Looking back from my Expat Life
LOOKING BACK, a little
Looking back on the great times I had in San Francisco now that I live in Medellin, I need to say that I miss my grown up kids, now each with their own lives, and that I miss the Giants… a few friends, not much more back in California. My new granddaughter of course...
 |
| Emma at the Wheel |
I always have said that if you have to live someplace for the weather San Francisco is ideal...until you have lived in Medellin . Both California and Medellin have no severe weather except for the California three year drought which I missed. You can depend on Medellin for having spring like weather all year long.
Let’s just say that San Francisco got colder as I got older, or at least it seemed that way, Colombia where not everything is better than California except the taxes, the traffic, the cost of living, the care for the young and the old, easy access to high quality health care, the friendliness, the upward mobility, the fruits of the fight to make the city liveable, innovative, respectful of the past, and easy living, is my new and beloved home. .
It’s hard faulting San Francisco, but as I found myself out of a job at 60, slowly but inevitably losing my house to the 2008 loan scandals, and as my friends drifted away which is what happens slowly as one ages, I was looking to move on after 30 years.
Skype is not a hug but it is something. And Colombia being so close to the US gives me the opportunity to visit my kids every few months. If I had moved to France, which was very tempting having spent ten summers there and speaking the language, frequent visits “home” would have been beyond my means. On my teacher’s pension I can afford a high quality life here in Colombia.
I had to look for a place like this because I had lost all my 403b etc. savings trying to save my home. I now have a new home in one of the best neighborhoods in Medellin, Barrio Laureles. Full of shopping and beautiful tree-lined streets, clubs and restaurants to almost every taste, Laureles is an improvement in many ways over my home in a SF suburb. The place is 4 bedroom three bath with an open plan living and dining room, ultra modern kitchen and bathrooms and two balconies, one with a view of the mountains surrounding the city and the other literally in the trees.
Even after five years in Colombia I still feel like a tourist having so many opportunities for recreation, art and music, and luxury living. Visiting the high Andes, the coast at Cartagena and Santa Marta, the architectural remains of great civilizations of the Incas, the Muiscas and the San Augustin culture, are wonderful diversions from the cosmopolitan feel and somewhat European ambience of parts of Medellin. Just like Medellin, the towns surrounding the city have largely retained their colonial churches and neighborhoods.
 |
| I miss New York too! |
My two favorites are El Retiro where my relatives have their country home, and the slightly warmer town of Santa Fe de Antioquia where mini resorts and vacation rentals are inexpensive places to swim and play and shop all year round..
I had no Spanish when I arrived, so with my hands and a pad and my French and the kindness of strangers, I was able to get along and now my Spanish is half decent.
I still love the times I can get together with other Expats and have a full blown English conversation...but one can make those opportunities happen. TV in English includes ESPN, Discovery, BBC, HBO and others on SAP. YES! Game of Thrones! And I can stream the Giants, and we get coverage of many US sports especially the finals. I’ve grown to love soccer!
 |
| At Skywalker Studios Recording Session... part of my former life... Me in the Blue Shirt in the back.... |
Before travel magazines strongly suggested Medellin for the visitor and retiree, I was sure I was on my way to Quito. High and cold and sort off off the beaten path, Quito would not have suited me although many expats swear by Cuenca, Quito, and other sites in Ecuador.
Bogota is the same way for me...too high and cold. My friend from Bogota after his visit to Medellin said that at 4500 feet Medellin is too hot even though the high temperatures rarely top 80 degrees F. So each to his or her own!
.For some who are lost in the history of Medellin, the city has a lot to overcome, the 800 pound gorilla of its bad reputation, la mala fama. But its last twenty plus years, after the fall of the drug cartels, our city has been an international model for city growth, planning for people, and a magnificent transportation, library parks and schools infrastructure. Great advances for and by great people.
And I found love here. Since I can’t capture how I feel about Beatriz, my new wife and how our life together and with her family is wonderful beyond words, I won’t try. She is beautiful, gentle, bright, giving, supportive, fun. One more thing...the tree in front of our home is a fully grown mango. We will invest in a long handled net.
Larry Rose 2015
Rev April 2018…
Comments
Post a Comment