[quote=zzz]Forgetting about crime for a second, for those considering living in LATAM, who are not of latin / spanish descent, some things to consider:
1. you are considered a gringo and will be treated as such
– people will assume you have more money than they do, if not consider you rich. you are rich by their standards, even if you are not rich by US standards
– you will get gringo pricing
2. things are SLOW there. stuff does not get done efficiently. if you buy a home, prepared to take forever to get work done on your home. things will not make sense to you and if you take your American expectations there, you will be frustrated ALL the time
3. most American friends I know who live there also have private insurance that allows them to come back to US for treatment of major medical issues- like cancer
4. the quality of life – it really depends on what you are used to, which country you pick, and whether you are in a major city. if you have a pretty high standard of living now – its not necessarily cheaper to maintain that standard of living. eating out at nice restaurants or drinking at high end establishments is not that much cheaper. expensive clothing is not cheaper.
pros- you can have things like cooks or maids clean your home super cheaply, you can likely live ( rent or buy) more cheaply than comparable to US.
you can eat out at average / local spots more cheaply
local grocery is cheap – if you still want to enjoy your American food brands, or buy fruits from outside LATAM, CA wine, or french wine, be prepared to pay WAY MORE
All of my friends- even the ones of latin descent who have gone to places like Panama, Rio, Sao Paolo to work and live, have all opted to come back to the US. The quality of life is better here. Its safer, its more efficient. And ultimately, its where friends and family are- a little extra cash can’t replace that.[/quote]
GREAT post and spot on target. You are exactly right. Most Americans, even if you can speak perfect and fluent Spanish (or the local language) you will pretty much always be thought of as a Yankee. The biggest annoyance for me is the lack of transparency and the hassles of people always trying to pull a fast one on you.
The way you avoid this is to build up long-term beneficial relationships with people but even then MANY people in Latin America have this “make the most for today” type attitude. Here in the USA we have these relationships where we try to have long-term mutually beneficial relationships where we try to do business with one another for many years.
Sure you have some of that but in many countries they try to extract the most they can out of you one time. So it can be frustrating to deal with.
Even if you aren’t wealthy as mentioned, you will always be thought of as being well off even if you are on a fixed income, etc.
#2 that is SO true. EVERYTHING for the most part is slow. Grocery store, banks, post office, you name it. It can be frustrating doing small little everyday things. I don’t care how long you live there, if you are used to efficiency it can drive you mad! I lived in South America for almost a decade and NEVER got used to it.
Everything is always tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow (mañana mañana mañana).
Obviously there are many positives but this last post was brilliant and spot on target.
deadzone,
I haven’t read enough of your posts to know your personality or if your other posts are intelligent or not. I’m not even saying I disagree with all your points but you just come back with “prove it” “prove it” “prove it”. Even when people are taking the time to post some good URL’s. Like a stubborn little kid whose mother tells him to each his spinach because it’s good for it.
I WILL agree with you that Brazil is a wonderful place outside of Rio and Sao Paulo. Especially the South like in Florianópolis. Just gorgeous! But Brazil has gotten really expensive now with the exchange rate. I still love Rio and it’s one of my favorite places in the world and I still own an apartment there.
Edit: Deadzone, I was curious so I read a random sampling of some of your posts the past few years and actually I totally agreed on most all of your other posts that I read. That was surprising to me. I expected something totally different so that was nice to see. So it appears we disagree mainly on this post. 🙂 Which is ok..
