(08-12-2012 10:43 AM)chochemonger1 Wrote: City Overview : City in the northwest of Colombia with hills and great weather. Safe, clean and organized. Can count on 2 hands the amount of foreigners I have seen here in a month.
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Finally, I can say I have the nuances of this city down, though Ive had little time to explore, because I have been so busy recording rock songs. Lets just say it is my last attempt at glory. I have gone out with many women, mostly through Colombian Cupid and my musician friends have given me alot of good insights.
Logistics : In terms of logistics, this is the best city in Colombia. It has 1.2 million people, in the metropolitan area, but it has a small city feel. The bus and metro bus(like Bogota) system are very efficient and costs 1700 pesos per ride (about 1 dollar). If you live in the best and poshest central area called Cabecera, many bars, clubs, shopping centers are walking distance away. I always take taxis because of time constraints and generally will not pay more than 7000 pesos from one extreme to another part of the city. This is unlike Medellin, where from one extreme area to another it can easily cost you 20,000. Typical fare for me to a bar or shopping center is around 5000 pesos. Minimum fare is 4300 pesos with a 300 peso additional charge for nights, weekends and holidays. At night always take a taxi.
Lodging : If you have budget constraints, you will want to rent a single room or dorm bed at Kasa Guane, which is centrally located in Cabecera(the best neighborhood). Prices for the 3 single rooms available are around 50,000 to 60,000 pesos per night. It is the only hostel in the city and you will find a few europeans and americans here. They also dont have a problem with you bringing a girl back to your room, but the quality of the place is such, that most Bucaramanga girls will not put out, if they see you staying in this hostel. If you are staying for a month or more your best bet is a furnished apartment which you can find on Trovit.com or through a local real estate agency. Prices are similar to Medellin...for example, 1.4 million pesos per month for a centrally located furnished 1 bedroom apartment.
Sight seeing : I havent had a lot of free time to do this, but there are some nice small colonial towns about an hour or 2 away. Also there is the Chicamocha Canyon about an hour away from the city, which supposedly rivals the Grand Canyon in the US. Nevertheless, there are much bettter cities or places in Colombia to go sightseeing.
Day game spots : Haven´t done much of this since I have been mostly rehearsing or in a music studio during the daytime. But from what I have seen, your best best are the universities or parks in the city. You can find solo women there or in pairs. Malls dont seem as as such a good option, as a lot of women seem to be accompanied by male friends or several female friends. The best malls in the city are Quarta Etapa in Cabecera, Megamall near the city center and La Florida in the southern part (where the wealthiest areas of town are located). In the end, day game does not seem like such a great option here, as women are more reserved and weary of foreigners than in a city like Medellin or Cali. Most have never encountered a foreigner, since there are so few of us here. Women are friendlier and more open in the coast, Medellin, Pereira or Cali. Day game in Medellin, for example, results in a lot numbers but alot of flakes also. About 30 to 35 percent will agree to a date with you through day game. In Bucaramanga expect 20 to 25 percent. Almost no one speaks english here, so your Spanish skills better be solid. As a white blue eyed gringo who speaks some spanish expect to do better.
Nightlife spots : The G manifesto will probably want to kill me for this hehe, but I havent really gone out much to bars or clubs here. When I go out with a girl at night, I usually tell her to come to my apartment building at night and then we go to some local bar or I meet her at a mall, where they have drinking establishments in or near the mall. The Zona Rosa is very near to Cabecera(which is the best area to stay) and that is where you will find the best nightspots and bars. Though night game doesnt seem as productive, as Medellin, because the cute girls always go out in big groups with male friends and they are more conservative than their Paisa counterparts. A one night stand here would be close to a miracle.
Ease of Approaching: Girls are relatively friendly here, but more shy and conservative than in Medellin, Cali or the coast. This is not a busted dudes city, so you see mostly girls and guys going out within the same looks and age range. Many hungry men and not bad looking, so more competition than in Cali, Medellin or the coast. There are more white girls than any other city in Colombia I have been and these will be the hardest. Better to concentrate on the cute morenas. Also, internet game is probably your best bet to find the girls who are interested in foreigners.
Prices: Similar to Medellin and Bogota....so you can look that up in the Medellin data sheets. The coast, sector cafetero, Cali are a bit cheaper.
Women: Mediocre compared to the rest of Colombia. The chubby epedemic is becoming rampant here, so the cute young skinny girls are in huge demand and thus their attitudes are not pleasant. Many young single mothers here, just like the rest of Colombia.
