Hola

pbjosh

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Jun 5, 2018
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Hello all,

I found this forum researching residency stuff. I have been living part time headed towards full time in BsAs for about a year and a half with my Argentine partner.

Originally from the US but have lived in Germany and then later in Mexico, and spent years traveling in Central and South America.

Saludos a todos :)
 
Welcome.. I'm interested in the other parts of South America and Central American you visited...how were they?
 
I’ve spent over a year in Mexico by now, then spent about 6-7 months traveling in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Mexico will always be a favorite for me but I’m also really fond of Guatemala, and will happily return to spend more time in any of them.

Later I spent a couple years in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, then a bit of time in Bolivia and several months in Chile. Colombia is an absolute favorite, some of the most open and friendly and lovely people I have ever met, and I love Medellin, a really vibrant, hip, young city with architecture and art and cafes and so much going on. Not unlike BsAs in many aspects actually. I also love Peru, but whereas I would happily live in Colombia or Mexico, I’m not sure I would personally choose Peru. Chilean Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been - driving the Carretera Austral should be on eveyone’s bucket list.

In all I’ve spent over 5 years traveling and living from Mexico to Patagonia... so it’s a large subject but feel free to ask more specifics ;)
 
Please tell us more about living in Mexico city. Its on my bucket list.
 
I’ve actually not lived in DF, but have been a handful of times over the years. With more pollution controls on cars and more driving restrictions the air quality is dramatically better, though still definitely worse than BsAs- I actually have the impression BsAs has pretty excellent air quality for a large city but it’s just an impression. Maybe what I don’t smell is killing me :)

Back to DF, it’s a cultural capital and culinary scene at a world level. My friends here love it, largely. But I really don’t have any valuable first hand experience other than a couple days and meals over the years, and some stunning traffic!

I have lived in San Cristobol, and have spent a lot of time in Baja and in Oaxaca.
 
Not so interested in Mexico city, but i would like to hear from Colombia, Bogota or Medellin, what are the pros and cons of living there, im going there for a couple of months soon, so i will love to hear from Colombia. Unfortunately the people from Colombia i know is the one that moved to Buenos Aires and they don't tell me so good thinks about life there, but i had friends from Germany that spend a month or two in Colombia and found it quite enjoyable, so i would like to get more comments on life there.
 
I've not lived in either Medellin or Bogota but have spent about 7-8 months travelling in Colombia including a good bit of time (over a month) in Medellin.

For me Bogota is kind of like Lima or DF - tons to do, a vibrant metropolis, anything you want available, but feels like the big city it is, and air quality can be pretty poor. Traffic in Bogota is horrendous - there is no good public transit and most roads are 1-2 lanes in each direction, for something like 10 million people. I believe it regularly ranks among the worst traffic in the world. It's a fairly gray and cold/rainy city if that matters to you.

Medellin is ~3 million people I believe and has pretty ok public transit in that it has a really excellent light rail that runs the length of the valley (one main track basically and the city is kind of elongated down the valley) and then pretty fair busses. Traffic is very manageable in my experience, certainly no worse than BsAs. The hip parts of town (notably Poblado and Laureles) can feel a bit like Palermo and Belgrano at times - hip cafes, lots of craft beer, lots of good food. It's not Argentina obviously, still has Colombian energy, and the streets are quiet much earlier than BsAs, not surprisingly. There's a lot of nice architecture, and the city feels pretty young and worldly, though not as worldly as BsAs. The climate is great in my opinion - pretty warm, somewhat humid, rains frequently. Medellin and BsAs are my favorite Latin cities, hands down.

