Ask the expert whether he prefers Ecuador or Colombia

You guys are so cute...

Nathans hotdogs? It's a garlic beef salchicha called a suissa and made short and broad. Cooked over charcoal and served with onions cooked in a mixture of ketchup and mustard until soft in a crocante roll.

Coffee? Select any of the artesenal coffee brands grown throughout the country until you discover your personal favorite. Support your local communal.

Ice cream? Haven't spent much time in the Sierra have you. Artesenal ice cream is truly a hand made art passed down through generations. But if you need a quick fix Sorbetto is ubiquitous at the Mall and Pinguino is the local Good Humor. The Pollito is usually just a quarter.

And gambling? I hear Peru is the place to go. It's also hands down the gourmet capital.

BTW, come visit Montañita. New Restaurant: Fumarola Uruguaya just past the church. Fabulous! Chef Jose Luis does things with a filet, chicken and fish that will make you sing

Susan_in_Ecuador wrote:

You guys are so cute...

...gambling? I hear Peru is the place to go. It's also hands down the gourmet capital.

Outside of Lima, which has a casino district in tourist-friendly Miraflores sector, I doubt there's much besides tragamonedas (slots -- literally: gulps coins) in Peru. 

I visited Peru last April .. and -- while I did not seek out gourmet dining -- I found the food extremely tasty at a chicken place near my Miraflores hotel .. at the nearby Chinese restaurant .. and at a Peruvian-food restaurant in the same neighborhood.

cccmedia

On one of the Colombia threads there was a discussion about buying property and I vaguely recall you mentioning a dollar figure which seemed fairly low to me at the time.

On this government website discussing the requirements for an investor's visa there is the following statement.

The following must be attached in cases of direct investment for the acquisition of real estate:

• A written communication issued by the International Exchange Department of Banco de la República (Central Bank) certifying registration of the foreign direct investment in the name of the foreign applicant for the Visa, of a minimum amount of two hundred thousand United States dollars (US$200,000.oo

So my question do you is do you agree with that statement and if not, why not?


P.S. 

Since I was under the impression that Quindio was the principal coffee growing region, I wish to site the following from Wikipedia:

The Colombian coffee Region (Spanish: Eje Cafetero), also known as the Coffee Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Café is a part of the Colombian Paisa region in the rural area of Colombia, famous for growing and production of a majority of Colombian coffee, considered by many to be the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda. The most visited cities are Manizales, Armenia and Pereira.

There are new condo projects going up here in the Coffee Zone, selling for the Colombian peso equivalent of under $20,000 US per unit.  Similar units might have cost over 30K a couple of years ago before the peso lost value (versus the US dollar) in tandem with plunging oil prices.

I was not recommending such a real-estate purchase specifically for the purpose of obtaining a Colombia visa, as 20K condos are worth much less than the visa-qualifying amount in the residential real estate category.  The numbers at the link you provided, Nards, appear to be correct.

For many, an easier way to qualify for a visa is a monthly Social Security-type income of at least $740 US (amount subject to change due to currency fluctuations).

There is also a way to qualify for a Colombia visa with an investment of under $25,000 US in a real-estate-investment company.  In recent years, such investments have been set up to attract visa-seekers .. by First American Realty Medellín.  Technically, this involves investing in a Colombia investment company -- not in one's personal residence -- and thus gets around the six-figure (US) minimum.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

cccmedia wrote:

There are new condo projects going up here in the Coffee Zone, selling for the Colombian peso equivalent of under $20,000 US per unit.  Similar units might have cost over 30K a couple of years ago before the peso lost value (versus the US dollar) in tandem with plunging oil prices.

There is also a way to qualify for a Colombia visa with an investment of under $25,000 US in a real-estate-investment company.  In recent years, such investments have been set up to attract visa-seekers .. by First American Realty Medellín.  Technically, this involves investing in a Colombia investment company -- not in one's personal residence -- and thus gets around the six-figure US minimum.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

I will look for an authoritative site on that same website that supports that figure. If I can't find it, maybe ask your attorney provide assuming he provide you that info and you plan to be in contact with him.