The traditional word to characterize the women in Santander(the province) is brava which has many connotations in Spanish. To simplify things, I would say that it means they are overly proud and stubborn. Never had so many women come to my place and not bang them. In almost any other city in Colombia or the world. I have at least a 75 percent close ratio when they come to my pad. Here it is around 35 to 40 percent. You can try all the tricks in the book, but many will not accept your charm or persistence, when trying to get them into bed on the 2nd date. Have had 2 or 3 women leave my apartment because I pressured them hard and had them naked...but in the end they became indignant about it.
Age differences are the lowest I have seen in Colombia. If you are over 40 stick to Cali, Medellin or the coast. Also, if you want a fuck fest dont come here. I averaged 2 different girls a week here, but for me in Colombia, that is very mediocre. Mixx always talked about Pereira and Manizales...so that is where you want to go to maximize your bangs. Also Medellin, Cali and the coast will bring more results, since the women are more agressive and on the prowl (There is more competition for a good man). On Colombian Cupid, I have gotten many unsolicited emails from these cities, though I have specifically stated that I am only looking for Bucaramanga girls. No unsolicited emails from Bucaramanga girls. They always expect the man to be the one chasing. Since the chubby ratio is as high as I have seen in Colombia, the 7s or higher are more difficult than other cities. The good side is that they are the least flaky girls in Colombia. I would recommend romantic and funny game here, way more than cocky and aloof game, with most girls. The girls have the sexy vibe like in most of Colombia and are good conversationalists.....unlike Medellin girls, for example, who tend to be more superficial. Don´t see too many girls who have had plastic surgery like in Medellin or Cali
Pros: Best city in Colombia to live in .....in terms of safety, tranquility, logistics, cleanliness, organization and weather(similar to Medellin but less rain and a bit hotter). Good place to live once you have semi retired from game and have one girl you want to settle down with.
Cons: Conservative, stubborn, proud women who are in the mid level looks range, with regards to other parts of Colombia. Chubbiness is becoming prevalent. Better looking than the girls from the coast in general, but the girls from the coast are sexier and easier.
Personal experience : Many make outs especially on the 2nd date. Had one first date lay but that is a rarity here. Averaged banging 2 different girls here each week, mostly in the 24 to 28 age range. The young 18 to 21 generally stick to men a little bit older, but not in their 30s or 40s.
Overview: Would only recommend the city to a player who is ready to settle down and wants to live in the nicest city in Colombia. Would not recommend it to the player who wants quality and quantity, in terms of girls. For that stick to Medellin, Cali, Pereira or Manizales.
Excellent datasheet chochemonger1, +1 from me. Just returned from a very impromptu one week trip there (after just coming from 2 weeks in Barranquilla) and I have to say that I agree with most of your observations, they are still accurate in 2015. Girls being mediocre for Colombian standards, chubby epidemic, the girls generally being more conservative, however the people were all very curious for the most part and friendly, yet proud. The city itself does seem pretty nice, but the centro still feels pretty shady at night. I did see a robbery (chick getting her phone stolen from her hand on the street in Cabecera on Carrrera 33) happen here, and there are parts of the city that didn't feel super safe in the centro at night, but in all it was a pleasant-enough week. I'd say the weather here is not as brutal (hot and humid) as Barranquilla, but perhaps Medellín is a bit dryer on average with less humidity.
An update on prices. As of now, I am getting 2,950 COP / USD at the Bancolombia ATMs with no service fees. When I arrived in late June it was much closer to 2,500 COP. The exchange rate is súper good for USD holders...the time is now to plan a trip to Colombia...well maybe not Bucaramanga as you will see below!
I will add a few things here as I sampled the night life one night (Friday) with a girl I picked up from day game on my first day in the city (Thursday). We went to Cabacera, which is undoubtedly the nighlife capital of this city. Went to a few places with this girl (6.5 22 y/o shop girl day-gamed from La Quinta mall, nice body, smokes weed) who later that night verbally put me in friend zone. I think the trigger point for her reaction was after I told her that night I was only staying for one week in Bucaramanga and was straight up about how I was only here for vacation and learning spanish. This strategy of telling a girl I am only here "para vacaciones, divertirme, y estudiar español" still seems to work for me in other occasions thus far in Colombia but in all this will probably cost me some bangs in the long run. That's life and I'm ok with it, being honest is my MO lately.
