COVID-19 and expatriation in Colombia

Colombia is currently #49 on the list of 210 countries reporting Covid-19 cases and tied with lots of other countries in deaths per 1 Million population with 2.

So with those numbers where would I go that would be safer even if I could leave. I came to Colombia over 11 years ago to live out my remaining years. I don't plan to leave except for visiting family back in the U.S. or vacationing in another country.

I'm strictly observing the quarantine and haven't left my apartment for three weeks and can stay inside for another month if need be. Groceries and medications are delivered. Bill paying is done online.

While I'm sure many don't have the resources that I do I believe going out and using reasonable caution is OK. Besides I'm much less likely during this quarantine to be run over by a motorcycle on a sidewalk than I was before this started.

Hi Loïc,

Thanks for posting such a timely question!

I arrived in Colombia in October and fell in love with the people and the beauty of the country. Consequently, I decided to stay here rather than return to the US. It's a little difficult sometimes, but given that my family and friends are scattered around a large area from New Hampshire to Florida, I wouldn't have seen most of them anyway, and we stay in touch.

I had just landed in a small tourist town in the coffee region, decided to stay here,  and am renting a small apartment on the property of a local family who are kind and giving.

Seeing the local tourism economy grind to a halt, I decided it was a good opportunity to give back. Some local friends and I have have identified a number of families here who are facing food insecurity and, in cooperation with a local store, we are delivering food to 35 families every week.

I invite others to do the same in their communities.

Paddyroyal what beautiful generosity!  What town are in?

Thank you, Adriana. I'm in Salento. It feels like the least I could do given the kindness and hospitality I have experienced in Colombia.

In response to the original question, I have applied for a retirement visa, although I'm sure that process will be delayed.

Does the current crisis call into question your long-term expatriation project?
Not at all. We have been ex-pats here in Medellin for a year and a half. We do a blog post about our experience and travel adventures. We are settled in very nicely and are very impressed with how the Colombian government has handled everything regarding Covid-19.

If you are already settled in Colombia, do you plan to return to your home country?
We will go back to visit family but will never return permanently to move back to the US.

How are you living through such an uncertain period, especially if you are far from your loved ones?
Actually with the open communication of Colombia keeping its citizens informed and protected we are very comfortable being here. We communicate on a regular basis with our family.

Have any of you ended your expatriation in Colombia unexpectedly?
We would not even consider it!

Paradoxically, has this crisis brought you closer to some people?
Absolutely. It makes us all realize how vulnerable we are on this planet.

What are your plans for the future?
Continue to enjoy Colombia and get back out and do more international travel.

Thank you very much for your feedback.
De nada!

Hope you are doing well.

Best wished to you!

Loïc.
Pull down the Community tab above and click on blogs to see our site, Latitude Adjustment.

Cheers,
John and Susan

I'm getting close to 7 years in the Barranquilla area, currently living in Salgar, close to the beach. Would I return to live in the States? Absolutely not. I'll go back and visit my 2 sons, 3 brothers, and other relatives, but I consider Colombia home now.

As for living in the time of the coronavirus, I just stay home in my studio apartment. Being in a tiny pueblo I have no problem with going out and the (typically) 3 CAI police spend most of their time inside their little office near the plaza.

Hopefully we'll be back to working soon, I'm going to need to get back to teaching. I teach English to business people, in normal living conditions. Thankfully one of my office clients has continued to pay me even though we're not doing lessons. They just want me to keep them on my schedule. The others have cancelled classes and been removed from my schedule so they can only hope to have the same time with me when we do get back to work.

The only big negative is the lack of reliable and consistent internet access. Here access is terrible. The owner of my apartment blames it on the service provider. I don't know. I just know the service sucks.

Other than that, no problem for me at this time.

Can you tell us more about how you have organized the food distribution for the 35 families?  (While my husband and I are in a holding pattern waiting to start our Colombia expat adventure I will be volunteering at the local foodbank which desperately needs bilingual help.)

I contacted a friend who has been here his whole life, and he worked with the owners of a local store to identify families. The store delivers the food every week, even going to a produce store to add some fresh veggies they don't sell.

I've been here a little over a year. Hikingwithu was one of the first to contact me and has periodically checked in on me to see how I am doing. My experience here was like Paddyroyal's. But, I came here with the mindset to give back. At first, it was just a local no kill dog shelter and the lady who runs it. But, it has turned into her family and the family of Venezuelan refugees she allows to stay at the animal shelter as caregivers for the animals. I absolutely love it here. I'm overwhelmed by the locals who come to check on me, because I am Spanish challenged to say the least. But, there is no place else that I would rather be. This has made me feel more at home in Colombia...more like I belong here.

