After we found ourselves a little let down by Panama, we booked a flight to Medellín, Colombia. We couldn’t go home as our tax year to qualify for the FEIE (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion) wasn’t up until the end of January but we knew we didn’t want to stay in Panama that long (more on that here). Medellín is somewhere we always wanted to visit as its often compared to Chiang Mai and referred to as the “Digital Nomad Capital of South America”. We were already close by so we booked a flight and an apartment for 3 weeks in the city.
Like Panama, we had high hopes for Medellin. We really wanted to love it. Eternal Spring just sounded too good to be true and only a 6 hour travel day home (vs 28 hours from Thailand) was more than appealing. And to be honest, it really didn’t disappoint.
So why the mixed feelings? I’m honestly not quite sure. I guess the answer really isn’t that simple. You know how we love to compare everything to Chiang Mai, so I suppose its easier to break it down that way.
Medellin vs Chiang Mai
Why We Loved Medellín
First of all, it really is undeniably a beautiful city and the weather was simply perfect. The rolling green hills and mountain views are to die for and the brick buildings give the city so much character. The air was so fresh and, as promised, it was never too hot and never too cold. The mornings and evenings were crisp and cool and the afternoons beautiful and sunny. There was never any need for heat or AC (I’m pretty sure most houses don’t have it) and the windows stayed open all day. Its really hard to have a bad day when the weather is that perfect.
The apartment we booked through Airbnb was fantastic. It was super spacious and modern. Although it did cost more money than we expected, we really wanted to be comfortable enough to work at home, in a safe location, and have a nice, fully stocked kitchen so we could eat in more. Plus when we saw the views from the balcony, we couldn’t not book it.
There is definitely a decent size digital nomad community there that could be found mostly in and around Parque Lleras. There are also a number of laptop-friendly cafes to choose from. Cafe Velvet is one of the most popular ones and we could see why. It was definitely our favorite as it had the perfect setup for working hours at a time and the coffee was delish as well.
Not only was almost everyone we encountered really friendly, they also seemed very genuine as well. In fact, we couldn’t get over just how nice everyone was, from meeting our Airbnb host with a big hug to conversations in broken Spanglish with our Uber drivers and the Security Guard at our apartment that greeted us with a huge smile and a ¡Buenas! every time we returned home. In addition to being friendly, Colombian’s seriously must be the most attractive people in the world. Of course, you hear guys rave about Colombian girls and with every right. But the men are just as attractive. Everyone there seemed to be into working out and staying fit. I don’t think we ever saw any overweight people. Talk about constant blows to the self-esteem!
Not only are the city and the people wonderful, but Medellín was way more modern than I could have ever imagined. The shopping malls blow our malls in the US out of the water. The nice, big sidewalks make walking everywhere so much more enjoyable after barely surviving years of Chiang Mai’s mostly nonexistent and broken sidewalks. The city was astonishingly clean, green and well maintained.
In saying all of this, these are the…
Things We Didn’t Love About Medellín
I’m watching my words because I don’t want to say that we “hated” or even “disliked” anything about Medellín. The truth is, it often comes down to convenience and, as we always say, there is nowhere more easy to live abroad than in Chiang Mai.
For one, we really weren’t that impressed with the food. But let’s be real, not many places compare with Thailand in that sense. We never had a bad meal, but there was really only one memorable meal we had in the entire 3 weeks. It doesn’t look that impressive in the picture but, trust me, it was incredible.
One thing I didn’t expect to find so difficult was the language barrier. I can’t think of any other country we’ve traveled that we’ve had such a hard time with the language barrier. And I never thought my Thai could be better than my Spanish, but I’m pretty sure it is. We thought our Spanish was good enough (not great) to get by, but we were 100% wrong. Our minimal Spanish got us by with no problems in Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta and even in Panama. But in Colombia, we realized just how awful our Spanish truly is. It was so bad that we often avoided going out because communicating with anyone was so difficult and we were embarrassed at our lack of Spanish speaking abilities. In one instance, Charlie stated to our Uber driver “sorry, our Spanish sucks” (poor choice of words, yes!). Then right before he dropped us off, he asked in broken English why we thought Spanish people suck.
-_-
We then tried to explain what he meant, but I’m not sure if it was ever clear. He was so nice and I felt so bad I wanted to cry and hide at the same time.
If we ever went back or decided to stay there long-term, learning Spanish would be absolutely essential.