NIGHTLIFE
Cabecera is still the central zone for this. I only went out one night (Friday) to two different places...one I believe was called
Dash - Calle 48 #38-12 and another was Discoteca
Calison - Calle 33 #31-35. Dash was a nice spot, there was an outdoor terrace upstairs where you can smoke with tables next to a bar with decent electronic music. We had just smoked some local herb before arriving and it was a good vibe, great for chatting and physically escalating. After good leg touching, hand holding and establishing a good vibe, my kiss attempt was rejected. The girl followed with LJBF here, which kinda bummed me out because I cut my previous date short with a girl (6, 24 y/o creamy thin librarian girl met on Tinder with a nice body) who I determined would likely be DTF in the near future.
Discoteca Calison is primarily a salsa spot with pretty excellent music (from Cali) and a pretty full dance floor by around 11ish. I think I spotted what was later confirmed with my date to be about 5 or 6 pretty stunning prepago's here; and possibly another handful of other hot possibly single normal girls...but they got swooped up QUICKLY by dudes with tight dance game. My salsa skills are not quite up to snuff yet and I believe I've even cockblocked myself on at least two occasions so far by trying to dance salsa with a chick and her just shaking her head like "omg you dance like a gringo jaja" (will take salsa lessons in Cali to improve that). I danced with my girl a bit when we first arrived but was feeling a little bitter about the LJBF situation so I hooked her up with a guy to dance with her who was probably 40 years older than her to spite here jaja...definitely made the guy's night anyway.
There are many other places in Cabecera but I can't add more unfortunately. I only went out one night here and I ejected by midnight and decided my time would be better served by going home and getting some rest for a day date on Saturday with Tinder girl.
DAYGAME
I would say Colombia in general is one of the better countries I've been to in terms of day-game potential. Bring your español. The main street in Cabecera (Carrera 33) can be good during busy times like between 11:30-1:30 and again from like 4:30-6:30. Although I did witness a lady get her phone robbed by a thief on this street while I was chatting up a girl at the bus stop.
In general, this is not a great day game city as compared to a place like Medellín where you can hang around in front of the Sante Fe mall on Avenida Poblado during rush hour and pick up 3+ numbers of some very sexy women within an hour. I would say in all, the average girl here during the day is a 5.25, which is just below my 5.5 bangable scale. Medellín average is maybe a 6, with Barranquilla possibly scoring a 5...hard to say and it's very subjective.
The mall La Quinta wasn't great during the day, but I did get the number of a cute young store clerk there. It seems like during the hours of 2:00 - 5:30/6:00PM there is a bit of a lull with daytime activity in terms of girls to approach - in general things seem to die down in this town during this time.
In the Centro, there is a park called
Parque Santander where I got a few numbers of some cuties walking through around rush hour from 4:30-6:30. I would usually get my shoes cleaned near-daily for 3,000 pesos from one of the shoe-shine guys stationed there and just kind of watch some chicks walk by. Sometimes they would stop and sit down in the park to play with their phone and if they were still there after my shoe cleaning was finished, I'd hit them up. I saw around one 7+ girl every 10 minutes or so during this time. Also you can walk down Calle 35 (downhill from Parque Santander) and chat up some girls along this pedestrian-only section of street where there is more volume - good times are around lunch time and after work hours. These girls will be more middle-class to barrio, so keep that in mind. Got a few numbers doing Calle 35 as well.
INTERNET GAME
I purposely have been weaning myself off online dating in Colombia as I've really wanted to concentrate more on day game lately where my quality has been generally higher. Day game here allows me to hone the spanish skills and swooping skills simultaneously. That being said, I got my first ever Tinder bang (rarely have used this site in the past) by a chick born in Armenia (Colombia). That is the extent of my online game. I let my Colombian Cupid account expire before arriving.
FOOD, ETC.
El Garaje - Calle 48 #33-39 - Cabecera
Best burger I've had on my 7 month Latin American tour thus far (and there have been many). Good sized, cooked to perfection, served with fries, with many interesting varieties/combinations of burgers to choose from. Burgers are around the 20,000 COP mark. Good date place, very popular on the weekends, you will likely have to wait for a table. I also recommend their grilled shucked corn with various sauces (maíz desgranzado).