Hi Ed,
When I arrived all those years ago my Spanish was limited to the few words we English speakers have borrowed from the Spanish language. Now I'm mostly conversational but still have problems getting the verbs right.
I will say this - learning a language simply by picking up bits and pieces from people in the stores and streets is very difficult. Don't believe the language web sites that tell you "full immersion is the best way to learn a language".
At least for me, it's been difficult because I use English more than Spanish, being an English teacher here. And not using Spanish in my lessons.
The other thing that many websites say about learning a new language, particularly learning Spanish in Colombia - "The people are so friendly and will help you learn their language". Nope. Again, they won't help you anymore than you will help some foreigner in the States who speaks broken English. If you are using the new language poorly but the native-speaking person understands your point, they won't correct you. So no help there, either.
Oh well, we do what we have to do - we muddle through and get by.

Everyone's experience is different, perhaps even unique.  What works for one person may not work for another.  You have to find what works for you, and still practice, practice, practice.

For me, total immersion - sink or swim - was the key to learning Spanish quickly, and the key to sounding like a native speaker.

For me, the people were friendly and helped me immeasurably in learning the language and pronunciation.

And I do help foreigners in the States who speak broken English, a lot, if they want the help.

Nowadays there are many many more resources to use in learning, than when I began to learn Spanish 60 years ago.  I'm still learning, using the old methods, but the new ones too.  Don't ever think you can't learn, or, as attributed to Henry Ford:

"Think you can, think you can't - either way, you're right!"

I like your Henry Ford quote, I hadn't seen that before.

It appears you live in Cali, is that right? Maybe the people are different there. Well, yes, they are, for sure. The costenos are different from all others in Colombia. In regards to learning and native Spanish-speaking people helping, here in B'quilla that just doesn't happen. Not in the tiendas, the pharmacias, etc. They just don't say anything regarding a person's bad Spanish - to them that would be rude, inconsiderate, or simply not a nice thing to do.

Costenos are a people of two major contrasts - very friendly, helpful, and polite/very lazy, rude, and selfish. If you try to point out something that was rude or selfish to them they look at you with no idea what you're talking about because in their minds they are the friendliest people in the world. Whether it's true or not, they take a lot of pride in that belief. But, that's just the way they are. Generally speaking they are indeed very friendly and helpful, most of the time.

I do not live in Cali now, but in the US.  My wife's family mostly lives in Cali.  Caleños generally would not appreciate being lumped in with costeños - for one thing the coast is a few hours away, Buenaventura being the city easiest to get to on the coast from Santiago de Cali.

I have not found caleños to be much different than people in other parts of the country, not to any great degree, although if you ask them they may feel bogotanos are cold, like their climate, and that costeños are lazy, because who can work in that heat and humidity, anyway?

All I can say is to repeat what I originally wrote - everyone's experience can be and often is different.

Yay for lazy costeños!!  I’ve lived in just about every big city in colombia and was about to throw the towel in until I moved to the Caribbean coast.  It offsets the hyper-neurotic and obsessive-compulsive personality that nature/nurture blessed me with.  Remember... you live here because it isn’t Wall Street.  Keep Colombia backward and visibly corrupt!!!

How True!

Not worried about a virus.

***

Covid has claimed over 5,000 lives in Colombia.

Officially, about 150,000 cases have been reported.

The country remains under lockdown, since March.

Source... Human Rights Watch, data as of July 13, 2020

Despite the lockdown and air travel ban, Colombia's chart shows a continual increase in new cases, from about 1,000 per day early last month, June 2020, to about 5,000 daily now, in mid July.

----

For an idea of the mortality rates in Colombia (3.7% mortality), Ecuador, Peru and other countries (UK the highest rate with 15.4%), see the Johns Hopkins U. charts at www.coronavirus.jhu.edu

At the site, click on Maps & Trends and then the topic How Does Mortality Differ Across Countries?

-- cccmedia

The mortality or death rate is the percentage of persons infected with the virus who do not survive it.

Good Morning,

It certainly has been an interesting time! I was lucky enough to land in a small town in the coffee region which still has no cases of covid-19, so our lives have returned to as normal as they can be, given there is no tourism, the mainstay here.

