3 ms·

Colombia in particular hasn't gotten a lot of press in the US other than for coffee and the drug war.

by mbg721 6y ago

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
Perhaps, but being somewhat over the hill and not too far from retirement I feel like the secret is already out regarding Medellin being a great place for US ex-pats to retire.
schoen 6y ago
I've noticed that too. I got to visit Colombia twice in the past couple of years and it was lovely, yet before I went I mostly had the same associations you mentioned ("coffee and the drug war"). The Colombians I met (who are, of course, not reflective or representative of everyone in the country) were extremely optimistic and excited for the future of their country. Some random things I remember about Colombia: * Cycling is big there. There are more bike lanes than pretty much anywhere else in Latin America. The practice of closing streets on a particular day for community cycling originated there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclov%C3%ADa); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclov%C3%ADa); in pre-pandemic San Francisco you might have encountered this as "Sunday Streets". It was mainly inspired by Colombia. Colombia has also had an increasing number of competitors in the Tour de France, including the 2019 overall winner, Egan Bernal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egan_Bernal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egan_Bernal). * It's very, very mountainous. People in the U.S. might know Peru (and maybe Bolivia) as Andean countries, but there are four countries in the Andean Community (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Community) (which is primarily a trade bloc rather than a geographic designation), and the mountain range continues along the entirety of the west side of South America. Most of Colombia's population lives near the mountains, although the biggest cities are primarily centered in valleys, sometimes stretching far up into the hills. There are dramatic views all over the place. Three cities have aerial tramways (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_tramways#_Colombia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_tramways#_Colom...) either for commuters or tourists. I also heard that, as in other mountainous regions elsewhere in the world, the major cities have maintained significantly different cuisines and dialects because of how much effort it took to travel between regions, even when they were pretty close by as the crow flies. * There are lots of public parks in the big cities, and they get a lot of use, even long into the evening. It probably helps a lot that it's quite warm in Colombia, but I also felt that this was a cultural thing. I was impressed at how much safer I felt in parks in Colombia at night than I would in urban parks in the U.S., probably in a Jane Jacobs "eyes on the street" sense. * There are well-attended tech meetups and conferences. :-) * "El Dorado" was originally a person, not a city, although it's not clear if the person really existed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado). * They make delicious things with corn (really, probably true of anywhere in or adjacent to Central America). * Medellín (unlike other cities in Colombia) has a large, effective metro system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Metro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Metro). Edit: A striking thing I forgot to mention is the calle/carrera system, where most cities make enormous use of numbered streets and avenues, to a much greater extent than ever I've seen anywhere else. Imagine if every city were like Manhattan, but with a numbered grid imposed over much larger parts of the city, even parts that weren't visually part of the main numbered grid. Colombian city streets are overwhelmingly numbered rather than named, and the Manhattan-style "5th at 40th" references are the norm.
- eloisius 6y ago
  I’ll add that the metro is efficient and clean by international standards, in case any readers think there was an implied “...for South America” at the end of that. It was cleaner, better maintained and more accessible to people with disabilities than any metro system I’ve used in the US, aside from _maybe_ the density of stations in NY.

Colombia in particular hasn't gotten a lot of press in the US other than for coffee and the drug war.

by mbg721 6y ago

Colombia in particular hasn't gotten a lot of press in the US other than for coffee and the drug war.

Perhaps, but being somewhat over the hill and not too far from retirement I feel like the secret is already out regarding Medellin being a great place for US ex-pats to retire.

schoen 6y ago

I've noticed that too. I got to visit Colombia twice in the past couple of years and it was lovely, yet before I went I mostly had the same associations you mentioned ("coffee and the drug war"). The Colombians I met (who are, of course, not reflective or representative of everyone in the country) were extremely optimistic and excited for the future of their country. Some random things I remember about Colombia: * Cycling is big there. There are more bike lanes than pretty much anywhere else in Latin America. The practice of closing streets on a particular day for community cycling originated there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclov%C3%ADa); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclov%C3%ADa); in pre-pandemic San Francisco you might have encountered this as "Sunday Streets". It was mainly inspired by Colombia. Colombia has also had an increasing number of competitors in the Tour de France, including the 2019 overall winner, Egan Bernal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egan_Bernal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egan_Bernal). * It's very, very mountainous. People in the U.S. might know Peru (and maybe Bolivia) as Andean countries, but there are four countries in the Andean Community (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Community) (which is primarily a trade bloc rather than a geographic designation), and the mountain range continues along the entirety of the west side of South America. Most of Colombia's population lives near the mountains, although the biggest cities are primarily centered in valleys, sometimes stretching far up into the hills. There are dramatic views all over the place. Three cities have aerial tramways (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_tramways#_Colombia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_tramways#_Colom...) either for commuters or tourists. I also heard that, as in other mountainous regions elsewhere in the world, the major cities have maintained significantly different cuisines and dialects because of how much effort it took to travel between regions, even when they were pretty close by as the crow flies. * There are lots of public parks in the big cities, and they get a lot of use, even long into the evening. It probably helps a lot that it's quite warm in Colombia, but I also felt that this was a cultural thing. I was impressed at how much safer I felt in parks in Colombia at night than I would in urban parks in the U.S., probably in a Jane Jacobs "eyes on the street" sense. * There are well-attended tech meetups and conferences. :-) * "El Dorado" was originally a person, not a city, although it's not clear if the person really existed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado). * They make delicious things with corn (really, probably true of anywhere in or adjacent to Central America). * Medellín (unlike other cities in Colombia) has a large, effective metro system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Metro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Metro). Edit: A striking thing I forgot to mention is the calle/carrera system, where most cities make enormous use of numbered streets and avenues, to a much greater extent than ever I've seen anywhere else. Imagine if every city were like Manhattan, but with a numbered grid imposed over much larger parts of the city, even parts that weren't visually part of the main numbered grid. Colombian city streets are overwhelmingly numbered rather than named, and the Manhattan-style "5th at 40th" references are the norm.

eloisius 6y ago
I’ll add that the metro is efficient and clean by international standards, in case any readers think there was an implied “...for South America” at the end of that. It was cleaner, better maintained and more accessible to people with disabilities than any metro system I’ve used in the US, aside from _maybe_ the density of stations in NY.