Colombia has a number of Colombia Blogs by expats, as the country continues to attract foreigners. So, we provide a guide to the top Colombia Blogs by foreigners updated for February 2022.
We look at a total of 27 Colombia Blogs comprehensively including the 6 top Colombia Blogs by expats in English that are still actively publishing, 3 Colombia Blogs in other languages and 18 Colombia Blogs that are no longer active (no longer publishing). Also, we identify 11 Colombia Blogs by expats that have been taken offline.
In Colombia, the expat community is still relatively small. And the expat Colombia blogging community in Colombia is tiny. But the Colombia Blogs by expats now cover several different cities in Colombia and also provide different expat perspectives. We all experience Colombia differently and may have different interests and different ages.
If you read the articles on this site, you see that we cover both the benefits of living in Colombia as well as the downsides. But to me the benefits greatly outweigh the downsides.
However, if you are interested in seeing what other expats have to say about Colombia, here is a comprehensive guide to the Colombia Blogs by expats.
Colombia was under a nationwide quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic from late March 2020 until June . Only 3 of the active blogs in Colombia published new content in February 2022. Since the coronavirus pandemic started several expat blogs went inactive.
Top 6 Colombia Blogs in English by Expats – Active Blogs
This list of 6 Top Colombia Blogs in English by expats only includes established blogs focused on Colombia that are actively publishing.
So, general global travel blogs with several country sections that also happen to include a Colombia section are not included. And actively publishing means having published at least one post in the last six months.
These top Colombia Blogs by expats are ranked in order by Facebook followers on January 1, 2022,
Medellin Guru’s website
1. Medellin Guru – 17,000+ Facebook Followers
Website: https://medellinguru.com/
City focus: Medellín
Launched: July 2017
Average posts per month: 12.4 (694 posts in 56 months from July 2017 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 2
Last new post: February 23, 2022
Medellin Guru (this site) was launched more than three years ago. In this short time, it has grown to become the most popular English language active blog about Colombia in terms of Facebook likes and followers.
On this Medellin Guru site, I and additional writers share entertaining stories; cover the best places; provide useful travel tips, living tips; offer amazing photos and sometimes fun-filled adventures in Medellín and the rest of Colombia.
The site covers everything from expat tips, daily life, restaurants, things to do, pueblos, visas, city comparisons, transportation and much more. Also, the site provides a curated list of weekly Medellín events.
I am originally from Dallas, Texas in the U.S. but I have lived in Medellín for over eight years. You can see my story about how I discovered Colombia and moved to Medellín. In addition, I recruited 18 additional writers who have published articles on Medellín Guru. So, you can get a wide perspective of several expats’ experiences in Medellín.
Also, all the content on the Medellin Guru website is being kept up-to-date. At March 2, 2022, in a period of over 155 weeks we updated a total of over 2,357 articles on this site due to things that have changed or to address reader comments. Many articles have been updated multiple times due to frequent changes.
The Bogotivo website
2. Bogotivo – 4,492 Facebook Followers
Website: http://bogotivo.com/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: April 2018
Average posts per month: 1.5 (67 posts in 46 months from April 2018 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 0
Last new post: January 18, 2022
Bogotivo was launched by Joey Bonura in April 2018. Joey is from Kentucky in the U.S. He packed up and studied abroad in Panama at the age of 20 and hasn’t moved back since. What started as a semester trip to Panama has turned into over seven years of living in the Isthmus and exploring nearby Latin American destinations.
One of Joey’s favorite destinations is Bogotá in Colombia so he started the Bogotivo blog. Joey also has a Panama blog: pty.life.
Richard McColl’s website
3. Richard McColl – 2,600+ Colombia Calling Facebook Followers
Website: http://www.richardmccoll.com/
City focus: Bogotá and Mompos
Launched: December 2011
Average posts per month: 1.0 (52 posts in 56 months from July 2017 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 1
Last new post: February 6 , 2022
Richard McColl launched his blog back in December 2011. His blog has posts discussing many Colombia issues from his perspective of a journalist. In addition, Richard also hosts a popular Colombia Calling podcast weekly. McColl’s blog isn’t very active, averaging less than one post per month.
Originally from London, England, Richard spent a large part of his formative childhood years moving from house to house to several cities including London, Portugal, France, Mexico and the U.S.
Richard embarked on a career in journalism, cutting his teeth in the industry in Costa Rica before returning to the UK. He then became an expedition guide, social projects coordinator and freelance journalist dividing his time between Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.
Richard eventually settled in Colombia. He spends his time now between the La Casa Amarilla guesthouse he opened in Mompos in 2008 with his wife and Bogotá where he works as a journalist.
Cartagena Explorer website
4. Cartagena Explorer – 1,256 Facebook Followers
Website: https://www.cartagenaexplorer.com/
City focus: Cartagena
Launched: July 2018
Average posts per month: 3.3 (192 posts in 50 months from July 2018 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 2
Last new post: February 25, 2022
Cartagena Explorer is the newest blog in Colombia. It was launched by Adam McConnaughhay in July 2018 and is the only active expat Colombia Blog focused on Cartagena. The site has many posts about Cartagena including things to do, culture and much more. Also, the site covers some other locations in Colombia.
Adam originally came to Colombia as a volunteer teacher in 2011 and married his wife Susana in Colombia. His blog is about life in Cartagena and Colombia. His goal with this blog is to help out foreigner tourists and expat residents.
