Considering Colombia

Uncle Baldrick wrote:

we are currently living in Brisbane Australia....

I'm making the huge commitment this year to start learning Spanish.  So if anyone can give any advice it  would be greatly received

Dear Uncle Baldrick,

You may be interested in the https://www.expat.com thread titled “Shortcuts to español” on the Ecuador forum....

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=458672

There’s another thread on the same forum titled “español for Gringos.”

cccmedia from La Zona Cafetera, Colombia

Dear Uncle Baldrick,

There’s another method I like -- and personally used for years -- for learning español.  It typically requires a subscription to DirecTV or another satellite or cable TV provider, including the DVR option.

It’s excellent, in part, because this method is available 24 hours a day and you can do it from home.  Also, since it involves the enjoyable activity of watching television, it’s easy to make a habit of this method.

It requires using a Spanish-English dictionary or word reference.com ....

1.  Record your favorite TV programs or movies.

2.  Watch a program, following the original English audio and Spanish subtitles.

3.  When you encounter a phrase or word that is unfamiliar, pause the video and look it up in the dictionary or at Word Reference.

4.  Continue watching.  Do an hour a day and you’ll marvel at your progress over time.

cccmedia from La Zona

My first vacation outside of US was to Venezuela. The vacation was OK, I realized it could have been so much better if I spoke Spanish. When I got home, I started buying Spanish lesson tapes to listen while commuting to work. They were not enough.

One day, while channel surfing, I saw a soap opera show in Univision "Maria, la del bario" with Thalia. She was so beautiful, I said to myself that I will continue watching even if I don't understand. It turns out Mexican telenovela is one of the the best way to learn Spanish. The set of words they use is very finite, which means a lot of repetitions. Don't worry, if you don't understand the first time. And, the story lines   are  very simple to follow. Every summer I would select a different LA country for my vacation.

I had so much success, I repeated the same process with Brazil. My first novela was "O clone" a classic!

Anyway, just sharing ...

Thanks so much for sharing... My loving wife is booking me in to Spanish classes this week, but any extra places to pick up the language is great. I even frequent  a local Mexican restaurant as the staff all speak Spanish. I've dowloaded Spanish music and listen in the car.... the more I surround myself I hope the faster I'll pick it up.
I have a couple of client through my work who now test what i've learnt via the Duolingo App that I've used to get me started.

cccmedia wrote:

There’s another method I like -- and personally used for years -- for learning español.  It typically requires a subscription to DirecTV or another satellite or cable TV provider, including the DVR option.

It’s excellent, in part, because this method is available 24 hours a day and you can do it from home.  Also, since it involves the enjoyable activity of watching television, it’s easy to make a habit of this method.

Don’t have DirecTV with DVR option, Uncle?

The method I described works equally well with Netflix.

Just set the ‘dial’ for Spanish subtitles.

cccmedia from La Zona

Sounds good, but I don't have Netflix - although have managed to watch season on of Narco's in Spanish (eng subtitles) was great!

Uncle Baldrick wrote:

Sounds good, but I don't have Netflix

Netflix streaming service is available in South America for a one-month free trial, then $8.99 a month.

North American pricing is more complex.

cccmedia from La Zona

Wow that's cheap. I never realised that Nexflix was that low. I just looked up the cost for Australia and it starts at $8.99AU per month. I could be something to check out.... Thanks for putting me on to this idea.

Hiyas! I don't know how much you've looked into Guatape. But you're on the right track. It's truly great. I hate to come to forums and tell extranjeros how great it is because I figure I'll retire there one day and I'll find out that there's Gringos covering up the town. But alas, there's no use in trying to hide Utopia. Someone will always find it.

Here are some posts I left in a different forum. I won't post the link because I don't know if it's allowed, and I don't want to advertise someone else's forums here.
===============================================
"I spent a month in Guatape and rented a 3 bed, 2 bath apartment for $170. My neighbor told me I got the Gringo tax and that his apartment right above me was much less. But I was happy with it. I had 8 beds, 2 showers, a fridge, and a TV with cable. No kitchen, but I didn't need one. I could throw a rock and hit the lake along the main drag. Horses wander the streets at night which is odd, but they go back to their spot by the lake in the morning to give rides.

