An expat social media influencer said what?

Influencer "Where's Wes" interviewed facilitator Carolina about moving to Medellin.

Carolina said without a cedula, you can't buy a cellphone.   This seems unfair to me since tourists depend on their phone and should be able to buy a new one if they lose it or it is stolen.

Carolina also said, that she likes to take new clients to buy a new cell phone since she doesn't want you to get your high-end Apple or Samsung phone lost or stolen.  If you don't have a cedula, she may buy it on credit for you, and expect you to make the payments (risky).

Yes, you can buy a cellphone with your passport.  It is, slightly, more difficult to get a SIM card though.

Instead of going to any old store to get a SIM card, you'll have to go directly to the main provider's offices: Claro, Movistar, TIGO, etc... to register the phone and get the SIM card.  Payment may be harder as a few years ago, they wouldn't accept foreign credit cards.  I'm not so sure now.  May have to pay in cash every month.

Just show your passport.  We've helped several travelers do this.  Some of the reps don't want to do it, but just ask for additional assistance.  Everything in Colombia need patience.

Over the past 33 years of my travels everywhere in Colombia and now living 7 years in Medellin and continue my almost non-stop travel, usually extended road trips everywhere in Colombia, "Colombia is Small" to me, also purchasing and selling and operating businesses and fincas and a few apartments (like my apartment where I have been living 7 years now/purchased 7 years ago in Medellin), owing cars and motorcycles and having credit cards/lines of credit with Bancolombia and purchasing cell phones, etc., etc....all of this both with and without a visa and cedula............I pay zero attention to any of these clown "Influences", I have forgotten more about Colombia and life here than they think they know about Colombia.

I love Colombia despite it's annoyances and have created a life here that would be the envy of my family and friends back in Los Angeles, California (where I hail from). I could care less about the useless nonesense, without understanding the Colombian people and cultures and how things are done here, that almost all the influences spew out.

Yes you can purchase a cell phone even without the benefit of a cedula, you can even purchase a SIM card for a few pesos, like 5 or 10 mil from eiether carriers like Tigo or Claro, BUT then you can only subscribe for a prepago plan, pay as you go as you have no established credit yet. But still a way to have the use of a cell phone in Colombia.

I was watching a Youtube Influencer named Ezrato in a video titled  Getting Your Phone Connected in Colombia. He says tourists who buy sims for their phones need to register their cellphones in a national database after (or maybe it is within) 30 days since the sim will stop working. He says this is a security measure.

Ezrato says the information you need to provide to register the phone includes:

• IMEI number - Found by dialing *#06# on your phone
• Passport
• A Receipt of Your Phone's Purchase

Analysis: i don't have a receipt of my phone purchase. How am I suppose to get around this?

I was watching a Youtube Influencer named Ezrato in a video titled Getting Your Phone Connected in Colombia. He says tourists who buy sims for their phones need to register their cellphones in a national database after (or maybe it is within) 30 days since the sim will stop working. He says this is a security measure.
Ezrato says the information you need to provide to register the phone includes:

IMEI number - Found by dialing *#06# on your phone
Passport
A Receipt of Your Phone's Purchase

Analysis: i don't have a receipt of my phone purchase. How am I suppose to get around this?
-@Mr. Barley

Yes...if you are going to use a Colombia SIM card, you need to register the phone.  They ask for this to make sure the phone is not stolen.  You do *NOT* need a receipt of your phone's purchase.  They might ask for it, but if it's clear you are a tourist, or foreigner, you can easily argue your case to not have it.

Armenia live streamer Loren has said in the past two weeks that he has had his floor fan pointed at him in order to sleep, (probably wishing he had an AC he could turn on.) This is surprising due to the fact I have heard on multiple occasions how the north of Armenia has breezes and is a couple degrees cooler than in the south.

Since Pereira has nearly identical temperatures to Armenia according to Weather spark, I am curious whether any expats in Pereira have their fans turned on them in order to sleep?

South Armenia is hotter than the north.  The past two weeks have been hotter, and dryer, than normal.  West of Pereira, including Cuba and Cerritos, is hotter than East of Pereira.  Many homes in Cerritos have A/D.  We're in the East...we wear long sleeves to bed.

I purchase a Samsung S9 at Jumbo years ago....no one asked for my cedula or passport....I bought a sim card at the papelaria below my apartment building and no one ever asked for my ID or to register anything. Years later...it still works. But I do regularly buy minutes for my phone at the same papelaria  where I purchased the SIM card. Maybe if I didn't.... Claro might consider shutting my phone off.

we wear long sleeves to bed.
-@mtbe

I recall influencer William "Bill" Harrison of Armenia saying he pulls the top sheet over him when he sleeps.  Hopefully just an anomaly that Live Stream Loren has to use a fan, especially when you consider he has two balconies in his corner unit, that should allow for those famous breezes on the northside of town to ventilate his apartment while he sleeps.