Also, how many days do you have to be present in the country each year?

cccmedia wrote:

There are new condo projects going up here in the Coffee Zone, selling for the Colombian peso equivalent of under $20,000 US per unit.  Similar units might have cost over 30K a couple of years ago before the peso lost value (versus the US dollar) in tandem with plunging oil prices.

Do you have any take on the resale value of condos?  Read a few years ago that older condos don't sell well in Colombia. Have no idea how accurate that was. Article gave the impression that everyone in the buyers market wanted something new. Certainly pretty darn good prices for a condo, but wonder if something was to happen, or if you wanted to move on, if there would be much of a market to sell.

Nards Barley wrote:

I was under the impression that Quindio was the principal coffee growing region...

The Colombian coffee Region (Spanish: Eje Cafetero), also known as the Coffee Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Café) is a part of the Colombian Paisa region of Colombia, famous for growing and production of a majority of Colombian coffee, considered by many to be the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda.

That's right.  The Coffee Zone has three departments.  The departmental capitals are Pereira, Risaralda ... Armenia, Quindío ... and Manizales, Caldas.

Pereira is the largest city in the zone with about a million in population. 

Manizales is a city at 7,000 feet altitude, the highest and coolest (weatherwise) in the zone, known for its various universities and hilly topography. 

My personal favorite -- Armenia, Quindío -- features the incredible Parque de la Vida (Park of Life) with it's remarkable jungle-within-the-city plus a family-friendly zone with a lake, cascades and other water features.

cccmedia in the 'Q'

j600rr wrote:

Do you have any take on the resale value of condos?  Read a few years ago that older condos don't sell well in Colombia....

Certainly pretty darn good prices for a condo, but wonder if something was to happen, or if you wanted to move on, if there would be much of a market to sell.

Currency fluctuations alone -- especially over a period of years -- make the resale market for Expat-purchased condos unpredictable.

I wouldn't recommend a condo purchase to anyone who might move on in a few years -- only possibly to someone who believed Colombia is a long-term choice.  When oil prices recover and the peso strengthens, someone looking to re-sell could get stuck.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

I looked into it a couple of years ago and we had even contacted an attorney there, aside from personal safety (of course) our next priority becomes meds since my husband is a kidney transplant recipient and takes 2 diff anti rejection meds.  The one thing I found out about investment for residency is if you do not buy a house/condo or asset that is new, the govt appraised value has to be the $200,000, regardless of what you pay for it to qualify.  Like in the US, we can buy a house for $400k, but for property tax calculations (at least in Florida) it goes by the appraised value that the county assigns to the property, which unless a new house, is always less than the sale price.  So in Columbia if you buy a used condo for $300k and their appraised/market or whatever they would call it is $150k, you still would not qualify for the residency by meeting those requirements.  That may have changed now but that's how it was a couple of years ago.

Those of you considering a move to the coffee triangle, you may find this article dated today, informative.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/trav … e&_r=0


My question to the expert is, Have you been?

I have an online subscription to the New York Times .. so I read the referenced article yesterday (March 7th) with special interest when it first came out.

Personally, while i enjoy seeing the Fifty Shades of Green on the coffee growing hillsides, I do not seek out the coffee fincas and tours.

My sister Judy found it ironic that I was here in Juan Valdez country, since she always knew me as a tea drinker growing up, never drinking coffee.  It's true that my favorite helado is coffee ice cream.  Has been since I was a kid.  Breyer's made a great coffee ice cream.

As Nards knows, I am served my customary new coffee-drink at Río Casino in Quindío -- they serve me this iced cappuccino at the blackjack table.  As is typical in casinos in Colombia (and Las Vegas), the drink is on the house.  I usually tip the waiter.

Lately I've been having the cappuccino delivered without sugar.  I add a small packet or two of Stevia, a powdered sugar substitute they have grown in South America for 15 centuries.

The cappuccino beverage is sweet and rico.

-- cccmedia, across the street from Café Quindío  (there is no Starbucks in Quindío .. yet)

I stand corrected. The translated version came out today, which is what I read.

https://www.nytimes.com/es/2017/03/08/u … -perfecto/

I was reading this thread about a girl being hit by a car in Cuenca.

Someone left the following comment:

I was recently in Colombia and was amazed to find cars stopping for me as I stood at a zebra crossing, to let me cross the road. Amazing huh!

