Using a credit card in Colombia

Many places in Colombia accept credit cards for purchases, meals, groceries and many other things.  Several places will only accept Visa or Master Card and many times, they will add on 3-4% for using the card (even though it is against Visa and MC rules)

 

Many places will only accept a Ban Colombia Visa or Debit card.

 

One thing that is consistent with credit cards.  They will always ask you, “cuantas cuotas”.  They are asking you how many payments you want to make.  Most visitors do not understand this phenomenon so merely respond, “una”. then pay your credit card company as you normally do each month

You can probably leave your AMEX at home unless you want to pay your hotel bill or purchase airline tickets.  Many places will not accept AMEX.

Travel safe and only carry one credit card and one debit card.  Use ATM’s for what cash you will need on a daily basis (much cheaper than changing money at cambios).

 

Never let your credit card out of your site.  They will bring a machine to your table for purchasing your meals.

 

MTG

Using Medellin ATM’s

Planning to use your ATM card when you visit Medellin? You will get better exchange rates than changing cash or travelers checks at a cambio!

There are convenient ATM’s (called ATH’s in Medellin) all over Medellin. In Banks, Malls, Grocery Stores, Casinos, Restaurants and more. Most of them support the more popular networks like Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, MasterCard and many others. Most also have an English and Spanish language option.

Different ATMs have different per transaction limits of usually 400,000-500,000 COP. You can do multiple transactions up to the daily limit allowed by your bank.

A few hints on using ATM’s in Medellin;

Only withdraw what you will need on a daily basis;

Only carry 1 or 2 ATM/Debit/Credit Cards

Only make withdrawls from ATM’s in well lighted areas and preferably places with on site security;

Keep your paper receipt;

Count your money; Check your balance on line to make sure only one transaction occurred.

Make sure that your transaction has ended and the machine is ready for the next customer….not asking you if you want another transaction!

What should you pack for your visit to Medellin?

We get asked this question  lot.  Casual (not shorts) is our standard pat answer but here we go into a little more detail!

 

What should you pack for your visit to Medellin?

 

Attire is very casual in Medellin. It ranges from dressed down casual to fashionably casual in the more upscale neighborhoods like Poblado and Tessoro but casual none the less.

For men:

Jeans, Dockers, T shirt, polo shirt, casual cotton short or long sleeve shirt;

Tennis shoes, loafers or regular street shoes.

Baseball caps are worn by many.

The only ties or coats and ties you see are worn by office, casino and some mall workers.

Rarely do you see shorts, sandals or flip flops.

These guidelines pretty much apply to daytime or nighttime activities for guys.

For the ladies:

You probably do not have to buy anything special (too bad).

Jeans, pants, cotton tops (many times layered but accentuating cleavage), light sweater tops, fashionable belts and accessories;

Shoes range from tennis shoes to fashionable boots.(this is also a good place to buy shoes as many are manufactured locally. (Good news.)

You do not see many skirts or dresses except on office, casino and some mall workers although short skirts are worn by younger adults.

At night, the ladies are more inclined to dress up especially if they are going clubbing or to discos. Again, there is a major emphasis on plunging necklines and displays of cleavage. (don’t mean to be sexest here, just letting you know how the local ladies dress). You will not see a lot of sweat pants, baggy sweat shirts, ruffled hair or ladies without makeup. Usually, nails are well manicured.

Although Medellin is considered a conservative town, the Paisa women are proud of their god given assets. Many of them have been enhanced and are proud to show off their results.

 

Medellin clothing sizes tend to follow the international sizing conventions. In this chart it would be the continental sizes. http://www.onlineconversion.com/clothing.htm 

 

 

Medellin Travel Guide Portal

The original design concept for Medellin Travel Guide was to make it into a portal, a gateway if you will, to finding information about visiting or traveling to Medellin Colombia.  Inclusive of our rental apartments, penthouses and realestate for sale listings we have with our clients, the portal is now well over 180 pages in length.  Too big and too cumbersome for many surfers although our unique visitors continues to grow at a 20% month over month rate.

We tracked some data points, for the past 4 months, of which topics were of the greatest interest to our site visitors and decided to publish an easier to navigate more user friendly website with short snippets of information and links back to individual pages on MTG is there was interest in more detail on a particular subject.

 

It had a natural selection of about 5 main topics;

Accommodations;

Getting Here;

Realestate;

Things to do;

and, Services

 

From those broad categories, we took the top 33 most frequently visited pages/topics and created www.medellinvisitorsguide.com  In some cases, you will be taken to a specific page on Medellin Travel Guide but will never leave the Medellin Visitors Guide Site.  We used the KISS approach in determining if less intensive information would meet your needs for Medellin Information and just created new pages or whether the information on MTG was succint enough to just link you to that specific topic.

A splash or landing page was created about a month ago and we have been periodically working to complete the site.

 

Today, we have re-launched www.medellinvisitorsguide for your perusal.  We hope it meets your needs for information about traveling to or visiting Medellin Colombia.  You can always find more detail on many more topics on Medellin Travel Guide but you may just find what you need on Medellin Visitors Guide as well.

