Women traveling in Latin America

[Jonh]

This may be troll bait for the women of TRN, but I'll put it here for the fun of it.

You could win a whopping U$100 for your "engaging, thought-provoking stories or essays that explore the theme of women traveling in Latin America, both alone or together. We want you to give us a fresh perspective, a revised look on the clichéd idea of Latin America being a dangerous region for women travelers."

Women Travel Latin America (WTLA) brings together "women writers and bloggers and give a space for them to express their hopes, fears and dreams."

http://www.womentravellatinamerica.c...g-competition/

[bill_bly_ca]

The Blog runner asked to be part of the Masaya page, with requests like this I send a message to see if the request is real - There was a reply which did not look precanned, so I granted membership - She made a similar post there.

This may be troll bait for the women of TRN, but I'll put it here for the fun of it.

[MizBrown]

I don't think it's particularly dangerous for women travelers who aren't stupid. Watch what resident women do, and do that. If they're not out after dark, you don't want to be out after dark either. If you don't see children playing on the streets after school, get out of that neighborhood fast (poor women are as protective of their children as any other women). If you think picking up strangers for sex and drugs is safe, you may end up dead in the surf with your vagina stuffed full of sand (as happened to one sexual tourist woman in Mexico in the 1970s or 1960s), or just beaten and your cell phones stolen as apparently happened to three young European women in Granada (the cops got one phone back and then started taking selfies with the girls and laughed at them).

Friend of mine has been to Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala basically alone, and had no problems, but she's older and not stupid.

[Jonh]

What she's apparently looking for is, "Latin America is perfectly safe for women, those Latin men just adore us and treat us like goddesses."

[Jonh]

Versus...

[el duende grande]

Yep, the 4 S rule applies.

Don't do Stupid things at Stupid places at Stupid times with Stupid people.

Maybe they should print this on passports along with the boilerplate gobbledygook.

[Little Corn Tom]

Anything with Goldie Hawn has to be good.

[MizBrown]

Does hanging out with these guys look stupid to you (Kellie N Patterson's Facebook page, today, from San Juan del Sur).

[Jimmy Torpedo]

Man bun and a rats nest.
Toilet paper and the stove,.. they do shit where they eat.
God help us if this ever moves north.

[MizBrown]

The vehicle has California plates. Turned out Ms. Patterson, the Goofy Guru, also posted this to a general San Juan del Sur group. This is her idea of Transformational Tourism, that she believes San Juan del Sur should specialize in.

[drlemcor]

I can smell that picture. I don't think this is a good thing.

[RGV AG]

I can smell that picture. I don't think this is a good thing.

[Jonh]

"Transformational toursim"? What is the definition? From a book I found on Amazon, it sounds like a fancy non-secular term for missionary travel. Who's mission?

At least Mr. Topknot has an iPhone. Probably not reading TRN on it.

[KeyWestPirate]

I don't think it's particularly dangerous for women travelers who aren't stupid. Watch what resident women do, and do that. If they're not out after dark, you don't want to be out after dark either. If you don't see children playing on the streets after school, get out of that neighborhood fast (poor women are as protective of their children as any other women). If you think picking up strangers for sex and drugs is safe, you may end up dead in the surf with your vagina stuffed full of sand (as happened to one sexual tourist woman in Mexico in the 1970s or 1960s), or just beaten and your cell phones stolen as apparently happened to three young European women in Granada (the cops got one phone back and then started taking selfies with the girls and laughed at them).

Friend of mine has been to Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala basically alone, and had no problems, but she's older and not stupid.

The "Krusty"s abound at any resort destination,, and perhaps serve some useful purpose, as do the female prostitutes.
Why shouldn't the female traveler enjoy a bit of adventure as well?

The sophisticated ones learn pretty quickly that this isn't some Italian movie they are playing a bit part in,,,, perhaps after a chunk of money, a credit card,, and their I-Phone vanishes.

How many guys have been there? Perhaps we will finally see equality of the sexes (at least in terms of getting run through the wringer).

[Jonh]

Anything with Goldie Hawn has to be good.

She never seems to age.

[MizBrown]

"Transformational toursim"? What is the definition? From a book I found on Amazon, it sounds like a fancy non-secular term for missionary travel. Who's mission?

At least Mr. Topknot has an iPhone. Probably not reading TRN on it.

Most of these people tend to be affluent or with affluent expectations. The current buzzword use of transformational tourism is deep experiences with non-Western cultures that shake up your world view. In Ms. Patterson's world, it means claiming spiritual benefits (a very Puritanical idea if you think about it) for drug experiences. Costa Rica makes money from an Amazonian ritual that has no connection to there. This chick thinks smoking pot is spiritual. She's running around San Juan del Sur trying to find people to hire her as a transformational tourism specialist. There's an outfit that does transformational tourism seminars -- Google will have further details.

The mission is to spread "peace and love." Also, it's very obvious from the past couple days, that Ms. Goofy doesn't spend any time with Nicaraguans. She announced that she will be at Pelican Bay doing Zen Tarot readings (an invention by a Hindu spiritual hustler who also sold "give me money because it makes you feed good" in Oregon and other places).

Ms. Goofy apparently hasn't been working in six years and gets money from her followers and her credit card company to travel around.

I think to be fair to San Juan del Sur, we get the people selling themselves as spiritual hippies as much as San Juan del Sur in the same proportions to other expats, just that the local cops tend to run them off if they become too flagrant (Suzanne Wopperer's nephew had to leave Jinotega ahead of the cops recently from what I've heard). San Juan del Sur white folks want the Nicaraguan thieves busted, but not all the Gringo pot smokers or their dealers. My guess is the cops may believe they deserve each other.