I purchase a Samsung S9 at Jumbo years ago....no one asked for my cedula or passport....I bought a sim card at the papelaria below my apartment building and no one ever asked for my ID or to register anything. Years later...it still works. But I do regularly buy minutes for my phone at the same papelaria where I purchased the SIM card. Maybe if I didn't.... Claro might consider shutting my phone off.
-@Tommy Lee70

I considered buying a pixel 6a 5g recently, since my Motorola X4 is a little dated now, since it was first manufactured in 2017.  I have heard that unlike Ecuador, Colombia is actually implementing 5g in some of the bigger cities.  Of course, not really an issue for me, since I am not really a big city guy.

I purchase a Samsung S9 at Jumbo years ago....no one asked for my cedula or passport....I bought a sim card at the papelaria below my apartment building and no one ever asked for my ID or to register anything. Years later...it still works. But I do regularly buy minutes for my phone at the same papelaria where I purchased the SIM card. Maybe if I didn't.... Claro might consider shutting my phone off.
-@Tommy Lee70

I considered buying a pixel 6a 5g recently, since my Motorola X4 is a little dated now, since it was first manufactured in 2017. I have heard that unlike Ecuador, Colombia is actually implementing 5g in some of the bigger cities. Of course, not really an issue for me, since I am not really a big city guy.
-@Mr. Barley

I've got the Pixel 6 Pro.  Problem is hard to fix in Colombia.  I dropped it and shattered the glass.  Luckily it still worked, but nobody could fix it here.  Had to ship the glass from the US...but fortunately, I was heading to the US in a month anyway...

Influencer Geno Perez interviewed a "passport bro" called Jeff who has learned not to go out to bars at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and stay off dating sites in Colombia.

Of course, as Geno later told a commenter, Geno met his wife of 5 years on dating site, and now is an affiliate for the site, via a link he provides in the description.

"Where's Wes" visited Santa Marta in his latest video.

Notable observations by Wes:

Heat and the humidity; it's rough; it's just like Cartagena just like Panama.

for some reason every single shop seems to be like a pizza place and  then an ice cream parlor and it just repeats; pizza, ice cream, pizza, ice cream, that's literally all the restaurants do

@Mr. Barley I spent a month in Pereira and a month in Armenia. Needed fans at night in both to sleep comfortably.

"Where's Wes" did another video on Santa Marta. At the end of the video he says he is leaving Colombia, and will address it in a future video.

@Mr. Barley ... Wes received death threats from "Christian" relatives of his ex, so it might be good for Wes to leave Colombia for a while.

Wes appears conflicted over potentially leaving Colombia

and whether he would consider dating a Colombiana

going forward.

He is Asian with strong conversational Spanish,

yet was thrown off course by culture shock

after choosing a wife from Manizales.

Wes had to get out of the Coffee Triangle to

get away from his in-laws' alleged death threats and

has been posting from Medellín and Santa Marta.

He says he deleted over two years' worth of videos

to remove any images of his ex-family.

Source... "Where's Wes?" channel of YouTube

Live streamer Loren Lowe (LLL) said today that he is no longer an affiliate of Hey Mondo. Therefore don't look for a link in the description are of his videos for them.  Apparently, Hey Mondo changed the terms of their traveler's insurance policies so that 99% of LLL's audience wouldn't qualify or be interested in them..   An interesting development in light of the requirement for traveler's insurance for M visas.  I am still looking for takers of the traveler's insurance discussed in this thread.

Also, LLL responded to a question from the chat room at around the 58:00 mark asking how to calculate EPS insurance. He said the EPS personnel calculated it for him and that he later tried to increase  the minimum he pays, but was unsuccessful due to pitiful bureaucracy. Therefore, he has a rainy day fund in the event it is an issue at his next M renewal in about a year, I recall.

Hey Mondo was a no-go from the start because they did not offer policies to elderly people.

Hey Mondo was a no-go from the start because they did not offer policies to elderly people.
-@futuroexpat

I think LLL said in past videos that people up to age 69 were able to qualify. Last time I was on Peligro's visa facilitator's web page, I noted that their graphic for the AC 60 plan--which supposedly can be used for any visa--said "for any age".   Of course, the older you get, the more it costs. All the more incentive to get a "R" visa someday, probably.

Influencer William "Bill" Harrison of Armenia, debuted a new panama hat today, and made a big announcement today: he will start a sister real estate company for the town of Salento, where his wife is from. I assume that means a new YouTube channel. I think I read that Salento is 24 kilometers northeast of Armenia, but don't hold me to that.

Wlliam Harrison in promoting his sister company for Salento, says Salento is in the mid 70s during the day and can drop down to mid 50s at night. It is a small tourist town that gets busy on the weekends.

Of course, contrast that with Armenia and Peirera which hit the low 80s during the day and low 60s at night.

I personally think live streamer Loren would prefer it cooler in Armenia, but he wants the services found in a bigger city.

I was about to watch Where's Wes apartment tour, but decided to read the comments instead:

@ohno-zx4if 1 day ago

Save your money on the visa lawyer the visa in Colombia have become extremely difficult. I'm stating to believe the Colombian president doesn't like foreigners.