 

Thanks for visiting and helping to make Medellin Travel Guide the #1 English web site about Medellin Colombia on the internet.

 

Regards,

 

MTG

Visiting Colombia or Brazil

Since I lived in Brazil (actually, the correct spelling is Brasil) for almost 2 years and have now lived in Medellin for over a year, I get a lot of inquiries about which place is better to visit.

 

Well, from a pure vacation standpoint, it is probably Brasil and Rio in particular.  It has beaches, tourist attractions, fantastic nightlife, gorgeous sensuous women, great restaurants and food and decent shopping. On the other hand, the likelihood of being mugged or robbed is about 5-10 times a greater possibility in Rio than it is in Medellin.  People that visit or live in Rio comically say that, “you haven’t visited Rio until you have a good robbery or mugging story to tell.  To make matters worse, the Rio police are perhaps amongst the most corrupt in the world and many times are in on the scams. The other downside is the language barrier.  Many Western people speak a little Spanish or had some in school somewhere along the way.  In Brasil it is 100% Portuguese and although there are some similarities, they will not understand your broken Spanish nor will you understand their Carioca Portuguese. You also have to get a rather expensive visa for Brasil and you don’t for Colombia

You are not going to find a lot of tourists traps in Medellin Colombia simply for the reason that Medellin doesn’t have many tourists (although that is changing rapidly now that the security has been improved).   The small towns in and around Medellin, like Santa Fe De Antioquia, El Penol, La Pintada, Copacabana (in Antioquia Colombia not Rio) are great places to visit and get a real sense for Colombian life and it’s culture.  Personally, I prefer doing that kind of traveling as opposed to touristy things anyway. Another way of putting it;  You won’t find Medellin Colombia T Shirt shops all over town like you will find Brasil and Rio T-shirt shops in Rio!!

 

Once you have seen Botero Plaza in Medellin, perhaps visit a few of it famous parks (Barefoot Park, Park of Dreams etc), maybe see one or two of the old churches, ride the cable metro up the mountainside and shopped in either the upscale malls of Oviedo, Tesoro and Premium Plaza or the catacombed El Centro shops of Hueco and Palacial National, you will have done and seen just about all there is to do here.  Of course, if you enjoy discos, dancing and partying, make sure your visit includes a Thursday-Sunday stay as this is a party town every week on those days.  You will also see more than your fair share of beautiful Paisa girls at these venues that will leave your chin on your chest gawking at them!  The next one prettier than the last one!!

 

Of course, no visit to Medellin would be complete without an evening in Parque Lleras.  It is in the upscale area of El Poblado and is the in place for the well to do upper class Paisas to eat, drink and party although you will see Paisas from all walks of life while you are there.

 

Maybe it is my age or the fact I have traveled to 74 countries but let me put it this way.  My Brasilian visa has expired and I have no plans of renewing it anytime soon.  I just renewed my visa for the second year to remain in Colombia.  I guees it really depends on what type of vacation you are looking for but be informed before you decide.

 

Medellin Travel Guide

Moving to Medellin- Working Virtual

A very good friend that I had known when I lived in Rio made a visit to Medellin last September to see if it might be a place he wanted to move.  He returned to his native Ft. Lauderdale determined to make a permanent move here and began a long arduous convincing effort with the owner of his company.  He was able to demonstrate his ability to perform his job virtually, even better than in his office.  His boss finally agreed but put a few stipulations to the agreement.

 

My friend called me and told me he wanted a really nice place to live in Medellin and maybe even a furnished Medellin Penthouse apartment.  When he saw this one he told me to book it for him for 3 months with an option to extend longer.  The only other thing he required was a really fast internet connection because his job involves uploading and downloading a lot of large graphics files.  We settled on a 4Mb ADSL service from EPM/UNE in Medellin.  He also needed a desk immediately, wanted provisions in his fridge when he arrived and needed everything completed over a weekend so he did not miss a beat at work and would be fully up and operational by Monday morning.

 

He arrived on a Thursday and after a scary Friday internet instalation that was not successful, he was up and working Saturday morning.  We bought his desk and office supplies, added to the meager yet basic provisions I had acquired, got maids in to clean (yes, maids as in plural; 2 for two full days at a total cost of just over $60 US!!)

 

It was a mad dash to the finish but he was up and working first thing Monday morning and it was business as usual.  Not to say it was an easy accomplishment in this sometime “manana” mentality environment but with a lot of planning and a little advanced research we pulled it off.

I think his boss was pleasantly surprised and has seen an actual improvement in my friends sales results.  My friend is beside himself with his first completed week in Medellin. Now, a few rugs, some plants and a little art work and he will be living in a truly spectacular 4 Bedroom Medellin Penthouse apartment with million dollar views for little more than his 3 bedroom apartment in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I think he is here to stay!

Medellin

Wow!  I am rapidly coming up on my 1 year anniversary of living in Medellin Colombia. It has gone by really fast but has been an excellent experience.