Colombia Travel Reporter’s website
5. Colombia Travel Reporter – No Facebook
Website: http://colombiatravelreporter.com/
City focus: All of Colombia
Launched: July 2017
Average posts per month: 1.2 (67 posts in 56 months from July 2018 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 0
Last new post: December 18, 2021
Colombia Travel Reporter is a blog by expat Jon McInnes who is a snowbird from Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. And he spends his winters in Colombia.
This is a blog site that doesn’t have a Facebook page I could find. And this blog averages only about 1.4 posts per month. And a few posts on the site are about Ecuador and Panama.
Colombia Personal Blogs by Expats
There is one Colombia blog by an expat that is more a personal blog that is also an older style blog.
A Gringo in Medellin’s website
6. A Gringo in Medellin, Colombia – No Facebook
Website: http://terryandresen.blogspot.com.co/
City focus: Medellín
Launched: January 2013
Average posts per month: 30.8 (1,722 posts in 56 months from July 2017 to February 2022)
New posts in February 2022: 28
Last new post: February 27, 2022
A Gringo in Medellin, Colombia is a personal blog by expat Terry Andresen who posts daily about his experiences living in Medellín.
This is a blog site that doesn’t have a Facebook page. In addition, this is an older style blog with few photos hosted on blogspot.com that hasn’t been updated to newer blog technologies and styles.
Other Colombia Blogs by Expats – Not Active
The following are 14 Colombia blogs in English by expats that are no longer active, as there has been no recent activity with no new posts published in the past six months or even longer. And nine of these blogs haven’t had any new posts in a year or much longer.
These not active blogs are in order, starting with the blog that most recently stopped publishing posts. If any of these blogs become active again it will be moved to the above active Colombia Blog list.
Note that it takes a lot of work to manage a travel blog. And some expats leave Colombia or get involved in other work, which is why their blogs may become inactive or eventually get taken offline. The latest to be taken offline is https://www.medellinen3.com/, which was a v-blog that stopped publishing new videos in October 2017.
Medellin Living’s website
Not Active #2. Medellin Living – 9,762 Facebook Followers
Website: https://medellinliving.com/
City focus: Medellín
Launched: February 2009
Last post: January 2, 2021
Medellin Living is the Granddaddy of the expat Colombia blogs since it has been around the longest. It was launched in 2009 by backpacker David Lee as he was traveling the World for his GoBackpacking blog.
David discovered Medellín and was enamored with the city and wanted to help get the word out about the misunderstood city. The Medellin Living site grew over the years to hundreds of posts covering restaurants and nightlife and much more.
Medellin Living stopped publishing in March 2020 before the start of the quarantine in Colombia and only published two posts since March 2020.
But since most of the posts on this site are now very old beware that they are completely out-of-date. I would estimate that now over 95 percent of the posts on this site are out-of-date, as there are well over 1,000 posts on the site with less than 114 new posts published in the last 41 months.
Medellin Living is a major contributor to the Internet being full of out-of-date information about Colombia. Also, Medellin Living is full of hundreds of dead links, as it is not being maintained. In addition, the site is now re-publishing a few old posts each month with some updates but is not even disclosing these posts are updates and not new posts.
David was a victim of cyber-stalking in late 2015 and he left Medellín and sold the Medellin Living site. David is no longer involved with Medellin Living and the new owners have chosen to remain hidden from the public. But the owners still use David’s name to solicit donations from readers, even though David is long gone.
Full disclosure: I used to be the main writer for Medellin Living for three years and the editor of that site for six months. But I quit writing for that site and decided to launch the Medellin Guru website in July 2017, as I felt that Medellin Living was quickly becoming out-of-date with over 1,000 posts from years ago that are never being updated.
Cali Adventurer’s website
Not Active #2. Cali Adventurer – 1,016 Facebook Followers
Website: http://caliadventurer.com/
City focus: Cali
Launched: January 2021
Last post: January 2021
Cali Adventurer was launched by Patrick in May 2015 and is the only active expat Colombia Blog focused just on Cali. The site has many posts about Cali including things to do, where to stay, culture and much more.
Patrick is Danish and has lived in Cali since August 2013. His blog is about life in Cali and Colombia, seen from the eyes of an expat and investor. His goal with his blog is to help out fellow tourists, residents, investors and digital nomads.
Medellin Buzz’s website
Not Active #3. Medellin Buzz – 2,868 Facebook Followers
Website: http://medellinbuzz.com/
City focus: Medellín
Launched: December 2016
Last post: August 2020
Medellin Buzz was started by Andrew Macia a few years ago as a way to offer information in English about Medellín so his English students could practice reading at home.
Medellin Buzz covers a variety of topics about living in Medellín with a focus on dating, nightlife, holidays, festivals and more.
Andrew as born in Colombia but was raised in southern California and moved back to Colombia in 2010. He is the founder of a local Digital Marketing Agency and no longer teaches English. But he still likes to find out more about Medellín and write about it on his blog but has not published anything in over six months.
How to Bogotá website
Not Active #4. How to Bogotá – 864 Facebook Followers
Website: http://www.howtobogota.com/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: December 2013
Last post: October 2019
How to Bogotá was launched by Naomi in December 2013. Naomi is a freelance writer and translator originally from south-east London, UK. She moved to Bogotá in October 2013 for reasons of the heart. This blog was inactive for one year but became active again in July 2019.
During her first month or so in Bogotá, she felt disorientated and overwhelmed. She felt she really could have done with a “Bogotá handbook.” So, once she settled in, she decided to start her own blog about life in Bogotá.
