[quote=UCGal]Now that we’ve figured out how the post got deleted….
Inquiring minds want to know what you posted in your update, ER.[/quote]
Ah, I can’t all remember exactly as it was kind of long. I was responding to another post and I think it too must have gotten deleted as I don’t see it.
I also mentioned that the other OP is right you simply can NOT compare the cost of living in some of the bigger cities. For example, I own an apartment in Rio. When I originally bought it over a decade ago it wasn’t too expensive relative to it’s location and size. (It’s an entire floor just one block from the beach in Copacabana). But now it is worth a small fortune! When I bought it, I also had the exchange rate going for me and now it’s much lower.
So I believe my response also mentioned that some places can rapidly change as far as cost of living. What might be “affordable” once you move there can rapidly change in some of these foreign countries. Less than a decade ago Brazil used to be affordable but now it’s more expensive vs. most major cities. Everything from real estate, to groceries to restaurants. It’s all expensive there now.
Not to mention the crime rate is very high. The problem is you have nice areas like Ipanema yet they are right next to slums (favelas). That is common in several cities. So you have the very wealthy living side by side with the VERY poor which can create some recipes for disaster.
Some of my best friends live in Rio and they have experienced several bouts of crime. In over 30+ visits there I’ve only had one attempt of a mugging. Even if you are careful and speak the language (i’m conversational in Portuguese) you can run into problems.
Also, something else I mentioned was besides street crime, you just have to worry about general people working in and around your house. I know several people in Costa Rica as well as other places where their long-time maids/cooks that have worked for their family for many years have ended up robbing them or tipping off thieves.
There is more of that general type stuff you have to worry about when you live in some of these other countries in Latin or South America. Here in the USA we have lots of controls and also for the most part the legal and judicial system work.
In many other countries it’s not like that at all and police, judges, government officials can be easily bribed.
I’m not knocking living abroad but it’s important to understand ALL the upsides as well as downsides.
Sure, quality of life can be great. I know many older senior citizens that retired in some of these countries and they live like kings. Most of them are divorced or widowed and they have 20 something year old girlfriends (or girlfriends as young as their grandkids). It’s kind of funny in some instances because some of them didn’t even take the time to learn the local language and their “girlfriends” can’t speak English. So it can be a bit comical watching them! LOL.
[quote=blahblahblah][quote=SmellsFeeshy]
Brazil is not without its problems though. The crime rate in cities like Sao Paolo and Rio is very high. While doing research on Rio as a potential vacation destination I was a little concerned by all of the security warnings even at highly populated tourist spots.[/quote]
Many of the people I hear touting Brazil as a great place to live have never been there or if they have have never ventured outside of protected enclaves. I have and let me tell you, it can get pretty rough. That’s not saying it isn’t great! I had an incredible time, the people are amazing and lots of fun. Of course I’d bet that the people in the Ivory Coast are great too but I’m in no hurry to move there.
I remember being driven through lots of areas in BR where my guide would say, “Don’t ever ever come here.” If you are white you are going to stick out like a sore thumb. If you are black, hispanic, or asian (many ethnic Japanese live in Brazil), you might go unnoticed until people realize you can’t speak Portugese and then it’s game on.
Fun place, don’t let me scare you, it’s definitely worth a visit. Living there? Not so sure. Also you would need a visa so you’d have to get married or have a job or something.[/quote]
This is also a GREAT post and spot on target. Many Americans that haven’t even visited a particular city/country or only visited a few times but read a lot about it THINK they know the city well but they don’t.
Visiting a city a few times for a week/month at a time is VERY different vs. living day in and day out for many years, especially in retirement. You simply don’t have enough time while on vacation to understand all of what goes on locally.
I’ve been to almost every country in South America and I do business in several countries in South America. And there is another side to most cities that you will never see unless you are living there.
Sure it’s different if you are retiring from the USA to maybe a 1st world developed country in Europe. But moving from the USA to a developing country is quite something different altogether.
