Where is it worth having a family in Colombia?

It is worth having a family plan...

As a Colombian, I wouldn't want to have a family or children in Bogota or Medellin. I feel that it's very important to spend the early years of life with your children. That is, to create an environment where the child can spend more time with their mom and ideally also with their dad.

I believe Bogota is chaotic for having a family because children wake up very early to go to school. It seems like torture to me. They wake up around 5am so the bus (popularly known as "la ruta") can pick them up and they can be at school by 7am. The schools are far from the city, on the outskirts. I've seen how early these 5 or 6-year-old children wake up.

Naturally, these schools are ideal for parents because they go to work early and can leave their children at school all day. They end up getting home around 3-4pm.

That's why I wouldn't like to have children in Bogota because it's chaotic. Children spend more time in schools than with their families. This has its good and bad sides. Generally, there are drugs and the children are very mischievous; there are many bad influences in Bogota.

In Medellin, there are many parties, drugs, and alcohol involving minors, so I wouldn't want to have a family there either. It's a very heavy environment. There might be successful cases, but generally, I wouldn't like it.

I grew up in Santa Marta and can openly say that it's ideal for having a family. Everything is close by, school starts early but goes until 12pm. Parents pick up their children from their schools. It's all much closer, more pleasant. The schools are good: the Bilingual, the Bureche, the Presentation. They are good schools, not expensive, and generally, I believe children are raised better in environments where there isn't much wealth. There's more innocence and fun.

I feel that cities like Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Valledupar, Ibagué, Montería, generally small cities, are better for raising children and having a family. In Santa Marta, people still go to mass on Sundays. It's a tradition.

Parties are much healthier in small cities. Small cities maintain the tradition perhaps because everything is known. The saying "pueblo pequeño infierno grande" is very common. That means that everything in a town is known, which helps people feel ashamed of what they do, so drugs and prostitution are not well-regarded because everything is known. Everyone knows everyone.

In larger cities, like Cali, Medellin, and Bogota, there's much more libertinage because they are population-wise much larger than small cities. I feel that ideally, big cities are better for working, progressing. For example, I am from Santa Marta, I grew up in the third poorest city in Colombia, went to a lower-middle-class school, and then went to university in Bogota.

My experience in Bogota

Everything was very different in Bogota. People were more degenerate than me. Big cities bring that; there's more diversity, but in countries like Colombia, that's not necessarily good. There's more drug use. I remember when I arrived in Bogota, I was offered drugs and saw young people consuming marijuana with an apple. I grew up in Santa Marta and never experienced that.

It's a different environment. In Santa Marta, people are calmer. They don't need hallucinogens to have a good time. People are happy with nothing; they do a lot of bullying, but it's good bullying. They insult each other all the time but affectionately, haha.

I'm not saying there are no drugs in small cities; what I'm saying is that perhaps shame is felt much more, and traditions weigh much more than in big cities. I know particularly that education in Barranquilla is among the best in the country; most schools are bilingual.

But the environment, if you want tradition, to spend time with your children, and have the possibility to raise them better, I believe it's ideally better to avoid Medellin and Bogota and look for other cities.

As Taleb says: it's better to give advice via negativa. In this case, I don't know which city would be ideal to raise your family, but if you can avoid Bogota or Medellin, much better. This is from my experience.

Obviously, your children will depend on you. They will imitate you, and the cities won't necessarily shape your children's behavior, but I feel that the quality of life and time is much better in other cities. At least for families. Lastly, I'd say that Medellin is much better than Bogota for raising children.

Colombia is more than Bogota and Medellin

Bogota is for doing business, living single, using Tinder, going to restaurants. But for having a family, I feel the quality of life it offers is not ideal. Unless your children are already grown (20 years old).

Many people from Bogotá, if given the chance, move to Manizales or to the Caribbean region for work or to live. A lawyer friend who worked with me immediately sought a job in Manizales as soon as he had children, and now he's settled there with his wife. They're tired of the traffic stress, the climate, etc., and feel that Bogotá isn't ideal for raising a child due to the dangers, drugs, etc. So, for me, it all depends. If you're a nomad or have online income, you have more time to spend with your family, so you could basically live in any city.

Always ask advice to locals

But if you're looking for peace, I'd advise living in a small city. Medellín could be an option, but I'd first suggest you learn about and experience living there while single, and then decide if you want to live there with your family. For this, it's better to speak with local people (like me) who aren't too regionalist or overly in love with their land. The truth is best told without so much passion so that one can make the best choice for themselves.

Also, I would suggest to always get to know Colombia with locals because we know the little details and “street smarts” about our country.

If you are in Medellin and would like to be guided with a custom tour, please reach out to Sofia, the tours she offers are really cool and she likes to always show the unknown parts of Medellin. She has been really popular with her guided tours and I absolutely recommend them:

If you are interested in get to know more about Colombia, keep reading my newsletter I try to be as clear as possible so your staying here is pleasant.