On her blog, she offers tips which she feels would have helped her in the beginning during her move to Bogotá. Topics covered on the blog include life in Bogotá, accommodations, work, money, food, safety and much more.
Catalyst Weekly’s website
Not Active #5. Catalyst Weekly – 1,701 Facebook Followers
Website: https://www.catalystweekly.com/
City focus: Medellín
Launched: November 2016
Last post: August 2019
Catalyst Weekly was launched in November 2016 with a goal to offer the latest information on local events in Medellín and places to go.
The site offered a weekly newsletter that had local events in Medellín. But in August 2019 it stopped publishing new posts. Also, in October 2019 this site stopped publishing its weekly events calendar.
The site had a growing Medellín directory with lists of restaurants, doctors, co-working sites, Spanish schools and Spanish tutors, Salsa schools and more. But much of the content is now out-of-date.
Catalyst Weekly was started by Ximena and Anton. Ximena is a Colombian who was raised in Kansas City. Ximena has been living in Medellín for over six years and was a former writer for the Medellin Living site. Anton is an Australian who has been living in Medellín since February 2016.
Flavors of Bogotá website
Not Active #6. Flavors of Bogotá – 965 Facebook Followers
Website: http://www.flavorsofbogota.com/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: 2013
Last post: July 2019
Flavors of Bogotá is a blog launched by Karen Attman, a woman from the U.S., and Peter Corredor, a guy from Colombia. Both have a love for food and the restaurant scene in Bogotá.
Almost twenty years ago Karen left her hometown of Philadelphia to pursue expat life and she now lives in Bogotá. She teaches a university coffee course at Universidad La Sabana in Bogotá. And she even published a book about specialty coffee in Colombia available on Amazon:
Flavors of Bogotá is a different blog than all the other Colombia blogs as its focus is on food and coffee. Flavors of Bogotá is essentially a food blog dedicated to discovering the best of Colombian cuisine. It covers food events, Colombia ingredients, coffee and coffee shops, chef interviews, restaurants and street food and more.
They also offer specialty coffee shop tours in Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena.
Tom Plan My Trip website
Not Active #7. Tom Plan My Trip – 1,033 Facebook Followers
Website: https://www.tomplanmytrip.com/
City focus: Covers all of Colombia
Launched: March 2016
Last post: May 2019
Tom Plan My Trip was launched by an expat named Tom in March 2016. Tom is a French guy with a French accent. He lived all around the Mediterranean sea, from Prades to Beausoleil and worked in Monaco.
Then Tom decided to travel. A need for adventures had always been inside of Tom. Two years of backpacking later, he discovered different parts of his personality that he didn’t know about before.
With his blog, Tom helps people to travel to Colombia, a country that stole his heart forever.
Pereira City Guide’s website
Not Active #8. Pereira City Guide – 2,171 Facebook Followers
Website: http://www.pereiracityguide.com/
City focus: Pereira
Launched: June 2016
Last post: February 2019
Pereira City Guide was launched by Erin Donaldson with a goal to provide information about what Pereira has to offer visitors. The site also has a free eBook “Pereira City Guide: La Ciudad Sin Puertas” available when you sign up for the site newsletter.
The site is the only English-language blog about Periera and it has published 57 posts since it was launched. But this blog is not longer active with nothing new published in seven months.
Erin is originally from the U.S. She quit a boring sales job and moved to Colombia. According to her site, Erin had faced the challenge of limited jobs and opportunities in the U.S. – especially in agriculture.
Mike’s Bogotá Blog’s website
Not Active #9. Mike’s Bogotá Blog – No Facebook
Website: http://mikesbogotablog.blogspot.com.co/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: April 2010
Last post: December 2018
Mike’s Bogotá Blog is a personal blog covering all types of things related to Bogotá. This is one of the oldest English-language Colombia Blogs by an expat.
Mike also runs the popular Bogotá Bike Tours, which offer tours of Bogotá via bicycles as well as bicycle rentals in Bogotá.
Unfortunately, this blog site doesn’t have a Facebook page. And it’s an older style blog hosted on blogspot.com that hasn’t been updated to newer blog technologies and styles.
Bogotastic website
Not Active #10. Bogotastic – 1,778 Facebook Followers
Website: http://bogotastic.com/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: January 2015
Last post: November 2018
Bogotastic was started by Jade in January 2015 as an expat Colombia Blog with a goal to share cultural insights from her expat point of view. She is not a tourist and is planning to stay in Colombia long-term. And she says that she doesn’t “see Colombia through rose-tinted glasses” but tries to see the bright side of things.
Bogotastic has posts about a number of topics including living in Bogotá, Colombian food, weekend getaways, traveling in Colombia and several others.
After working a couple years in Luxembourg, Jade thought it was a boring city but with nice salaries and steady jobs. However, she didn’t want the house and babies her friends were planning on having. So, she moved to Bogotá with her Colombian partner looking for a change of pace.
Grupo Amos on Colombia’s website
Not Active #11. Grupo Amos on Colombia – No Facebook
Website: http://oncolombia.grupoamos.com/en/
City focus: Medellín and Manizales
Launched: June 2017
Last post: November 2018
Grupo Amos on Colombia is a blog by expat Greg Amos who previously lived in Manizales and moved to Medellín.
This is a blog site that doesn’t have a Facebook page I could find. Also, this site wasn’t very active and averaged only about 1.2 posts per month.
