Recent Thoughts

Just got back from a quick 5 day stay and here are a few observations:

Stayed at the AP house and was glad I did, in addition to the very reasonable prices the comraderie with the other guests makes the down time very enjoyable. The dinner parties are always fun and the kitchen and big TV screen in the living room are awesome. I highly recomend it to any social individual. The location is spot-on, in the middle of everything.

My favorite privado, 517 Esmerelda is still 300P. The line-up was 15-20 girls but the quality was not quite as good as last time. Still, in a typical line-up at least half were acceptable.

Cafe Orleans is now Santo Domingo South. Yet, if one is patient gems can be found. Stranger and I passed away 2 afternoons here and I met Paula, a classy Paraguayian who gave me the best session of the trip when she visited me at the mansion. $500P for 2 hours where we split a bottle of wine and several enjoyable sessions. Highly recomended. She is 25, has long brown hair, nice curvy body, and was reading a paper when she caught my attention. I guess intelligence really is attractive. Cafe Orleans is much funner when you're hanging out with someone. Stranger is a great guy to hang out with, lots of great stories. He is also quite adept at drawing 50 year old hookers over without invitation.

I did Vicky, the gal who posts on the board after meeting her at a dinner party at the mansion. She's a little older than I usually like. I figure she's in her early thirties. She's a little quiet but quite skilled when the activities start. At 300P for coming to your place a very fair value. Very affectionate.

The exchange rate is really helping at the present. After reading some of the Gato Hunter's posts about the informal exchange rate, I decided to use Xoom before coming down. Used a credit card to wire $300US and it confirmed the transfer 15 minutes later. No problem getting the funds and no questions were asked. I used the speedmay promo code and selected the transfer as a service (rather than a cash advance). I looked at my statement today and the transaction was treated as a purchase. No fees whatsoever at a rate of 5. 35. I did the rest of my cash exchanges at the Arenales exhange house posted on the board. Absolutely no problems and I got a rate of 5. 6. This exchange rate really helped keep the trip within budget. I hope the trend continues.

I noticed alot of the regulars from the past have moved on, many have mentioned the inflation as the reason. It was good to see a place actually get more affordable on a subsequent visit. Maybe the trend will hold and the glory days will return.

Cheers,

TT

[QUOTE=Tequila Tim; 422816]Just got back from a quick 5 day stay and here are a few observations:

Stayed at the AP house and was glad I did, in addition to the very reasonable prices the comraderie with the other guests makes the down time very enjoyable. The dinner parties are always fun and the kitchen and big screen are awesome. I highly recomend it to any social individual. The location is spot-on, in the middle of everything.

My favorite privado. 517 Esmerelda is still 300P. The line-up was 15-20 girls but the quality was not quite as good as last time. Still, in a typical line-up at least half were acceptable.

Cafe Orleans is now Santo Domingo South. Yet, if one is patient gems can be found. Stranger and I passed away 2 afternoons here and I met Paula, a classy Paraguayian who gave me the best session of the trip when she visited me at the mansion. $500P for 2 hours where we split a bottle of wine and several enjoyable sessions. Highly recomended. She is 25, has long brown hair, nice curvy body, and was reading a paper when she caught my attention. I guess intelligence really is attractive. Cafe Orleans is much funner when you're hanging out with someone. Stranger is a great guy to hang out with, lots of great stories. He is also quite adept at drawing 50 year old hookers over without invitation.

I did Vicky, the gal who posts on the board after meeting her at a dinner party at the mansion. She's a little older than I usually like. I figure she's in her early thirties. She's a little quiet but quite skilled when the activities start. At 300P for coming to your place a very fair value. Very affectionate.

The exchange rate is really helping at the present. After reading some of the Gato Hunter's posts about the informal exchange rate, I decided to use Xoom before coming down. Used a credit card to wire $300US and it confirmed the transfer 15 minutes later. No problem getting the funds and no questions were asked. I used the speedmay promo code and selected the transfer as a service (rather than a cash advance). I looked at my statement today and the transaction was treated as a purchase. No fees whatsoever at a rate of 5. 35. I did the rest of my cash exchanges at the Arenales exhange house posted on the board. Absolutely no problems and I got a rate of 5. 6. This exchange rate really helped keep the trip within budget. I hope the trend continues.

I noticed alot of the regulars from the past have moved on, many have mentioned the inflation as the reason. It was good to see a place actually get more affordable on a subsequent visit. Maybe the trend will hold and the glory days will return.

Cheers,

TT[/QUOTE]Glory Days Are Here To Cum!

But when it hits 8 to 1 it will cost us $1000. 00 pesos to get into Madaho's and Hippo!

TL.

Nice report! And I concur, if your coming to BA you owe it to yourself to stay at Jax Butt Hutt!

Tim I did the same thing with Xoom and I used my mileage card and got FF miles with it also!

[QUOTE=Gato Hunter;422847]Tim I did the same thing with Xoom and I used my mileage card and got FF miles with it also![/QUOTE]Gato Hunter,

I also used a credit card that gave me United miles on my purchase. I've traveled on award tickets almost exclusively the last several years. Lots of great info about accumulating frequent flyer miles can be found on these blogs:

[url]http://thepointsguy.com/[/url]

[url]http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/[/url]

If you have good credit and are a reasonable organized person there's no reason to pay for your flights!

TT

I just booked a Business Class ticket to BA for mid August using miles. The Xoom method is brilliant as it puts miles "currency" in the bank for a return trip. Nicely played.

[QUOTE=Tequila Tim; 422857]Gato Hunter,

I also used a credit card that gave me United miles on my purchase. I've traveled on award tickets almost exclusively the last several years. Lots of great info about accumulating frequent flyer miles can be found on these blogs:

[url]http://thepointsguy.com/[/url]

[url]http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/[/url]

If you have good credit and are a reasonable organized person there's no reason to pay for your flights!

TT[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Tequila Tim; 422816]The exchange rate is really helping at the present.

TT[/QUOTE]Nice Report. Did you notice any relief (price wise) when eating out ?

[QUOTE=Artisttyp;423350]Nice Report. Did you notice any relief (price wise) when eating out ?[/QUOTE]Hi Artisttyp,

I like to cook so I took advantage of the mansion kitchen and ate in. Between the dinner parties and my own creations I can't remember eating out once during my visit. Price of wine, groceries was up moderately (a bottle of my favorite wine, Trapiche Origen, is now about 25P at Disco). The absolute best value in BA are the little vegetable stalls about town, Great price and quality, there's one a half block from the mansion. Disco is about a block and a half away and sells prepared entries to compliment the veggies. Also, eggs in BA are delicious! Had them for breakfast every day. All in all, great meals at a very economical price.

Cheers,

TT