Why Colombia?

Why Colombia ?

My tennis coach was 60,000 pesos ( $15 dollars ) an hour. In New York Billie Jean center $150 per hour

One expat posting said rents in Laureles for a one bedroom was $200 to $300 a month

These are simple apartments but I also was in an apartment in Pereira two bathrooms 2 or 3 bedrooms was $160 per month

I feed six people for dinner in Pijao the bill was $30 - the cost of say one in New York

At lunch in Medellin the bill for 3 was $13 - equal to maybe one in New York

In a hotel when you order room service typically in the US you feel like a fool wasting his money when you see the bill.

But in Colombia we had dinner for 3 and here you experience price shock to see the bill was only $15

In Colorado they were charging $50 to go into their hot springs Spas for two hours. While the Termal in Santa Rosa de Cabal was $12 for all day in a hot river no less.

If you have $250 you are a millionaire in COP colombian pesos

If you have $250,000 you are a billionaire in Colombian pesos.

We took a taxi in Medellin for a short ride the bill was one dollar

Now 60 is the correct temperature for sleeping at night

While people like 65-70 to play tennis

The Southwest and California has nice weather but at high prices and it never rains - they have water rationing. It is dry. You are not allowed to water your trees.

Subtropical Colombia almost on the Equator has rain showers regularly sweeping through the valleys making everything green - basically a rainforest climate. The moderate temperatures are at about 5,000 feet making Medellin and Pereira or Salento or Pijao ideal. I liked the mountain towns of Colorado like Durango etc. Usually the smaller the town and the more undiscovered the better. Pijao is an example of a beautiful small mountain town at 5,000 feet in the coffee growing region. Which is not dry but very fertile with lots of banana trees surrounding it. There is no such thing as a parking space or parking meter or charges in this town you park where you do not get in someone’s way. This town turned out to be Olga’s hometown - birthplace. Where Laura could run into her grade school friends. The roads were not as bad as in the north and you could drive there from Pereira. So Pijao is my pick of the litter though I might have to live closer to an airport like in Pereira because road transportation is difficult in Colombia with too much traffic sort of like India. To go from Pereira to Medellin requires an airplane because the Bus took 13 hours to go 221 kilometers an average speed of 17 kilometers an hour the speed of a bicycle.

So what about hotel prices?

Hostels which are more for college kids range from an astonishing $5 to about $20 a day and there are many at about $15 a day.

It may be pandemic related but there are many 2 star and 3 star hotels about $30 a day perhaps one third the cost of the US

While higher end hotels like four star can be only $50 to $75 per night. Note that $50 times 30 days equals $1500 the price of the cheapest studio in New York.

You can definitely get a clean hotel for about $30 a day long term.

With your cost savings you can help others and the poor. Raising their standard of living to at least ancient greece or rome where they had running water toilets etc.

A basic home must have a stove and running water and a stove. Beds etc. there is no need for air conditioning or heat in Colombia.