Ryan Goes Abroad

I am in Ecuador and am suffering from something.

Here are my symptoms:

1. I don’t see cute girls in my field of vision. I don’t see them on the street, in the malls, working at bars, filing into universities. I don’t see them as my parking lot attendant, my store clerk, my waitress. They just aren’t there.

2. I don’t see potential ‘targets’ when I go out at night. I make a lap in the club, there’s maybe 1 or 2 cute girls in the whole place, and they are with guys already. I wait 20 minutes, make another lap. Same thing. I wonder why I’m even going out.

3. I am getting wearied by the lack of being instantly attracted to the girls I come across. Sure there are relatively cute girls wherever you go, but relatively cute girls don’t turn my head and make me believe the universe suddenly a wonderful place to live. I am not shot up with testosterone by seeing a relatively cute girl.

4. I am questioning my choice of location. I know I am doing pretty good ‘geo-arbitrage’ when my living expenses are around $700/mo. I know I am giving myself more time to make the location independent dream happen… But I think I need head-turning beautiful women to keep my sanity. They give me what I need to keep going.

5. I am getting impatient. With my laptop and a bag, I can potentially go anywhere and keep working on my projects. Every day I hope for something more exciting to appear where I am, but it’s just not happening.

What is my diagnosis?

I think I am suffering from the Medellin effect.

The Medellin effect happens to younger, single guys who have lived in Medellin for 3 or more months with significant degrees of exposure to alluring paisa women. The symptoms only begin to manifest themselves 3-4 days after leaving Medellin.

You see, the effect of spending time in the ‘City of the Eternal Spring’ is that a man’s entire visual field has been warped due to the ridiculous amounts of beauty seen on a regular basis.

His glands have been over-pumped. His mind has been inundated with visual images of paisa voluptuousness.

Thus, having withdrawn himself from these stimuli, he suffers a biological and chemical setback.

The result is just like withdrawal from any drug. He has subnormal activity in the nucleus accumbens. He feels a dull pain in his stomach…

He starts planning and scheming how he can go back.

Must. Go. Back.

Foreign ladies (i.e. American and European): if you go to Colombia looking for a Colombian man, I’ll tell you can probably find one. They will find you attractive. But you might not be able to get with an American guy who has come under the Medellin Effect. I’m sorry.

For the aspiring internet entrepreneur, this brings up a whole new set of variables.

Is geo-arbitrage everything?

There’s definitely something to be said about geo-arbitrage, i.e. taking advantage of price differentiation across the globe. Among other things, this means making your way to cheap location on the planet where you can flat-line expenses to make the dream happen.

Yet…

There is also the consideration that your life is now, and not some time in the future.

How do you balance these two considerations?

Here’s what I mean concretely: I am spending probably $300/month less by living in Ecuador as opposed to Colombia… Is the amount of happiness I experienced in Medellin worth the extra $300 / mo? Would I go ahead and spend the extra money for the extra happiness I get in living there?

Hell yes.

If I were able to, I’d go back to Colombia in a second.

Wouldn’t you? Especially considering the first woman you see in this video? She is from Medellin.

So… listen up, aspiring internet entrepreneurs…

I’m not buying the notion that finding the cheapest place on the planet is everything. If a place doesn’t make you happy, you shouldn’t be there. There are other considerations than just cost.

So what now?

Right now, I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do.

I guess I’m gonna have to battle this one on my own until the year turns. I’m gonna have to suffer through this dry season and the withdrawal symptoms I feel in my gut. Maybe I should enter a facility.

Please send me get well cards.

And if you are a girl from Medellin, please send me pictures… especially if your name is Manuela Arbeláez.

Thank you.