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BAQ - Feb 2003

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rontheneq:
Background:

A friend and I were planning our vacation, and we wanted to go somewhere exotic but different (not the usual tourist trap locations). After doing some research I found Barranquilla, which I read was an up-and-coming city that will one day be a very popular tourism location. Since we knew absolutely no one in Colombia, I decided to join Amigos.com and make some friends in Baq. Hopefully they would be able to recommend places to visit and potentially even show us around, etc. Unfortunately, due to some things at work, I had to postpone my trip, and my friend backed out and ended up going to Zurich instead.  :roll: However, I DID meet a very nice girl from Baq on Amigos.com, and we continued to correspond. She worked in an internet Cafe, which made it super convenient to chat any time. I wasn't particularly looking for a long-term relationship at the time, but I really hit it off with this girl, and eventually I made plans to travel to Colombia, but with the only real agenda of meeting this girl (we'll call her 'A') and seeing if there was relationship potential. As luck would have it, I ended up visiting Colombia right around Valentines Day (at least the US holiday, not the Colombian one).

rontheneq:
About 'A':

'A' seemed to be a pretty amazing lady. She lived at home with her sister, her mother, her grandmother, and her brother. 'A' and her sister owned their house, which was a gift from their father. They both worked and chipped in on all the bills. The mother did not work, but ran the household. 'A' had a great job as technical support at a local chain of internet cafes. She did occasionally help out with the customers, but mostly she built and configured computers, and troubleshot internet connection, etc. I was very impressed that she was so technically asutute, and obviously intelligent. She wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, but then neither am I (lol), and she was more than attractive enough for my tastes (although a bit tall). She had a great sense of humor, a little off the wall but very funny. She was undeniably an utter hopeless romantic, and very inexperienced in relationships. In fact, she claimed to have never had a 'real relationship', which was perhaps why she was a little bit unrealistic in her romantic notions (no one had 'brought her back down to earth' yet). She was very vague about her sexual experience, she had been with one guy before, but she really wouldn't give much more information, except that no one in her family knew about it. She seemed to be a moral person, she would write to me about some of her co-workers and how they would string along several guys online (at the same time) often from different countries. She was also scandalized when she would catch them 'flashing' guys on the webcam, which apparently happened quite often. Much to my amusement (and her dismay) they would tease her when she was online with me, and encourage her to "show me something", which she never did (except once unintentionally when a girl came up behind her and pulled her top down). Thanks to the delay on the webcam, though, I really didn't see much (lol).

There really weren't any 'warning signs' and she never asked me for money. She was 26 at the time, 10 years younger than me. She didn't speak much English when I first started talking to her, we used to have to use the free online translator sites all the time. But she picked up more and more English and eventually we would only use the translators for a few words we didn't undertand or 'deeper' topics.

The time for my visit rapidly approached, anad in Feb of 2003 I flew to Colombia via Miami.

Guest:
The Trip:

The flight was roughly $850 from Pittsburgh to BAQ round trip, with a layover in Miami both ways. The only cheaper airflight I could find would have had me spending the night in Panama, which really would have eaten into my vacation time (only about 4 days in Colombia). I had a moment of panic when I arrived at the airport in Colombia, when they handed me a customs form that was completely in Spanish. Fortunately a young girl I had talked to on the plane helped me out, and after getting my luggage I wandered outside, where a large crowd of people were waiting excitedly for something (I am assuming the arrival of relatives from the US). Before taking more than a few steps, I was snagged by 'A', who pecked me on the cheek before packing me and my luggage into a nearby taxi. My first impression was "Oh My God she's Tall", but more about that later.  :lol:

The trip to the hotel in the taxi was probably the most scared I was the entire trip, lol. I wasn't as scared for my own life as I was for the poor people trying to cross the road, or traveling by bicycle or motorcycle. Weaving in and out of the traffic were the occasional black SVUs with tinted windows, which appear to be the vehicles of choice for anyone who has money in Baq.  One image I will never forget is a man riding his motorcycle, with no helmet, holding a young boy around the age of 4 or 5 under his arm like a sack of potatoes. He was steering with one hand, while holding the boy with the other. The boy, seemingly oblivious to the danger around him, was soundly asleep with his arms and legs hanging loosely out from the motorcycle. There wasn't much conversation in the taxi in the meantime. 'A' had chosen this time to become 'shy', and was pretending to be absorbed by the scenery while occasionally trying to sneak looks at me out of the corner of her eye. Once again I was struck by her height, as her knees were jammed up about chin level in the back of the small taxi.

