Gang,
Well, my trip report is somewhat immature, time wise. But, I thought that I would lay the law down right now.
Nice Woman....
Well, she wasn't the most beautiful women I have ever seen before. In fact, she was probably the most unattractive women I have met yet, in Colombia. But, she was beautiful on the inside! Her name is Sandra.
This morning, while excersing in the weight room facility, I was running on a running tread. There was another women, who could speak fluent english, who was running next to me(it's amazing how many people excercise in the morning time).
So, I just decided to start up a conversation. I knew she could speak english because she just spoke with her girlfriend, on her cell phone in English!
Oh Yeah...English Time...
Now, here I am, trying to learn Spanish, but yet I'm speaking english. Oh well, what the heck. So, I just decided, because I have nothing to loose, to start up a conversation with this women: "Hi, how are you doing".
So, we just started talking about her reason for being in the Hotel. She asked me why I was in the Hotel, what was my reason for doing business?
So, I told her why I was in Bogota; to just do some site seeing and to experience what Bogota was really like. She asked me about my job and where did I work. I told her that I develop, design, and create complex software solutions for online businesses. She was elated by this! Why?..I don't know. She said, "maybe you can work for IBM in Bogota. I said, "Nope..that won't happen. IBM could never pay me the amount of money that I would want. Besides, I would never be the CEO of IBM, and knowing this alone makes me cringe. I have to be 'the man' in charge. I was never a follower and never will be; at least for someone else who owns a company. Now, on the other hand, if it was a beautiful, down-to-earth, smart, and sexy latina....She broke out laughing(lol).
So, we talked about where she was originally from. Come to find out, her father is a Doctor and her mother is a lawyer. She grew up in Cali, in a place called Ciudad Jardin, which is located on the south side of Cali.
Anyway, when she was 6 years old, her parents moved to Bogota for a career movement position. Her parents have relatives in Maitland, Florida. So, her parents, who are also fluent in English, sent her to a private school, in Florida. She came back, to Bogota, during the summer time; every summer until she finished high school.
She, asked me where I was from. I told her where I was from and she knew, to some degree, what area I was talking about. I told her that I was thinking about moving away and move to a warmer climate. She asked me where I thought about moving to. I told her, that right now, because of some land that I have, I could easily sell it back to the owner(due to the fact that the money is in an escrow account for refund purposes) and not worry about having anything tying me down if I decided to move.
I told her that I see a huge trend of baby boomers moving to Florida; and that within the next 8 years 10 Million baby boomers will be moving to Florida. Sandra loves Florida. She asked me why I wanted to move to Florida. I gave her some pretty good reasons. But, first of all, I told her that I wanted to position myself for 'great success' in the coming years when all those baby boomers start moving to Florida. And, position wise, as well as lifestyle and the cost of living was concerned, there is no better place to be.
I told her that Joplin, Missouri was rated at the #1 cheapest place to live, in the United States, for it's size. For example, yesterday, I checked gasoline prices in Joplin. And, gasoline was only $1.19
But, what most people, who live in Joplin, Missouri don't know is that the property taxes, in Florida is $2 less for every $100 accessed, than it is in Joplin. And, with this, alone, the cost to fill up your gas tank, annually, would still be less than doing it in Joplin; even though the initial cost of gas is cheaper in Joplin. Combine this, with the reasons that I gave Sandra, below, and she could easily see why I have an overwhelming want to move to Florida.
Why Florida.....?
* No Personal Income Tax
* Semi Tropical Weather
* Beaches
* No Snow
* No sales tax on food
* Affordable real estate (saltwater homes still under $200,000)
* High Tech Center (3nd only to California and Washington State)
* Entrepreneur Friendly environment
* Easily accessible airports
All this plus the coming trend of 10 million baby boomers moving to Florida in the next 8 years.
My strategy is to buy the kind of Florida real estate now, that the boomers will want when they move here later.
Timing is everything - it helps to get what the crowd wants to buy, before the crowd shows up.
On The Other Hand....
I told her that I wanted to find a wife in Cali. Now, being that she is from Cali, originally, she thought that this was an excellent idea. She didn't even question me about why I choose Cali over any other city. She just said, "good choice"; as though she knew that Cali was the best city, in Colombia, to find what I was looking for.
So, I told her the difference between my value system and the kind of value system that is being offered to the present womens' movement in America.
She understood, exactly, what I was talking about!
Other Subjects....
We espoused on her job and what she was looking for in a man. It's funny...real funny...
Even though she partly grew up, in America, she still wants to find a man who wants to be the leader of the home. Even though she works for IBM, in Bogota, she would do anything in the world to find a good man who would treat her with respect, dignity, and love. She confided in me that she wants to be a house wife!
But, until then, she will continue to work and support herself.
On A Personal Note...
I tell you, I had no attraction for this women at all. She just wasn't someone that I felt anything for; physically, mentally, or emotionally. It just 'ain't' gonna happen.
But, that's o.k, because my purpose was to socialize with a few people in the weight facility. I talk to another business man, who was from Cartegena. Then, I talked to another guy who was from Bogota, but was going to Kentucky, for a Amway business meeting. I found out that this guy(he's about 56 years old) was one of the first prospects that Dexter Yager, the pioneer salesman for Amway, got into selling Amway products. Amway is not called Amway anymore. It's called something else, but I can't remember what he called it. Anyway, I talked to another women, then I went back to my room.
All in all, everything seems to be turning out quite nice in Bogota. Andino has a piano and I played several songs that I played, while I was in College. One of the masterpieces were 'Fur Elise'. Another song, written by Brian Adams, was 'Everything I Do, I Do It For You'. The last song, written by Alicia Keys, I played was called 'Songs In A minor'. Needless to say, I had alot of people looking at me. I felt like I was back in college playing in front of a prime crowd in the music hall studio! That 'ol' feeling again...
It will be a while before I write anything else, on this board, about my experiences of Colombia.
But, in the mean time, I will be priming myself for the adventure of Cali.
Love will find me in Cali....
I'll update the board members, as to what has happened to me in Cali.
Until then, see you in three months.
Peace,
Hilton
