Episode Details

A lot of people dream about “moving to Latin America,” but far fewer can explain what actually changes when you do. Richard McColl can. He grew up in London, fell in love with the region through Mexico and Spanish studies, then took the road less travelled by landing in Guatemala City soon after the peace accords. What followed was the kind of lived education you cannot fake: disasters, risk, friendships, and the moment you realise you are not a spectator anymore.

Richard shares what it is really like to build a career as a foreign correspondent across Latin America, from breaking news and strange assignments to the constant trade-offs of freelance life. We get honest about press freedom, journalist safety, and why local reporters often carry the heaviest burden. We also unpack how international media expectations shape which stories get told, and why countries like Colombia still get trapped in outdated narratives.

Then we pivot to business and tourism investment in Colombia. Richard walks us through restoring colonial properties in Mompox, turning a four-room hostel into thriving boutique hotels, and watching infrastructure and opportunity grow around the Magdalena River. He closes with hard-earned advice for anyone doing business in Colombia: get the right legal support, do on-the-ground due diligence, and bring patience because the rules of the game are cultural as much as operational.

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe for more stories on building and investing across Latin America, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of Richard’s journey resonated with you most?

🎧 Host | Brian Samson – Founder of 💻 Plugg Technologies
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansamson/

🎙️ Sponsored by Plugg Technologies – Connecting U.S. companies with top-tier software developers across Latin America.
🌐 https://www.plugg.tech

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