Mail to Colombia

[nautilus]

Well, I decided to test the waters so to speak, purchased addresses and sent letters with my photos.  Hopefully, I will get some replies.
I just had some questions about mailing letters there since some of you guys probably had experience with that.  How long does it take regular air mail to get there, and how long a letter travels back to the US.  I have a couple of colombian friends, and they gave me really different time frames.  Also, is it safe to mail letters in regular US-stamped envelopes?  In Russia for example they get opened frequently because people are searching for cash in them.  (Whenever we need to send a letter outside of Moscow, my father just takes it with him there, packages in the Russain envelope and mails it.)  Is there a similar problem in Colombia?
I will appreciate any advice.  Thanks in advance.

[Cali vet]

... in response to Mail to Colombia, posted by nautilus on Jan 29, 2004

When I first started writing to girls in Colombia I put nice stamps on the letters. Later I found out the envelopes were sometimes stolen for the stamps. Better let the post office stamp your letter with their machine. Don't include a couple of photos as Colombian postal workers might think there's cash hidden between them. Someone just sent me a letter by standard mail from the US. The P.O. told them it will take 5-7 days. I say yeah sure!!! but will keep my fingers crossed. A cousin sent me a book from Toronto. Finally figured she lost the money. Two and a half months later it arrived.

[cancunhound]

... in response to Re: Mail to Colombia, posted by Cali vet on Jan 29, 2004

As vet said, take it to the post office and get it weighed and stamped there.  There's also kind of a trick about how you format the address, and the return address, on the envelope - I presume whatever service that sold the photos described that.  {Hint - my return address would happen to be in Colombia also}

[nautilus]

... in response to Re: Re: Mail to Colombia, posted by cancunhound on Jan 29, 2004

Well, I guess I should have posted this BEFORE mailing those letters ?  Well, half of those letters were through the agency called 'Cali's Best' - I send them to Miami where they repackage and deliver to their office in Cali and call to the girls to pick them up.  (At least that's what they promise to do.)  The other half I bought from another agency and I just mailed them with Air Mail stamps.  And I did insert photos in them obviously.  Well, I could probably resend them through some sort of certified mail, but it will cost quite a bit more.  Maybe that's what I should do to make sure these letters  get to their addressees?  The agency did not really tell me of any tricks on formatting the address.

[cancunhound]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Mail to Colombia, posted by nautilus on Jan 29, 2004

Many times it's just a matter of confusion - since they have no zipcodes all that barrio stuff and directional orientation #'rs are obviously very important.  As opposed to how we typically write the addresse front center and return front upper left, the standard is return backside on the flap.

[Wasp]

... in response to Mail to Colombia, posted by nautilus on Jan 29, 2004

You want advice?

Writing letters to Colombianas is an incredible waste of time and money. Email is slightly less worse.

Dude, spend the money on an airplane ticket.

[Fuzzyone]

... in response to Re: Mail to Colombia, posted by Wasp on Jan 29, 2004

The e-mails can be a waste... I think that a messager program are ok
whe you meet a woman to stay in touch. I am going down to Colombia in
April because that is the only way you are going to meet a good woman.
The woman down there have no faith in just e-mails or phone too many
men promise everything including marriage then when the man comes
there everything he promised is gone. Alot of those woman also talk
amoung themselfs about what has happened. It actually is kinda funny....

Chuck

[nautilus]

... in response to I think you are right there, posted by Fuzzyone on Jan 29, 2004

Thanks for the input.
Well, I actually seriously plan to go there.  I mean, letters or no letters, I will have to go there to actually meet somebody.  I just wanted to get to know at least a few girls, so that when I go, I would actually go to get to know them better rather than just try to randomly meet girls that I don't know anything about (and who don't know anything about me) through an agency or otherwise.  I might be rather young, but I thought about this whole thing, and I am actually serious about finding a girl for marriage, and b/c of that I want to leave as little to luck and chance as possible, because meeting random chicks is fine, and actually fun, when you are just dating.  
On a related note, I feel all those agency sites should provide those girls an opportunity to write more about what they are looking for, and to describe themselves, because otherwise they let you stare at photos of fine-looking girls, but you don't really know anyting about them.

[Red Clay]

... in response to Re: I think you are right there, posted by nautilus on Jan 29, 2004

Don't let the "writing is a waste of time" crowd discourage you. Lots of us here have marriages that originated from writing first.

I would recommend buying some addresses as opposed to depending on an agency to forward your letters. An address seller like Latin Match, for example, has alot of women signed up who have email addresses. I wouldn't count on being able to accomplish alot by handwriting snail-mail, too slow and unreliable.