Colombia 2015 - Why Colombia?!?

Last year, sometime after Thanksgiving and before Christmas, Michael came home and proposed moving to Colombia for a couple of years where he could do his masters degree in penal law.  (Stop snickering)  I might have been PMSing because I was irate at the thought of going there without the cushion of the US Embassy's benefits.   Or I could have been a normal wife pooping bricks at the thought of living in a foreign country with two young children and little income.   I responded with "Wow, that would be interesting and quite an adventure" and "Well we have to go there first to see if we could really do it."

In the 80s and 90s, Colombia was known as the murder capital of the world because of wars among drug cartels and because of guerilla groups in the countryside.  I was certainly not aware of this as I never watched the news nor read the newspaper for leisure.  In the 21st century, however, Colombia has become a much safer country due to the demise of the powerful drug lord Pablo Escobar and repeated attempts at peace talks with guerilla groups.

Many travel articles have been touting the beauty and safety of Colombia:  10 Reasons Why You Should Drop Everything and Head to Colombia; The 10 Coolest Places To Visit In 2015; Start planning your big trip: 2015's Top 10 destinations.  So as Americans, Australians and Europeans, visit there for a couple of months of leisure, more of them fall in love with the country and/or a countryman, and move there permanently!

Pair this great news with personal accounts from our friends John and Diana who lived there (Diana was born and raised there as well), and Michael's idea was not so odd.  Fast forward a few months and Michael &
I left the kids in California with the grandparents, and rendezvoused in what may or may not be our future home.