Over the last couple of years I have talked to many Gringos who have visited Medellín, Colombia. Some of them eventually moved there to live and retire while others only visited. Since I am in the relocation business I always  keep track of relevant data  to share with my readers.

The people I interviewed told me that it was less expensive to live in Medellín than Costa Rica. They bragged about the low real estate and food prices. I was also told that the city was far safer than when Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel were operating there. Single men have told me that the women there are as attractive as their Costa Rican counterparts and more accessible.

Let me try and  set the record straight. Some of what i say in the first paragraph is partially true but distorted. Yes, it is less expensive there but you really get what you pay for. Baking is more difficult  than in Costa Rica for foreigners. As far as safety goes, there is a civil war in some parts of Colombia and the country history of endemic violence. The violence there is on a par with that of el Salvador, Guatemala and Northern Mexico. Really none of these places are safe when compared to Costa Rica.

Let’s back to Medellín. At present there is a fight going on between rival drug  gangs with 6,800 police  and 500 soldiers trying to put an end to it. The escalation of violence there may spoil all of the efforts in the last few years to eliminate the stigma of the violence of the 1990s as reported by Colombian news sources and in the April 11, 2009 edition of Costa Rica’s la Nación newspaper.

There is crime in Costa Rica but far less than in other parts of Latin America. Furthermore, Costa Rica is most stable country in the region and has the oldest democracy in Latin America. Out of 209 countries in the world Costa Rica is number 47 in the world in its efforts to combat crime as reported by the Foundation for Growth (FFG).  Panama is 104, el Salvador 118, Nicaragua 135, Honduras 145,  and Guatemala 156.