One of our biggest issues while in Colombia was just getting around town. While we loved our apartment in El Poblado (the expat/tourist haven of Medellin) and it was in a very safe area, it was also in a very residential area and we underestimated just how far we were from things and how big those hills around us were. The only thing we were really walking distance to was a shopping mall, which had a number of restaurants, a grocery store and a Starbucks. So that is where we spent a lot of our time (boring, I know). Parque Lleras is the hip, trendy neighborhood with tons of bar, restaurants and coffee shops like that of Nimman in Chiang Mai. This is where most expats spend their time and we thought we would as well. However, it ended up being much farther away than we thought, especially considering the steep inclines and declines. Seriously, every time we left our apartment, our ears popped! That’s how much of a change in elevation it was from our apartment to, well, anywhere. Fortunately, Uber is available and super cheap so we pretty much had to Uber everywhere we went. That being said, we would often have to wait 10-15 minutes for an Uber and it just felt like a hassle. We couldn’t just walk out our door and grab a coffee or run to the store. Many days we ended up working at home which made us just feel kind of trapped.
Safety is always the number one concern anywhere you go, and the stories about safety regarding Central and South America are often never pleasant. It is always the biggest issue most people have when comparing the likes of SE Asia and South America and it was definitely our biggest concern.
Even after being robbed in Thailand, I always felt safe there. I never once worried about walking down the road alone or being out late at night. Nobody ever made us feel threatened or scared for our lives. The stories that you do hear about in Thailand usually involve petty theft or getting mixed up with the wrong people (bar girls, drugs, etc).
However, the stories coming from Central and South America often involve being robbed at gun-point, kidnappings, and murders. And while crime rates have dropped significantly in Medellín, it was still the most dangerous city in the world not long ago and it still has a ways to go. We like to do our research before visiting somewhere new and we want to make sure we are fully aware of the good and the bad. We’ve read plenty of stories from travelers and tourists that have never had any issues and rave about how safe it is now. They talk about all of the amazing things Colombia has to offer, and they are right. But at the same time, its important to be aware of the bad (as with ANYWHERE in the world) so you know what to expect and what to be aware of. You should always know if there are dangerous areas to avoid and what to do if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation.
Upon reading through numerous posts on expat forums and stories of bloggers ending up in some scary situations, it definitely had us going into Colombia more on edge. Almost every expat or traveler we’ve talked to has either been robbed at gun-point themselves or knows someone that has (not just Colombia but in Central and South America). In the expat forums I read, many are speaking up about their own experiences and seem to have the mentality of “its just a matter of time before it happens to you”. Many also feel that the government is very hush-hush about it as they don’t want to dissuade tourists from coming, but many expats have ultimately left because they are tired of looking over their shoulder all of the time. We even overheard people talking about being robbed at gun-point while sitting in a coffee shop on multiple occasions. Actually, one guy was talking about how his wife had been robbed twice in less than 6 months, one time right in front of their house and another after being followed out of the mall in the popular tourist district. One time even our Uber driver showed great concern dropping us off in Parque Lleras and kept stressing how dangerous it still is for foreigners. I know he meant well and wanted us to be aware, but it definitely creeped us out.
I will say that we never had ANY reason to feel unsafe or threatened the entire 3 weeks we were in Medellín. However, after doing our own research on statistics and other peoples’ experiences, we felt very on edge the whole time we were there. We were constantly looking over our shoulder and didn’t want to be out walking after dark. I definitely wouldn’t have been out and about on my own without Charlie. We were constantly warned by our Uber drivers to not have our phones out or carry our laptops with us. Never take cash out at outdoor ATMs. Don’t wear anything flashy. This meant my ring and Apple Watch always stayed at home. I never wanted to take my phone out to use GPS or Uber which was kind of difficult. And we were uneasy about taking our laptops to the coffee shop with us.
We realize this may sound silly and unjustified to some, but better safe than sorry in my opinion. In the end, we didn’t like that hanging over our heads. I don’t want to have to be worried about my safety all of the time, what I could carry with me or wear. Its one thing if you are just visiting for a short time, but I don’t think I would ever want to do that long-term. There are too many awesome places in the world where you don’t have to be on edge to that extent.
And that brings me to my last point: cost of living. Of course, this is always a hot topic among digital nomad destinations. I am going to do another post about the cost of living in Medellín as we tracked our expenses while we were there. But to summarize, some things were quite a bit cheaper than the States or comparable to Chiang Mai, but most things were more expensive than we expected. This wasn’t a deal-breaker for us, as there are trade-offs and I think quality of life is better in a lot of ways. Its not always about the cheapest place to live, but the value.
To wrap up the longest post ever, we are still quite mixed in our feelings on Colombia. The convenience to home and weather has us pulling for Medellin, but the ease of living and community in Chiang Mai still can’t be beat. If only we could move Chiang Mai just a little bit closer to home…