I think Petro likes foreigners just fine, as long as you are a tourist, and you go back to where you are from.

While the video was from months ago, it popped into my head, since I recently bought new shorts from Amazon(size 30) to replace my other shorts (size 33).

Specifically, influencer "Life with David" recommends expats to not wear shorts in Medellin, so they won't be identified as tourists.

I think I am going to need shorts in Armenia when I am there, at least while I am inside the apartment.

Influencer "Where's Wes?" latest video is titled "Why I left Colombia".

Some of the reasons

• His wife and church are trying to get his visa cancelled.
• Mounting paranoia about death threats
• He is headed to Thailand and probably Vietnam, to discover his roots.
• He is going study Buddhism while there.
• He took the drug Ayahuasca and during his trip, he was told to leave Colombia.

He referred to the following quote by author Paul Coelho:

• Feast when it's time to Feast
• Rest when it's time to rest
• Move on when it's time

i actually read that book in Spanish many years ago in Guatemala with my Spanish teacher. I bought each of us a copy and we would take turns reading paragraphs out loud. It didn't help in the least my conversational Spanish.

@Mr. Barley the new rules were made under the Duque regime, but I am sure Petro has no interest.or priority in changing them, and I wouldnt doubt his people have infiltrated the cancilleria , just like the ministry of energy and others, and thus the desire to " soak" well off foriegners reapplying for a visa.

@Mr. Barley Wes sounds like a naive nutbar to me.

We dont hear his EXs side of the story.

I know a guy with similar " death threat" situations in Colombia, and he had to leave.

I told this story on another thread on this site.

I can tell you he got into that situation due to his own stupdity. I would bet a million dollars Wes's situation is the same, he could have avoided it easily and still have a good time in Colombia.

@nico peligro

I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the stupid things I have done in my life. Did something stupid in 2022, which I think at the minimum will result in an inquiry letter by the I.R.S.

Influencer Caleb McMartin is leaving Colombia. Apparently, he is about to close on 50 acres in the U.S. He is ambitious and has plans

He gave a host of things he didn't like about Medellin including

• Noise
• Pollution
• Traffic
• Assassins for hire, that for $200, can knock you off
• Not enough big minded business folk.
• Poor place to raise kids

Another thing Caleb said was that death threats are cultural and that Colombians will carry them out less than 1% of the time. (his figure might have been smaller than 1%)

@Mr. Barley Yeah but who wants to risk being in that 1%., you know?

@Mr. Barley Yeah but who wants to risk being in that 1%., you know?
-@ChineduOpara

True. He seemed to contrast his situation where he had a physical location for his business with digital nomads who work from home or at sheik coffee shops and live in a "gringo bubble".

@Mr. Barley I see. I dunno why expats insist on creating these "expat bubbles". I mean, I kinda know why, I get it (bilingual support, making new friends more easily, etc), but these bubbles just make us targets... they rarely attract the GOOD locals (educated, employed, language learners, business-minded etc), instead they attract bad locals (predators, fraudsters, LDFGs).

I dunno what the solution is, but I just know that these "expat bubbles" have cost people tons of money, and has even cost lives.

@ChineduOpara I try to avoid the "Expat Bubbles" at all costs. Of course there are other risks in areas such as Doce or Santo Domingo; but, I prefer to dance with the devil I know.

elp

Live Streamer Loren interviewed a Guy named Turtle this past Sunday who lived in Guayaquil for five years before moving on to Colombia. Guayaquil is the last place in Ecuador a gringo would normally go to unless it is for work or woman. Of course, I am currently in a major gringo bubble, but migrating north in the coming months.

@Mr. Barley i have done and continue to do what some people think are stupid things with women in Colombia and general, but more from a soft heart and obsesiveness, not from naivity. I definitely know what is going on.

Better never to the point.of death threats when things go off the rail.

Usualy the opposite. Most my exes want to get back together years down the road. They realize what a great deal they had and how they blew  it.

Such is life.

@Mr. Barley would have to agree on Calebs opinión of Medallo, but its not the only city in Colombia

@Mr. Barley Guayaquill has a really high crime rate now

Better somewhere around Quito

Cuenca is nice, but rmote,  a " gringo bubble" and expensive

    @Mr. Barley i have done and continue to do what some people think are stupid things with women in Colombia and general, but more from a soft heart and obsesiveness,

    -@nico peligro

One of the stupid things I did in Ecuador was to buy a crappy house with problems.  Another thing I did that normally would be considered stupid, is to put your wife on the title while trying to give it to her outright at a notary republic. However, it felt good doing so, and no regrets. We have been separated now five years, and I haven't spoken with her. To get a divorce would mean my half of the house would not pass to her on my death. Therefore, I want to transfer my half and then possibly get a divorce. But these two processes must be done separately according to my attorney. I am migrating north in the coming months, so I may need to get a "poder" (power of attorney).