Chile Forum

('Sorry; I'm getting slap-happy. Back to packing.)

hello all....i made it to puente alto....everything is fine here in the southern hemisphere. saturday/sunday was a long day....bus to LAX, waiting at the airport, 11 hours on a plane next to a really fat obnoxious argentine man who snored a lot....but my friends here created a soft landing for me. temps range from about 40 to 70, the way i like it. i´m hangin out at another teacher´s house, spending my days talking politics with the grandmother, keeping my span/eng dictionary close, reading, sleeping, waiting for the semester to end on friday so that we can all take off for the beach for a couple of weeks.

this is my 4th trip to chile, but i am paying a lot more attention to the details of the cost of living here.... i am trying to absorb the basic facts....rent, utilities, food, etc.....but i have to convert everything from chilean pesos to US dollars and sometimes from kg or liters to pounds and gallons to really understand what i am paying for. gasoline here is over $5/gallon, but salmon is only about $4/pound....so i´m using the busses and the trains and eating well....it doesn´t look like lodging is going to cost me very much at all for the whole seven weeks...veronica and i are getting along just fine.......i might even get a paying job for a couple of weeks in august to offset some of my expenses and to see what it´s like to work for pesos.. the wages here are low, so i might end up working for about $200 per week....not to worry, i have easy access to my cash at the nearest ATM machine.....

see ya´....tom

The figures are in US dollars converted at 500pesos to the dollar. My income is in dollars so I still need to do the conversion. Yes I pay taxes. I was just trying to figure out my expenses.

This month I have had a gigantic energy(propane) bill of 138,000 Chilean Pesos. We have central heating and no double glazing. Our apartment is 100 sq meters. Next time i will buy a place with a wood stove!! But the view we have over the bay is to die for. If this was California we would be talking millions.

cali, sorry that you’re missing the 100+ degrees in the Valley.

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He who has something to prove, should go do it somewhere else.

cali,

Looking forward to your discoveries, insights and becoming an experienced expat as you begin to help present and future newbies with Chile. Another valuable data point for those that come after us.

Salud

Great info from all of you...with of course a wide range of to pick from. As Tom may remember, and some others who visit allchile often...my hubby and I just moved to Santiago this week from Maine. So we are doing our adjusting while staying in Santiago with my husband's family. We do plan to live near the ocean in the future, but have some details to work out b/4 then. My son who lives in L.A. is coming down to see us in March to check things out. He is sick of L.A. and looking for a change. He is working on his Spanish and will have a steady income from the US to rely on should he move here. Could I put him in contact with the other guy on here from L. A.? Just let me know.

Jill y Carlos
making our way in Santiago...for the momento