Landed in Barranquilla Pt2: Sick as a Dog

[bcc_1_2]

Don't sleep on Monterrey.  Alot of beautiful fresa college chicks who are alot of fun.  Ten years ago monterrey was the safest city in mexico and it's finally starting to get back to that status.  Not near as much crime as 2 or 3 years ago.

I was there for a bit before it got bad. From what I read I am not so sure it is safe enough to suggest to people just yet. Hopefully the larger cities get safe again soon. I think it is too much to assume the rural areas will be safe again in the next 10 years... but the cities the government can get control of.

[benjio]

I was there for a bit before it got bad. From what I read I am not so sure it is safe enough to suggest to people just yet. Hopefully the larger cities get safe again soon. I think it is too much to assume the rural areas will be safe again in the next 10 years... but the cities the government can get control of.

If you read my trip report last year about the time I spent working in Veracruz you could deduct that the Mexican Government is definitely starting to try and do something about the drug related violence. The entire police force of the city of Veracruz was fired early last year and replaced with the Mexican Army and Navy because the corruption was so rampant. The motivation behind cleaning up that city was the petroleum industry. No cartel payoff under the table to a politician can compare to the revenue a government can earn from pulling black gold out of the ground. In terms of Monterrey, there's not a lot of oil or petroleum related industries based there to my knowledge (it's been a while since I've actually visited), but it is Mexico's center for steel, cement and many companies that deal with raw materials for construction. Either way, its proximity to the border will make it one of the hardest cities in Mexico to clean up in the coming years. I didn't really have a look around in terms of the quality of women the last time I was there, but I've always enjoyed it and I have many friends in Houston that grew up in that area.

[buencamino]

I used to eat at a place in barrio La Selva in Cali near a girlfriend's apartment. The lunches were $3.800. Doesn't get much cheaper and they were typical Colombian lunches with soup etc. I ate there maybe fifteen times and never once got sick. Always ordered chuleta. Up on the north coast however in Soledad I had a lunch that was cooked in a private home for a girl I was dating and someone she worked with. I don't know how she and her work companion escaped it but I got one god awful case of Giardia.  Either the cook wasn't hygenic or there was unboiled infected water used. The trappers in the old west called it beaver fever because the mountain streams they worked in and drank from were often tainted with beaver scat. The symptoms are pretty much like regular food poisoning except they don't go away on their own after a few days. Instead they last for weeks and you have to be treated by a doctor to get rid of them for good. Not my fondest memory of Barranquilla!

[bcc_1_2]

I didn't really have a look around in terms of the quality of women the last time I was there, but I've always enjoyed it and I have many friends in Houston that grew up in that area.

The chicas are hot... if only the city was safe. Plenty of them on the internet. If anyone finds one they like I'd make her met at the border or met up at a resort or something. I think we all know I've been to some rough places... but I wouldn't sign up to go there right now.

[beulah]

Thanks for posting the story about illness Stevieboy. It is helpful.   I was able to avoid any stomach problems in Cali.  Among many things, I avoided vegetables that I thought might have been washed with tap water

[benjio]

Thanks for posting the story about illness Stevieboy. It is helpful.   I was able to avoid any stomach problems in Cali.  Among many things, I avoided vegetables that I thought might have been washed with tap water

Generally speaking, I would say cities of Southern Colombia are MUCH more sanitary than those along the northern coast. Another big problem in Barranquilla is the water of Magdelena River touches everyone and everything in one way or another.

[Fuzzyone]

  Stevieboy when I was in Barranquilla on my last trip I made a mistake and bought some kind of food that had cheese in the middle from a food stand downtown. I was fine for a day and then was so sick I could not move , I was sick as a dog for a week laying in a bed. When I came home I was still weak for over a month. The lesson I learned? My wife told me hey don't eat that you will poke your eye out with it, well she was half right anyway!

[jselva]

Just curiois:
If Stevie or someone already was there and got sick ... would that make him kinda immune next time like other viruses/bacteria?
If he recovered maybe his body built up some resistance now
not sure if it works like that 100%
 
 

[benjio]

Just curiois:
If Stevie or someone already was there and got sick ... would that make him kinda immune next time like other viruses/bacteria?
If he recovered maybe his body built up some resistance now
not sure if it works like that 100%

If you drink the tap water in Barranquilla you will almost surely get diarrhea at the very least. Sometimes you can get away with brushing your teeth with it, but an ice cold glass full of it will most likely give you mudd butt for a few days. During one of my extended stays there about three years ago, a gringo that had lived there for years told me I could acclimate my body to the water if I just let myself get sick a few times. I was actually quite interested in doing just that because I was sick of going to the store for bottled water every couple of days (I always drink A LOT of water!...usually a gallon a day at the very least). After about two weeks of a loose (and unpredictable) stool, I finally got back to normal. I left again for about 6 months and returned to Barranquilla thinking I was okay to drink the tap. I was wrong. Diarrhea again...and this time worse than ever.
 
