An Englishman in Colombia

I left Cadiar at 4am yesterday, and arrived in Bello at 1.30am Spanish time, (7.30pm Colombian). The trip over was uneventful, there was as short delay at Madrid, but that time was made up on route, however I did not get much sleep, the plane was full, and there were plenty of crying babies!

I was met at Medellin Airport by Marcela and her brother-in-law Oscar, and back at the house, Maria (Marcela\’s mother), along with her sister Sandra, and nephew Sebastian, were all waiting, with belated birthday celebrations, what a lovely welcome and a great surprise!

After a good night\’s sleep, it is time to start getting busy again, hopefully we are moving into a rental apartment nearby, next week. My main priority now, it to organise the final arrangements for my Visa, which hopefully will get underway later today.

What don\’t I miss at the moment… the cold… it is lovely and warm here! and what am I most looking forward to… my new life with Marcela!

I didn\’t sleep that well, last night, and gave up at 6.30am, so now the kitchen is clean, everything packed, and most Good-byes said, I am a little sad that neither of my neighbours are at home, but I have left messages for them with another Spanish friend.

Everything except my computer has been dismantled, and that will be done, as soon as I have spoken with Marcela this afternoon.

My alarm has been set for 3.15am, and then it is Colombia, here I come!! So I will sign off from Spain, and my next entry will be once I am up and running in Medellin.

This morning, I was camped at the door of the Dentist when he opened, he gave me an appointment for mid-day, I returned and he has done some work, hopefully there will be no problem, but until the anaesthetic has worn off, I will not know.

I went back to the Farmacia yesterday, and they said I coulñd buy more of my tablets, but they would have to order them in, and so this morning, I called in, and bought two more months worth of tablets to keep me going, so that is another worry out of the way.

After my Dental appointment I had to rush home, because Andrew was calling, as he has Power of Attorney  for me, and then at 1pm José was calling with an update. When José arrived, he did not have much time, as he had a funeral to deal with, however I introduced him to Andrew, and he is now happy to deal with him, he then said, that the Bank were coming round to value the house tomorrow, but now  I have told him when I leave, they might contact Andrew!!

Initially Marcela said the apartment she went to view was OK, but I think it was just to please me, and have an apartment to go to, on my arrival. It was obvious she was not happy, so I have told her, not to worry,  forget this apartment, and take her time looking, if we have to stay a couple of weeks in the family house it is not a problem, as long as her Mum is happy.

I was taken out to lunch yesterday, and I think whilst enjoying the food, I have lost a filling from another tooth, no pain, but I can feel the pressure when eating. Hopefully it will survive until I reach Colombia, because I won\’t get anything done now.

I have started visiting my Spanish friends to say good-bye, and they are all wishing me well, which is nice, a few more to go, before I depart.

I am now ready to walk out of the door, my cases are packed, except for essentials, and now I am about to get stuck in with duster and polish!

On Thursday I went to the Medical Centre, and the Doctor said he was giving me a prescription for three months worth of tablets, to give me time to register with a Doctor in Colombia. However the system has now changed, and you are not given a prescription, you take your medical card to the Farmacia and the computer throws up the prescription. I was told they did not have the tablets, and to return today, which I have done, only to be told that the computer lets me have a maximum of one month, and if I want more I will have to return to the Doctor and get a written one, but there is no time… hopefully I will be able to buy the tablets over the counter, if not, I will just have to be careful.

The wheels of bureaucracy turn extremely slowly. Yesterday, I heard from the company sorting out my Visa, and once I arrive and hand over the original documents, they will take five days to translate and legalise, then a further ten days to obtain the Visa, which is longer than I was lead to believe.

In the afternoon, I spoke with José, who is buying the house, he has heard nothing from his Bank regarding his money, but that is not really a surprise, with Christmas, New Year, and Three Kings, I think that the Bank has been shut more than open. José is going to speak with the Bank on Monday, and coming here, to discuss the situation on Tuesday morning.

Then this morning, I had an email from Marcela, to say that she has been delayed in renting an apartment for us, because of the papers the Management Company want before they will rent to her, so we will be living in the Family home for a few days at least, which is not a problem, because now at least, I will be with Marcela when we buy a bed and a sofa for the apartment, which has made me happy… why? that is another story, ha!ha!

I established that Marcela lived near Medellin, she had never been married, and had no children. She asked me, whether it was of concern to me, to have a relationship with a black woman, and I have always done my best to impress upon her, that colour is not important, it is the inner person. Likewise I asked her, why she had contacted someone so much older than herself, and she said that in her case, it was because younger men, were only looking for one thing…

The initial problem for me, was one of cost, because, I had used a sister site previously, and spent a small fortune, all contact had to be through the site. I decided to be upfront with Marcela, and from the outset she understood, and we quickly arranged for a phone call, during which, we were allowed to exchange details, and from that day onward, we have made good use of video Skype.

