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El Retiro, Colombia, Is A Cozy Colonial Mountain Town…

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Feb 27, 2014
in Real Estate
0
Panoramic of Antioquía, Sabaneta, El Retiro, Colombia showing apartment buildings in the foreground and mountains in the distance
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Cozy Colonial Charm, Pleasant Living, Bargain Price

“I imagine this would be a nice place to settle in to for retirement,” Lief mused as we meandered closer toward the main square.

There, in front of the beautiful old white church, much of the town had gathered for Sunday mass. Church-goers overflowed into the street.

We watched a while and then returned to our meanderings. Not everyone was attending the service. Beyond the church and the square, the small town was pleasantly active, restaurants and shops open, a barber clipping away just inside his open door…

The sun shone bright, but, wandering up and down the narrow streets, we were cool. It’s never too warm at this elevation.

All around, the mountains looked down on us, giving the town a safe, cozy feel. Our guide Nelson explained that the narrow lanes of Spanish-colonial structures we were admiring extend for five or six blocks in each direction from the square. And, in this zone, he continued, you can find everything you’d need for a pleasant, comfortable life.

“My family and I come here sometimes for weekends,” Nelson told us. “We stay in one of the small hotels in the center of town, and we ask for a room overlooking the street. Our daughters like to sit at the windows and look out, watching the people below come and go. My wife and I like to sit outside at the corner cafes. Friday and Saturday evenings, these little places come to life. Everyone sits around, drinking beer or tea, and telling stories. There are some great old characters in this town, and I love to listen to their stories of the old days…”

The town is El Retiro, Colombia, one of those places that has managed to remain a world apart. El Retiro is a colonial city that is home to about 6,000 people and four churches, including the oldest in the region. The setting, the square, and the ambiance remind me of Cafayete, Argentina…but you don’t have to travel to the end of the earth and halfway back again to get to El Retiro. It’s hidden away but a half-hour from Medellín’s international airport.

El Retiro could also be compared with Granada or Leon, Nicaragua, minus the midday heat…or maybe Cuenca, Ecuador, though more accessible and, thanks to its size, more welcoming and charming.

“Why do the front windows of the houses on the street stretch out the way they do?” young Jackson asked as we walked around.

“That was to accommodate young courters,” Nelson replied. “Young men would stand outside the window, on the street, while the young women they were making their intentions known for would sit on the benches on the other side, inside the houses. The young lady could lean out through the window but was protected from direct contact with the young man vying for her attentions from outside the grate.”

We looked inside one of the windows and saw the painted wooden bench and ledge that Nelson had been describing.

“I wonder if the boys out on the street sang to the girls inside,” 14-year-old Jackson continued. “That’s what I’d do…”

“Do these old colonials ever become available for sale?” I asked.

“Yes, they do. I know of one or two for sale right now,” Nelson explained. “The best way to find one is to mention your interest to someone in town…then sit in the square for a while drinking a coffee. Anyone with a house to sell will come to find you…”

“What do you think one of these houses would cost?” I wondered.

“Maybe US$60,000 or US$70,000,” Nelson suggested.

An awful lot of charm for not a lot of money.

Kathleen Peddicord

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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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