What It’s Really Like Living in Colombia as an American
I help Americans decide whether moving, investing, or getting medical care in Colombia actually makes sense — before they commit their time or money.
I’m Shep. For six years I’ve actually lived in Colombia — not just visited — in five cities across four regions of the country. I’ve bought property, used the healthcare system, learned Spanish, and dealt with immigration myself. My edge isn’t simply that I’ve lived here; plenty of people have. It’s that I don’t take anyone’s word for it — before I put money down, I go check things out myself. I pressure-test it: the real downsides, what locals actually say, and the trade-offs the brochures conveniently leave out. What that means for you: honest answers about whether this life fits — and how to do it without overpaying, getting scammed, or landing in the wrong neighborhood — before you spend a dollar. The only person paying me is you, which is exactly why I can give it to you straight.
AI Can Give You Facts. I Give You Context.
This is the real product. AI can hand you facts. So can a thousand blog posts. What you can’t get from a search bar is what those facts actually feel like on the ground — the context that decides whether a plan is right for you.
AI tells you: Pereira sits at about 1,411 meters above sea level.
I tell you: Cerritos, just down the hill, runs 10–15° warmer — which quietly decides where in the city you’d actually want to live.
AI tells you: Colombia has excellent private hospitals.
I tell you: what it actually felt like to be the patient on the table — the cost, the staff, and the parts that surprised me.
AI tells you: Barranquilla has arroyos (streets that flash-flood when it rains).
I tell you: what happened the day my Uber stopped in one, and how it changed the way I read a street before I rent on it.
AI tells you: just learn Spanish.
I tell you: how much you truly need before moving, where it matters most, and where I still struggle six years in.
Facts tell you what’s true. Context helps you decide whether it’s right for you — including the gray areas. A lot here doesn’t run strictly by the book, and I’ll tell you which unwritten rules actually matter before you come.
Already know you want an honest answer on your plan — your city, your visa, your budget?
Book a CallWhy I Left — and Why I Stayed
I didn’t leave the US chasing a fantasy. On paper I was doing it right — the six-figure tech job, the savings, the plan — and it still felt like a treadmill. A 2020 layoff gave me room to think; a 2022 health scare and two surgeries forced the questions I’d been avoiding. I wanted somewhere quieter, healthier, and a lot cheaper.
The low cost of living got my attention. It’s not what made me stay. What made me stay was everything the cost-of-living posts leave out — two coasts, the Andes, eternal-spring cities, and people quick to make you feel welcome, who care more about family than status. Six years in, I’m healthier, calmer, and my money finally buys a life.
An upscale apartment for around $650 a month. A good meal over the sea for $5. A trainer at the apartment for $150–200. Health insurance under $200. Ubers under $5. People call it geo-arbitrage. I call it my dollars finally working for me.
Those numbers are real — but only if you know how to find them: the right city, the right neighborhood, the fair price. Find your city, or run your own numbers on the cost-of-living calculator.
Who I Am — and Who I’m Not
Before you trust anyone online with a decision this big, you should know exactly who you’re dealing with. Here’s the honest version. I’m a world traveler — 20-plus countries before I settled here. I’m an entrepreneur who built an online business, not just someone “going remote.” And I’m an investor who has actually bought here, with my own money. I taught myself Spanish before I moved — functional, not flawless, but enough to read a lease, handle my banking, and verify things myself instead of trusting a translation.
Now the part people are too polite to ask. I’m not a “passport bro.” I came for a calmer, healthier, more affordable life — and built a real one. I’m not a relocation agency, a lawyer, a doctor, or a clinic. I don’t sell apartments, and I take no referral fees.
Who this is for — and who it isn’t
This is for you if you’re seriously weighing Colombia — a move, a procedure, a property, or a visa — and you want honest, first-hand answers before you spend the money or the time. It’s not for you if you’re looking to cut legal corners, skip the real visa process, or treat Colombia like a cheap place to misbehave. I can’t help with that, and wouldn’t.
Start with the guides
Before we ever talk, most of what you need is already written down. The free Colombia Field Guide covers the real costs, the visa paths, and the best cities — enough to get oriented and know the right questions to ask. When you’re deeper in, the paid guides go one level down: the full Visa Playbook, my 5 Favorite Cities in detail, and the Property Buyer’s Guide on five real markets. Start there — it’s the cheapest way to get most of the way.
The rest is for a call
Then there are the more personal questions: how the day-to-day actually feels, the wins and the frustrations, the things I’d only tell a friend. Those I’d rather answer straight on a call than perform for a webpage. You don’t really know how any of this works until you’re the one in the moment. At the notary, about to sign the escritura (the public deed). At the airport, answering a migration officer’s questions. Or explaining your health history just to qualify for insurance. I’ve done all three — all of it in Spanish. That’s where my read on things comes from.
How I Check Out a Big Decision Before I Spend a Dollar
Here’s what you’re really hiring: a process. Before I commit to anything here — a property, a city, a clinic — I run it through the same filter. I call it the GeoGringo Decision Filter, and five questions decide most of it:
- Is the source trustworthy? Or is it a salesperson, a brochure, or a blog with something to sell?
- What’s the real downside? Not the best case — the worst one, and how survivable it is.
- What do locals actually say? The people who live on that street, used that clinic, or bought from that builder.
- What does this look like in five years? Resale, oversupply, the neighborhood, the visa rules.
- What is everyone overlooking? The detail the marketing skips and the listing photo never shows.
Then I go and check — the builder’s finished buildings and the title history, the neighborhood on foot, the clinic’s accreditation and its real past patients. Not the brochure. The receipts.
