The first two times I visited the town of Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, I was a tourist who just wanted to relax on its superb beaches, eat its amazing, fresh seafood, and soak up its vibrant nightlife. And Santa Marta delivered.
When you ask expats why they chose Medellín, Colombia’s City of Flowers, the first answer is almost always the weather. I have to agree. Daytime highs in the low to mid-80s F and evenings in the mid-60s F mean you never need to wear more than a light jacket to be comfortable. Our apartment doesn’t have a thermostat; I just open or close the windows to regulate the temperature. Having great weather means you can be outside all the time to enjoy the city. And Medellín has something for everyone.
Traveling south from El Poblado on either Poblado Avenue or Las Vegas Avenue, you can´t tell where El Poblado ends and Envigado begins. Often referred to as “Medellín´s suburb,” Envigado is an increasingly popular option for expats looking for El Poblado’s ambience but with a lower cost of living.
For my husband Mike and me, our new lives in Medellín, Colombia’s “City of Flowers,” could scarcely be more different from our old lives back in the U.S. Our cost of living is less than half of what it was in Maine.
“For the good of my health, I had to make a change,” says expat Jennifer Enright of her decision to relocate to the Colombian city of Medellín. “I had to reinvent myself businesswise. After working for years as an executive head hunter for high-tech companies in Seattle, I had had enough. Too much rain and cold, and I injured myself from too much repetitive motion.”
On any Sunday afternoon during football season, you can find Patrick’s Irish Pub full of people wearing NFL shirts rooting for their favorite teams. At first sight, you might think you’re in one of the many Irish bars scattered throughout the U.S. But you’re actually in the thriving metropolis of Medellín, high in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. Medellín has long since shed its troublesome past to become one of South America’s most prosperous cities. Expats now flock here to take advantage of the many business opportunities it offers. And Patrick Dwyer is one of them.
Don’t you just hate it when your kids are right? In January 2011 we were in the middle of “talking” about moving overseas during one of our daughter’s visits home from college. She sat quietly during dinner, listening to our conversation. During dessert she just couldn’t stay quiet anymore. She blurted out, “You guys are never going to do this, you know.”