Medellin or Cuenca

Cuenca is much chillier. That said, DO NOT move here to Medellin. It was a horrible mistake for me. Do not repeat my actions. I'm getting OUT. In fact, I'm going to a place that seems to have everything you might like here but less -- as in less crime, less filth, etc. It's off the expat map, but so should MDE be. Look up Bucaramanga. I've been there. It's NICE. It's middle class. It's safe. Even a bit cheaper than MDE.

In either case though, MDE or Buca, if you're not willing to learn fairly good Spanish you will never be comfortable. There's no expat community here either, and for good reason. If you must have an expat community, look to a very pretty city I lived in for four months, GDL Mexico. All the comforts of home. You won't find them in Cuenca, MDE, OR Buca. But I can do without some of them, so I think I'm Buca-bound.

Cuenca for sure, you cant even compare the two. Medellin traffic jams, no parking -pollution, security problems, cost of living
Whats good about Medellin is the girls and the nightlife . the night life gets old after awhile. And you can bring your Colombian sweetheart to Ecuador, to really enjoy life.

please tell me why not choose panama

You need to rent in Medellin,Panama or Cuenca for a year straight.
To see if it will work for you. Really between these 3 cites its like comparing apples to oranges to bananas. Sure there are many nice days, but months of high humidity, chilling cold, and heavy rain fall. I experienced it all first hand many years ago before these places were marketed for real estate on the internet blogs.

I live in Medellin with my Colombian wife. I can also speak enough Spanish for day to day use. Cuenca has a large expat community and you can get by without speaking a word of Spanish. Without speaking Spanish in Medellin, you'll have a very lonely existence.

I spent a few months in cuenca years ago and reallyenjoyed the climate and the city.

However its simply in a different category than Medellin.

Medellin is a true world class city (over 4 million population) and you can find almost anything you might want here if you speak some spanish and know how to search for things.

Cuenca is under 1/2 million population, and in many respects is much more comparable to Manizales Colombia.

I lived in Manizales for over 2 years and really liked almost everything…except the climate is just a bit too cool, rainy, and cloudy for someone with SAD.  also as was mentioned, Manizales is DAMNED hilly.

other than being somewhat similar in Climate, Medellin and Cuenca are totally different cities in almost all respects based on my experience.

@PattiH Manizales
Cuenca is expensive a nice place to visit not necessarily to.live.
Ecuador is generally 30% more expensive than Colombia .
-@nico peligro

I am sure Patti H made her decision years ago. I will say this about Ecuador: We don't think about filing an Ecuadorian income tax return and permanent residents aren't required to have health insurance, although I think temporary residents do now. Also renting doesn't typically require co-signers or other hurdles, like I always hear about in Medellín. We also don't have stratification of neighborhoods for utilities. Our IVA is 12%.…

P.S. Apparently we are supposed to file an informational disclosure, reporting our worldwide patrimony, but most expats don't volunteer that info I imagine. I wonder if triple C is aware of this requirement.