Much to my relief, we arrived at the hotel with no incident. 'A' had come a few days before to make the reservations, thinking that perhaps she could get better rates than I could. I 'believe' the name was the 'Royal Hotel', a perfectly decent little place with a pool and an acceptable restaurant. I am no longer sure about the rates, but I seem to remember it being $60 a night, which I thought was high, but it was a weekend and during Carnival (which I didn't realize until I got there). There was a total of 4 very attractive girls who worked behind the desk, very nice and helpful, and they also spoke decent English. My room was pretty high up, not sure of the floor (7th or 8th?), but you would have to get past the doorman and the desk to get to the stairs or the elevator, so I felt pretty safe there. The room had two tiny twin beds, but was plenty big enough for me. Plus it had a safe with an electronic combination that was easy to use. I had a great view of the city from my window. The only bummer was that I had a hard time exchanging money there, they would only change like $20 per day. Of course that was enough to get around and eat with. I can't tell you what the exchange rate was at the time (it was kind a wild 4-day whirlwind tour), but it was never more than a few dollars for the taxi and dinner was never more than $5 or so (for both of us). We never ate at the same place twice, but the food was always awesome.

The big surprise for me was the language barrier. I was stationed in Korea for 2 years, spent a significant amount of time in the Philippines and Japan, and you could ALWAYS find someone who spoke English. The whole time I was in Colombia, except for the ladies who worked at the hotel, I met ONE other person who spoke English (the boyfriend of A's sister). That was IT. I would not recommend visiting Barranquilla unless you speak Spanish or you have a reliable person who will take care of you. I was really pretty much completely lost the whole time. Whenever 'A' was at work, I was pretty much a captive in the hotel, although she did have her family take me out one night.

Overall, Baq reminded me a lot of the Philippines, although there are parts of the city that are very modern (A's family took me to a HUGE mall that was very impressive). The people were very polite and friendly, and there were numerous 'hotties' around all the time who showed a lot of skin. 'A' was aghast when I told her that she might need to adjust her wardrobe slightly if she came to live with me (a small town in WV). ; I'd like to go back again someday and see more of Colombia, it's a beautiful country.

Guest:
The Family:

Due to my limited time, we were on the fast-track and I met her family on my 2nd day in Baq. 'A' and her family lived in a very nice brick house in what seemed to be a very good neighborhood.

Her brother was older, about 35, and had a very cute little petite girlfriend who was an amazing cook. He took me back in his room to show me his stereo and big screen TV, and perhaps the most comprehensive collection of Madonna videos and Dvds in the known world. He was very friendly and funny, I never saw him when he wasn't wearing a soccer jersey of his favorite player. The next time I sent a care package I included a few 'Girls Gone Wild' DvDs for him, and I believe I now have a friend for life.

The sister, much to my amazement, was even taller than 'A'. It's hard to say for sure, but I would guess 6'2. She was the complete opposite of 'A', she worked as an accountant and was every bit as serious as 'A' was goofy. They were very close but clashed often when 'A' got on her nerves. Her boyfriend spoke very good English, and upon his arrival was designated as the interpreter for the remainder of the evening. He was super cool, but I was surprised when he arrived because he was very short (around 5'7) compared to A's sister. They got lots of stares everywhere we went, but they were very much in love and didn't mind at all.

The grandmother was a very nice little old lady with a big smile on her face at all times. She jokingly labeled me as 'Pedro', which ended up being what her family referred to me as for the remainder of my stay. Even months later 'A' would tell me her grandmother was asking how 'Pedro' was doing.....

The Mom was nice too, very funny. Apparently she had separated from her husband many years ago and had decided to raise her family and not re-marry. A's father had owned a video game store in the past, and the girls had worked there periodically. So everyone in the family was crazy about video games, and Mario Kart tournaments happened quite frequently. 'A' told me that every night her Mom would play Super Mario for 2 hours before going to bed, and was quite good. Even though the house belonged to A and her sister, and they paid all the bills, the Mom was definitely still in control. When she felt that 'A' had been out long enough, she would call her on the phone and right out the door 'A' would go.

Overall the first meeting went pretty well, although 'A' was determined to embarrass me as much as possible. When we had first started corresponding, she had asked me what Spanish phrases I knew, and I had replied I only knew NO FUMAR. That had become sort a pet phrase of ours with several meanings, it was not uncommon for her to end her e-mail withs TE AMO and NO FUMAR. She had warned me that when I was in Colombia, everytime she said NO FUMAR that I had to kiss her very passionately, even in public or in front of her family. So during dinner and the initial meeting with her family, she would constantly whisper NO FUMAR to me and then insist I kiss her. I think the family thought I was a little bit whacky until her sister's boyfriend arrived and I could explain why I was acting that way. Then they all rolled their eyes and agreed that 'A' had a weird sense of humor. 'A' also related my comment about the Colombian female style of dress to her sister, who was wearing a very low cut halter-top at the time. She looked at me in mock-astonishment and for the rest of the evening would cover her cleavage and pretend to be shocked every time I looked in her direction.

I liked her family very much, that was a big plus for me. I have full custody of my 2 kids, and I wanted someone who placed a high value on family.

......more to come as I have time.....

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