Sarepa website
Not Active #12. Sarepa – 3,249 Facebook Followers
Website: http://www.sarepa.com/
City focus: Covers many parts of Colombia
Launched: April 2012
Last post: September 2018
Sarepa was launched in 2012 by Australian Sarah Duncan. She studied journalism at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. And Sarah began working for local magazines and newspapers before deciding blogging was her natural fit.
Also, she works as a freelance writer for several publications including lifestyle magazines, business blogs and travel publications.
Her blog Sarepa documents her love affair with Colombia and is her way of saying thank you to a country and a people that has given her so many wonderful memories. This blog was not very active averaging less than one post per month before becoming inactive in September 2018.
Barranquilla or Bust’s website
Not Active #13. Barranquilla or Bust – 291 Facebook Likes
Website: https://barranquillaorbust.com/
City focus: Initially Barranquilla
Launched: July 2012
Last post: February 2018
Barranquilla or Bust was launched by Courtney in July 2012. Courtney moved from Miami to Barranquilla in July 2012 and then to Medellín in July 2014.
Courtney’s goal with her blog is to share her experience living in Colombia with content that is entertaining and insightful. Since the site was launched it has published 80 posts. Also, this is an older style blog that is hosted on WordPress.com.
A Little Cameo website
Not Active #14. A Little Cameo – No Facebook
Website: https://alittlecameo.com/
City focus: Santa Marta and Bogotá
Launched: December 2010
Last post: January 2018
A Little Cameo is a personal blog originally launched in December 2010 by Australian Camile starting with a stint in Los Angeles when she discovered she didn’t have the passion she thought for the film industry.
She had a long-distance relationship with a Colombian and moved to Colombia to live with her Colombian boyfriend in Santa Marta. And seven month later she moved with him to Bogotá.
Her blog covers her experiences in Colombia living first in Santa Marta and then in Bogotá over a period of more than five years in Colombia. But in January 2018, she posted that she is moving back to Australia with her Colombian significant other. And there have been no more blog posts.
Also, this is an older style blog that is hosted on WordPress.com.
Banana Skin Flip Flops website
Not Active #15. Banana Skin Flip Flops – 2,375 Facebook Followers
Website: https://bananaskinflipflops.com/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: April 2010
Last post: August 2017
Banana Skin Flip Flops is a blog started in 2010 by British writer Victoria Kellaway who lives in Bogotá. I followed this blog after I moved to Colombia. Victoria writes some thought-provoking posts.
Since its launch, this blog published over 270 posts. But in 2017, it published only seven posts and the last post was published in August 2017.
Off2Colombia website
Note Active #16. Off2Colombia – No Facebook
Website: http://off2colombia.com/
City focus: all of Colombia
Last post: October 2016
Off2Colombia is an expat blog that was started in 2011 by Josian and Michael, reportedly from France. This blog has posts about many regions of Colombia but the information is dated from several years ago and hasn’t been updated.
Honestly Cali website
Not Active #17. Honestly Cali – No Facebook
Website: http://honestlycali.weebly.com/
City focus: Cali
Launched: November 2014
Last post: February 2016
Honestly Cali is an expat Colombia blog that was started by Marie from London, UK in 2014. This blog is a mixture of her life experience as an expat in Cali, Colombia and the challenges she encountered with regards to job hunting.
This site stopped publishing new content in February 2016. This is an older style blog that is hosted on Weebly.
The Tall Gringo website
Not Active #18. The Tall Gringo – No Facebook
Website: http://thetallgringo.blogspot.com.co/
City focus: Bogotá
Launched: November 2010
Last post: December 2011
The Tall Gringo is a personal blog that was started by Mike Hower, an expat from California in the U.S. This blog documents Mike’s experiences while living in Colombia for a year in Bogotá and teaching English in Bogotá’s southern slums as part of Harvard’s WorldTeach program.
This site stop publishing new content in December 2011. And this is an older style blog that is hosted on blogspot.com.
Non-English Blogs
There are a few non-English Colombia Blogs I am aware of that are worth following if you speak the languages or Google translate is your friend.
Colombia Travel Blog website
Colombia Travel Blog
Website: http://seecolombia.travel/blog/
Language: Spanish (and some older English posts)
Colombia Travel Blog is popular as it is in Spanish and covers all of Colombia. It has over 32,000 likes on Facebook. This blog was founded in 2010 by Colombian Marcela Mariscal who works with her husband JL Paster on the blog. But this blog doesn’t have many recent posts. The last post in Spanish was in February 2018.
This blog used to have Chris Bell as an expat contributor in English. But Chris posted his last post on August 30, 2017, which indicated he was leaving Colombia after three years of contributing to this blog. And the English posts on this site stopped after that. So, the posts in English on this site are dated.
Colombia de Una website
Colombia de Una
Website: http://colombiadeuna.com/
Language: Spanish
Colombia de Una is another blog in Spanish by Toya, who is an expat originally from Spain. Her goal with her blog is to travel Colombia to tell the world how Colombia really is, beyond the typical topics and what the media tells us.
InColombia.it website
InColombia.it
Website: http://incolombia.it/
Language: Italian
InColombia.it was started by Sardinian Roberta Padroni. This blog was born after her first trip to Colombia in 2015. And in January 2016, she left London permanently to follow one of her dreams: traveling.
She has traveled many months as a single woman in Colombia. And she discovered a country with an immense cultural richness that has nothing to do with the stereotypes that the mass media and the Hollywood TV series portray.