Sabor Aqui - Calle 18 # 28-52
This place is a venezuelan arepa place (in my opinion, from what I've tried of Venezuelan style arepas dominates most of the Colombian offerings) with some very delicious arepas stuffed with all kinds of tasty things...including tons of cheese. A huge plate-sized arepa (which is probably too much for one person) and a quite tasty Venezuelan beer set me back 18,000 COP more or less. Great date place also.
Ricuras Paisa - Cra. 30 #32-32
I got a very respectable bandeja paisa here for like 15,000 COP for lunch one day. It wasn't the best I've had but damn delicious for the price and an insane amount of food.
Arepiz - Cra 36 No 51-64
A great lunch spot in Cabecera for nice, healthy, tasty Colombian food. Lots of good protein and veggies here and one of the few places with a complementary salad bar. The lunch of the day cost something like 7-8,000 COP with drink and was very balanced and nutritious.
San Fernando - Cra. 29 #41-40
Easily the best coffee in Bucaramanga and they use beans grown in Santander. They roast on-site a few times a week right in the cafe. They had three types of coffees available while I was there, a natural process, honey process, and washed. If they have the natural, order it in a V60, it's very nice. The barista there is named Ferney and he's got skills. I took two girls here on first dates (1 day game, 1 tinder), it is cheap but delicious and the place is small and intimate with a seating area facing the street. Plus, neither girl had been here before so it was fun to show a girl her own city and arguably the best coffee in town.
El Santisimo - Floridablanca, Santander
This is Bucaramanga's answer to the Christ the reedeemer statue in Rio. It costs about 20,000 COP to enter and you take a 5 minute cable car ride up to this park with a pretty great view. The park itself is still not completely finished being constructed but I took a girl here and it's a good place to make out, drink a coffee, or have some beers overlooking a very picturesque valley and coffee fields of the Hacienda on-site.
WHERE TO STAY
Like Chochemonger alluded, there is basically one main hostel in town, Kasa Guane, located in a very good neighborhood, basically in Cabecera. I stayed in the single private room (with big comfy bed) and shared bathroom for 45,000 COP/night for my first night. This is actually not a bad option because there is a great terrace on the third level with a bar and pool table and there are a few cuties (Colombianas with seemingly gringo-hunter tendencies) hanging around here at night, which you could game and then bring down to your room. I would say that it would be very easy to sneak a girl into your room because you can make the excuse when entering the hostel that you are just here to get a beer at the bar and then instead of going into the bar, take the other stairwell to your room

. Or do go to the bar for a nightcap first.
After one night in Kasa Guane, I stayed in
Hotel Balmoral - Carrera 21 #34-75 in the Centro. It was 45,000 COP with a big comfy bed, A/C, super clean, and they were very cool with me bringing a girl back. Make sure to disable the automatic air-refresher-spray thing on the wall if you have a sensitive nose like me. There is a 10,000 COP charge for having a girl in your room for more than like 30 minutes, but they just add it to your account and you pay for it later. I was never hassled when the girl came in with me, no ID checks or otherwise an acknowledgment other than a nod of recognition. The area around the hotel at night can get a little sketchy, so I would recommend taking a taxi to and from here after like 9 or 10 PM.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
One strange thing to note about this city as that it seems to be built into the side of a mountain. When asking for directions, people will direct you in terms of going up or going down (subir, bajar) because generally if you want to go west or south, you will be walking downhill, and north or east is steady uphill.
In all, this is not a city I would return to as there are no competitive advantages to places like Medellín, which for me is still pretty good in terms of price, things to do, coffee, quality/volume of girls, variety of interesting neighborhoods, nightlife, day-game options, public transit, and herb quality.
On the bright side, there are a lot of parks and green space here, good dining options (food from Santander is famous and delicious for a reason), many universities (which I didn't check out), and the people generally seem to be pretty chilled out. The main advantage here in my opinion is the gringo factor which is quite high, although the eye-fucking was not on the same level as places like Barranquilla where it seemed to happen perhaps twice as often.
In all, I got two good cute young prospects from day game (7 22 y/o and another 7.25 20 year old), both of which I believe I would likely have banged if I stayed longer than a week. Only one new notch from this town which came from a 24 yr old 6 Tinder girl who I spent most of my time with because she had a nice body and was pleasant to spend time with. A recurring problem for me in Colombia thus far is not staying in one place for long enough to close out Day 2s and/or Day 3s properly, which is something I hope to change spending perhaps a minimum of two weeks in a city from here on out; or at least perhaps come back to a place after a while to close out some girls still in the pipeline.