXCEPT for the french (sorry billyb! lol), both as tourists and as hosts in their own country. I even found the french in paris to be more friendly than those in the countryside. I still dislike their foreign policy however : ) Americans are by far the best if you are in the tourism/hospitality business. They tip 2 to 3 TIMES the amount of europeans, and are far less demanding, more friendly, more open to suggestions on where to go what to do. No one else comes close in terms of generosity. Americans may be loud, but they are not half as loud as Argentines and Italians. Brazilians are loud too, but because they are always laughing or singing. Wonderful tourists. Irish are very friendly and fun, the best if you own a bar, along with the aussies, also very friendly. Canadians are pretty good, a bit tight with the wallet (it´s that scottish heritage!), easy-going, the only fault is they tend to make openly anti-American comments, often right in front of Americans. Colombians are right at the top of the list too of course, very quiet, the least demanding of all and of course exceedingly polite (some Argentine friends were playfully making fun of just how polite some colombians we had just met were, they were over the top, but in the nicest way. Makes me think colombians are like the Canadians of SA haha) No comment on the bad tourists, but the survey looks very accurate/unbiased to me...

podborski comments on

I couldn't believe when Marcela (man t you know who she is) started asking me the other day about the amero, I'm serious! She couldn't believe I didn't think it was anything realistic. I couldn't believe a 21 yr old argy girl is reading up about the amero? Maybe there's a lot more people into this than i ever imagined??? Or maybe the Brangelina news was light that day?

podborski comments on which PBH members will you have for a dinner party ( just for fun)

I fondly recall the first time I heard about the trilateral commission billyb, on a roadtrip to the whitehouse (seriously, I was a student and my whacko friends signed us up for one of Joe Coors' sponsored trips, young americans for freedom or something like that. hey it was a free trip and I got to see RR in the flesh. Anyway, my pals talked about the trilateral commission and some other group...as we cruised down the highway listening to larry king on the radio..also the first i ever heard of him. I never agreed with any of the stuff my friends did, but it was always fun listening, very entertaining. I'll always have time for characters, and loid is one of my favourites. Things would be dull without him around.

podborski comments on which PBH members will you have for a dinner party ( just for fun)

haha man t how could I have forgotten that scottish chick? damn for sure i want her to be there. what's the point of getting drunk with a bunch of friends if you can't have a very loud ' debate' about something?

podborski comments on SAY WHAT BRIANS?

jaja kat yeah I am pretty sure he lives in a damp, dark castle in Rumania or albania

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

no reason to pay up for french and italian wine, good as it is, when the SA version can be as good (at the lower and middle end, better in fact) too bad taxes seem to be so high on wine in colombia, as I hear they are in Brazil as well. Not like these countries are protecting their own industry...it´s a bit odd. If i could get a bottle of AF Malbec or a carmenere for $20 in a bar or restaurant in Colombia I´d really have everything I need

podborski comments on SAY WHAT BRIANS?

I know I don't have to worry about you kat, but I do, especially when someone named Zoltar is after you lol you have to admit, it's a scary name

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

ok so I went into a place called the wine store near zona t, and what a surprise, they had a great selection of wine. I only really know argentine stuff but they had lots. It was all a bit pricey, but not horrendous. I was very surprised to see they did have Achaval Ferrer malbec, I think it was 80,000 COP? Not cheap, but at least they have it. They also had a lot of catena zapata, and even Luca which is quite a boutique winery (related to catena) There was so much I can't even recall it all, but I have their card and will try to remember to post their email address, they told me they had a catalog they would email me. So now when are restaurants going to start carrying all this?

podborski comments on SAY WHAT BRIANS?

zoltar might not understand kat, but I (and douglas too apparently) know why someone married you, the lucky at #$%^&! BTW, love that name, zoltar. Sounds right out of a videogame.

podborski comments on which PBH members will you have for a dinner party ( just for fun)

guess I am late to the party here-s my list kat (of course) elmo kalder mantequila gringoloid houstongal douglas (the epitome of cool) billyb pow wow and vast amounts of alcohol

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

I'd like to put it in Usaquen, but probably have to stick with Zona T which has lots more traffic How would I convince the locals to drink wine though? Maybe elmo has some advice on that? Probably I'd have to serve cheese with it and then those damn colombians would drop it into their wine : )

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

I think owning a wine bar in Bogotá would be the best possible job in the world, but I'd lose my shirt as I'd probably (more like certainly) give free drinks to every hot girl that walked in it would be a fun way to lose money though I'll scout locations next week

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

you know how they say you should do something you like, well a wine bar is an obvious choice for me. is it just me or do half of PBHrs either own bars or are trying to open one?