First of all, the climate of this city just cannot be beat. I have neither an air conditioner nor a heater.  I like to tell people when it gets warm, I open my windows!  When it gets cool, I close them!  How is that for energy efficiency?  I have only worn a light windbreaker jacket twice that I can remember.  If it is raining or drizzling in the evenings, it can get chilly.

Secondly, the Paisa people are some of the friendliest on the planet.  Maybe it is because they do not get a lot of tourists here and we are an oddity but rarely a day goes by that I am not stopped by a local, asked where I am from, see their surprise when they find out I am living here and taking Spanish lessons and am genuinally welcomed as a Gringo Paisa. (that always elicits smiles).

Thirdly, the women of Medellin are perhaps some of the most stunning in the world (and I have traveled to 74 countries so that is a pretty good basis for the comment).  They are warm, friendly, very family oriented, sincere (well, most anyway), have fidelity in a relationship, love to party, dance, rarely ever go outside their home when they are not looking their finest and make wonderful girlfriends. A Medellin Girl is a great catch!

The food, well, to be honest, it is not the best.  Very bland, high in calories and fat.  These people eat more garnishments on their hamburgers and hot dogs than I have ever seen. Many times, they have to eat them with a fork.

Cost of living.  It started out pretty good but the declining value of the USD has admittedly put a dent in my spending patterns.  It is still not bad though. I rent a 1,300Sf Apt for $650 per month.  My utilities (including cable TV, HS Internet, local phone, electricity, water, sewer, garbage etc) is about $150 per month and I live in the highest strata area of the city. (Strata: They have 1-6 here.  The lowest strata pays a lower amount for their utilities.  The higher stratas pay more.  It is a way to help the poorer people and works quite well.)

Transportation? I take, taxis, buses and the metro almost everywhere I go.  Much cheaper than a car and you can get a taxi almost anywhere 24 hours per day. 

Clothing?  Haven’t had to buy any but you can spend a lot or a little, just like in the US depending on how you value shop.

Language:  It is still a barrier at times but my Spanish is coming along well.  I would say I am at an intermediate A or B level.  Learning the idomas and modismos (local slang or colloquisms) is the tough part. Some days I just look at them and shake my head.

Am I going to stay?  You betcha! More Spanish classes, more exploration of this beautiful city and it’s surrounding countryside and more posts on WordPress about living here.

If you want to know more about this gem of a city, check out my website at www.medellintravelguide.com If the info you need is not there, you probably do not need to know about it!

Chou

MTG

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Medellin Cell Phones

Medellin Colombia, like many countries outside the US, has adopted GSM as their standard for cell service so if you are traveling here and want to be able to use your cell phone, make sure it is a tri or quad band “unlocked” GSM compatible phone instrument.  If yours is not unlocked, you can usually download the unlocking code from your providers web site or take it to the store where you purchased it and they can unlock it for you (some exceptions apply).

When you arrive in Medellin, you are going to need to purchase a local Sim chip (local phone number).  You can buy these at various provider kiosks in malls, super markets and at the individual provider offices. You can eve buy them from street vendors selling phone cards and other accessories.  Simply remove your sim chip, insert the new one, and follow the directions to activate it. 

Next, you are going to need to buy some prepaid minutes.  They come in 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 50,000 and 100,000 peso denominations (some other denominations exist).  Plan to get about 2 minutes of talk time per 1,000 pesos.  It will vary whether you are calling another user on the same provider network a different provider network,  calling a land line or doing text messaging.  Buy only what you think you will use during your stay because they will expire.  Err on the conservative side and if you run out, just buy another card in a small denomination.

There are three major cellular providers in Medellin: Comcel, Tigo and Movistar. Most would tell you Comcel is the largest with the best coverage, more stores and outlets but there is always competition with promotions and other give aways to try and attrach new customers.  I know people that have several sim chips and use the one that is offering the best promotion that month!

Probably because Medellin is in a Valley and the cell towers can get pretty good coverage from the surrounding mountain tops, you will probably not experience many bad connections, dropped calls and surprisingly you will get reception inside most malls (most are open air).

Will you need a cell phone in Medellin?  The answer is yes.  They are almost a necessity.  Can you get by without one?  The answer is also yes because there are “walking cell phones” all over the city.  Vendors that sell cell service by the minute (many of the smaller tiendas also offer this service).  Just walk up to them, make your call and pay the per minute rate (usually 300-400 pesos per minute).  It is not as convenient as having your own but it will get the connection you need to make.

If you are having to buy an unlocked tri or quadband GSM phone to bring with you to Medellin, buy an inexpensive, older model phone from E-Bay or some similar place.  Don’t buy the latest Razor V-8 (or whatever the latest version is) because high end cell phones are big targets for petty thieves. 

To call a cell phone in Medellin from the US, you will need to dial 011-57 and the cell phone number.  To call a landline you will need to dial 011-57-4 and the number (the 4 is the city code for Medellin and is not required for cell phones).  You can call any other cell phone in Colombia by just dialing the number.  No city code is required.

If you have other questions about cell phone service in Medellin you can probably find your answere here www.medellintravelguide.com/medellin_cellular.html

Safe Travels

Medellin Travel Guide