I just walked into Guatape one day on a whim, and said, "Man, this is great. I think I'll stay a bit." I ate a a restaurant and my waiter had spent 10 years in Boston. He hooked me up with his landlady. She didn't run a credit history, I didn't show my passport, she didn't even know my last name. I gave her cash and she gave me a key. She even offered to send a cleaning lady twice a week as part of the deal.

I loved Guatape. I didn't even know about "The Rock" until I saw it on the bus on the way into town. I was like Holy Crap! What is this thing!

It's great little town with cobble streets and friendly people. I would walk around town and people invited me to drink beers and hang out. One retiree invited me to his house and his wife cooked us dinner.

I had such a huge time in Guatape. It's truly a great spot in the world. I would walk every day to the Rock and go visit the shops. It's a long but pretty walk. I had lost a lot of weight during that month and was very thin from just walking and enjoying the beautiful scenery."
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"Here's a story about my great month in Guatape. There's a billboard on the edge of town advertising a waterfall. So I set out walking on the highway one day to look for it. I couldn't find it, but I figured I'd just go ahead and walk on to the next town. How far can it be, right?

After several miles, I saw a family selling bottles of water on the side of the highway and asked them how far the next town was. They said, "An hour." I said, by foot? They said, "No, by bus!" I was like holy crap.

So I kept walking the mountain highway. God it's so beautiful. The mountains and huge green valleys and rivers! I saw a little tent area and an older couple were selling soup, so I had lunch. They thought it odd that a white guy was walking through the middle of nowhere. I told them I had walked from Guatape and they didn't believe me. They said, "But that's so far!"

I walked more and then the bottom dropped out of the sky. It was raining buckets. I found this little lean-to where a guy on his motorcycle had found cover and we had a nice chat.

The rain stopped and I started walking again. Then it started raining like crazy again. I was running down the highway soaking wet. It was starting to get dark and I found a little convenience store. The girl told me one more bus was due through in a few minutes. I caught the bus and he made me sit in the floor all the way back to Guatape since I was soaking wet.

So, via the internet, I found out I had walked 13.5 miles before giving up and getting the bus. So, now I was determined to make it to San Rafael which was the next small town on that highway.

I waited a few days and let my blisters heal and got the soreness out, and then I started the trek again (I'm sort of hardheaded).

From Guatape to San Rafael is 18.6 miles. I saw some little white faced monkeys playing in a tree and stopped for a bit to watch them. It had gotten dark by the time I made it into San Rafael. I know there's no such thing as monsters, but there was some monstery sounding stuff coming from the treeline. I was a bit unnerved and ran a lot.

I finally made it and I was so sore. My feet hurt, my ankles hurt, I was dehydrated, but was satisfied with myself for having done it.

I rented a nice little hotel room with a flatscreen TV with cable, a nice glass enclosed shower, queen bed for $10 a night.

I went out drinking that night on the square and some chiva bike drivers befriended me and we had a huge time. We had a race in their taxi bikes around the mountain highway and I was scared to death and laughing the entire time.

Man, what a great experience."
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"It's not a super exciting place. It's only 4000 people. But man oh man, I had such a stellar time! When you're a gringo you stick out, and they just wave and say, "Hey Gringo!" while you're walking around.

That little town made me grin from ear to ear every day. I would just walk around and smile because I was so very happy. But perhaps it's not for everyone. They have the little square where there are bars and places to get food, and there are the typical old men hanging out at tables in plastic chairs on the street drinking beers. Little pool halls and grocery stores. And they were so very sweet to me. I felt very welcome. In one month, I saw ZERO gringos there. I had to use Spanish to get by, so if you no speakie speakie, it may be difficult. But for that same reason, it's a great place to practice your language."

Hey thanks for sharing!
Wow that guy walked al the way from Guatape to San Rafael - that's incredible!

We hired a motorbike from Guatape Motos and rode to San Rafel, it's an awesome day out.

I start my Spanish lessons in two weeks time, can't wait to get amerced into the language. I'm spending time each morning on a website called Duolingo learning what I can.

OMG Just realised my spell check auto corrected my initial post and it posted "Columbia" instead of "Colombia" . A cardinal sin!! I am so sorry!! I

Dear Uncle Baldrick,

All is forgiven.

cccmedia

Colombia has decided the annual increase in pension-visa threshold.  The minimum income for the TP-7 visa application goes up to $738 US per month or three times the monthly COL minimum wage.  The minimum wage went up seven percent, determining the visa/income threshold.

