That's how it's always going to be with you. This is your lazy escape route every single time. Everybody is bad so you don't need to even try. Well, I'm off to apologise to my wife for raising my voice because she was being a simple minded woman at me a few minutes ago. She has a PhD but the poorish background and conservative upbringing makes her dumb as a post sometimes. Big gulf between us some days.. But she is good. Time for a break
I'm in Bogota right now and comfortable with the doorman to my Airbnb apartment LOL. I hear a lot of bad stories in Medellin though. I know the tourists mostly go there and Cartagena and often take stupid risks. Having been to all three, Bogota is way more chill and nobody bothers me here even in the touristy zones. I was constantly hassled in the other two cities. I would buy real estate, but I don't trust the government here. There's a decent possibility it becomes another Venezuela. They're also too soft on gangs, especially Petro. I'm definitely more in agreement with Bukele in El Salvador and think basically all of Latin America needs somebody like him to allow their economies to develop. If you don't have peace/safety it really doesn't matter what economic system you have.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/17/politics/jd-vance-kamala-harris-fascist/index.html Analysis: Vance warns calling a candidate a ‘fascist’ can lead to violence but doesn’t mention that’s what Trump calls Harris
The Medellin US expat scene is the worst, they are the most trolling and chicken-shit lot. I left all the groups years ago and never looked back. I get reports from another Irish friend and the weiner economic/medical refugee pensioners are still awful I'm told Gringo "Chichipatas". Medellin suffered from being a direct flight from Florida. Bogota is quite a contrast, but altitude/shitty climate and the traffic.. I was on the Transmillenial once. Once Bogota was the dangerous place ten years ago and Medellin safe, but as Poblado/Laureles and such filled up with idiot and trashy Florida bros, the local street rat gangs evolved. Sheep with bling, it's inevitable. South Bogota / the road to Melgar side of the city was rough as fuck though to my memory. Reminded me of living in Jo'burg where you would always car convoy with friends for safety. But, attacks of five-on-one to take an iPhone are beginning to happen around Laureles. In the past a guy might pull a knife and your average tourist had a fair chance. Now they punishment beat them to scare the other gringos. Ten years ago there was no hassle in Laurels or Poblado. None. No putas nagging you either. It wasn't Petro cause the decline but its his to reverse. The lack of a competent police and judicial system etc., that ordinary people don't even have a concept of what a judiciary should be, is a huge hill to climb. Dunno much about Bukele but I have always felt that they need to strengthen their emulation of Spain which now has a pretty good model for them that fits culturally. US culture is empty and ruinously just more bipolarism. I think we may move to Spain soon but the wife's family are Paisa and stuck with that
How much did he say Mar-A-Lago was worth when that Judge in NY lowballed it? I think he said $1.8B lol, ---> and it's taxed at $20MM. Palm Beach County should tax that extra $1.780B and... problem solved.
Petro didn't cause the problems, they've been here, but I don't think he's helping improve the situation. I don't think negotiating with criminals is the way to go. Colombia has a history of doing that. It hasn't worked. Bukele just built massive prisons and sent all the gang members to them. There was no negotiating. It was something you'd expect from a country like Singapore who doesn't have these problems, but of course people will complain about human rights abuses for the criminals. I didn't realize Laurales was a cesspool too now, thought it was mostly Poblado and people went to Laurales for a more laidback experience. Never been to Laurales as I was in Medellin for only a few nights and did one day at Guatape, one day exploring Medellin. I stayed in Poblado and remember walking through Poblado seeing girls who looked about 12 sucking on lollipops, I guess to appease some perverted guys. From my understanding a lot of them are trafficked from Venezuela. I was also constantly offered drugs, mostly weed from random people. Probably won't go back to Medellin even though I have friends from there. I haven't been to Cali and probably won't, because I hear it's even more dangerous there. I like Bogota's weather, it's never too hot which is good for day to day stuff. Why would I want 85 degrees with heavy downpours when there isn't even a beach? Sunday was 70 degrees and sunny, perfect day to me for walking around. More food options too. I've been sticking to the north of Bogota and I've hardly seen any sketchy people. I don't feel 100% comfortable doing it, because there's a lot of bikers, but most people are walking around with their phones out around where I am. My Spanish still sucks and I can't have a real intelligent conversation in it so I stick to meeting people who can speak English and are educated. I'm well aware of the scopolamine deaths (mostly in Medellin) so I'm very cautious. As for Spain, I know the locals of Barcelona are specifically getting fed up with expats/tourists. So good luck!
Laureles is OK, just there's a new element, much being driven by resentment to over tourism like Barcelona. Airbnb is has ruined things for many younger. Being primitive conservatives mostly, they will of course always blame the outsider. Nicaragua is a small place, you can get away with things on a smaller scale. In a while the guy will likely become another dictator who did good work then got old and mean like Uribe. I bought an apartment in Barcelona last year but as with all my properties I have a nice lecturer renting at patronage rates. Pretty much "Trusted house sitter" type deal. She is local so won't attract the attention of the torch wielding mob. Colombia is fine but the upper 2 percent that one can talk to here are not like back home. They are either always busy, always on a trip somewhere or something. Everybody else has a shite job with a shite company and not much experience to share. Anyway, I've had my decade here, I'm past the 7 year itch, have my homes and understand things here but it's more my age not fitting the scene now than a thing too objectively wrong. I even gave up my two country club memberships, these were great the first years but with a big increase in halfway decent restaurants and hotels, the feeling of a haven with a good lunch is diminished for me. Of course when Venezuela opens back up, Colombia is a bit fucked, most of the energy and investor attention will shift into there. I'd prefer to be away for that. It's a big and a small world but more to see.
I agree, if they overthrow Maduro it could be the investment of a lifetime. I like Bogota and could see myself spending significant time here. It's the easiest place to get to in South America from NYC or FL (I paid like $200 for a flight with a bag/aisle seat included two days in advance from JFK). It's easy to access anywhere else in Colombia (like Santa Marta for a weekend trip) or any major city in South America. I'm staying near Parque 93 which is good, because it's more quiet than Zona Rosa, but plenty of food options and only a 15 minute walk to there anyways. Definitely looking for a good place to play tennis close by. After Poblado I didn't want anything to do with staying in La Candelaria. It wasn't sketchy during the day, but I heard it wasn't safe at night.