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I am focused on three locations in Colombia now from the guidance provided. Armenia, Bucaramanga, and safest suburbs of Medellin.
I understand Armenia and Medellin have the higher elevation and cooler climate. I understand all three locations are relatively safe. I understand good medical/hospitals are in all three locations. I suspect Armenia and Bucaramanga are lower cost of living then Medellin metro. What are the other key differences between these three locations. I suspect air access is best from Medellin of these three too. Any other guidance on a comparison in these three locations for a retired Expat with a wife who has RA?
We are working this project around major surgery recovery by my Mother in Law who is 91 and making steady progress recovering from two major surgeries in the past two weeks. So thanks for your patience and help
You´re pretty well-researched on the topics, it seems. I guess the only thing missing from your information is how Armenia functions more as a region, the Coffee Triangle, as opposed to stand-alone metro areas like MedellÃn and Bucaramanga. Pereira is the hub city of the region, so for some medical matters you may end up from time to time having to take the 40 minute ride for certain appointments/procedures. It sometimes goes the other way though, with people here going south to Armenia or north to Manizales for something. Pueblofuerte could probably help with this more, but from the time I´ve spent in Armenia, I would say that you DEFINITELY need to only look at properties in the Zona 2 Norte of the city. This website is a fabulous tool to locate properties all over the country, but here is the area in question: https://www.fincaraiz.com.co/finca-r...norte/armenia/
Why this area? Well, firstly I have nothing against Armenia. I love visiting Parque de la Vida, and the climate is the absolute best in the whole country. When Manizales gets chilly and Pereira gets balmy and hot, Armenia maintains that perfect room temperature just about always. I may buy an apartment there one day. But the fact is, the orginal core of the city is a disaster. Bucaramanga, Manizales and Pereira have (relatively) safe downtowns, but downtown Armenia is no place you want to be. People with money have shifted to buying properties in the north, and if you find a nice place in a nice building there, you´re easily in one of the most comfortable places in the entire country. Simply put, Armenia is a pretty poor city, and the types of comforts you´re looking for are confined to one area of town. It shouldn´t discourage you from moving there, but those super cheap houses you may have seen online in other sectors of the city are cheap for a reason--avoid. Focus on that one area and you´ll do great.
If you´re set on these three cities, look at it this way: Armenia is small, Bucaramanga is medium and MedellÃn is large. Your overall comfort level should not differ too much though.
I saw some Spanish language you tube videos of Florida Blanca and Giron. Very interesting, especially the one of Giron. There was a huge colonial looking complex covering blocks. Is that the historic district Wikipedia mentions? It looked interesting to site see but not sure about living there?
Thanks in advance for any guidance on these questions
Interesting new spisode of Nomad Capitalist indicates Andrew spreads his time in 3 to 6 places across the globe. For now, the Latin America base he calls home is Bogota. He likes Mexico city a lot too. His 3 to 5 bases changes over time so he may move to Mexico City as his Latin America base some time but for now its Bogota. That caught my interest and supports what I see and like about Colombia. Of coruse Andres is not a US citizens so he does not worry about double taxation I suspect
I saw some Spanish language you tube videos of Florida Blanca and Giron. Very interesting, especially the one of Giron. There was a huge colonial looking complex covering blocks. Is that the historic district Wikipedia mentions? It looked interesting to site see but not sure about living there?
Thanks in advance for any guidance on these questions
Girón is a little removed from Bucaramanga, but you probably wouldn´t know when Bucaramanga ends and Floridablanca begins. They´re absolutely twin cities.
Girón is a place that a guidebook may tell you to visit, since it does indeed have very nice colonial architecture that is very well-preserved. Floridablanca has a very nice plaza and the sector in and around that park/plaza is old and pretty, but I doubt a guidebook would tell you to go visit.
You could live in either and get to Bucaramanga with no problem. Santander Department is really nice, actually. It has many gorgeous pueblos like Barichara, San Gil and Socorro which are drives of a couple of hours from Bucaramanga.
I found the people in Santander to be very open and friendly. Like many other silly stereotypes that come out of nowhere in Colombia, for some reason the locals (particularly the women) have the reputation of being hot-headed, loud and aggressive. There was even an entire show about it:
I found this to be very untrue, but then again most of the regional rivalries and corresponding stereotypes within Colombia I find to be untrue also...or at least grossly exaggerated.
Ive opened up my consideration to include Buenos Aires. My wife has an interest in it over Colombia.
I see the climate in BA is warmer and colder than Medellin for example. I am impressed with the crime stats showing it a low violent crime city. A big city is what we are use to and it has 2 hospitals, both in central city, in the top 10 of Latin America.
Any one have a direct comparison between BA and Medellin? Am I missing anything big? The cost of living source I am using shows BA less expensive too?
Thanks in advance
Also BA has all the meds my wife takes now including a 6 year old infusion med she takes for her RA. I was surprised to learn that good news. Costa Rica was a few decades behind in terms of which meds are available for RA
Amazing how a topic time travels. Now its back to the 1990's Colombia. Its 2021, many things are different now.
The other day I saw photos of what Bogotá was like in the 1980's. Yikes! Afterwards the city had several governments that greatly improved the city and now much of Bogotá has nothing to envy cities in developed countries. They even did a titanic job of rebuilding the sidewalks and public parks/squares, which were pathetic back then and made the city look poorer than it was, and now its like a different city.
Ive opened up my consideration to include Buenos Aires. My wife has an interest in it over Colombia.
I see the climate in BA is warmer and colder than Medellin for example. I am impressed with the crime stats showing it a low violent crime city. A big city is what we are use to and it has 2 hospitals, both in central city, in the top 10 of Latin America.
Any one have a direct comparison between BA and Medellin? Am I missing anything big? The cost of living source I am using shows BA less expensive too?
Thanks in advance
Also BA has all the meds my wife takes now including a 6 year old infusion med she takes for her RA. I was surprised to learn that good news. Costa Rica was a few decades behind in terms of which meds are available for RA
BA is much safer. BA is cheap now due to their currency drop and political instability, long term BA is likely to go back to being more expensive is my prediction.
Why not also consider Mexico City if you're not turned off by a large city, there are plenty of nice areas and the climate is fantastic year round?
There are very nice safe areas in Mexico City and we are not turned off by big cities. I think it is border line altitude wise. Wife has issues at a mountain home we own which is a litte higher than Mexico city. So not spent a long time at the CDMX altitude. Are their some nice areas slightly lower in mexico city that are safe too?
There are very nice safe areas in Mexico City and we are not turned off by big cities. I think it is border line altitude wise. Wife has issues at a mountain home we own which is a litte higher than Mexico city. So not spent a long time at the CDMX altitude. Are their some nice areas slightly lower in mexico city that are safe too?
If I were you, I would take a look at Queretaro which is just under 6000', is clean, safe and prosperous and about 2-3 hours from CDMX. The climate there is even better than MC (IMO) and its the tech center of Mexico. I would seriously consider a second home there if wife was interested. By the way, many of these areas you are considering requite that you get passable Spanish proficiency if you stay there long term. San Miguel de Allende is a similar elevation and climate as queretaro but with a lot of English speakers.
I worked for 16 months at a location in Peru over 8000' and the work site was at 9200' and those elevations are tough for some people. Wife and I did fine but when we went to a pass over 11,000', I felt woozy.
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