So my question for the expert is, do you find drivers to be more respectful for pedestrians crossing the street in Colombia?

Nards Barley wrote:

my question for the expert is, do you find drivers to be more respectful for pedestrians crossing the street in Colombia?

This certainly varies by city, time of day and weekdays vs. weekends.

It's pretty much a spirit of let's-all-get-along here in the cities and towns of Quindío.   

I was driving on a traffic-filled main drag in the central part of Armenia (city population about 300,000) last Saturday about noontime.  There were pedestrians crossing mid-block at all angles, one guy carrying a 15-foot ladder over his head.  The cars let him walk across and he didn't slow down one step.  The cars and trucks kept moving too, the whole time.

It was busy traffic but things were moving.  It was like a dance, everybody in cars or on foot sort of accommodating everybody else, nobody trying to cut anybody else off, drivers giving way to pedestrians to keep the flow going.

It was a completely different scene back in December on the day I drove northward through Cali, which is a much larger city.  During a pre-Christmas afternoon rush-hour I was trapped inside Cali for several hours trying to figure my way out of a municipal maze with inadequate signage .. and heavy stop-and-go traffic in various areas.

In Cali during that long rush-hour, it was much like driving in New York City, all drivers looking for an edge, pedestrians needing to beware when a driver had a chance to pick up speed, even if just for a few seconds.

On my visits to Medellín, I've sat in traffic in El Poblado on a Saturday evening .. but usually I've been successful in timing my trips heading to outside El Poblado to avoid the busiest traffic times.  That's a convenient thing about El Poblado.  Unless you're in tourist mode trying to see 50 parks and landmarks, you really don't have to travel outside the Poblado sector to get to practically anything you want. 

Bogotá:  I have no idea .. and no interest in learning first-hand about driver-pedestrian patterns in the enormous, heavily-populated Capital District.  I've read that the traffic there can often be horrendous.

cccmedia in mostly lightly-trafficked Quindío

Nards Barley wrote:

how many days do you have to be present in the country each year?

As I told Nards in a PM recently, I would answer this question as soon as I had the information.

Here is the answer:

For an Expat desiring to maintain a visa that allows residency in Colombia year-round, the visa holder may not be outside Colombia for more than 180 days per year.

Source:  James Lindzey, who operates the Colombia Legal & Accounting firm in Medellín, posting on medellinliving.com .... CL&A's website is medellinlawyer.com ....

The information Mr. Lindzey provided does not specify whether this means a calendar year or the 365-day period starting on the date when the visa was issued.  Most COL visas are one-year visas that are renewable.  After five years of continuous residency, the visa holder may convert to a five-year residency visa .. and eventually, if desired, dual citizenship.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

I was re-reading this thread over the weekend.

When Nards first started the thread some weeks ago, I sent him a PM thanking him for doing so.  It has turned out (so far) even better than I expected.

I believe that changes in Ecuador and Colombia -- for instance, devaluation of the peso vs. the dollar that gives dollared Expats potent buying-power here -- make the EC vs. COL discussion an important one.

In re-reading the thread, I noticed that another frequent contributor to this forum asked me what I think of the safety factors in Colombia.  Somehow, I missed that post earlier, so I'll respond shortly.

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera, Colombia

Colombia is a country that got a second chance.  It has taken full advantage .. but the changes didn't happen overnight.

In the 1980's and early 90's, violence produced by drug cartels in major Colombian cities put the country in the news -- for the wrong reasons.

Pablo Escobar's reign in metro Medellín was so bloody, the authorities decided he had to be eliminated.     A city and a country were at stake.  In 1993, in a rooftop shootout, Escobar was taken out. 

That did not end the extreme violence.

Fifteen years ago, after the new president Álvaro Uribe was elected, things turned around.

Colombia committed to marginalizing the cartels, driving them from the cities mostly to the southern border and remote jungle areas. 

Today, Medellín is a far safer city, winning international awards for innovation and advancements.

Bogotá and Cali's crime levels remain higher than an acceptable level.

Some areas near the border with Ecuador remain sketchy at best.  This is where many of the FARC rebels resided during their decades-long civil war.  Ex-cartel fighters resettled there too.