U.S. Social Security benefit recipients will have noticed that their benefits increase is only 0.3 percent for 2017, following no increase at all for 2016.

This means it is getting harder for pensioners from the U.S. to qualify for a pension visa in La República.  Exceptions can be made for pensioners whose income falls just below the new threshold.  YMMV.

Data source:  Reuters

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

It seems to me all countries that attract ex-pat retirees has the same phenomenon. We all go there because of the cheaper cost of living and then some bright spark cottons on and assumes that if the threshold is raised maybe the ex-pat will spend more money.... it's the same in Vanuatu (pacific Islands) we bought land there a couple of years ago. Each time we thought we were ready to make the leap the goal post shifted. Now it's just a holiday home... the politics and isolation are putting a huge damper on Pacific living..... Hence Colombia (did I spell it right?)...

Uncle Baldrick wrote:

Vanuatu (pacific Islands) we bought land there a couple of years ago. Each time we thought we were ready to make the leap the goal post shifted. Now it's just a holiday home... the politics and isolation are putting a huge damper on Pacific living..... Hence Colombia (did I spell it right?)

Isolation is right.  You might be better off with your decision to ditch Vanuatu for most of the year.  Yes, congrats, you spelled Colombia correctly.

Here is a list comparing Colombia’s Coffee Country to Vanuatu....

1.  Weather:  Coffee-land gets plentiful rain, but it’s only occasionally drenching. 
Vanuatu has a cyclone season December to April .. with warm-to-hot and rainy weather nine months out of the year.

2.  Temperatures:  La Zona Cafetera has average high temps each month of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, low 80’s during the summer. 
Vanuatu has highs up to 90 degrees during its many hot months.

3.  Travel distance from North America:  Colombia is the northernmost country in South America, easy to get to by air from Miami and other U.S. hubs. 
Vanuatu is in the southern Pacific Ocean east of Australia.  For North Americans: good luck figuring out what airport to fly into.  Good luck getting some sleep on your never-ending connecting flights.... Easier trip for Baldrick from Brisbane.

4.  Fame:  Colombia used to be infamous for Pablo Escobar and FARC.  Now it’s entering an era of peace for which its president just won the Nobel Peace Prize. 
Vanuatu:  Fewer than one percent of North Americans have ever heard of it.

5.  Expat meetups:  Regular meetings once or twice a month in Pereira, Colombia. 
Vanuatu:  Expat what?

-----

True facts:  Damage caused by Cyclone Pam in March 2015 cost Vanuatu 70 percent of its GDP in lost productivity and property damage .. and displaced 70 percent of the archipelago-nation’s population.  In the ensuing months, major airlines including Qantas and Virgin Australia canceled flights into Vanuatu’s capital and main city, Port Vila, with neglect in maintaining the airport a key issue.  (Source:  the Lowy Institute.)

cccmedia in La Zona Cafetera

You put up a pretty good case my friend,  Vanuatu was bought on Emotion. It's a beautiful place and I do enjoy being there.... Just don't see me being there forever.

The draw back is the exit strategy. After all it's a third world country with little infrastructure to healthcare. 

We're all getting older and I want to be somewhere more civilised when it comes to old age.

Uncle Baldrick wrote:

You put up a pretty good case my friend....

The draw back is the exit strategy. After all Vanuatu is a third world country with little infrastructure to healthcare.

For exit strategies, google:  50 ways to leave your lover.

  -- cccmedia

Hi Baldrick,

When you are ready to make the big jump let me know. I have been living in Medellin since 2013 and have many professional and personal Colombian contacts who can help you with whatever you might possibly need. If you are going to buy a house do not use the foreign real estate companies because they will charge you almost 20 to 30 percent more for an apartment, house or farm and their workers barely speak English. I know plenty of local real estate agents who can get you the same price as a Colombian would pay without having to spend all the extra money. I can also walk you through the whole process in English every step of the way. It is lengthy process but will not take as long with the right people working with you. Cheers and look forward to speaking with you soon!

Best,


Chance

I dont know what year youre talking about but ive lived about an hour away from Guatape for a year. I dont know about any utopia but I agree its a pretty cool place. But ive seen gringos there from many european countries, i$rael and N America. If you saw little white faced monkeys??? id say you were pretty lucky. About the only wildlife Ive seen anywhere in Antiochia are a few squirrels. And i ride my mtn bike down the dirt roads regularly.