I am traveling to Cali in a few weeks and have been to Rio 20 times. Concerned that the new experience may only bring regrets of not traveling to Rio. Any comparisons from someone that has been to both would be appreciated.

Thanks

IMHO, as much as I like CALI, RIO is better in all respects for p4p and non-p4p. Cali obviously has no beaches, there are not as many gals, and not as many venues, not the variety of venues, and not much to do aside from hanging out at the malls (day) and salsa clubs (at night). Very few people anywhere speak English so having Spanish skills is relatively important to make Cali fun and interesting and to meet non-pros.

One thing you will find in Cali are more non-pros who are interested in hooking up and the sex can be unreal if you do find one. I think some of the prettier Cali gals can give their garotas a run for the money.

Also, there will be very few, if any, other Americans you'll see in Cali. Could be good as you have all the gals to yourself, but if you like cameraderie, Cali is not the best place for it.

Cali is relatively safe, especially North Cali, but you see more army/police patrols all over and the airport has very strict security procedures.

MDE or CTG is a lot more fun for me these days with more things to do.



(Message edited by merlin on July 15, 2005)

While i was in ctg, word got around to the laguito area that a gringo vacationing in cali was shot in the head in a mugging incident a few weeks ago. true or not, don't know.

There was a gringo killed in Cali who had lived there for about 15 years, he was killed at a ATM.

Hunter

Hunter, I'm curious, do you know if the guy was shot in North Cali or some other part of Cali? Some parts of Cali was kinda spooky, especially the Centro area at night.

Yes. I heard of this killing via an amiga and she sent me a link which was in Spanish. So I used Google to translate it.

Here is the link:
http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/paisonline/calionline/notas/Junio062005/alberico.html

And here is the translation:

The American biologist Michael Alberico, recognized investigator of the tropical fauna and in special of the bats, was assassinated when he was victim of a holdup in Cali, where resided 25 years ago.

Alberico, from 68 years and rejoiced of the University of the Valley, received several firings when it left an automatic teller in the district the Talent of the south of the city, apparently from two men who tried to assault it.

The American had obtained the doctorate in Biology in the University of Illinois, with works on the ecosystem in the deserts again Mexico (the United States).

In 1979 he arrived at Colombia to make studies on the tropical forests and one became professor of zoology of the university of the Valley, where he contributed during two decades to the formation of scientists.
He was in addition author to numerous works on the neighboring fauna of Colombia and countries.

In the last years Alexander was part of the advisory committee of the institute of investigation of biological resources Von Humboldt, assigned to the Ministry of the Medio.ambiente of Colombia, that carries out the rise of a census on the rich biodiversity of the country.

Alberico was described as an expert in the study as the bats, subject that got passionate to him. "I have a special motivation to study these animals because they have an evolutionary history closely related to the one of the mammals", it indicated in an interview published in 1998 in the magazine of the Univalle.

"By tradition, the vampire has a mystery aureole, in Europe, until recently, was sight like beings who lived on other beings. In addition, its association with Drácula grants a species to him of tétrico panorama ", assured then.

Alvarez was married with the Colombian Marine Light, genetista bióloga, with that had three children. In the next hours, one of the children of Alberico will arrive at Colombia.

Thanks for the article Phd. I'm sure you can chime in, but the reason I asked is that I felt relatively safe in North Cali, Versailles, etc. There are lots of armed guards around, and I had no problems walking around at night solo, using the ATMS frequently, and even walking away from casinos with some winnings. But like any large city, there are definitely certain areas to be avoided. There are probably more carjackings and senseless robberies involving shootings in any large, U.S. city.

Yes Merlin you are right. Even thought Michael Alberico was an American Gringo he had been living in Colombia for 25 years and may have been aware of his surroundings. So I really don't consider him a "tourist gringo" who was an easy target. It could have been anyone. As you mentioned, there are good and bad parts of almost every major city in the world and Colombia is no exception. I have always stayed in North Cali and always in the Intercontinental hotel and there is an ATM right outside of the hotel with armed guard on duty 24 hours a day. I have drawn money from that ATM number of times and never had a problem. However, I never stayed on the South side of Cali and don't know if would be comfortable doing the same things I did on the North side.

Phd

Merlin, no I don't know him, just read it on the net when it happened, there was a thread on Poor But Happy about it:

http://www.poorbuthappy.com/colombia/node/10296

Maybe it was a mugging that went wrong, although he could have pissed off the wrong people and they made look like a ATM robbery.

Hunter