So what's it like? How's the people? How's the food (I can answer that right here: bad)? Money talk...
Living in Colombia is pretty cool people. This guide is still under construction, still, here's a few practical tips.
Living cost.
I'll just give you some numbers out of my and other peoples experiences. I work about 30 hours a week, with 8 different private students and make 100 US$ with that. That's enough to live (cheaply) in a shared apartment (4 people, but nice and big). (At the time of writing, 1500 pesos = 1 US$)
Renting an apartment is about 500 000 pesos(350 US$) a month. Servicios (taxes, water, telephone and electricity) are about 200.000 pesos a month (that's with loads of telephone calls within Medellin). Internet is 40 000 pesos/month for maximum 80 hours. Cheap furniture like in Europe or the US isn't here. (they use it until its completely gone)
A nice big table (newly made) costs about 70 000 pesos.(= 50 US$) A decent mattress about 50 000 pesos (big 2 person). The cheapest meal in town is 1 US$, cheap movie is 2.5 US$, a beer in the shop across the road (nice and cold) is 700 pesos(.5 US$) A bottle of rum is 7000, a glass of rum in a salsa place is 5000 pesos, entrance to a fancy discotheque is about 10 000 pesos.
Waw, that's a load of numbers!
Visa in short.
Get more info at the visa page, but here's the main idea:
I am on a tourist visa. I have to leave the country every 4 months, nice excuse to go to ecuador, for a week or so. The 4th month, I pay some money to extend the 3month visa.
Safety situation in short.
More info than you'll ever want at the travel safety page, here's the basics. I can't just visit any part of the country. I need to inform myself before going to out of the way places about guerilla activity. Around Medellin I can't just go anywhere either. In some directions, it's not a good idea to go hiking in the mountains. However, there's still plenty of Colombia left to visit, more than I'll be able to see in my time here. In the city itself, it's quite safe, just take taxis late at night in some parts.
Work availability.
Teaching English is the most obvious job for any foreigner that speaks some.French, German and Japanese are also in great demand. (Dutch is somewhat less popular I'm afraid..) There's enough private students for everyone. However, if you come in november-january, you won't get many, because people are partying and having holidays.
That's all. I like living in Colombia, as you might have guessed from this site. Browse around, there's lots of articles that talk about Colombia and it's people.
Comments:
the food is not bad
2002-02-07
i love colombian food...nothing beats a good arepa, pandequeso, almojabana, and frijoles! give the food an honest shot before you say its bad, and remember that not everyone shares the same tastebuds
