Long term, budget Medellin
at upb, taking classes in spanish there was a doctor in the class, from texas or florida. he worked double shifts and then he lived in medellin. i think maybe he worked a month and then had a month in medellin.
flights from the us compared europe. i think you can fly from 2-400 us$, while it's 800-1800 from europe, and a long trip, many hours from door-door.
if i where a gringo and loved medellin / colombia i would start brainstorming about how to spend longer periods here and get value for my hard earned cash, insted of overpaying girls, giving them what is equal to a 1-2 basic salary for and hour of sex. there are also other barrios than poblado that are nice, calasanz, laureles, estadio, suramericana, sabaneta (far away but easy to get to travel from there with the metro.
[url]http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/[/url]
put your own's data here. i ended up with $1200-1500 a month for me and my paisa girlfriend, including taxi, restaurant, food, apartment and services and high-speed internet.
the anxiety of leaving medellin, knowing that it will take many month to be able to return and then for just a week is a hard the second month after coming home, the first one the hormones are still high! one simply get's adicted!
those who can work from home, or partially, would get so much more for their us$, and also in many cases bring down medical and dentist bills to a fraction of us / europe prices.
bogotá is to big, expensive, cartagena maybe. calí is also an good option, and bucaramanga.
smaller cities can be even more in-expensive and exotic, but probably too boring in the long-run. i have though thought of renting an apartment outside medellin and make trips to medellin to have fun, staying at medium level hotel some days and do the partying, events and all that stuff.
i know one guy who works with programming. he gets his salary from the us, but lives permanently in mde. that is not possible for many of us, but a 2-4 weeks 3-4 times a year, that can be possible for some people.
inviting a female friend for vacation is also an option that brings quality and less stress of missing this paradise (for us it is at least).