In late 2016, long-running peace talks with La FARC in Havana, Cuba, resulted in a signed peace treaty between the rebels and the government.  The current president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.  The process of reuniting ex-FARC soldiers into peaceful society is underway.

The above paragraphs do not come close to telling the full story about safety and security in Colombia.

Part of the Colombia safety story is the peaceful history of the Juan Valdez Coffee Zone.

The zone's pre-eminence and financial success as a world-class center of coffee production reduced the attraction of cocaine cartels and rebel groups.  This has been true for decades.

Three departmental-capital cities are often cited as Expat-friendly destinations in La Zona Cafetera -- Pereira, Risaralda .. Manizales, Caldas .. and Armenia, Quindío.

This week (March 7, 2017, at nytimes.com), the New York Times spotlighted another city in the zone:  Jardín (har-DEEN), Antioquia.

In Colombia this region is widely and historically known to be safe -- an area (unlike southern Colombia) where you can do intercity driving at night without a worry.

My experience the last three months has been in Quindío's city and towns -- the north side of Armenia, especially the Mocawa Plaza/U. del Quindío/medical complexes .. plus the nearby towns of Circasia, La Tebaida and Calarcá.

I feel safe here, safer in these areas than in the neighborhood where my longtime condo is -- Centro Histórico, Quito, Ecuador.

You might encounter a beggar on the street once in a while in the neighborhoods I frequent in Armenia.  But there's really no sense of danger around.  In the pueblos, you probably won't even be approached by a beggar.

If safety and security are paramount in your mind, you'll probably do well in these places in Quindío.

You'll do even better if you demonstrate to the locals that you're doing your best to communicate with them in español.

cccmedia in Quindío

El Centro in Armenia is a different story.  There are some other neighborhoods in Armenia that also don't feel 100 percent safe for outsiders after dark.

I wouldn't feel comfortable parking my car in El Centro late at night.  If I'm visiting a nightclub there, I take a taxi to the club.  It costs about two dollars US from the apartment I'm renting near Parque de la Vida on the north side of town.  It's easy to find a taxi downtown to go back to the apartment after midnight.

Like many cities, this one has good areas and not-so-good ones.

On balance, now that I've gotten to know this city, it's a safe experience for me -- certainly in the daytime anywhere in the city, and by taking the usual precautions at night.

cccmedia in Armenia, Quindío

For anyone interested in a gripping story set in 80s and 90s Colombia, check out The Two Escobars. It is from ESPN's amazing 30 For 30 sports documentary series and watchable on Youtube for free. This will help gauge how far Colombia has come from those lawless times.

Wall Street Journal had an article Colombia this morning.  This one wasn't the most positive.  Farmers are planting the coca leaf crop (made to use cocaine) at a rapid pace.  About at  2001 levels with the amount of sq. miles planted with the crop. Supposedly almost 200 sq. miles of it will be eradicated as part of the peace deal with the FARC.

cccmedia wrote:

For many, an easier way to qualify for a (Colombia) visa is a monthly Social Security-type income of at least $740 US (amount subject to change due to currency fluctuations).

There is also a way to qualify for a Colombia visa with an investment of under $25,000 US in a real-estate-investment company.

Still another way to qualify for a Colombia visa is demonstrating steady income from a source not connected with Social Security or a government program.  This is the rentista visa, which is different from the pensioner visa and has a higher minimum-income requirement.

I didn't qualify for a visa through Social Security, so the rentista visa was the logical choice for me.

Working with the Langon Law Group of New York and Medellín (website:  langoncolombia.com), we submitted the visa application last week.  I just learned that it was approved in only two days.

In my case, the trickiest part of the application process involved the USA proof-of-income letter, which had to be created, signed, notarized, certified (county clerk) and apostilled (state government) -- all of which took place in New York City.  The document had to be moved from office to office to office .. before being scanned and emailed to Langon Law Group.  An apostille service company in New York arranged the apostille part of the process.

The visa approval is hardly the final step in actually obtaining the visa.  There's payment of the main visa fee, sending of passport to Langon Law, stamping the visa into the passport in Bogotá -- which Langon will arrange -- and getting the passport back.  Then I'll have 15 days to register the visa in any Colombian city, at which time I obtain the cédula ID.  This will enable me to open a COL bank account and do some car-related trámites.