Dead Colombia Blogs by Expats
The following is a list of 11 Colombia Blogs in English by expats that I am aware used to be active. But they are no longer found online.
So, these Colombia Blogs were shut down by their owners for one reason or another. There may be others that I’m not aware of.
- http://www.colombianlifestyle.com/ – no longer online and now is a blog on the Lifafar real estate firm website.
- https://www.medellinen3.com/
- http://medellinvida.com/
- http://www.vidafortwo.com/
- http://retirecolombiacheap.com/
- http://puramedellin.com/
- http://colombiahelp.com/
- http://barranquillaliving.com/
- http://totallycolombia.com/
- http://traveltocolombia.org/
- http://whymedellin.com/
Blogs and Websites by Medellin Guru Authors
Several of the authors on the Medellin Guru website have blogs and websites but they aren’t necessarily focused just on Colombia. So, several are not included in the above Colombia Blogs list.
Here are the blogs and websites of the Medellin Guru authors:
- Gwendolyn DeSilva – http://memoriesnotmaterialthings.com/
- Alice Ko – http://pivotsix.com/
- Roisin Mulligan – http://adventuresofsheen.com/
- Greggo Amos – http://oncolombia.grupoamos.com/en/
- Steve Dillon – https://otherwayround.travel/
- Paul Drecksler – https://travelislife.org/
- Amanda O’Brien – https://theboutiqueadventurer.com/
The Bottom Line: Top Colombia Blogs by Expats
When I originally moved to Colombia over eight years ago, most of these Colombia Blogs by expats didn’t exist and it was difficult to find accurate information about living in Colombia as an expat. So, I had to learn many things on my own.
But now there are some Colombia Blogs by expats with valuable information about expat experiences about living and visiting Colombia. However, still be careful as a number of these blogs aren’t updated as things change. Also, the quality and features of these blogs vary widely. Warning, be careful as the Internet is full of out-of-date information about Medellín and Colombia.
Furthermore, the Colombia Blogs by expats change from year to year. New blogs may get launched, while others may get turned off or go inactive.
Things are constantly changing in Colombia. So, like all other articles on the Medellin Guru site, which are kept up-to-date. We plan to update monthly the above list of Colombia Blogs by expats.
If you happen to know of any Colombia Blogs by expats missing from this list please let us know in the comments and we’ll update the list.
Also, we have looked at top Colombia books by expats that can help travelers visiting Colombia or considering moving to Colombia better understand the complex country.
In addition, “What are the top Colombia blogs?” is a question asked by some expats who are looking to find out more about Colombia. So, we included this question in our list of Medellín frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Sign up for the Free Medellin Guru Newsletter – You can see all of the previous Medellin Guru weekly email newsletters and sign up here.
Editors note: updated on June 30, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on August 31, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on October 1, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on October 31, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on December 1, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on January 1, 2021 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on February 1, 2022 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
Editors note: updated on March 2, 2022 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
59 thoughts on “Top Colombia Blogs: A Guide to the Top Colombia Blogs by Expats”
Hi! I don’t have an active website yet but I am blogging on my facebook page called Journal d’une québécoise en Colombie. It’s in French! Not sure it will ever make your list but maybe someone francophone will magically find this comment haha! Really awesome blog you got!! Keep up the good work!
Sorry we do not include Facebook sites in our list of blogs.
Here is some additional evidence that the Covid-19 virus is galloping towards herd immunity in the United States. Below is the CDC’s daily average of confirmed cases for the past six weeks:
Week ending:
9 January: 256,000
16 January: 227,000
23 January: 186,000
30 January: 154,000
6 February: 125,000
13 February: 96,000
96,000 is 37.5% of 256,000. Marvelous!
These numbers may temporarily jump within a week or two, due to Valentine’s Day yesterday, and huge numbers of people were eating and drinking in public. Contrary to first thoughts, however, this does not slow the virus reaching herd immunity. It actually will get us to herd immunity a little bit sooner! Eat, drink, and be merry! Enjoy your contribution of speeding the spread, and ending the pandemic.
After a sad one year absence, I will be heading to Medellin soon!
The United States is galloping towards Covid-19 herd immunity. It is likely that herd immunity will be reached by the end of April 2021. That is only two and one-half months in our future. There have been 27,700,000 confirmed cases in the United States as of today. It is estimated that for every confirmed case, there are six cases that are not confirmed. The reason for this is that 40% are asymptomatic, and another 40% exhibit only mild symptoms, so these infected people do not seek medical care. 27,700,000 x 6 = 166,200,000. 27,700,000 + 166,200,000 = 193,900,000 total actual cases. Divided by 331,000,000, the total population of the United States, 58.6% of the population has already had the virus, and thus is not contagious. There are currently about 100,000 confirmed cases per day. 100,000 x 6 = 600,000. 100,000 + 600,000 = 700,000 total actual cases per day. 700,000 x 30 days per month = 21,000,000 actual new cases per month. Divided by 331,000,000, 6.3% of the population will have the virus in the next month, and will no longer be contagious. Additionally, about 60,000,000 Americans will likely receive a vaccine shot in the next 30 days. Divide that by two, since it takes two shots to become immune, 30,000,000 Americans will become immune in the next 30 days. That is 9.1% of Americans who will no longer be contagious. Added together, 6.3% + 9.1% = 15.4% will become non contagious in the next one month. 58.6% + 15.4% = 74% of Americans will be non contagious by 15 March 2021. Add another 15.4% for the next 30 days, and the total of Americans who will be non contagious by 15 April 2021 is 89.4%. I will throw in another 15 days for good measure, and by 30 April, the United States will be at herd immunity! That does not mean that there will be zero cases in the United States, but it does mean that we can get our lives back to normal. Of course, governments are basically slow and inept regarding almost any issue that they have power over, so they may lag a few months and get in the way of the people returning their lives to normal. Herd immunity is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as follows: “Resistance to the spread of an infectious disease within a population that is based on pre-existing immunity of a high proportion of individuals as a result of previous infection or vaccination.” Hurrah! As I have said many times over the past year, Covid-19 cannot be stopped. It can only be slowed. It will only end when herd immunity has been achieved. 30 April 2021 is the bitter end.
