Has anyone been in Medellin this year?

[wizrap]

A friend of mine recently returned from a vacation in Medellin and said it was beautiful and affordable and met so many friendly people and had lots of great meals.

She sent me a video of the tram she took up into the mountains. Beautiful scenery and the tram was very modern. They hired a guide who told them that about 5 million Venezuelans immigrated to Columbia and because Medellin is all built out the only place to go is up into the sides of the mountains and hence the need for transportation.

[joacocanal]

Originally Posted by marlinfshr

Yep, tourists wearing big gold chains and/or a Rolex. They don't realize that at the least, the price of everything will go up for them.

I always got a kick out of people telling me they wouldn't got to such and such place in a Latin American country because they "had a buddy who was held up and they took his Rolex"-------They can stop right at that point and talk to the hand because they should know not to show or dress wealthy in a poor country. At the least prices will go up, at the most they may wake up dead.

I was thinking more about other things, such as "expats" doing bussiness with shady locals, or getting involved with local women in different ways.

Originally Posted by wizrap

A friend of mine recently returned from a vacation in Medellin and said it was beautiful and affordable and met so many friendly people and had lots of great meals.

She sent me a video of the tram she took up into the mountains. Beautiful scenery and the tram was very modern. They hired a guide who told them that about 5 million Venezuelans immigrated to Columbia and because Medellin is all built out the only place to go is up into the sides of the mountains and hence the need for transportation.

No, there are around 2 million Venezuelans in Colombia but the number is not clear, as thousands of them cross the border both ways every day, and so many of them go to Panama and other countries ilegally, too. The number of Venezuelans in Colombia most likely has been decreasing in the past 2 years. There is an estimated of 250k Venezuelans in Medellín, and they haven't build any new barrio in the city afaik.

[marlinfshr]

Originally Posted by joacocanal

I was thinking more about other things, such as "expats" doing bussiness with shady locals, or getting involved with local women in different ways.

I would think those shady practices have been going on for years.

I would think as a country like Colombia gets more inviting for tourists, it would start getting more tourists that have never been to a Latin American country, or who have never even left the US, Canada or Europe. If they have, its been to some tourist centric place in Mex or CR that is accustomed to "Gringos". They could be "easy pickins' " for those with bad intentions as they may not know about "blending in", dressing like the locals (no shorts/flip flops in Medellin......its not a beach town in Mexico or Costa Rica), no jewelry, expensive watches, etc....

I have been in the tourist industry my whole working life (crewed on charter boats) and those items make you a target for people pushing sportfishing charters, cruises, and expensive fish mounts as they know these people will have money!