I am obtaining a one-year TP-7 visa, so my Ecuador visa and cédula will remain active, at least until I am outside Ecuador past the aggregated time allowed to maintain EC visa rights.  I will pass that threshold probably at some point in 2018.

cccmedia in Quindío, Colombia

I think we need the expert to address a set of troubling comments in response to an article on Cuenca.

I hear that Colombia is now the better place to be for foreigners. But don't worry, I am not going anywhere. Not yet.

Colombia is great if you don't mind murder and crime rates 500% higher than Ecuador. I ran a business in Medellin for two years and paid 10% to 20% of my gross to a local mafia for "protection services." Capitalism at its best. Don't bother complaining to the cops. They're in on it

https://www.cuencahighlife.com/modern-i … so-a-draw/

Nards Barley wrote:

I think we need the expert to address a set of troubling comments....

Colombia is great if you don't mind murder and crime rates 500% higher than Ecuador. I ran a business in Medellin for two years and paid 10% to 20% of my gross to a local mafia for "protection services." Capitalism at its best. Don't bother complaining to the cops. They're in on it.

You rang?

Unsourced, unattributed, inaccurate crime 'statistics' shouldn't worry anyone.

If corruption including this payoff allegation is devastating new information to someone, he or she hasn't been paying attention to South American realities.  Fortunately, it has relatively little direct impact on Expats, since 99 percent of them are not opening vulnerable storefront businesses.

Anybody with even a rudimentary knowledge of Colombia knows it had a violent history .. and things are much better now than 15-30 years ago.  Pick your spots -- Coffee Zone, Poblado, si... Cali, Taganga, the Panamericana highway at midnight in southern Colombia, no.

cccmedia in Colombia's Juan Valdez Coffee Zone

cccmedia wrote:

Cali, Taganga, the Panamericana highway at midnight in southern Colombia, no.

cccmedia in Colombia's Juan Valdez Coffee Zone

Yes, please advise all and sundry to stay away from Cali, it is quite pleasant now!  Nice little town you got there, be a shame if anything happened to it...

As it is now, there are so few gringos in and about Cali that they haven't yet learned to charge higher prices and people on the street are genuinely interested in talking to you, with no ulterior motive (for the most part).  Yes, you must be careful, but maintaining common sense and awareness is something you must do in Colombia as well as in Ecuador and many parts of the US, if you snooze you lose...

"Cali's cheerful nature is manifested in salsa, a Caribbean rhythm that is danced here among the sugarcane...."

  -- colombia.travel.com

"Nice little town?"  Not so little.  Medellín -- which is second to Bogotá for population in Colombia at 2,441,000 million souls -- barely eclipses Cali, which has just over 2,400,000.  (Wikipedia's Medellín and Cali pages.)

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

Apparently our Ecuador expert has moved from Armenia Colombia to Medellin Colombia, both within the coffee triangle.  He is living in the "village" of El Poblado.   Here is some demographical data from 2005 on this village:

estimates that 66.5% of the housing in El Poblado belongs to the richest class in Colombia known as (estrato 6); 27.5% belongs to the high-middle class (estrato 5); 4.2% belongs to the middle class; 1.3% to the low-middle class and 0.5% to the poor class.

the ethnographic composition of the district is: White (78.4%), Mestizos (20%) and Afro-Colombians (1.6%).

Given that demographical composition, I would imagine you don't stick out as a gringo?

How do you like living in Medellin Colombia and do you prefer it over Armenia?

Metro Medellín has ten times the population in Quindío .. so there's more choice here -- choice of restaurants, shopping malls, nightclubs, places where you can get electronics repaired overnight.

The elevation and weather are similar.

Medellín has some of South America's top hospitals and clinics.  Frankly, I wasn't overly impressed with the hospitals in Quindío, although they were probably serviceable enough for routine tests and procedures.  They'll farm you out to a specialist outside the facility for anything that could be complicated.

Both cities have good walking parks -- Parque de la Vida in Armenia .. and Parque la Presidenta in Medellín, among others.