Sometimes the filter changes my answer
That’s the point of running it. I almost bought a place until the title turned up a problem. I almost trusted a “great deal” until residents told me what the brochure left out. Changing my mind isn’t failure — it’s the filter working. On a call, I run it on your decision instead of mine.
Why People Trust Me With Six-Figure Decisions
I’ve signed the contracts, sat in the patient’s chair, and stood in the migration line myself. This isn’t a license. It’s something harder to fake: having done it carefully — with my own money, my own paperwork, and a habit of checking everything myself.
Real transactions, start to finish
- Before I signed in Cartagena, I toured the developer’s finished buildings, pulled the title history, and registered my funds as FDI through Banco de la República. Then I negotiated and closed — the full foreign-buyer process, start to finish. Here’s exactly how it went.
- Helped American friends buy property on the coast in Santa Marta.
- Bought a car here — the full RUNT registration and transfer.
Time on the ground
- Six years living in Colombia — five cities across four regions — on a current Colombian visa
- Traveled well past the tourist loop — 25+ cities and towns most visitors never reach: Bucaramanga, Santa Marta, Villavicencio, Valledupar, Montería, Sincelejo, Riohacha, and Buenaventura, down to small towns like Turbaco, Baranoa, Malambo, Plato, and El Difícil
The situations you don’t see until you’re in them
- Colombian healthcare as a private-pay patient, all in Spanish — specialist, diagnostic, and surgical care. How I vet a clinic and surgeon.
- Navigated the visa process and DIAN tax residency, and resolved a tourist overstay in person at Migración Colombia
- Dated here and used the apps, so I know the culture and the real risks first-hand — including the dating-app danger the US Embassy has warned Americans about
The small stuff that makes it work
- A doctor at your door for about $10 a month. A supplemental prepaid plan (medicina prepagada) that sends a physician to your apartment — and an ultrasound tech the next day if needed. It caught my kidney stone before it got too big.
- One-on-one Spanish for about $15 a class. Private online lessons that can even qualify you for a student visa — the school files it for you. I’ll point you to the good teachers.
- Salsa class as a social life. The fastest way I found to actually meet people here wasn’t an app — it was a dance floor full of regulars.
Why People Pay Me — When So Much Information Is Free
Fair question. Much of what I know is on this site for free, and the Field Guide covers the foundation. So here’s the honest line between the two.
What the free content does
Tells you how Colombia works in general — the costs, the visa paths, the things to watch for. It’s enough to get oriented, and to know what questions to ask. Some people never need more than this, and that’s fine.
What a call does
Looks at your exact situation — your visa fit, your budget, your shortlist of cities, your specific procedure or property. Then it tells you what it’s really like, and what to watch for, before you commit money or time. It cuts through months of research, with someone living it.
You’re not paying for facts — facts are free. You’re paying for an hour with someone who has done what you may be weighing, still lives here, and stays on top of the latest rules and changes — and who’ll tell you what it’s actually like before you commit your money, your time, or your health.
Why Doing This Sooner Beats Doing It Later
This isn’t pressure — it’s momentum. A few things quietly move while you wait, and they decide what your plan costs:
- The visa minimum income requirement rises every January. It’s pegged to the minimum wage, so waiting a year raises the bar — it doesn’t hold it. See where your income lands this year.
- The exchange rate won’t sit still. A strong dollar is part of why your money stretches here. That’s a window, not a promise.
- Builders price up as a project sells. The best entry point on new construction is early, not once it’s nearly sold out.
None of this means rush. It means the cost of deciding well goes up the longer a decision sits. The time to get it right is before the money moves, not after.
Before You Book a Call
Straight answers to what people ask right before they decide.
Should I book a call, or is the free guide enough?
Read the free Field Guide first — it’s the foundation, and some people never need more. Book a call when you’ve stopped asking how Colombia works in general and started asking whether your specific plan is sound: this apartment, this clinic, this city, this visa. That’s the line where a guide stops helping and judgment starts.
What actually happens on a call?
We start with your situation, not a script. By the end you have a straight read on your plan — the visa that fits, a shortlist of cities, the risks you hadn’t spotted, and a concrete next step you can act on this week. On a Ready Call I review your specific clinic, property, or visa filing in advance, so the full hour goes to your decision.
What if Colombia isn’t right for me — will you say so?
Yes, plainly. I’ve told people not to buy a condo, not to use a clinic, and not to move yet — and sometimes not to move to Colombia at all. Nobody pays me a commission or a referral fee, so I have no reason to point you anywhere but the truth.
Does GeoGringo take commissions or kickbacks from agencies or developers?
No. I don’t sell property, visa processing, or relocation packages, and I’m not paid commissions, referral fees, or kickbacks by service providers — so there’s no incentive steering the advice. The Field Guide is free; the business runs on paid one-on-one calls and a few paid guides. That’s the whole business, stated plainly.
Choose Your Path
Wherever you are, there’s a next step that fits — and neither one locks you into anything.
Ready to move forward
You’re seriously weighing a move, a procedure, or a property, and you want a straight read on your specific situation — the visa that fits, the budget, the city, the risks to dodge — before you commit money. Let’s map your blueprint on a call.
Book a CallStill exploring
Not ready for a live call yet? Start with the raw field data: real current costs, the legal visa paths, and the first-year mistakes that cost the most — the same foundation everything else here is built on.
Get the Free Field GuideDisclaimer: I’m an independent advisor sharing firsthand, on-the-ground experience — not formal professional advice. I’m not a licensed attorney, medical practitioner, or accountant in Colombia or the United States. For formal legal filings, medical evaluations, or tax returns, you’ll need a licensed Colombian professional; on a call I’ll tell you so plainly and help you understand what to look for before you hire one.
GeoGringo · About · v22 · last reviewed Aug 2026