Popoyan is lovely, a colonial town called the "white city" that is really scenic. It is quieter, a bit more reserved, buy young as it's a university town, really lovely but not really worldly. Cali is thriving and bustling, and hot and humid, and seems quite appealing in many ways but I don't know it well. Cartagena is kind of a big, sprawling, ugly morass except for the old city which is really gorgeous, up there with Granada (NI) and Trinidad (CU) for me as my favorite colonial towns, really is worth a visit at some point. The other Colombian cities on the Caribbean - Baranquilla and Santa Marta, are both quite nice. Baranquilla is really laid back and a nice balance between modern and sleepy. Santa Marta is a bit more of a backpacker's and partier's hub but is beautiful and is close to Minca and the mountains as well as PN Tayrona as well as lots of other nice attractions. There are some other nice smaller cities in Colombia I like as well - Valledupar and Villa de Leyva are pretty well known among travellers. The only towns in Colombia that I've been to that I didn't really enjoy are Bogota (traffic and air), and Pasto (I only have passed through twice and it just struck me as kind of a grubby crossroads but I know others have higher opinions so don't read too much into my comment).
 
I've not lived in either Medellin or Bogota but have spent about 7-8 months travelling in Colombia including a good bit of time (over a month) in Medellin.

For me Bogota is kind of like Lima or DF - tons to do, a vibrant metropolis, anything you want available, but feels like the big city it is, and air quality can be pretty poor. Traffic in Bogota is horrendous - there is no good public transit and most roads are 1-2 lanes in each direction, for something like 10 million people. I believe it regularly ranks among the worst traffic in the world. It's a fairly gray and cold/rainy city if that matters to you.

Medellin is ~3 million people I believe and has pretty ok public transit in that it has a really excellent light rail that runs the length of the valley (one main track basically and the city is kind of elongated down the valley) and then pretty fair busses. Traffic is very manageable in my experience, certainly no worse than BsAs. The hip parts of town (notably Poblado and Laureles) can feel a bit like Palermo and Belgrano at times - hip cafes, lots of craft beer, lots of good food. It's not Argentina obviously, still has Colombian energy, and the streets are quiet much earlier than BsAs, not surprisingly. There's a lot of nice architecture, and the city feels pretty young and worldly, though not as worldly as BsAs. The climate is great in my opinion - pretty warm, somewhat humid, rains frequently. Medellin and BsAs are my favorite Latin cities, hands down.

Popoyan is lovely, a colonial town called the "white city" that is really scenic. It is quieter, a bit more reserved, buy young as it's a university town, really lovely but not really worldly. Cali is thriving and bustling, and hot and humid, and seems quite appealing in many ways but I don't know it well. Cartagena is kind of a big, sprawling, ugly morass except for the old city which is really gorgeous, up there with Granada (NI) and Trinidad (CU) for me as my favorite colonial towns, really is worth a visit at some point. The other Colombian cities on the Caribbean - Baranquilla and Santa Marta, are both quite nice. Baranquilla is really laid back and a nice balance between modern and sleepy. Santa Marta is a bit more of a backpacker's and partier's hub but is beautiful and is close to Minca and the mountains as well as PN Tayrona as well as lots of other nice attractions. There are some other nice smaller cities in Colombia I like as well - Valledupar and Villa de Leyva are pretty well known among travellers. The only towns in Colombia that I've been to that I didn't really enjoy are Bogota (traffic and air), and Pasto (I only have passed through twice and it just struck me as kind of a grubby crossroads but I know others have higher opinions so don't read too much into my comment).
Thanks for the very detailed description, is going to be very handy while i travel through Colombia.
 
Not so interested in Mexico city, but i would like to hear from Colombia, Bogota or Medellin, what are the pros and cons of living there, im going there for a couple of months soon, so i will love to hear from Colombia. Unfortunately the people from Colombia i know is the one that moved to Buenos Aires and they don't tell me so good thinks about life there, but i had friends from Germany that spend a month or two in Colombia and found it quite enjoyable, so i would like to get more comments on life there.

Right, germans who didn’t understand what was going on had a great time while locals who understand it run away.
 
I get the impression that BA is by far the most cultural European style city in Latin America. Am I right or wrong? Can any place else really compare?
 
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