I don't claim to be knowledgeable about all of Medellín.  Like most Expats arriving in the city, I was drawn to El Poblado sector with its Expat-ready lodging, shopping .. and casino blackjack. 

And El Poblado's security.  The authorities clearly don't want the bad guys messing with this jewel and have put plentiful manpower on the case -- police and private security forces.  Walk along the Golden Mile late at night and you are likely to see a security guard patrolling or standing in front of every building you pass.  Don't expect anything close to that in the barrios.

El Poblado is remarkable for its beauty.  Modern architecture.  Greenery to the max.  And clean.  The subway system or Metro is widely praised for how clean it is.  And the streets are typically free of litter.

Another advantage Medellín/El Poblado has is the presence of Expat groups that hold meetings at least once a month each, typically gathering at upscale watering holes along the Golden Mile and Parque Lleras or in nearby communities such as Envigado or Sabaneta or Laureles.

The streets around Parque Lleras (JEER-us) in El Poblado are chock-a-block with cafés, restaurants, boutique shops, boutique hotels .. and one of the branches of the supermercado chain Carulla.  Even the best supermarket in Quindío falls short of what you can find at Carulla on Calle 10 in Medellín in my experience.

cccmedia in Medellín

Oh swami en the upscale "village"  of El Poblado,

The last remaining expert in Quito has presented a bleak picture of Quito when he said:

Quito as of this time is like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to weather. Seriously right now it's bright and sunny but in a couple of hours we could very well experience a serious downpour, hail, fog, you name it. While such a contrast doesn't bother me, visitors for a week or so might be limited and put off. Yesterday, the sirens from 3-7 PM, were non-stop responding to emergencies. I spent a good hour helping a neighbor deal with flooding, it was pretty bad.

As for me, the past two months in Cuenca have been Hell due to the constant rain.  This may be the new norm in the Sierra, during part of the year.

But my question to you is, since your stay in Medellin, has the city lived up to its moniker "City of Eternal Spring"?  If so, given the lower elevation and presumable deeper REM sleep, can you see any reason why an expat should choose Ecuador over Colombia, assuming they are seeking a mountainous climate?

P.S.
Has Gardner made it to Colombia to inspect the water supply and infrastucture yet.?

Nards Barley wrote:

...can you see any reason why an expat should choose Ecuador over Colombia...?

One thing that stands out and that may make a difference for some and maybe many is that Ecuador does not tax US Social Security pensions at all, whereas they are subject to taxation in Colombia.

Colombia claims the right to tax world-wide incomes including US Social Security for anyone who becomes a "tax resident" of Colombia, which is anyone who spends 183 days there or more in any 365 day period.   Right now there is no tax treaty between Colombia and the US to avoid double taxation - but both countries do share income information of both their citizens and expats.  You may be able to offset any taxes due in Colombia subtracting the amount paid in the US although you should get a professional paid opinion for that...

Taxes in Colombia begin at a 19% marginal rate for any income over about $1200 USD per month, going up to a 28% marginal rate for anything over about $1450 USD per month income and topping out at a 33% marginal rate for any income over about $3200 USD per month.  These figures are off the top of my head but are close.  The exact amounts depend on the exchange rate and I'm not sure when they calculate the rate for tax purposes, at the end of the tax year or the calendar year or whenever, and they also depend on the UVT (Unidad de Valor Tributario) which for 2017 is some 31,000 COP and is used to determine the tax bracket based on yearly income in UVT.  More info here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Colombia

Brother Archer is on to something important.

Tax benefits may be highlands Ecuador's only advantage over Colombia if comparing, say, Quito and Medellín.

----

I haven't seen the Cat down by the Medellín River with her water testing kit.

I'll give the first question some more thought.  Right now I'm on my way to my first Inter------- meetup of the year near Parque Llleras.

cccmedia in Medellín

cccmedia wrote:

Right now I'm on my way to my first Inter------- meetup of the year near Parque Llleras.

cccmedia in Medellín

How did the expats at the inter------ meeting in Medellin measure up with those from Quito? A lot of chest beating or regular folk?

Nards Barley wrote:

How did the expats at the inter------ meeting in Medellin measure up with those from Quito? A lot of chest beating or regular folk?