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

I would pay a lot of money to see you ´put on a show´ kat, I 'd even buy you some puligny montrachet. I bet billyb and gs would join me

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

bring the icewine, it's probably unheard of in Colombia, and it's very hardy, it's so high in alcohol content it lasts forever, even opened. It'll be fine. Try it with cheesecake...it is a dessert wine after all. Not sure it would go with arequipe though

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

in general I'd bet there are better chilean wines than argy wines for sale in Colombia...

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

I think the ones I mentioned would be hard to find in bogotá Maybe you'd find something from Catena Zapata or Sophenia, which are pretty good? But avoid the mainstream argy winemakers like Rutini, although Trapiche makes some ok wine at the higher end When I get there next week I'll check out what's available and maybe be able to make some suggestions

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

anyway, for anyone who cares, right now I only know argentinean wine. But if you are in the US or UK you might find the following: El Felino Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon, especially 2006 if you can get it. About $14? Great value. I like Cab Sauv better than anything myself.. Bramare malbec or Cab sauv any year, it's freaking great wine if you like a big wine, at $35 or $40 USd it's my current favourite Now if you get really lucky you might find a bottle of Australian cab Sauv called Branson Coach House, 2005, Greenock Barossa Valley. Normally costs $80 usd, but I heard it can be found on sale as big aussie reds are out of favour at the moment. 18% alcohol, tastes like port, best wine I've had at that price, and maybe best wine I've had period. Well, maybe not, but it was damn good. Achaval ferrer cab sauv 2003-amazing. Not big, but very subtle and balanced...a real wine lover's wine. Tomorrow I'll be drinking at a bottle of Bramare (it's my birthday!) and I plan to bring a bottle or 2 to Bogotá with me too. Do any restaurants in Bog allow you to bring your own?

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

ok, this is perhaps my ONLY complaint about Colombia...not easy to find decent wine, especially in bars, hey maybe I can open a wine bar in Bogotá? Actually last time I looked in carrefour it seemed to be ok, and not too horribly pricey About the only thing you can get in zona rosa bars is casillero del diablo, which is ok, but not great.

podborski comments on Wine glorious wine!!

did someone say wine???

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

the problem is, it's pretty much impossible to know what those derivatives represent...they ae basically a bunch of complicated contracts, and I don't think anyone has a good idea of what they all mean, it wouldn't be possible to know. But I sure don't trust risk management in the big firms, so I'd say there are bound to be a lot of very, very ugly surprises buried in those contracts. That's why i bailed out of my one bank holding (Royal Bank of Canada, best bank in Canada, so maybe one of the best anywhere).Still they could have all kinds of commercial RE loans that will be under water, or derivatives...so I'll step aside for a while and just stick with commodity plays like my man Jim Rogers says to do

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

nope! haha I just mean I think the dollar is going to lose a lot of value vs currencies of countries that are managed better, like Canada, (can't believe I am even saying that.) It won't go to zero I don't think. Still lots of great companies in the USA, and europe is no hell either. I'm a long term optimist on the USA, but this mess is huge and won't be quickly cleaned up. However I could see myself piling into US stocks in a few years...or maybe after the dollar has fallen another 30%.

podborski comments on

great, thanks kat. But it was more work than I planned on. Just getting to the point now where I can leave it alone and travel. How are things across the pond? I hope to do a big trip later this year, I might threaten to come visit you : )

podborski comments on Colombia’s Peso Rises

anyone see any of the reports CNN en Espanol is doing on Colombia this week? It's a special focus on Colombia. Today they interviewed Arturo Callé who owns the clothing chain and a few others. Colombia is getting quite a bit of attention these days

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

I like PBR too poco...great long term prospects I think. But I am not buying anything on US exchanges right now, just CDN listed stuff. I don't want anything in the dollar...it's done for, like you said.

