Hi Ed, Thanks for the encouragement 
I only spent a weekend in Cuenca over 4 years ago. It is a beautiful city with a colonial center and there are some expats there. It is at a lower elevation than super-high Quito and so the weather is much better. In my mid-range motel in the center of Cuenca, a lady was robbed in the hotel, sitting a few feet away from the receptionist and while a bunch of folks were in the lobby, including me. One criminal dropped something and she leaned down to pick it up, the other grabbed her purse, then the original one offered to chase him and went off in the opposite direction, everything gone. Quito, where I spent over 2 weeks, was definitely subject to high crime against tourists including violence based on many stories I heard. I am less sure about the ongoing level in Cuenca.
I don't know how to compare crime in Colombia to Ecuador. But I don't think either place is really that safe by American standards. I first came to Colombia in 2008 after crime had really dropped and Colombia had turned the corner. While things are looking up in Colombia, crime has increased over the last couple of years. I definitely feel safe here and also walk at night. But through a lonely neighborhood at night I generally take a taxi.
It is true that one fits in better in Colombia. I am 6'1" blue eyes and sandy hair, but people still will mistake me for a local -- I get asked for directions literally everyday. In Medellin, people's skin is very light but they tend to have black hair and brown eyes, and these are what give me away or at least folks are not sure what I am, at least until I open my mouth.
Colombia has the second most Spanish speakers of any country (second to Mexico) and second highest population in South America. Tourism is booming in Colombia.
Bogota moves beyond its bad-boy image - USATODAY.com
Different parts of Colombia are different culturally because the parts have been geographically isolated due to the rough geography (a continent within a country twice the size of Texas). Cartagena, the culture and the Spanish spoken there and the economy, is probably almost as different from Medellin as Mexico City is from Buenos Aires.
Colombia is not as cheap as one would expect, lots of taxes to pay for security, etc. It is a service-oriented culture and the service you receive is usually excellent (totally unexpected before my arrival) -- you constantly here the words at your service. People are culto (cultured and polite and educated) well beyond what might seem like the limited economic development of the country, probably because the violent past has held them back so far. Strangers greet each other and say goodbye in elevators. Colombia is a true frontier investment market.
Kramer
I only spent a weekend in Cuenca over 4 years ago. It is a beautiful city with a colonial center and there are some expats there. It is at a lower elevation than super-high Quito and so the weather is much better. In my mid-range motel in the center of Cuenca, a lady was robbed in the hotel, sitting a few feet away from the receptionist and while a bunch of folks were in the lobby, including me. One criminal dropped something and she leaned down to pick it up, the other grabbed her purse, then the original one offered to chase him and went off in the opposite direction, everything gone. Quito, where I spent over 2 weeks, was definitely subject to high crime against tourists including violence based on many stories I heard. I am less sure about the ongoing level in Cuenca.
I don't know how to compare crime in Colombia to Ecuador. But I don't think either place is really that safe by American standards. I first came to Colombia in 2008 after crime had really dropped and Colombia had turned the corner. While things are looking up in Colombia, crime has increased over the last couple of years. I definitely feel safe here and also walk at night. But through a lonely neighborhood at night I generally take a taxi.
It is true that one fits in better in Colombia. I am 6'1" blue eyes and sandy hair, but people still will mistake me for a local -- I get asked for directions literally everyday. In Medellin, people's skin is very light but they tend to have black hair and brown eyes, and these are what give me away or at least folks are not sure what I am, at least until I open my mouth.
Colombia has the second most Spanish speakers of any country (second to Mexico) and second highest population in South America. Tourism is booming in Colombia.
Bogota moves beyond its bad-boy image - USATODAY.com
Different parts of Colombia are different culturally because the parts have been geographically isolated due to the rough geography (a continent within a country twice the size of Texas). Cartagena, the culture and the Spanish spoken there and the economy, is probably almost as different from Medellin as Mexico City is from Buenos Aires.
Colombia is not as cheap as one would expect, lots of taxes to pay for security, etc. It is a service-oriented culture and the service you receive is usually excellent (totally unexpected before my arrival) -- you constantly here the words at your service. People are culto (cultured and polite and educated) well beyond what might seem like the limited economic development of the country, probably because the violent past has held them back so far. Strangers greet each other and say goodbye in elevators. Colombia is a true frontier investment market.
Kramer
