Online Brides,Lisa Ling follows a Houston man on a marriage tour to colombia

[David1960]

Andylee

One thing I agree with AFA is the connection/chemistry is the most important part first. You can write a ladies and get to know them and think you have chemistry but until you meet the lady and truly see if you have that spark that chemistry.

If you watched the show the lady I had lunch with before the social I had emailed her before going on the tour several times. When I met her there was no connection/chemistry at all she was a sweet lady and very nice but no chemistry. To be honest I was glad the baby thing came up because now she would not be interested in me and it would make it easier to move on. Also think for her if having baby is important to her then I think should try to achieve her dream.

My opinion is to met ladies one-one and see if you have a connection and then get to know them and see if you have common interests and similar life goals. There’s my two cents!

I will say that 90% of the AFA ladies at the social where sincere and genuine and would have no problem relocating if they found the right man to love. Even thou I was not interested in a relationship with the younger ladies I was interested to listen to what they had planned for the future and their thoughts on relationships. I was very impressed with the ladies. They are truly happy, confident and sweet women.

David

[ignorante]

I think I asked this before.  How realistic is it for a woman who is 42 to expect to have babies?  That struck me as odd.  Fertility is very low at that age.

[utopiacowboy]

I think I asked this before.  How realistic is it for a woman who is 42 to expect to have babies?  That struck me as odd.  Fertility is very low at that age.

She is not the only one. My wife thought she could have another child at that age. Four miscarriages later she was proved wrong.

[dennislevy]

David et al..

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about the advisability of meeting women one on one.

David, do you have a¡ physical address for the AFA office in baranquilla?

Thanks!
Dennis

[Dan Las Vegas]

Welcome to the board David, congrats on your relationship!

Dan LV

[David1960]

Helle Dennislevy

Here is the address of the AFA office in Barranquilla

Cra 53 # 80284
Centro Comercial
Aranjuez Local 15
Barranquilla,Colombia
Manager ­ Yami
Telephone # (57)(5) 356 26 14

[V_Man]

Welcome to the board David. Please tell Christina she is more than welcome to post aqui en espanol tambien. (Sorry I don't have a Spanish keyboard).
I found the doco very interesting so thank you for allowing it to be filmed. I think you are very lucky to have found Christina. There seems to be many things to admire about her.
I hope you will continue to improve your Spanish.

[David1960]

FYI
Tonight OWN network “Our America with Lisa Ling” 9pm central time “Update” Episode. Cristina and I will have one segment of the show about 5 minutes.

[ignorante]

As usual, I will have to wait until it is online.

[David1960]

Okay folks I have been reading a lot of the past post and it sounds you do not like how I handled my first lunch date. 

First I emailed the lady only 4 or 5 times and only 3 or 4 sentences before going on the tour. In one of the letter she wrote and said she wanted a child. I wrote her back and said I could not have a child because I had a vasectomy. In her next letter she said nothing more about wanting a child so I did not give it another thought.

So when she brought it up at lunch she wanted a child I restated what I had already said in my email.

What they did not show in the episode is I told her she needed to follow her dream of having a child. At the end of the social that night she came up to me and gave me a hug and said I was very nice. While I was still on the tour she emailed me and wished me luck in finding a good woman and wanted to be friends.

[euforia51]

Okay folks I have been reading a lot of the past post and it sounds you do not like how I handled my first lunch date.

Yes David, the way it was presented on the show made you look bad ... and being the dawgs that we are ... a few of us jumped on it. I thought it was weird that it such an important point seemed to be entirely overlooked for some reason ... that is until your lunch date. Nonetheless... glad you were able to clear this up and make some sense of it for us.

[AndyLee]

Okay folks I have been reading a lot of the past post and it sounds you do not like how I handled my first lunch date. 

First I emailed the lady only 4 or 5 times and only 3 or 4 sentences before going on the tour. In one of the letter she wrote and said she wanted a child. I wrote her back and said I could not have a child because I had a vasectomy. In her next letter she said nothing more about wanting a child so I did not give it another thought.

So when she brought it up at lunch she wanted a child I restated what I had already said in my email.

What they did not show in the episode is I told her she needed to follow her dream of having a child. At the end of the social that night she came up to me and gave me a hug and said I was very nice. While I was still on the tour she emailed me and wished me luck in finding a good woman and wanted to be friends.

Thanks David, good explanation. I wasn't one of the ones who said anything about your first date, but I do remember hearing in the video Lisa saying something like "then the bombshell dropped" leading everyone to believe that the "baby thing" was a huge minefield that you walked into. My own impression was that the conversation was sort of not very animated which led me to believe there wasn't a lot of chemistry there to begin with and you were just easing your way out of the lunch date. I thought you handled yourself well and I would imagine that there was plenty of stress on you without the added weight of the TV crew breathing down your neck all the time.
I can read the disappointment on the face of the first date and I would probably have felt the same way she did after a 5 hour bus ride and then realizing that there wasn't any magic in the conversation. It seems to me this is a good example if you had only written to her and traveled to see only her then you would have been disappointed with your trip (I'm referring to a conversation in another thread about traveling to see just one girl).
Thanks again for sharing all this on the forum, it's been a real eye opener for me for sure.
Andy

[David1960]

Andy

She had family in Barranquilla and was going to visit her family for a week so she did not just come to Barranquilla to have lunch with me. There is just no way the show can show and tell all. But I think they did a good job and Cristina and I are very happy with finished product.

That first lunch date was very stressful meeting someone for the first time and then having no chemistry and still trying to keep positive and friendly, and then add the TV it was defiantly a challenge.

But by the social that night I had forgotten about the camera and completely forgot I had a microphone on. Believe it or not you really do tune out the camera.

That first table I was at I was so nervous I could hardly think or talk but after a few table you relax.

