Expert: Cesar - 3/7/2009

Question
Hello Cesar...I am an American currently living in San Jose Costa Rica. I do not like living in San Jose
because aesthetically the city is ugly and very dirty to be  a capital city in my mind also the prices
have been driven up by the amount of Americans living here so it is quite expensive. I am looking to
relocate to Bogota.  Would you consider Bogota as a modern aesthetically attractive city? I know the
south is the poorer area, but the northern parts are they considered modern.

My other question for you is I am been searching everywhere for possible employment so far I have
been sticking to finding a job teaching english, however I am open to anything that gives a decent
income. How difficult is finding english teaching jobs? The schools I have contacted seem like they
have an abundant supply of teachers readily available. Do you have any advice on how to find a job?
My spanish is beginner as I am still learning, so any advice is appreciated.

Answer
Dear Steven:

I have not been in Bogotá in about 3 years. Bogotá is very large. There are a lot of places to go and pick where to live. Yes there are nice areas, rich neighborhoods, etc. They have several large shopping centers, etc. They do not have skyscrapers, just some tall buildings, and they do not need them since there is a lot of space. It is not a tight city like New York, but there is a lot of traffic in the main streets of downtown. The city in general is not very modern. It is average/medium. The average temperature is cold, but not too much. I would say temperatures are 10 centigrades and up. I would say maybe 26 centigrades on average, but I am used to Celsius. I would say temperatures range from say 50 degrees to 70 or at most 75. It is not a windy city and that makes cold temperatures more bearable, but it rains quite a bit sometimes. Crime is probably high still in downtown, but there is a lot of police and military watching. I do not think Bogotá is too aestheticaly attractive, rather medium. It has a lot of regular to ugly houses. It is not modern in general, but has some nice areas where it looks better, like near shopping centers, etc. It has some areas where there is a lot of grass and on the outskirts of the city you might even see places with livestock, but more and more those are converting to poor housing. There is a lot of poor housing in Bogotá. Live in Bogotá would be average to boring depending on what you like to do. They have new restrictions where the night clubs open very early (line at 8 a.m. and close early, like 1 a.m. or so).

I was in Quito and I like it very much, but it is very small. It is the opposite to modernism. It is rather like living in the colony, but that makes it very attractive. It is like living in another world. What you can do is live some time in Bogotá, visit other large cities like Medellín (not too modern either, but has some nice areas and some shopping centers that are pretty good), go to Cartagena (colony areas and tourist area). Then you could from Colombia travel to Ecuador and have the chance to know Quito.

Teaching jobs are not too hard to get if you have good English. I was a 7-grade school teacher in Medellín and I was paid 19,000 pesos per hour. I started part-time (about 17 hours). The jobs that you could probably get would probably be part-time. It would be hard to get a full time so you will have to have two of those jobs or provide private classes. The income would not be so high as an English teacher and you would have to go far to provide the classes. I taught to children at a rich neighborhood by going to a home. I was paid like 25 thousand pesos per hour. That was about 3 years ago. There are several English schools in Medellín, but many do not pay much: like 10 thousand pesos per hour. I do not know the demand of English teachers in Bogotá, but it is a very large city and English is a very demanded skill. My bother was an English teacher for many years in Medellín and he can guide you. We could have a long talk about the subject. He taught in a university and in several private schools.

Quito is nice and Ecuadorians are nice, but salaries are extremely low, but things are very inexpensive.

If you want to know more just send me and email and we could even talk over the phone. Leave me a message and I would call you back when I get a chance.

Take care,

Cesar
www.CesarUSA.com
(818) 206-0481