I moved to Colombia in 2007 to help a competitor open a call center in Bogotá. I’m in the telephone answering service business. I had been living between my home in Miami and my second home in San José, Costa Rica. My first reaction to the invitation was the same as most people would have. First you think of drugs, then you think of explosions. I was briefly reminded of the movie “Romancing the Stone”, which made the place seem like an adventure. Having traveled through most of Latin America and being fluent in Spanish, I decided to give it a try.
The first thing you’ll notice when you land is that the plane seems to be going terribly fast. This is because Bogotá is at about 9,000 feet and the density of the air is very low, so planes have to move faster to maintain their speed. As soon as I got off the 757 I was surprised by the low temperature. Bogotá has year-round temperatures in the mid-60s during the day and high 40s at night. The last surprise at the airport was when I carried my bags about 10 feet and couldn’t breathe, again due to the altitude.
My partner in Bogotá picked us up in a limousine and took us to the apartment we had rented for six months. Now put on your seat belt for what I’m going to tell you. I rented a 10th-floor penthouse on the outskirts of Bogotá for $400 a month. It was a 2 bed, 2 bath with an office. The place was furnished with everything, even the sheets and dishes. Included was electricity, gas, water, 2 satellite TVs, local phone and high speed DSL. If there is something I miss about Bogotá, it is being able to pay all my fixed living expenses for $400 a month.
A few days after settling in I went to the Zona Rosa, a high-class area of the city where we had lunch in an outdoor cafe. I’m from Miami and not used to the cold so I was surprised by the outdoor gas heaters next to our table. Bogotá is very modern, in some respects more so than Miami. Here’s my favorite example, McDonald’s breakfast delivered to your door at 7 am, and the delivery guy has a credit card terminal on his belt.
Eating in Colombia is delicious and more than affordable. My first trip to the grocery store filled 3 standard sized shopping carts; the total was $150. The supermarket is owned by a French company, so all the toppings were imported from France. A typical home-delivered lunch for a family of 3 was around $3.50 and included a rotisserie chicken and steamed potatoes. By the way, they have potatoes the size of your head and the size of a marble. The little ones are unreal and are called “papas criollos”.
The government, police and medical facilities also met the standards that I expect in Miami. The only thing that might surprise you is all the registration when you go to public places. You will notice that all motorcycle riders have a large identification number on their vest and helmet as part of their bomb prevention. None of this was annoying, but rather welcome considering the cities past.
The country has a national airline that can take you to Barranquilla, Cartagena or Santa Marta in less than an hour. All of these cities are on the ocean and have amazing beaches. At the same time you can be in a ski resort. Yes, I said ski resort. Colombia is at the end of the Andes Mountains and offers all the climates you can imagine.
People are quite reserved in Bogotá, but very extroverted on the coast. I think this is mainly due to the low temperatures in Bogotá. I didn’t really go out much and had a heater at my feet most of the day. Most of the buildings are brick and give the city an almost Boston-like appearance.
If you’re thinking of retiring somewhere where your dollar goes a long way, check out Colombia. You can find a lot of information on the net about visas and where to go. Due to the reputation that Colombia has, you will find that they work twice as hard to make sure you have a good stay.