Chile Forum

I am interested in moving to Chile, and find the Pategonia region absolutely beautiful. My concerns are growing a garden and orchards to self sustain in a cold, mountain climate. Wondering what kinds of vegetables and fruit trees and berries can be grown there, and how cold and hot it gets, and how long the winter lasts, and how much snowfall it gets. Also, what does internet cost, is it available, what does cell phone service cost, and what does fuel cost? It appears housing and land is about half what it runs in the US. Otherwise, things cost the same or a bit more?

MadTexan wrote:I am interested in moving to Chile, and find the Pategonia region absolutely beautiful. My concerns are growing a garden and orchards to self sustain in a cold, mountain climate. Wondering what kinds of vegetables and fruit trees and berries can be grown there, and how cold and hot it gets, and how long the winter lasts, and how much snowfall it gets. Also, what does internet cost, is it available, what does cell phone service cost, and what does fuel cost? It appears housing and land is about half what it runs in the US. Otherwise, things cost the same or a bit more?

It sounds as though Patagonia might not be what you are looking for if you want to grow vegetables and fruit (berries excepted). In most parts of Patagonia it can be a bit of a challenge to grow fruit and veggies. You might wish to consider the Lake district instead. Much but not all of Patagonia is better suited to raising cattle. Snowfall/rainfall varies by location, from 10 inches a year to 200 inches a year, not unlike the differences between El Paso and Houston. If you have a specific part of Patagonia in mind we can give you some better answers. Patagonia is nearly 1000 miles long and rather variable.

Housing and land pricing follows the same three rules as the US: location, location, location.

Gasoline is around USD5 to 6 a gallon, varies depending on where you are. Internet varies depending on where you are and the bandwidth you want to pay for. Figure maybe about USD40 to 50 or so a month, assuming you can get DSL at all, which you won't have in a rural location of course. Pick a part of Patagonia and we'll take it from there with specifics.

Be prepared to a lot of bureaucracy and Third-World behaviours, and high prices for most things.

Well, my choice of where in Patagonia I would choose would be the one that you can grow some apple or cherry orchards and a garden, even if I had to use a green house. I love mountains, I grew up in the Rockies in Colorado but they are way to expensive to try to buy now. I would like to raise some cattle as well. Is the lakes region mountainous? I would like to at least have a great view of mountains, if not actually live on one. What about satelite internet? I really only need enough bandwidth to watch youtube and check email and upload to blogs and youtube. The basic idea is to try and ranch and farm and be self sufficient. I would prefer to be off grid, and utilize either solar, wind, or hydro power. I have no idea what these would cost for a single home size design. I am probably going to build a 2 br 1 bath cabin about 100 sq meters. I would want to do it right, and with some nice wood inside and out with a metal roof.

Here are some listings I was looking at, not sure where they are in the Patagonia.

http://www.mondinion.com/Real_Estate_Li ... velopment/

http://www.mondinion.com/Real_Estate_Li ... velopment/

http://www.mondinion.com/Real_Estate_Li ... velopment/

http://www.mondinion.com/Real_Estate_Li ... velopment/

MadTexan wrote:Here are some listings I was looking at, not sure where they are in the Patagonia.

http://www.mondinion.com/Real_Estate_Li ... velopment/

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Those links were for the central Patagonia region, called Aysen or Aisen. I live further to the south, with the penguins. Though there are mountains in Palena-Aysen, most of the people live at 1500 feet elevation or less, not really in the mountains if you are referring to your Colorado experience. Parts of Aysen get up to 200 inches of snow+rain a year (lower Rió Simpson valley). If you wish to do micro-hydro, Pelton system or whatever, then you are pretty much on your own -- importing hardware, design and installation. The Palena region does use mini-hydro and there is grid electricity in some limited parts of the region. People also grow cherries and apples in that region in some locations. In fact a few years back I found an abandoned orchard a few km to the east of the town of La Junta.

An American I know is selling his place in the Palena region. Jack Schmitt, the owner, is a retired US university professor and translator of Neruda - you can see the property and get his email address at this site http://grandoldtroutlotspatagonia.com/p ... _river.htm

Lovely places he's got for sale there!