[MizBrown]

The "Krusty"s abound at any resort destination,, and perhaps serve some useful purpose, as do the female prostitutes.
Why shouldn't the female traveler enjoy a bit of adventure as well?

The sophisticated ones learn pretty quickly that this isn't some Italian movie they are playing a bit part in,,,, perhaps after a chunk of money, a credit card,, and their I-Phone vanishes.

How many guys have been there? Perhaps we will finally see equality of the sexes (at least in terms of getting run through the wringer).

This chick has only her credit card and whatever money her followers give her, at least according to her. She didn't have the $90 to pay the cab from Managua to San Juan del Sur, and put that and two nights lodging on the tab at Casa del Oro, and asked her followers to bail her out. I don't know if they did or didn't. She's been at at least two more places since.

I knew someone like this in Philadelphia who thought burning herself to death would transform the world into a sharing economy. This chick also believes in a sharing economy -- she reads cards and babbled about peace and love and people should give her food, lodging, clothes, and transportation.

[drlemcor]

She didn't have the $90 to pay the cab from Managua to San Juan del Sur

Cost for non-Managua resident to get from the airport to La UCA or Huembes: C$5 (or 17 cents USD) It's C$2.5 for resident with a TUC, but there are always people willing to share their cards at the bus stops for twice the price.

Cost for taking a bus from Managua to San Juan del Sur: C$90 +/- (or $3 USD) This has recently gone up. It used to cost C$50 to get to Rivas, but it cost me a lot more to get back from the border in April due to the rate hike, so I no longer know exactly how much it costs--but C$90 is pretty close.

This is a grand total of $3.17 to get from the airport (not just Managua) to San Juan del Sur. It boggles my mind that anyone would fund someone who is so obviously a bad investment. The very first thing that she does it to piss away $82.93 for no good reason. If you have the money and you prefer traveling in a taxi--then more power to you, but this woman is asking for someone else to finance her luxury and stupidity. I mean...

[MizBrown]

Cost for non-Managua resident to get from the airport to La UCA or Huembes: C$5 (or 17 cents USD) It's C$2.5 for resident with a TUC, but there are always people willing to share their cards at the bus stops for twice the price.

Cost for taking a bus from Managua to San Juan del Sur: C$90 +/- (or $3 USD) This has recently gone up. It used to cost C$50 to get to Rivas, but it cost me a lot more to get back from the border in April due to the rate hike, so I no longer know exactly how much it costs--but C$90 is pretty close.

This is a grand total of $3.17 to get from the airport (not just Managua) to San Juan del Sur. It boggles my mind that anyone would fund someone who is so obviously a bad investment. The very first thing that she does it to piss away $82.93 for no good reason. If you have the money and you prefer traveling in a taxi--then more power to you, but this woman is asking for someone else to finance her luxury and stupidity. I mean...

Yeah. I once listened to a tape of the Bhagwan (the guy whose followers took over a town in Oregon) who was telling people that (a) if they liked giving him money, do so since he liked taking it, (b) he didn't know a damn thing about any next life and it didn't matter. The person playing the tape heard something allegorical and anti-ego and was berating herself for being jealous that her husband had left her in Albany, NY, to go to the Oregon compound and make it with the girl disciples of the Bagman. The Goofy Guru has ties to the Bagman at least in terms of using the Tarot card deck he invented and added the magic word Zen to. The Goofy One doesn't have followers who can buy her a Rolls, much less a collection of them, but if people give her money through her paypal account or through Western Union, she will post a gratitude thanks.

She also claimed she thought the cabbie was saying 90 cordobas, not $90 US. It's hard to figure whether she's crazy, or just a species of hustler, probably a bit of both. She scolded some of her more affluent friends for not helping her out when she was homeless, and claims she's never fucked for money though people have offered. Since she hasn't thanked anyone for sending the money to pay her tab with Casa del Oro, I suspect they ended up stiffed. She also apparently had to leave another hostel, probably also for non-payment. Now doing card readings for $10 a shot at Pelican Eyes. Probably not likely to end up in other places because the pickings of the well-off New Agers would be better there. First day in San Juan del Sur, she fell in with a young thief and decided he was an artist (palmera hustler) and wanted the San Juan del Sur to love Leo back into grace or something. She had someone give her a Mac pro laptop and she's obviously got a cell phone.


It's just like watching a soap opera to follow her. If the world was just, she'd be deported, but this is Nicaragua.

[MizBrown]

Anyone wanting to follow along at home, https://www.facebook.com/kellyofthepattersons

[KeyWestPirate]

Does hanging out with these guys look stupid to you (Kellie N Patterson's Facebook page, today, from San Juan del Sur).

OK,,

I studied these guy's "DO"s at some length and concluded that they are handles.

This is going to smell worse,,, a lot worse,,, than Walking Man thought at first glance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOj2cNXTESA

I think that I just brought the level of discourse on TRN to a new low.
I don't know whether to feel proud, or ashamed

[Little Corn Tom]

My vote is "low".

[Jonh]

Most of these people tend to be affluent or with affluent expectations. The current buzzword use of transformational tourism is deep experiences with non-Western cultures that shake up your world view. In Ms. Patterson's world, it means claiming spiritual benefits (a very Puritanical idea if you think about it) for drug experiences. Costa Rica makes money from an Amazonian ritual that has no connection to there. This chick thinks smoking pot is spiritual. She's running around San Juan del Sur trying to find people to hire her as a transformational tourism specialist. There's an outfit that does transformational tourism seminars -- Google will have further details.

My BIL is doing 3 years in prison in Diriamba for promoting "spiritual transformation." Why is this chick not in jail?

[MizBrown]

My BIL is doing 3 years in prison in Diriamba for promoting "spiritual transformation." Why is this chick not in jail?

Because San Juan del Sur wouldn't have a tourist industry if everyone who used drugs was busted.