I have been blessed to live on the property of a very kind Colombian family, where I have a small casita and have adopted the resident cat, or vice versa. I decided early on not to take advantage of the discount offered for a month-long stay; instead I offered a counter discount, paying a little more than asked.

Watching cases skyrocket in the US has been terrifying, and I wonder how many years it will be before I return. I have applied for a Colombian retirement visa and am awaiting news.

In the meantime, I am taking an online Qi Gong teacher training and  am giving classes to one of the family members. I also have a small garden and spend a fair amount of time bird watching.

I find it challenging and often rewarding to cultivate my own sense of peace in the midst of the turmoil in the world and to be able to offer perspective to my friends who are struggling.

Two Florida men have been arrested in Santa Marta, Colombia, wanted in connection with U.S. federal charges for selling a phony covid cure.

Mark Grennon, 62, and his son Joseph, 32, sold a product to customers in the USA, Colombia and Africa that killed seven "Americans," according to Colombia's prosecutor.  The senior Grennon ran a self-styled church based in Bradenton, Florida.

The men were wanted in the U.S. on charges including conspiracy and fraud.  According to the U.S. federal complaint filed in July, the phony cure they allegedly sold was a bleach-like substance.  They ignored a Florida judge's warning in April to stop selling the stuff as a supposed cure for cancer, covid 19 and other ailments.

Source... ABC News

Two weeks before the reopening of passenger-flight air travel to and from Colombia, it appears possible that Medellín could be the primary hub into the country on reopening day, September 1st.

According to an article in Colombia Reports, Mayor Claudia López of Bogotá has shown no interest in reopening the capital's international airport.  Meanwhile, Medellín's mayor has already authorized the reopening of his city for national  flights.

The Bogotá mayor, the second most powerful official in La República, has the power to block the reopening of international routes served by El Dorado airport, historically Colombia's most important air-travel hub.  She has been critical of the airport's operator.

Source... www.colombiareports.com

All the Colombia mayors with international airports have now authorized use of the airports for international flights, which are to resume .. starting in several days, September 1, 2020.

Intra-Colombia air travel is expected to resume on the 1st.

However, Colombia overall seems to be stumbling out of the gate in international travel .. and airlines that sold early-September tickets are not yet fully able to honor those tickets.  Negotiations are continuing with foreign air-travel authorities to allow resumption of flights as soon as possible.

Priority is being given to re-establishing travel between Colombia and the USA (several cities), Spain, Ecuador, Chile and Panama.

Not Peru, however, which has now closed its airports until December.

----

This post is based on reporting posted at www.colombiareports.com, which has been monitoring various sites that follow air-travel developments.

cccmedia

Thanks for the info!  I’ve got a flight scheduled to Bogota Sep 24 and have been struggling to find up to date info on whether or not I’ll be allowed to fly there at that time. 

According to a posting at www.universalweather.com dated August 24, Colombia imposes 14-day quarantine restrictions on USA persons.

It is not clear how USA travelers may have been getting into Colombia given the restrictions in place through August.

I recommend that any September (or later) arrivals get clear information about any quarantine rules from their airlines (unless reliable information has already been received from another source) at the time of flight booking.

cccmedia

Hmm, that’s unfortunate.  And that’s not going to change after August?  Anyone have any idea what the specific restrictions would be for a 14-day quarantine?  Like if you would be allowed to leave the place you are staying at all for certain things, or have visitors?  I’m having a hard time finding information on this.

Consider phoning or emailing or visiting the website of the airline you would be flying with on September 24 .. for quarantine rules.

Or you could contact the Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C., or the consulate nearest you.  Colombia has 11 consulates in the continental USA...

www.colombiaemb.org/consulate

On the above page, the embassy phone number is listed as (202) 387-8338.

Let us know what you find out about quarantines or related information.

cccmedia

It is September 1st, the slated first day of resumed passenger travel on international air routes into and out of Colombia.

However, based on Internet research this morning, it is unclear whether any passenger flights are actually in operation.

According to a World Nomads posting dated today...

1. "It is not clear yet when international flights will resume."

2.  Colombia requires 14-day quarantines upon arrival.  (Details not included
in the report.)

3.  Land and river crossings into Colombia are currently scheduled to reopen
on October 1st.

Various Internet reports posted in the past week indicate that the authorities are looking to re-establish regular commercial air service to and from Colombia by some time in November.  Meantime, gradual reintroduction of flights is possible.

cccmedia

I just visited www.avianca.com, the website of a major airline serving Colombia.

