Today's PM mailbag brought a friendly message from expat.com VIP member Nards Barley about the Colombia border town of Ipiales where I have spent recent weeks. Nards has been the unofficial mayor of the Greater Cuenca, Ecuador, Expat Community and initiated a thread on our Ecuador forum about comparisons between Colombia and Ecuador.
Noting that Ipiales is around 9,500-feet elevation -- similar altitude to Quito, Ecuador, where my condo is located -- Nards asked why I am currently staying in Ipiales.
FYI, Ipiales, near the Ecuador-Colombia Rumichaca border crossing in southwestern Colombia, has a population of about 143,000 (Wikipedia, from 2012 data).
Pronouncer: ippy-AH-less, nah-REEN-yoh
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Top Reasons Why I May Spend More Time in Ipiales in 2018 than in Medellín:
10. Medellín, with a population of millions, is one of the most polluted cities in South America. Ipiales being a smaller place whose economy is largely based on cross-border trade and not manufacturing .. is relatively much less polluted.
9. Medellín is infamous for traffic problems that have only worsened in recent years as more locals drive cars and the big city population has grown, spurred by the peace makeover. In comparison, Ipiales has mild traffic except during holiday weekends. Even then, it's not like Medellín heavy traffic (6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays .. and on weekend nights).
8. I can drive my Ecuador-plated car to Ipiales and thus have it with me for months at a time. I made the multi-day drive from Quito to Medellín last year (December 2016) and won't be doing that obstacle course again.
7. The weather in Ipiales suits me. Wearing my jacket, I'd normally prefer walking around on a cold day in Ipiales (50's F.) .. to a hot one in Medellín (near 90 F). Year-round highs in Ipiales average about 60 F. on a monthly basis.
The high altitude in Quito was part of a combination of factors that made simple walking around difficult in my neighborhood. In my sector of that city, Centro Histórico, those factors include hilliness and air pollution. Ipiales, though hardly flat, is much less hilly -- and less polluted -- than my Quito neighborhood. So, in general, it's easier to walk around without huffing and puffing.
6. Cost-of-living comparison between Ipiales and the Gringo-friendliest/safest parts of Medellín is a joke. I'm about to move into a one-month rental at a new Ipiales hotel with soundproofed windows (rare in Colombia in my experience) at a rate that works out to $11 a day. That's a small fraction of what I was paying for a quality hotel in Poblado, Medellín, earlier this year (also monthly).
5. Gran Plaza mall, the big mall in Ipiales, has a great selection of products at low prices. Even on holiday weekends it's more civilized than the biggest, most crowded Medellín malls at crowded times.
4. If I ever needed urgent medical care while in Colombia, the IESS hospital (costs covered by my monthly auto-debited payments) is a short distance away in Tulcán, Ecuador. Medellín has highly-rated care, but it's not covered by Ecuador IESS .. and who knows what my travel insurance would really cover....
3. It's easy to be a millionaire in Colombia. My upcoming month at the "suites" hotel will cost me one million pesos. That works out to $333 US.
2. Less than ten minutes drive and I'm in beautiful Colombian countryside. Not doable in that short time from the Golden Mile in Poblado.
And the #1 reason I'll spend more time in Ipiales...
1. There's a sweet blackjack game in the Gran Plaza mall's casino -- $3 minimum per hand, one to three hands per player. Before play, during breaks and after playing, there are plentiful restaurants to choose from in the mall food court .. a security-safe ATM .. and many shops including the Alkosto supermarket/electronics warehouse where the bargains draw thousands of shoppers from Ecuador every weekend of the year.
-- cccmedia in Ipiales, Nariño
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