Jeff makes a point about date stamps which is an important to me. The internet is just loaded up with articles that withhold the publishing date. When I see this I am skeptical of the author’s motives and whether the content is current. I’ve noticed that Medellin Guru has a higher standard of journalism.
Thanks we are trying hard to keep the content on Medellin guru up-to-date.
We now update at least 15-20 articles per week as fast as things are changing. We don’t alway republish with a new date but at the end of each article on this website there are notes of the last time updated.
Thanks Jeff. Trying to organize the articles in categories and can only seem to do it in wordpress with the publish date stamp. Working on it.
Colombia travel reporter – an f.y.i. I have posted new blogs in November, December and January. Your review says last post was in July 2020. I don’t like facebook though I do have a page on there called colombiatravelreporter. Don’t cure it much though. Also out of more than 70 articles on my blog only 9 talk about Panama and Ecuador. The rest are about Colombia. Thanks for you help. Keep up the good work. – Jon McInnes
Thanks, your site is hard to view which articles are new, the article is updated.
What will it take to get my blog included in your list? I have posted a message about my blog, with a link to it, above a month ago.
Chip Wiegand – https://wiegand.org/
Sorry, your blog is not exclusive to Colombia and also covers other places.
If we included every blog that covers Colombia plus other places the list would be hundreds of sites. So, we only include blogs are are exclusively about Colombia.
I thought so. And what do you think of Latitude Adjustment blog?
We only include in our list blogs that are exclusively about Colombia. Latitude Adjustment also covers Panama and their travels to many other counties.
If we included all travel blogs that have some Colombia coverage plus cover many other countries this would be a huge list, so we limit to Colombia exclusive blogs.
Hi Jeff.
I am a Patron and my husband and I are STILL planning on moving to Medellin when things settle down a bit. We just canceled our planned Aug 1, 2020 investigatory flight due to Colombia postponing international travel until Sept. 1, 2020. However, we will be most likely coming in October. I think I mentioned this blog before to you but in case it got lost, here it is again. Latitude Adjustment by John and Susan Pezera.
I’ve enjoyed their descriptions of their life in Medellin.
On another note, do you recommend ExpatGroup.co for help with Visas?
Thanks, Jeff.
Jofannie and Mark
Yes, we recommend ExpatGroup and have a partnership with them and they have helped over 240 clients from Medellin Guru with visas and passport renewals since we launched the partnership – https://medellinguru.com/medellin-guru-visa-services/
Hi, I, too, have a blog that is sometimes actually about Colombia. I live in Barranquilla. I’ve been here sine 2013, 7 years now. Though I actually live outside B’quilla now, in Salgar, I much prefer it outside the city, in a tiny pueblo. Anyway, my blog usually includes my short stories, poems, essays, misc. writings, and blogs about life in B’quilla. I also have a photo gallery, music that I wrote and recorded, and English lessons for people who are learning English. I TEFL here in the B’quilla area. Check out my blog at the link provided.
Thanks,
Chip Wiegand – https://wiegand.org/
I recently found Medellin Guru while searching for reliable, up to date information about Covid-19 and related issues in Colombia. This blog article is useful and I appreciate you taking the time to do the research. I would point out that you should look at the Not Active blogs 14 and 15. The description in both is the same. Keep up the good work.
Thanks. Corrected the typo in Not Active blog 15 that mistakenly referred to Honestly Cali when it should have said The Tall Gringo. The descriptions are actually different.
Sadly as of late the #10 blog on the list has devolved into a political rant.
Hi Jeff.
What About the how-to-colombia.com/medellin-e-guide?
I have found it very informative and his videos are quite good.
Sorry, those Youtube videos are FULL of errors and inaccuracies and are not being updated with out-of-date information. Plus they are used to promote overpriced relocation services. See the comments in this article by several foreigners calling out Sam and Tacha for Gringo Pricing their services – https://medellinguru.com/gringo-pricing/.
Note they dropped their highest priced service likely due to lack of sales but still their services are way overpriced.
Also, note that the founders of How to Expat wrote three articles previously published on Medellin Guru. But they will never write anything more for Medellin Guru.
In addition, Medellin Guru does not endorse or recommend their services in any way, as I strongly believe they are overpriced and exploitative. You can easily find the equivalent of all of their services for free or much lower cost, I will send you an email with an example.
Also, we don’t want to mislead Medellin Guru readers to use overpriced services from people that I believe are unqualified.
I’d like to suggest some of the bloggers featuring Medellin/Columbia put some emphasis on suggestions/possibilities for older readers and travelers and those interested in expiating who have some walking issues. From my viewpoint I see lots of emphasis on things for the younger crowd who want to spend time and not a lot of money while there. This is just a suggestion to meet a need that I see. Thanks! David
Hi, also consider ColombiaSavvy.com Chris Bell was the editor once leaving See Colombia Travel blog. We have a broad focus on all things Colombia.