Six routes between the USA and Latin America were listed on a welcome page, all of them to the country of El Salvador or Nicaragua.  Most of the flights shown indicated service beginning on or about September 20.  No Colombia flights were listed.

When I inputted information for a potential flight from Los Angeles to Bogotá on September 3 and selected Search, I reached a message saying that what I was seeking is unavailable.  "We cannot process your request at this time."  I received the same online message when I changed the date for LAX-BOG to September 15.

cccmedia

I have a flight scheduled for September 24 with Aeromexico from Chicago to Bogota, though I reserved it last month already, and they have since stopped reserving flights for September, but when I contacted them they told me my flight was still confirmed, though if I go to their website they show no flights available for September.

I tried calling the Colombian embassy at the number you provided and could not get through to anyone.  I tried sending an e-mail to them about 4 days ago but I still have not received a response.

It seems that specific information is hard to come by right now and many, including authorities, seem unsure of what exactly is going to happen in the near future.

Thousands of fiestas clandestinas or secret parties were held in Bogotá in July despite massive outbreaks of covid, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The Colombian capital has 33 percent of the country's covid cases, which
total over 694,000 nationally.

The Post reports that Daniela Fonseca, age 21, a public administration student, has
contracted the virus.  So did family members she lives with in a rundown
Colonial-area home near the capital's downtown, including her mother, her brother,
her sister and her 2-year-old son.   Her 44-year-old father died of covid in July.

Daniela said that she sees many people going around without facemasks,
many drinking on street corners and a general "lack of awareness" of the pandemic.

Source... www.washingtonpost.com
                "Latin America struggles to cope with pandemic"

Good one ,   a purpose in life  and no better way to "become an accepted community member'  by  volunteer work in a foreign country .  I'm sure you will make some great friends  along the way .

I have received an email from James Lindzey of Visas by James in Medellín, www.colombiavisas.com, confirming that the first commercial USA flights to Colombia in six months  landed in Medellín and Cartagena this weekend.

The carrier on the first flight, from Miami to MDE on Saturday morning, was Viva, according to Lindzey.  Viva and Spirit are operating USA flights to MDE and Cartagena (CTG), respectively, he said.

Lindzey says about 30 percent of the pre-covid flights from the USA to Colombia will be operating in the next few weeks.

cccmedia

Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Peru have been experiencing their worst covid days of the pandemic, according to an article bylined by two reporters of the New York Times.

The dateline is Bogotá, where the mayor has told residents to brace for the worst two weeks of the pandemic.

A Times analysis covering last week shows that South America accounted for 35 percent of covid deaths worldwide, while the continent has only eight percent of the world's population.

The article is titled:  After a Year of Loss, South America Suffers Worst Death Tolls Yet.

Source... The New York Times
                 nytimes.com

https://www.google.com/search?q=colombi … nt=gws-wiz      This is not good.....

New covid cases in Colombia dropped by 95 percent in the past three months.

The Johns Hopkins U. charts show that seven-day averages went from about 30,000 new cases per day down to about 1,500 per day by the end of the period.

Source... Johns Hopkins covid-tracker charting for Colombia, June 30-September 30, 2021

Cases imply pcr positive tests which actually have no validity at all, as recently admitted by the WHO, not to mention thousands of doctors signing the petitiion of the Declaration of Rome a few days ago. What interests me are hospitalized cases, not positive tests.....in others words how many people are really sick? Also, about the same time as the vaccination process got underway, the medical systems in the U.S. and the U.K. and Europe were forced to lower the cycle threshhold of the faulty pcr test down below 30 which means it would only register serious viral loads, whereas previously the test would pick up all viral debris active or otherwise floating in the system. So maybe now in Latin America they have also lowered the CT levels way down so that it appears that the vaccines are actually working when in fact, most new hospitalizations now are among the vaccinated.

You're way off-base, Parce.

This thread is about covid in Colombia, not Europe. 

The theory you postulated about vaccinated-persons' hospitalization was about Latin America.

The post you put up has problems.  The source is dubious.  It has nothing to do with South America; it's about Europe and Singapore.  And I don't see where it says the vaccinated are being hospitalized -- where does it say that?

The CDC says most hospitalizations for covid are the unvaccinated.

You have not successfully met the challenge I posed.

cccmedia