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

no I'm not brave loid, I just don't have much choice, I was trying to wait and buy in cheaper but waited too long. I actually think there's a better chance I will lose on this than win, in the short term anyway...but if this does drop I still have about 4 times as much to put in, and only then will I be fully hedged. So actually, I am panick buying right now, haha, like a lot of others. I just hope to be able to bail out if it really collapses. I'm watching fairly closely...

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

my only fear is oil takes a drop and the canadian dollar still keeps going up...not all that likely, but you never know. Long term I like the oil story though. I think the range is $40 to $140 now, and we're a lot closer to the bottom than the top But if it gets to $70 USD in the next few weeks I'll probably take profits and hope for another dip to buy in again

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

I just held my breath and piled into a lot more of HOU today...I really feel it's crazy, but it just seems like oil wants to go up, mainly because the dollar is going down. It's the best hedge I have found against a crashing dollar. I sold my RY (royal bank) and anything else that wasn't commodity related... I think this is more of a play on the falling dollar than anything else.

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

one of my best friends is also in Bog right now, and I only have a few days. Besides, I'm not sold on medellin at all...but maybe I'll give it another try next time I get more than a week off.

podborski comments on

just trying to wind you up kat! I missed you hey GS, all's well here. I am heading to Bogotá next week for a few days, so I'll see if my generalizations are still true

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

hey loid, how are you? I'm heading to Bogotá next week, you around or in medellin?

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

hey Bill yeah I really wasn't convinced I was more buying as a hedge against my long USD position. I would actually still be better off if they all crashed. So I have no idea when to sell, but going to ride it a little bit.... but my brain tells me I am playing the greater fool game right now. Sentiment seems overwhelmingly, irrationally positive though, I'm not going to fight it.

podborski comments on

sorry kat but I am going to have to generalize about colombianas: they are the most beautiful, most fun, most down to earth, most un-worldly (in a good way), most warm, most feminine, best dancing women in the world. Plus they all have great smiles, great skin, fantastic eyes, beautiful long hair and just about perfect curves. Sorry.

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

oh yaeh and HOU from $5 to $7.50

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

ok for all you lazy people, POT has gone from around $100 to $132, AGU from $47 to $59, and CBQ from $20 to $23....all on the TSX and in $CDN of course. By the way, the loonie is going to par, as I feared...buy on dips

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

ok so I just have to gloat a bit here...anybody check out the price of POT, CBQ, HOU lately? I am a guru...: )

podborski comments on Happy Lucky

I'll drink a toast to your good luck kat!

podborski comments on Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

oh yeah, and Uruguay and Chile.

podborski comments on Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

well I'm sure he makes it sound more complicated desi, but we all know the message. And he probably blames spanish imperialism too. Now a good book to read is Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Some really fascinating theories and descriptions of historical events (like 180 spanish defeating 80,000 'natives' in a battle...or something like that) Anyway, history is old news. I'm more interested to hear opinions about whether this continent will ever improve. After living here for 3 years, I'd say maybe Colombia and Brazil have a chance. Argentina? Forget it. But it's still a fun place to be.

podborski comments on Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

I haven't read the book or even heard of it before, but I think I can write a pretty good synopsis, knowing my buddy Chavez likes it: 'all our past problems were the result of centuries of yankee imperialism, and all our current and future problems too. It sure has nothing to do with our penchant for socialism and corrupt big government' The end.

podborski comments on

'cause we all had our hearts broken by nati17 and even more by brazilian hottie (remember her?) . I even offered to buy her a house I think.

podborski comments on Colombian Peso Climbs on U.S. Data; Chilean Peso Advances

if you have to peg the price of anything, it means you want the price to be something other than what the market says it should be. Result is always disastrous, it's the main problem Argentina had in the 90's which caused the place to collapse in 2001/2. If the price of the currency makes it hard on your business, it's telling you something: get better or get out of the business.

