Girardota (xi-rar-do'ta), Antioquia

As the title says, this blog is about our journey to Colombia. We’ve arrived in the country about 7 months ago, and we’ve lived in the AeroFinca for about 7 weeks. Thus, geographically speaking, our journey has ended, we have arrived at our destination. But, many say, life itself is a journey, one which continues as long as we live.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to continue this blog with short posts offering glimpses into our life here in the Colombian Andes. It certainly differs from what we’re used to in Europe or the US. Everything has its pros and cons, and the format of the next several posts will be to describe some of these differences by highlighting one of the pleasures of living here and juxtaposing that with one of the less pleasant realities.
But let’s first introduce the AeroFinca: it’s a modest property in a spectacular location in the Andes above the town of Girardota about 15 miles north-east of Medellín. The elevation here is 5570 feet on a north-east facing slope.
While there is reasonable potential for expansion, the house itself is a bit small for our ultimate plans. Thus, much remodeling and many changes will be needed to have this house become the “AeroFinca.” So, for now we’re renting just in case we’ll find something more suitable. -- For the purpose of this post, let’s call this the “ less pleasant reality.”
On to the “pleasure:” We are in an excellent location with spectacular views during the day and, when thunder storms are around, incredible light shows at night. We’re also in a very safe neighborhood with helpful and friendly neighbors all around.
While the last kilometer of the road to our place should not be attempted in a regular car, our 4WD pickup has no difficulty. But we prefer the 35-minute walk down to Girardota’s town square anyway. We can take public transportation back up above our place and walk down a short distance.
All-in-all, we enjoy our life in a tranquil, rural setting high above the valley.