[flash]

I don't see the problem. She wants a kid, you had a vasectomy. She knew prior to meeting you that you had the procedure.

Can someone brighter than me explain the problem. Additionally, please explain why David should feel badly. Oh, I forgot, he could have lied. That makes sense.

[whitey]

I doubt any of us see a problem either, now that David has clarified things.

The way the show was edited, there appeared to be more drama, and it appeared that it was a big surprise to the woman during the lunch that David couldn't have kids.

[michaelb]

Well, yes, I did say something about it. The way the show handled it made it look like you and she had had much more correspondence than only 4 or 5 emails and presumably had come to an understanding on that rather important subject. They never said that you had told her about your surgery before the meeting, instead they made it seem like you had shall we say, "let her believe.....". Anyway, that's how they made it look. As you said, they also implied that she had made the bus trip solely to meet you, and conveniently omitted the fact that she was coming to visit family anyway.

I accept your explanation and apologize for having misjudged you.

After reading your explanation, it no longer looks like you ignored her desire for a baby, and only admitted that you couldn't when pinned down on the subject....from what you just wrote, it looks like you told her right up front but that she just didn't listen to something she didn't want to hear.     

[Researcher]

      Thanks for clearing that up David. That did kind of make you look bad but things like that happen when dating.I guess they couldn't show every minute of what happened on the show.


         Researcher

[Researcher]

     Here is a clip of Lisa Ling talking about what she learned from doing the show.


                      http://www.oprah.com/own-our-america-lisa-ling/Web-Exclusive-Lisa-Ling-Talks-About-Online-Brides


           Researcher

[JimD]

Looks like can´t be viewed in Colombia.

[David1960]

I know people here thought I was crazy to allow a production crew to invade my private life but I have always been an open person and have never feared letting people know who I am.
 
But I knew going on the Colombian tour was right for me and was not embarrassed to tell anyone my plans actually I was proud of my decision and thought it was an exciting adventure.

When I decide to let the cameras follow me to Barranquilla I had two reasons the first was to experience something new and the other reason was my motivation to change people’s perception of international dating. You are never going change everybody’s perception but if I could get open minded people to see things in a different way that would be success for me. I’m really happy below is a link to what Lisa said about “online Brides” this is a step in the right direction and I’m thrilled Lisa’s perceptions have changed. I think Lisa is the only real journalist that could do this show objectively. She is truly a genuine and sincere lady and Cristina and I where fortunate to work and get to know her on a personal level.

 

http://www.oprah.com/own-our-america-lisa-ling/Web-Exclusive-Lisa-Ling-Talks-About-Online-Brides

 

 

[dpsm]

Guys we want to meet you I am from Honduras and we have been together for 3 wonderful years, we live in Houston too Medical Center area and we would love to meet with you guys. Cristina eres bella y tu hija Daniela bellisima, me identifico mucho contigo porque yo tambien tengo un hijo de diez anios y estaba en un punto en mi vida que no necesitaba nada mas q amor verdadero y lo encontre, muchas felicidades que sean muy felices.

[beginthebeguin]

Hey I finally got to see the whole video in one sitting. And my first impression was how brave these women are in trying to find a man in their lives.  Not desperate,  just brave in the face of almost certain failure to find the right guy.

 

And if a man is ready to go try that group introduction system down there in BAQ, watching that video should be required viewing before the trip.   

It was a balanced documentary.

[dennislevy]

David,

Thanks for the address to the AFA office in BQ.

I went to the AFA office in Baranquilla  a few days ago and I talked with the office manager Yamile. Her assistant and I cant remember her name is a thin knockout...but young and she had a wedding ring.

An American man who I befriended and who was a tour client took me there and introduced me to Yamille and the other girl.

AFA has a current deal with Hotel Howard Johnson on carerra 48 between Calles 70 and 72 Every man has a translator and that is where a lot of the cost is......Two socials in the hotel salons and restaurant are included, and usually 80 or 90 women show up for each social . What isnt mentioned...as my friend told me (and the socials are one man to a table round robin format).....if it gets late, some women at the last tables take off because they want to catch a bus...or they don t want to pay an extra night fare for a cab. And so some men don t have a chance to meet and talk with them.

Without staying at the HOJO hotel. the price for the two socials is 600 US, or 350 for one. What I don t  know for sure is if for the man who doesnt speak Spanish is a translator included if he pays for a social(s) but is not a tour guest at HOJO , i assume yes. And there are good hotels in baranquilla one on  the same block as the HOJO and much cheaper.  is the Hotel Prado 72 which I really like and the starting rack rate there is 94,000 pesos or a bit under 50 bucks a night.

Because Im a frequent guest, I pay a lot less. Also the Hotel dos Mundos on calle 72 is inthe same price range.    

AFA is Jamie s competition in BQ...both at virtually the same price for the same amount of time. The bundled tour at HOJO includes an excellent all you can eat eggs, fruit cold cereal with milk  toast, juice coffee tea or hot chocolate  breakfast ...... and if you come off the street you pay 11,500 pesos but other then that they offer essentially offer the same set of services, the chance to meet a lot of women in a short period of time....

BUT Jamie is more organized and there is one or two men at the agency at any one time,. not 8 or 10 as in an AFA tour. My frend told me that essentially 10 guys wanted to go out with the best 10 or 12 good lookig women ...

gee, what a surprise!.

AFA also will charge 50 bucks for any personal introduction outside of tours or socials , if the girl doesnt show up, you pick a replacement

The next AFA tour in BQ is May 5 and may 6.

Ayone want to meet me in Baranquilla? jejejerjeje...
 
Whitey, if Im in BQ I ll meet you, but NOWHERE near 80 single women! jejejejeje! I don t  want to get in trouble with Nazly!