In my honest opinion, my answer to your question is possibly, but you'd have to live there for a long time. And by the way, I don't know exactly what's in the water that makes your body react that way, but boiling it DOES NOT work. I've tried.

[bcc_1_2]

God damn why do you guys go to the coast then. I can't imagine puting my body through that. It has got to be the water in food prep when you guys eat out that is doing this to you. If boiling it doesn't work... screw that... i'm out. I didn't get sick in Cali. I think there are just too many ways to get sick on the coast. I had a little travelers sickness my first time in Mexico and I got a touch in Honduras... but what you guys are talking about is rough.

[benjio]

God damn why do you guys go to the coast then. I can't imagine puting my body through that. It has got to be the water in food prep when you guys eat out that is doing this to you. If boiling it doesn't work... screw that... i'm out. I didn't get sick in Cali. I think there are just too many ways to get sick on the coast. I had a little travelers sickness my first time in Mexico and I got a touch in Honduras... but what you guys are talking about is rough.

LOL!!! BCC...I got three reasons for you:
 
 

• Beautiful, dark skinned women
• A laid back culture
• A true appreciation for the simple things in life

I've been all over the world. Europe, Asia and more places in Latin America than I'd ever care to admit. No other place is like Costeñoland. NONE! There's no other place where I can sit down, fire up a good cigar, pour a tall glass of Colombian Rum neat, and let all of life's cares just wash away. I've met so many Costeños in their 90's that have never been to a doctor in their lives it's ridiculous. I'm convinced it's a combination of all natural foods and a complete lack of stress. They just don't take anything in life that seriously. NOTHING! "How am I going to eat tomorrow? I don't know...but [snip] IT! I'm going to drink myself to the point of near death tonight." The allure lies within the culture and the lifestyle. Every gringo I've ever met that spent significant time there can't wait to get back. So you get a little case of the bubble guts and a headache once in a while. Who gives a [snip]?! It doesn't matter. It's an addiction.
 
I only wish I could have been there with Stevieboy as I promised. I know he didn't have the opportunity to see what I've seen and to do what I've done. I've partied in Barranquilla until the sun came up with people that didn't have a dime to their names, but we managed to drink all night (I didn't spend a cent of my own money). I've seen humpback whales breaching off Kilimanjaro Beach...SERIOUSLY!!! I've been in a poor barrio, around people with nothing, and when a soccer team won a game it was as if a World War eneded. I've gotten drunk with drug traffickers and priest alike. There aren't words on Earth that I can write to express the experience of being there. You just have to go, and let the culture wash over you. No fear, no hang ups, no exceptions. I have yet to meet a gringo that has done what I did and didn't fall completely in love with the Northern Coast of Colombia. It's almost as if they figured out everything that was lacking in North American society and modeled their culture to embrace those very things. I'll go for the rest of my life and I hope to retire there.

[bcc_1_2]

I know what you are saying... I know a guy that is drunk on Cartagena. It's his fav place to party. That being said once you get married and have a kid coming... the coast of Colombia is of no interest. Going back to Honduras is of no interest. Things change.

[whitey]

Damn Benjio ... you're making me "homesick"!

[beulah]

Generally speaking, I would say cities of Southern Colombia are MUCH more sanitary than those along the northern coast. Another big problem in Barranquilla is the water of Magdelena River touches everyone and everything in one way or another.

Good info benjio, thanks

[htown]

In terms of Monterrey, there's not a lot of oil or petroleum related industries based there to my knowledge (it's been a while since I've actually visited), but it is Mexico's center for steel, cement and many companies that deal with raw materials for construction. Either way, its proximity to the border will make it one of the hardest cities in Mexico to clean up in the coming years. I didn't really have a look around in terms of the quality of women the last time I was there, but I've always enjoyed it and I have many friends in Houston that grew up in that area.

Yea definitely alot of regios in houston.  Some people jokingly call it houston, nuevo leon lol.  I just got back from monterrey yesterday.  It was the first time I've been there since I've been back from medellin.  I must admit from just walking around downtown and randomly checking out the women medellin kicks monterrey's arse in the hotness of women department.  Monterrey's downtown area is way cleaner, well kept, safer feeling, and no bums and crackheads constantly asking for change.  I swear to god in el centro medellin you can't even sit down and eat a meal or drink a tinto without a bum coming up to you asking for something and they can be pretty aggressive.  But at the same time you can't walk half a block without seeing a gorgeous woman either so I guess there's a tradeoff.  The people in monterrey seemed a little bit nicer and friendlier than medellin.  More eye contact, more smiles.  Medellin definitely has the better weather.  Overall I generally felt way safer in monterrey than medellin.  While there is no shortage of beautiful women in monterrey, medellin easily has more of them.  Food?  That's a hard one.  I'd say it's a tie.  Monterrey has better street food.  You simply can't beat fresh made tacos.


And Benjio, as smart as you are what the heck are you doing drinking tap water in colombia??!!  I would never drink tap water in the us, much less in a 3rd world country.

