Flashpacker Guy

Backpackers with a bigger budget

You are here: Home / Latin America / Colombia / My Daily Life in Medellin, Colombia

My Daily Life in Medellin, Colombia

by

I am temporarily living in Medellin, Colombia. (Flights to Colombia

are cheap….just saying).  In this post I am going to give you a breakdown of what it’s like, from basic costs to what I do all day. If you find this kind of information interesting I also wrote about my daily life in Tel Aviv, Israel

. And more recently about living in London

. I am of course supporting myself through my three businesses described here

.

Sample Daily Routine:

Below is sample of what I do each day. Of course I don’t do these things every single day at the exact same time. Sometimes I skip salsa class and other times I work more hours or completely skip a day of work.

  • 11AM: Wake up naturally without an alarm
  • 11:00AM-12:00 AM: Shower/drink coffee/read emails

My Office

  • 12:00AM-1:00PM: Work (Process ecommerce orders, respond to advertisers, email clients)
  • 1:00PM-1:45 PM: Play tennis one-on-one with Pacho, a private instructor at La Unidad Deportiva de Belen
  • 1:45PM-2:00PM: Order lunch from downstairs restaurant/shower, La Esquina de Basco
  • 2:00PM-2:50PM: Eat a full lunch/watch TV/browse internet
  • 3:00-4:00: Take private salsa dancing lesson
  • 4:15PM-7:00PM: Work
  • 7:00PM-7:45PM: Cook/eat dinner
  • 8:30PM-1:00AM: Meet friends for drinks at a bar on La 33, Parque Lleras, La 70, etc.
  • 1:00AM-2:30AM: Browse Internet/Watch TV
  • 2:30AM: Sleep

My Home:

Rather than my previous plan to live by myself in a beautiful, expensive apartment, I chose a different option. I settled on a furnished 5 story, 12 bedroom/8 bathroom apartment with 10 others from Colombia

, UK

, Australia, Germany

, Argentina

, Switzerland, and other countries.

My particular floor looks like this.

And my bedroom looks like this.

View from my bedroom window

What I like most about living her is that it is located right next to a huge park with basketball courts, tennis courts, archery, a swimming pool, outdoor gym, track, and soccer fields. But I won’t lie. i only use the tennis courts!

View of the park from my balcony

Costs: US$

Rent (furnished bedroom, wifi, utilities, etc.): $266

Lunch (soup, meat, rice, side dish, juice): $3.50

Private Tennis Lesson(45 Min.): $13

Private Salsa Lesson (1 Hr):$8

ATM: a shit load of cash

Like most places Colombia is a cash society. All I can tell you is how much money I have spent in total.

Total Costs $3,400 for 49 days = $69/day

So obviously I am spending money on a lot of dumb stuff like a coffee maker, tennis racket, vacations to Bucaramanga

and Don Matias, bottle service at clubs

, imported swiss cheese and turkey for obscene prices, etc. I also have a girlfriend which in Colombia means treating her to meals, bars, etc.

Still, I wouldn’t say I am living like a king here. Just a nice lifestyle.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. That comes out to about $2150 per month, which is fucking cheap (considering what you’re getting for it). I can’t stand roomates so I’d likely end up paying a good bit more in rent than you, but just realizing that you can live ridiculously well in a place like that on $5k a month or something makes it ever the more so tempting.

    What’s transportation costing you? Also, medical insurance?

    Cheers,
    Andrew

  5. Hi. I am Colombian, living in the department of Cordoba. I am 8 hours from Medellín. It’s very nice that you have chosen our country to live. Can I know the reasons why?

    Bye

  6. Hola Alex thanks for reading. I chose to live in Colombia for a bit because while I have often visited I have always wanted to actually live there. I tend to get along really well with the people and feel very welcome. I ended up in Medellin rather than another city just because I already knew some people there. If I was not living in Medellin I probably would have chosen Bogota.

  7. Hey! Im glad you are enjoying Medellin,and showing others how nice it is; it’s a beautiful city. I am Colombian but i live in the states, but i am usually here in Medellin in my breaks from my university. Good luck in your future travels

  13. Hey Jason, I’m moving to Medellin at the end of August and was curious about this building you were living in there. I’ve seen similar set ups here in Buenos Aires and always thought it would be cool to share a big place with people from all over. Is the place you stayed online somewhere? Where can I found out more about it? Cheers

  15. Hola, to everyone. I will be traveling with a 10 yr old in a few months. I am looking for inexpensive housing. Not against staying with a family with an extra room to rent. My interest is not confines to Medellin. Prefer an area close to a beach. My son attends online homeschool, so my length of stay in not limited to his educational needs. Anyone with suggestion? I would appreciate.

  16. Medellin is nowhere near the ocean. Popular beach towns are Cartagena (big city) and Santa Marta (big city) with lots of small towns near to them. You will have a hard time finding something cheap online. Maybe consider a hotel at first. Then ask around. Sorry I can’t give any more specific advice.

  17. Hi Jason,
    Nice site and live you have chosen ! I’ve lived a similar live for eight years in Cuba, which was the best time of my life !
    Just have a thing with caribean/south american culture and women. Or in other words, I don’t have anything with
    Dutch, European or American culture or women. Lovely to see women compete with other women instead of with
    men as they do in “developed countries” where people don’t understand themselves anymore…..and MILFS –
    confused about their nature – are looking out for young men (jejeje !).

    I am currently orientating on Columbia, mainly Cartagena. Not 100% sure but think it covers more what I look for
    than Medellin, but who knows…and of course my Spanish/Cuban is quite good to very good.

    I get a little confused about some pricing and things you mention. 266 dollar a months for the appartment with wifi seems quite nice (even better than Cuba as good internet is expensive ), food to (although the mais soup with meat
    looks disgusting but is probably quite nice), but 13$ one tennislesson and 8$ one salsa lesson sounds completly grazy ! And always taking a taxi, but forget to make a monthly deal with one or two taxidrivers for all your taxi travels, is not
    very recommendable, I think…..
    By the way…… what is pricing on the local markets for fruit, fish and others, if you cook yourself ????

    Practical Joke and tip for the day:
    Need more sports for the same pricing ?
    Go to the market, buy shrimps, good stuff and a bottle of rum and invite your Colombian girlfriend for a home party !
    This way you get a free salsa lesson in your livingroom, more sports at the end of the evening, and nice company while sporting !

    Pues….suerte en la vida buena que tienes alli con tanto belleza en cultura, architectura y naturaleza !
    Viva la vida soltero sin jeffes de la empresa ! Viva Internet !!!!
    Aaah…..me avisa cuando tu novia tienes una amiga que quieres casar y tener hijos con un ruvio Holandes que ahora
    estas poniendo un poco gris (44), pero que tienes un mentalidad y vista de 35 (es verdad !!!) y que eres un mango
    rico ! jejejeje

  18. Hey Jason,

    Great site. Any chance you could forward me the details of the salsa school you attended?

    Thanks a lot and please keep your fantastic site going.

    Stewart (London UK)

  20. Hi, I am gonna be in medellin for a couple of months. Want to take tennis lessons want to keep on the improvement curve I am on. Can you refer me to your tennis instructor?

    Thx
    Mark

  21. I went to La Unidad Deportiva de Belen
    Carrera 66B No. 31A-15
    57(4) 265 98 17
    My instructor was named Pacho.