I noticed neither chest-beating nor "regular folk" at the two Expat-friendly gatherings held recently in Medellín -- sponsored by Medellín------- on April 20th .. and Inter------- on April 26th.

There were Canadians, USA citizens, Europeans and Colombian locals at both events .. both held at upscale restaurant/cantinas on the Golden Mile and near Parque Lleras, respectively.

At the door at the first event, I asked Jeff -- whose website was sponsoring the event -- about potentially selling my Ecuador-plated car in Medellín.

As Jeff didn't know about this matter, he promptly brought me inside to ask my question to Brad, who is more-or-less an Expat VIP in town -- owner of Casacol Realty, which provides short- and long-term housing for Expats and others at multiple locations around Poblado.  Last month, the company opened a new property named Soul Lifestyle Medellín .. where I had stayed for one week in early April when I arrived in Medellín.

Brad, who was seated at a table with others including a stunning brunette in a white cashmere sweater who was with him, reminded me that we had met before.  That was at Soul Medellín's office where he had come one afternoon to supervise/manage the staff at his new property.

Brad didn't have an immediate solution to my car-selling issue.  He gave me his business card and suggested that we follow up later.

A few minutes later, he and his lady left fashionably early.

Brad is a gentleman .. and in no way a chest beater.

cccmedia in Medellín

At the second event, held at Gato Restobar, the longest conversation I had was with an Expat named John, who had a British accent.  We talked at a table in one corner where I was having an excellent shrimp and fish ceviche.

John was struggling with whether to commit to living in Medellín full time, as his overseas company gives him the flexibiliity to live where he chooses.  He is one of the famous 'digital nomads' you may have read about.

John has to move from his current place.  He lives in a rental unit in a Casacol property in Medellín named Astorga Lofts.  As the name implies, all the apartments there are on two levels.

Unfortunately, John blew out a knee in a routine workout at a gym a few months ago.  The ensuing surgery apparently went pretty well, but the knee is still recovering.  Having to repeatedly go upstairs in his loft apartment to get to his bedroom is a challenge.

John is also aware of the tax and visa scenarios that limit many Expats to 180 days a year in Colombia.

He had been living in China until about five months ago, and is considering spending half of each year there until he commits to Medellín or somewhere.

I suggested he might do better at Casacol's newer property, Soul Medellín, where the apartments are single-level units, not lofts, and there is a swimming pool. 

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

Brother Archer is on to something important.

Tax benefits may be highlands Ecuador's only advantage over Colombia if comparing, say, Quito and Medellín.

----

I haven't seen the Cat down by the Medellín River with her water testing kit.

I'll give the first question some more thought.  Right now I'm on my way to my first Inter------- meetup of the year near Parque Llleras.

cccmedia in Medellín

So it sounds like $2,000/month SS would be taxed about $200/month, with an additional 28% on any amount over $2,000.  Sounds like a deal breaker for many.  Give Cat my regards if you see her.

cccmedia wrote:

I haven't seen the Cat down by the Medellín River with her water testing kit.

Nope, cat not sticking her toes in the Colombian waterways. Might stop by for a visit at some time though....

Because I am busily hatching little cat plans B, C, D and E.

Plan B - Puerto Rico, baby! Belongs to the US, no visa required, Medicare works there, the US post office delivers the mail, some first world amenities, and it's the next door neighbor to all of south and central America. You can get a 6 month tourist visa to Mexico for 25 bucks, no documents required - no FBI report, no fingerprints, no apostilles, no nothing, just 25 dollars. All of the Caribbean and central America at your fingertips from a home base in Puerto Rico.

Thanks Teddy Roosevelt!

gardener1 wrote:

Plan B - Puerto Rico, baby!

We lived and worked in Puerto Rico 2001-2003.  That was enough to cross it off our list.  Everything is expensive - even then milk was $4/gallon, now it's about $6.50 - they have to import almost everything, very little is produced on the tiny, 35x100 mile island with almost 4 million people (less now that so many have left to come to the US since they are Citizens and can travel freely and have opted to flee) and almost 2 million vehicles which results in massive traffic jams in the San Juan metro area where almost half the population lives.  And although Teddy did make it a territory, it remains a Spanish country - you'll see virtually no fireworks on the 4th of July, but displays everywhere on New Year's Eve along with gunfire - every year we were there half a dozen people or more were wounded or killed by balas perdidas.