Our relationship quickly went from strength to strength, and I arranged to visit Marcela at the beginning of November 2011, I rented an apartment in Medellin, and gave Marcela the option of whether she wanted to stay with me or not, I am happy to say that she did, and that meeting confirmed our feelings for each other.

Whilst with Marcela, I asked her to marry me, and she accepted without hesitation, that was the happiest day of my life. We then started making plans for the future.

I have met all Marcela\’s immediate family, and they are both lovely and loving, they had been concerned as to my intentions, which was only understandable, but after our first meeting, I think that their fears were allayed.
It will seem strange, as it will be the first time I have had a mother-in-law who is younger than me!!!!

After two wonderful weeks, I left Marcela, knowing that my life was to be with her, and that meant changing my life completely, there was never any question of Marcela moving, she has a good job, and she is close to her family, I have no ties in Spain, and I can keep in contact with my family and friends in the same way as I do now. Also, it is easier for me to obtain a visa to live there, than the other way around.

Having returned to Spain, I started making the arrangements, and after a week, I was off on my travels again, this time to the UK, to see my family, because I have no idea when, I will be able to afford to visit them again.
My house was put up for sale, and I arranged a house contents sale, for the week after returning from the UK.

I had a constant flow of people coming to buy bits and pieces, prior to the sale, and everything had to go, I could not afford to send my workshop, built up over a lifetime, out to Colombia, so I will start again from scratch. On the day of the sale, I had many visitors looking to get something for nothing, and I didn\’t expect anything more, after all we all like a bargain, but I was a little sad to see how much my life had been sold off for. As someone said to me on the day, it must be weird, because normally such a sale, is after someone has died, not whilst still living, and they had a point.

However some good came out of the house contents sale, because that night, there was a knock at the door, and a local Spanish couple were there, the husband had been to the sale, and they asked if they could look around the house, after which they said they were going to the Bank to see if they could get a loan. I waited and a few days later the husband returned with his Father and Brother as moral support, and the bargaining commenced…

I agreed on a price, at the bottom end of my price range, but within the limits I had set, bearing in mind I had no Agents fees to pay. The next day, he turned up with a deposit, and we signed an agreement, giving 90 days for completion. Not a problem for me, because I had expected to wait a minimum of six months to a year before finding a buyer, and I have given a friend Power of Attorney, to act for me, so there is no problem.

To enter Colombia, I do not need a Visa, I can go for 90 days in any 180, but to stay in Colombia I will need one. After much research I have employed a company, to complete the process for me, to avoid any mistakes, Colombiavisas.com, and I am going to stay on a Retirement Visa, I only have to prove my income, which I now have the papers for. Unfortunately I have to renew that Visa every year for the first four years, which means getting a document from the pension provider, but then I will receive a permanent resident visa on the fifth year.

I now only have a week to go before leaving Spain for the last time, it will be sad, because I always thought that I would end my days here, but I am excited at the thought of an even better life with the person I love, in a new country, starting totally afresh.

Before beginning this journey, I will give you a little background to my life over the last few years. I have essentially been living on my own for five years, and divorced for the last two.

The plan had been for myself and my second wife to move to Spain, upon my retirement from the Police after thirty years. However at the last minute, she decided that this was not what she wanted, I had committed myself to the move, so having decided that we wanted different things out of life, we went our own ways, meeting up at holiday time only, after two and a half years of this I decided that it was not a life I wanted to continue, so after another six months we were divorced.

I then started looking for a Partner with whom I could share my life, it was not easy, having been with my second wife for twenty one years, I had been out of the game, as a result I lucked out! after a couple of unsuccessful relationships in Spain, I turned to the internet.

I certainly had my eyes opened, there are plenty of people out there, looking to make money at the expense of people looking for a loving relationship, and I got taken for a ride more than once. However despite people telling me to ditch the internet, and revert to good old face to face dating, and a male nurse at the Medical Centre, telling me to give up the idea, and just to go down to the coast, and pay for it! I decided to give it one more go.

So having tried, Spanish Dating Sites, and Eastern European Dating Sites, I decided to try Latin American, in a last ditch attempt, and if this did not work, then I would give up the idea of internet dating, and become a Monk!!!

I joined a Dating Site on 13th September 2011, I had set myself a realistic criteria this time, I was looking for someone younger than me, but up to a maximum of ten years younger. However within eight hours of joining, I received a letter from a beautiful, 31 year old, black lady, from Colombia, it was both intriguing and at the same time,appeared genuine, so I decided to reply and see where it took me, after all, she had made the contact not me, and this was to be the start of a whirlwind romance.