Living expenses in Medellin

bjorn says on Nov 27, 2005, 22:10:

I did it in 2003 I am a teacher too I am norwegian and in 1 year I spent about 12000 dollars including air transport from Norway and travel insurance. Did quite a bit of travel in Colombia to. Did not spend very much on boze and partying


Generally, you can live quite well on 7-800 dollars a month in Colombia


You will love Medellin


I miss Colombia desperately


Bjorn

Bjorn

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bjorn says on Nov 27, 2005, 22:13:

One more comment Do not live in a strata 6 area. To expensive. It's not necessary to live in Poblado although many foreingers seems to think so. There are lots of barrios en strata 3 areas which is perfectly acceptable.

Bjorn

Bjorn

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DanielPaisa says on Nov 27, 2005, 23:53:

it's all so relative i would put it this way.

Accomodation: In a good neighborhood, not El Poblado, near metro, from 200 to 400 USD a month. It's a big huge difference, i know, but you'll have to see. If the place is really small, it can be much less.

Water, electricity and phone are dirt cheap. The lower the strato, the lower the cost. Say, with high speeed internet access and average use of the othersm 120 USD month.

Transportation: You'll find your way. At the beggining you will take taxis. Pretty affordable, and they'll get you anywhere fast. Once you get to know medellin, you can use the metro or the busses. 100 USD month.

Food: deppends on what you want. If you want crunchy penaut butter and that kind of stuff, it's gonna be very expensive. Vegetables, meat, typical colombian food, let's say 150 USD month, that will get you a load of food.

Traveling: it also depends on what's your traveler budget. You can fly avianca first class and stay on santa clara hotel in cartagena for 2 days, and it will cost you 1.000 USD. With 200 USD you can go to any other city by bus and stay on a decent hotel.

This is not the absolutely accurate. Tell me what do you want, and how you want it, and maybe i can help more.

Cheers

Daniel, el Paisa

"You can't fight in here... this is the war room!"

Daniel, el Paisa

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riverplate says on Nov 28, 2005, 19:55:

Thanks Bjorn and Daniel. I appreciate the help. I'm just trying to get my finances in order to see if I can pull this off. By the sounds of it I'll be okay with the $15,000 I have already saved up. Hey Bjorn, did you spend most of your time in Medellin? I have a friend from Argentina that lives there and he says it's incredible. What neighborhood did you stay in? How were the people? Were they open and hospitable to foreigners?

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ColombiaBoard says on Nov 28, 2005, 20:38:

Where to live I suggest you tell your argentinian friend to find you a studio in any of the following neighborhoods
- Laureles
- Conquistadores
- Estadio
Specially some apartment building close to a metro station.

El Poblado may be too fancy and too expensive for you.

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TACTICAL says on Nov 29, 2005, 11:12:

$150.00 for food ????? I guess you can live on 150.00 a month for food if you only eat once a day or enjoy eating mostly soup, no meat or good fruits.

OTHER ITEMS people usually forget to add too their budgets are things like medical insurance, daily cleaning items (paper towels, toilet paper ect) and personal items ie: shaving cream ($3.00 US per can), razors, soap, washing detergent, trash bags ect. These items ADD UP FAST so if you think you are going to run into Vivero and stock up for 30 days of food with you 150.00 think again.

A GOOD estimate for everything you will need for a month (food and supplies) is more like $300.00

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