Crime is rampant.  We had our vehicle stolen and stripped of everything salable, from a gated community with security guards at the only entrance/exit 24/7.  Of course there was collusion but the police never really investigated.  Fortunately we recovered the vehicle after just several days before they could remove more parts and then burn it.  The national sound of Puerto Rico is not really the engaging call of several species of tree frogs commonly called coquí but is actually car alarms going off 24/7/365...

Then, and it probably hasn't changed much now, fully 30% of the people who were lucky enough to be employed, worked for government - meaning that they actually produced nothing.  That and overspending on social programs has resulted in massive debt that they can only default on, which will not help the already-faltering economy at all.  The populace keeps voting for politicians who promise something for nothing.

The weather is hot and humid.  There was literally not one day there that I did not sweat.  But usually you can find a breeze somewhere.  The people are warm and welcoming especially if you speak Spanish.  Many professionals do speak English but further away from San Juan not so much.  But it also gets nicer and less crowded, and the countryside is beautiful, as are the many beaches which are mostly deserted in the "off-season" when it's "cold" by PR standards, in the low 80s...

It's a great place!  It really needs to be its own country and not a territory or a state.  But for now and the foreseeable future it will remain a basket case.

gardener1 wrote:

Plan B - Puerto Rico, baby! Belongs to the US, no visa required, Medicare works there, the US post office delivers the mail, some first world amenities, and it's the next door neighbor to all of south and central America. You can get a 6 month tourist visa to Mexico for 25 bucks, no documents required - no FBI report, no fingerprints, no apostilles, no nothing, just 25 dollars. All of the Caribbean and central America at your fingertips from a home base in Puerto Rico.

I wish I could agree because I've wanted to and followed your same logic, but PR's worse days are ahead of it.  The infrastructure is crumbling and $70 billion of borrowed funds vanished and cannot be repaid.  (Oh yeah, some of that debt is secured by sales tax revenue too!)  Water, power and trash are hopelessly unreliable.  Most expats living there are willing to accept these interruptions to live like locals.  Imported anything is way too high, but shopping local can help offset increased food costs. Protests today over austerity plans, higher taxes, etc. included burning U.S. flag over their misery in life.  Medicare received $295 Million this week but needs over $500 Million to stay afloat. The 3.5 million left in the country are those unable to work or unwilling to relocate to the mainland, which maybe 500,000 have done over the past decade. I think PR files bankruptcy (stay against lawsuits expires today) and will be under oversight of a federal court appointed trustee or the current U.S. Advisory Board for decades.  Aside from debt problems, the people cannot figure out what they want - statehood (ain't getting through Congress IMO), "independence"  (they cannot run themselves - big fears who would be capable of running an independent country with a rapidly declining population, economy and workforce) or remain as a colony.  The outcome of this election in June means little (so far, governing party won't include current status as an option so DOL won't approve the ballot and won't give them $2.5 M to hold the election).  A real mess.  Despite the poverty and crime (localized generally among drug dealers and gangs), that could make living there inexpensive, but I'm sorry I want water, power and trash pickup.

I like visiting, knocking around Old San Juan, etc. but would only rent short-term and would never bring any assets over.  In other words, travel light! 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir … s-47127710

Check out the U.S. Virgin Islands maybe.

Yeah, I understand all of those issues, comparisons could be made to other places.

I've read that Japan has a 268% debt to income ratio, that sounds pretty insolvent to me but the Japanese are still plugging along. The US has more than 20 trillion in current debt and more than 200 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and it's also still plugging along. Right now I can't think of more that a couple of countries that aren't insolvent. So I'm not sure that's even an issue for me any more.

I do travel light. We've been renters for almost two decades now because I refuse to take on the liability that is property 'ownership'. I've been burned on that before. We own nothing.

I just need a cheapish place where I can keep some of my stuff, do the laundry, hang out for a while, and travel to other locations. I'm thinking PR may fit that very nicely. With zero visa hasssles.