Thanks for the mention of my blog. But F.Y.I. my blog – Colombia Travel Reporter – is active. I’ve made half a dozen new posts in the last several months. When I’m traveling in Colombia in the winter I usually post destination articles and photos on my facebook page and then expand them and post them on my blog at a later date when I’m not traveling. Enjoy your blog. Read it all the time. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, I will update the article later today to show that your blog is active.
Hey Jeff. Thanks so much for the shoutout to Cartagena Explorer! I’m honored. I’m hoping to keep getting content up while holding down my teaching day job. I love the stuff I’ve found the time to read here too, and I will have to check out some of these others I hadn’t heard of before.
Cheers!
Hello Jeff,
My heartfelt congratulations on your much needed-now compilation of blogs & sites for expats in Colombia!
Still, I notice that you have centered on blogs available in Medellin and elsewhere in the coffee region (…though understandably, given the fact you appear to live in Medellin).
Please note that the majority of expats actually live in Bogota (about 70%) and that we have many more blogs and sites that folk in Medellin might not be aware of –and several of the creators of the blogs you mentioned are well aware of this.
Most notably, my team and I created the first and oldest English language website about Bogota, now over a decade old. It is called Bogota Brilliance (see: http://www.bogotabrilliance.co ).
Even though it now has a very old appearance, it I still the most informative site about Bogota (not because we created it, but because of the time, energy and money that went into its research), and the site’s much needed facelift will soon be completed (…its FB is rather inactive on purpose). In fact, given the success of the site, Penguin Random House (the world’s biggest publisher) contacted us to write the first-ever guide book about Bogota, which was in fact published and now successfully sold worldwide. You can Google; “BOGOTA! A Bilingual Guide to the Enchanted City.”
The other site worth mentioning is a rather prolific one created –about all of Colombia (the first of its kind) just after ours; by two dear friends from France. I strongly recommend it as well, please see: http://off2colombia.com.co/ .
Again, I congratulate you on your effort –and stand by to assist you and any other expat in our ever growing community. I moved to Bogota about 13 years ago from NYC & Paris –and it was the best decision of my life. All my best,
Toby de Lys
Hi Toby, thanks for the info about the “BOGOTA! A Bilingual Guide to the Enchanted City” book, as I will add it to the books article on this site the next time I update it likely in the next week.
Note the above blog list is intended to include all active blogs in Colombia and the list isn’t focused just on Medellín. There are active Bogotá blogs in this list – #6 Bogotastic, #10 How to Bogotá and #11 Flavors of Bogotá and #12 Richard McColl. And Medellín is in the #1, #2, #4 and #7 spots. So, the most popular blogs in Colombia happen to be about Medellín based on the number of Facebook followers.
I actually saw the Bogota Brilliance site when I was researching this list. But it didn’t look like a blog that was actively publishing like all the blogs on this list and none of the content had publish dates. And all the content on the site looked old to me, i.e. the info about Bogotá’s airport is from 2012 and info about Transmillenio is also from 2012. So, this site looked to be completely out-of-date to me. So, it wasn’t included.
In addition, Bogota Brilliance looked more like a Bogotá travel/moving guide similar to https://www.medellincolombia.co/, which I don’t consider a blog, as it isn’t publishing periodic blog posts each month and doesn’t have a newsletter.
I also recently saw http://off2colombia.com.co/ which is not active, as the last blog post was on 30 October 2016. I am planning to add it to the non-active blogs section of this article.
Thank you for your thoughtful response Jeff!
I hope you keep an eye open for our future updated version of our website -as it will once again have regular articles, etc. After all, it has been the most viewed website about Bogota in English 🙂 …and let us know if ever in Bogota. All our best!
Hi Toby, actually your Bogota Brilliance site is not the most viewed website about Bogotá in English. The https://thebogotapost.com/ site receives much more traffic. And in terms of blogs, according to SEMRUSH, your Bogota Brilliance site only has 57 keywords indexed by Google and the Bogotastic blog has 1,264 keywords indexed. So, Bogotastic receives much more traffic.
Good luck with your new site. Getting a blog to get receive a lot of traffic that is SEO optimized is a lot of work.
Hi Jeff, my actual statement about our site Bogota Brilliance above was: “has been the most viewed website about Bogota in English” …as it was indeed for many years before our “.com” was hacked (by Chinese) and we lost a lot of traffic when we attached our website to our newer “.co” …as you can see in this YouTube segment of one of our many TV interviews (most not on YouTube) that we really had a Bogota Brilliance “.com” site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vhVGGF-6nY
I am also a close friend and supporter of the founder of the Bogota Post –as I am with many expats doing similar work …all of whom started their projects years after we did.
We are well familiar with the traffic of many of the sites you have mentioned above, and especially ours Jeff. Still, please note that our site was the first such website in Colombia –and we have every intention of reviving our viewership with the upgraded version that we are currently working on (reason why it has been somewhat dormant lately).
After all, we still maintain the largest data base and general information that we have yet to publish about Bogota and the region, and look forward to doing so for the sake of the many current and future expats –that will be living in Bogota.
Thanks for this post about all the Colombia blogs and congrats on your Medellin Guru blog. I agree with all the comments that Medellin Living is a joke and worthless with everything so out of date.
