She Left America to Buy and Live on a Colombian Coffee Farm
What does it look like to start over in a completely new culture?
How far would you go to build your dream life?
For Sara Burdick, the answer to that question was about 3,000 miles away from the United States in Jericó, Colombia.
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I first met Sara in late 2018 when we were both traveling solo along Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Like most backpackers abroad, we crossed paths as guests staying at the same hostel.
By then, I was already a seasoned international traveler with more than 20 countries under my belt. That year alone I had visited South Africa, China, and Japan for the first time.
But Sara, on the other hand? She had just left behind a lucrative career as an ICU nurse. Her journey was just beginning.
When I reconnected with Sara, we reminisced about those times. We laughed about her being such a travel rookie that she didn’t realize it was a no-no to drink the tap water at our hostel.
(She unsurprisingly got sick, btw.)
With more than a dozen countries visited in the past 7 years, Sara has come a long way. So much so that she decided to plant roots in the country where her travels first kicked off.
Last year, I stumbled upon her Substack newsletter, Life in Colombia. She chronicles her daily existence inside a rural town located just 3.5 hours from Medellin. The stories and images she shares offer refreshingly honest insights on living as a fish out of water in a completely new country.
They were enough to convince me that I needed to tell her story here on World of Nuance. So I reached out, and the result is this 35-minute vlogumentary that takes you inside the world she’s building for herself outside of America.
Lessons You Won’t Find in the Final Cut
Sara’s Biggest Fears
Like anyone who decides to press the reset button on life, Sara wrestled with her fears before making the leap. Running out of money topped her list, followed closely by an irrational fear failure.
“I thought failure would be going back home, going back to work,” she confessed. Today, she’s perfectly at peace with returning to the U.S. if she ever needs to.
The Economics of a Colombian Coffee Farm
Owning a coffee farm in Colombia can be lucrative, but you need to have connections to thrive. Since she doesn’t have a network of buyers back in the states, Sara isn’t focused on going into the business.
Also, all the work that goes into picking coffee happens by hand. According to Sara, laborers who pick coffee in her area only earn about $45,000 to $50,000 COP a day.
That’s equal to about $11 to $12 USD. Keep that in mind the next time you drop $7 on a fancy pumpkin spice latte next fall.
How to Visit Jericó
If you ever want to visit (which I strongly recommend), don’t do what I did. Skip the 3.5 hour bus ride to and from Medellin.
Instead use the carpool service, which trims the trip duration by about an hour. You can also rent a car instead and enjoy a scenic drive through Antioquia.
Questions For You to Ponder
Leave a comment here on Substack or on YouTube with your answers to the below questions.
If money and obligations back home weren’t factors, what’s another place in the world you would live and why?
What’s a major life pivot have you made that changed everything? How did you finally muster up the courage to take the leap?
What’s a dream you’re still keeping to yourself? What’s really holding you back from chasing it?
Amazing! Don’t know if you remember us, Jon, but we met on the bus in Costa Rica and you introduced us to Location Indie. When I saw the title of your article in my feed I was sure you were talking about Sara. We became good friends through Medium. The traveler circle gets tighter:)
Great post! I'd love to hear more about Sara's life in Colombia and how she ended up there, so I have subscribed to her Substack! Thanks for sharing.