[bcc_1_2]

oh man Mexico beats Colombia when it comes to food.
I've been to Monterrey MX once. I don't think the state department is just blowing smoke though. there is real risk there.
fillet steak tacos for lunch... chicken mole for dinner. bring it on.

[benjio]

And Benjio, as smart as you are what the heck are you doing drinking tap water in colombia??!!  I would never drink tap water in the us, much less in a 3rd world country.

I like to live on the wild side sometimes. LMAO!!!!!! No, but seriously it was a pretty stupid thing to do.

[fathertime]

this topic reminds me of a couple explosive diarrhea sessions i've had with barranquilla.  in that city,one mistake involving ingestion of water costs most of us gringos many hours on the old pooper.  not so much so in Cali though. 

Fathertime![size=78%] [/size]

[jselva]

Do restaurantes in BAQ really use bottled water for anything? If not how would you drink soda, etc? Altho i love beer, that would get old at every meal (for me anyway).
I cant imagine getting sick is a major problem if one goes to good restaurantes. Maybe the little side hole in the walls... but then again its the hole in the walls that usually have some of the best food (from my experiences travelling in the world).
I have never gotten sick anywhere I have travelled...but I havent been to BAQ really so not sure.
I would never eat something off the street/cart tho that can be dangerous.
BUT ice cubes.... hmm wouldnt that be ok due to the cold?
 

[whitey]

I have 13 trips to Colombia, 12 of which were to BAQ or the coast ... in total about 7 months.  I got sick 3 or 4 times, but as I've mentioned here before, it was traced to tap water at my wife's house used in the juices.  As soon as my wife figured out what the problem was, we switched to bottled water for the gringo's juice, and everything has been fine since.


We eat out at restaurants all the time, in BAQ, Cartagena, Santa Marta, el Rodadero ... no problems with the food or ice.


I've been tempted, but have never eaten street meat or juices from the street.  I do drink the tintos though ... "Juan de la calle" ... probably not a good idea, but I've never had problems with that either ...


Don't worry too much about the ice cubes in restaurants ...

[robert angel]

Do restaurantes in BAQ really use bottled water for anything? If not how would you drink soda, etc? Altho i love beer, that would get old at every meal (for me anyway).
I cant imagine getting sick is a major problem if one goes to good restaurantes. Maybe the little side hole in the walls... but then again its the hole in the walls that usually have some of the best food (from my experiences travelling in the world).
I have never gotten sick anywhere I have travelled...but I havent been to BAQ really so not sure.
I would never eat something off the street/cart tho that can be dangerous.
BUT ice cubes.... hmm wouldnt that be ok due to the cold?

Same here in the Philippines. I've been very lucky maybe, but except for a few places where I know the well is way down deep and pure and I'll drink from that (outside metro areas) even the ice cubes haven't hung me up. In metro areas and country areas I don't know well, I even brush my teeth and rinse my tooth brush with bottled water.
 
Been lucky with salads and fresh fruit on the steet too, but I wouldn't recommend others trying those too much. If they wash it with crappy water, your going to get crap. Even the Buku juice, which sometimes has a bit of cream, water, ice and is on streets all over, hasn't 'disagreed' with me and restuarants haven't been problematic if you use common sense in choosing and watch what you order.
Still, I always have immodium and a pack of double ply kleenex close by!

[fathertime]

unlike Whitey...one time for sure it was the Ice I had in a OJ at a Barranquillian restaurant...I completely spaced out and only after I started drinking did I realize that I was probably making a mistake...next day I paid.


Fathertime! 

[Ricardo1]

BAQ has not been a problem for me so far, but then again i haven't been there for a while.  When I was there for an extended period of time (several weeks) I ate at the local restaurants, comida corriente, and never got sick.  I even regularly drank the jugos or malteadas from the street stalls and never got sick. I also ate a lot of fruits, and drank bottled water in my hotel.   The one time I remember getting sick was in Bogota in a nice restaurant, dunno why.... but it was awful, 2 full days of diarrhea and headaches and fever....
But I agree - it's best to play it safe....

[jselva]

I will say this talk of sickness is very interesting and not an aspect covered in relation to going down there for meeting someone. I mean if a guy gets sick and is "out of it" for 2 days that can be a huge chunk of time for a normal guy who has 1 week or maybe 2 max.
The Jamie agency, if you get sick from what i understand wow its like losing a week for each day. What general % of guys who go to the Jamie agency get sick a day or two while doing all of that stuff?

[benjio]

I will say this talk of sickness is very interesting and not an aspect covered in relation to going down there for meeting someone. I mean if a guy gets sick and is "out of it" for 2 days that can be a huge chunk of time for a normal guy who has 1 week or maybe 2 max.
The Jamie agency, if you get sick from what i understand wow its like losing a week for each day. What general % of guys who go to the Jamie agency get sick a day or two while doing all of that stuff?

Stay away from the tap water and your odds are greatly decreased. Getting sick usually isn't a problem for first timers because they are so careful. The problems arise when gringo's get comfortable, start to take chances with food, eat at their girlfriend's family's house, etc.