Thanks Barbara. One of the reasons I launched the Medellin Guru site was that I found too much information on the Internet about Medellín and Colombia was out-of-date or inaccurate. And Medellin Living is the worst offender with hundreds of old posts with out-of-date information, which were never updated as things changed.
My goal is to keep everything on the Medellin Guru site up-to-date. In the 14 months since the launch of Medellin Guru, 75 articles have already been updated on the site to account for things that have changed or to address reader comments.
Thanks, it’s quite informative
Thanks For sharing such a great post . Your content is more helpful.
Great post! Thank you.
Thanks for the list of blogs. I love your Medellin Guru site that definitely deserves to be the #1 blog in Colombia. After reading that thread in the comment above about Medellin Living I can understand why you left that site that has become out of date for almost everything.
And interesting that about half these blogs focus on Medellin.
Thanks I just discovered your wonderful site and this list of Colombia blogs is so helpful. Medellin Living is a joke in comparison with everything out of date. And after reading that thread posted above about all the problems with Medellin Living I will never use that site.
Thanks for this list and congrats with your Medellin Guru site. See the thread I started on the Colombian Connections site about the problems at Medellin Living and the real owner: http://colombiaconnection.freeforums.net/thread/3366/international-house-paid-listed-hostels
So, LOL, two of the best writers left Medellin Living to launch better sites: Jeff with https://medellinguru.com/ and Ximena with https://www.catalystweekly.com/.
Thanks for posting the thread about Medellin Living problems. So, no surprise that the best Medellin Living writers went off to start other blogs and Medellin Living has trouble finding writers.
Medellin Living loses all credibility.
Thanks for the helpful list of Colombia blogs as I didn’t know about several of these. I love your Medellin Guru blog that is so helpful.
Jeff, thanks for another great article. It´s great to see a current list of the top Colombia blogs. And thanks for your wonderful blog that has helped so many expats.
Jeff, great post. Thanks for the shoutout to my blog, Medellin Buzz.
Hi Andrew, thanks. I tried to include all the expat blogs I could find to make this a comprehensive list.
Great article. Your Medellin Guru blog is definitely the best I have seen about Colombia and your weekly newsletter is great. Medellin Living is pathetic in comparison with almost everything out of date. It is unbelievable the new owners of that site are hiding, probably because they are embarrassed 🙂
Jajaja LMAO, or the owners of Medellin Living may be hiding because they are embarrassed they bought a blog full of worthless out of date blog posts written by backpackers many years ago. Duh!
IMHO this Medellin Guru site is full of current info like visas that is 100 X better. I just wish it had even more content.
Hi Sam, thanks. We are adding content on Medellin Guru faster than any other blog in Colombia and averaging over 17 posts per month. And we are always looking for input from readers about the higher priority and more important topics we should cover., You can send us feedback about topics you would like us to cover via our contact form: https://medellinguru.com/contact/.
Sam, LOL, yes I agree, there are a bunch of worthless out of date blogs posts on Medellin Living.
hello jeff great article. I have had the pleasure of reading several of the blogs that you mentioned and I agree in several of them I just want to contribute with blogs that I have read them very good although for me the best one is medellinguru these blogs are https://viacocina.wordpress.com/about-us, http://anewyorkerinmedellin.com, theunconventionalroute.com. congratulate you jeff and continue with your work would be good to add an article that type of business or ventures we expatriates could start in the city or the health system in Colombia that may also be interesting. Thanks, David.
Hi David, thanks for the recommendations. theunconventionalroute.com is not just focused on Colombia, it has posts about Kenya, Vancouver, Quebec and others so didn’t include it, as this list only includes Colombia focused blogs. anewyorkerinmedellin.com is too new but can add it if it continues to publish. And Via Cocina isn’t really a blog, Via Cocina is a social transformation project in Medellin that trains low income Colombians and Venezuelans to convert local produce into affordable dishes for their home and new businesses.
Hi Jeff. Thank you for clarifying the requirements that are taken into account so that they are included in this article. I forgot this blog that in my opinion is very good and meets the requirements to be included medellinen3.com although it has not been active for 1 year. cheers
Hi David, thanks. I also forgot about medellinen3. It’s a nice video blog (Vblog) with videos in Spanish with English subtitles. I added it under the not active blogs, since the last video was published on October 2017.
Thanks for the write up Jeff, Colombianlifestyle will be making some changes this year so there are some exciting changes happening in 2018. I think it’s also worth mentioning http://www.medellincolombia.co/, as the guys from Toucan do a great job with general information on stuff to do in Medellin (perhaps it doesn’t qualify specifically as a blog).
Hi Andrew, thanks, yes, http://www.medellincolombia.co/ isn’t technically a blog – more a guide so didn’t include it. But I can add it as it has some good content.
Thanks I love this article about all the blogs about Colombia. I used to follow Medellin Living for your posts but that site has gone way downhill since you left and started Medellin Guru. Congratulations and keep up the good work. I also follow Catalyst that is a great blog for events.
I agree medellin living went downhill, they made an artickr of coronavirus and recommended ibuprofen. But thus actually causes more harm than good just google it… medellun guru is best site on the web for real medelllin info. He is pretty knowledgable.
Great list of blogs thanks! I love your Medellin Guru blog.
Thanks nice list of blogs. I didn’t know about some of these. Flavors of Bogota looks very interesting with all the food and coffee posts. Also congrats on your Medellin Guru blog. I used to follow Medellin Living but it has gone way downhill since David left.
That was the one that jumped out for me as well.
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