podborski comments on Peso-Pound Sterling exchange rate

yes, far too busy. But finally this week things are slowing a bit...and one of my staff is on vacation (she went to Colombia) so I am filling in here and there so have time to read PBH again. These currency moves are driving me crazy too, as I think the potential is for 15 to 25% moves, which can really hurt (or help). Longer term I think the emerging market currencies have seen the lows, and we'll be back to the slow steady rise against the dollar. Except for here in lala land of course. Buy your COP now! I have been buying a BRIC (brazil russia, india, china) ETF, as I think at least Brazil and China are going to go straight back up, in the next 2 years. Hope life is treating you well...I see pow wow is still here, and looks like maybe still entertaining?

podborski comments on Peso-Pound Sterling exchange rate

come to Argentina! peso here has dropped from 3 to 3.70 and will keep going to 4 maybe 4.50. Hi kat! hi Kalder! long time... hope you're well

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

well so far so good...did you buy any HOU loid? How about POT or AGU? My best has been CBQ, which is a Canadian BRIC etf. I think that should be a long term keeper, if I can keep myself from the short term trading urge.. I'm getting killed on the loonie rise...I saw it coming and have been trying to hedge it for months, but my damn bank never sent me the papers I needed to set up a forward contract. My brain tells me this is all too far too fast...but my gut tells me people want to buy anything and everything right now. I'm going to ride it a bit longer.

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

hell no Bill...I haven´t got time for that. I was hoping mr market already had taken that into account? If not, I'll be riding the position for a while I guess. But I am just dipping my toe in for now, it won't kill me. Hey loid! yeah, HOU.To...it's probably not the best way to play it, but there are some restrictions on this account I have, so I can´t play futures for example. I can buy it in Cad$, so that helps a lot too. I don´t think we'll see $200 again loid, or even $100...but like you say, I am happy with some very small part of that. There's probably some ugly downside to HOU that I am unaware of, but so far so good. I never bought into the oil is going up forever mantra, and i also don't think we are running out any time soon, but you have to think we're a lot closer to the bottom than the top here. I'm pretty sure in 5 years we'll have seen oil over $100 again...maybe lots higher?

podborski comments on Colombia Economy Faces ‘Difficult’ 2009, Roubini Says

Ken I have to think you're right, and I know the most dangerous words in investing are ´this time it's different' BUT...I just think China and India might stop buying BMWs but not soy, wheat, copper, potash or whatever the hell other commodities they need? So maybe there's hope for commodity producers? I hope so, as after having been out of stocks for too many years I started buying Potash and Agrium (TSX) and even an oil ETF (HOU). Normally I'm way too early and get killed for a year before things start to go my way. So expect a big plunge in commodites for the next year : )

podborski comments on Goodbye Scotty......

Ahhh, that´s really sad news, I was really looking forward to having a celebratory drink with Scotty and the rest of the gang once he beat this. Scotty was a real character, and that's a good thing in my books. Few people make me laugh like he did (I think some people didn´t quite get his sense of humour) Well I regret we never got to meet Scotty...may you rest in peace.

podborski comments on

well drinks in the pub in zona rosa are probably $10 each now, so we'll settle up next time I visit, which I hope to be soon, but will probably be March at the earliest, and a short trip at that. No idea what to guess for this year...I'll go the other way and say the USD is going to collapse so back to 1650 for the peso. And yes, I was definitely just taking the opposite view to RAAAY, jaja. Too bad some of the old crowd have drifted off.

podborski comments on

ok ok I can at least show up to say hello (and bathe in glory jaja), oh and start sending paypal invoices! Sorry I didn't answer earlier Loid, just too damn busy, which is good I guess if you're running a business. As for my win being luck, well hell yes, I was just being a contrarian and betting on a US$ rebound. I picked a number high enough to be the outlier so I'd get lots of territory just in case it played out this way. Pure luck it came so close. Hopefully I'll be able to stop in now and again, but still damn busy.