Chile Forum

I am an ex-veteran from the USA I am paralyzed from the chest down, is there anyway I can afford to live in Chile in a place I can roll around and live a decent life with 360,000 pesos per month? and should I be worried about living by myself in a land where I dont know anything? any info would be great, thanks so much

With regard to the 360,000 pesos per month -- almost unrealistic for newly arrived expat, though doable. I know of someone who pays 215.000 monthly rent for an extremely basic wooden house/cabin in rural setting sleeping two (this includes free water, firewood [not much, really], and electricity), refills a 15 kg tank of gas (lipigas or gasco) every 3 weeks that is 15.800 (means -- if you need "hot" shower -- you take a shower in a Chilean way), buys food in the nearest town (spends about 60.000 once every month, this is one-time monthly shopping trip), spends about 25.000 every month to buy food and some [cheap] wine locally in the village, pays 3.000/month to refill a prepaid GSM phone account that gives them unlimited (though rather slow and unreliable) Internet access (no questions answered how to go about doing it). Total: around 325.000 ~ 340.000 monthly (for two persons, together). This is very economical way to live, I'd say, extremely economical, there are not many expats who can live in Chile this way. No TV, no radio, no car, and also many other "no's".

xxx

And you need to think in terms of the future exchange rate as I assume you are on a USD denominated disability and regular pension of some sort.

USD/CLP, if it goes against you (look at a 8 year chart) can break you fast.

There has also been a steady year to year steady inflation of consumer goods and services in Chile.

Lastly, you may want to read another thread somewhere here about the difficulties and discrimination disabled persons have in Chile.

Disabled, alone, with no family or at least a pareja chilena to anchor your existence in Chile ...

halfuseless wrote:... living by myself in a land where I dont know anything?

Why even consider Chile? Remote from all of what you know, expensive, doesn't speak your language or share your culture .... What is it you are looking for and why might you think it could be found in Chile?

Drop the halfuseless moniker, troop. At worst, it should be halfuseful, and you know you can be more than that.

I am thankful that you people are returning your thoughts on my post, well I dont know what else anyone wants to know about me but ask and I will tell, but I do have a gov. fund every month that should raise in a few weeks, also about me moving to Chile, well when I was in the service I had looked up and saw that the country was beautiful, I am from a mountainous region and from what i know Chile seems to have a growing economy, and to be honest I have been to many places in the world and I truely believe that the US says we are free but from what I can tell we are slowly becoming a communist country, I am 27 years old, and I have no family other than my father, I need and want a change, im just looking around, Chile seems to be right, yet I want to know from the people who live there how it really is to live there. Maybe even searching for new friends

halfuseless wrote:I am thankful that you people are returning your thoughts on my post, well I dont know what else anyone wants to know about me but ask and I will tell, but I do have a gov. fund every month that should raise in a few weeks, also about me moving to Chile, well when I was in the service I had looked up and saw that the country was beautiful, I am from a mountainous region and from what i know Chile seems to have a growing economy, and to be honest I have been to many places in the world and I truely believe that the US says we are free but from what I can tell we are slowly becoming a communist country, I am 27 years old, and I have no family other than my father, I need and want a change, im just looking around, Chile seems to be right, yet I want to know from the people who live there how it really is to live there. Maybe even searching for new friends

No offense as I do wish you the very best in your search. I think that people always do best when they run towards something rather than away from something.

And I got to say..... This USA is a communist country thing gets old for me....lol

My opinion only though. But the USA affords you freedoms that few countries in the world do. You are hardly a totalitarian society.

As to the topic at hand, I would not want to try and live on 360k a month. And I would be willing to live in neighbourhoods many expats would not.

no offense taken but I bet you live in the USA or are from there and are still proud of where you came from yet you may or may not live in Chile, I am not running from anything, I am gunning for a new life, and I am sorry if you have heard that the US is a communist country, sorry it gets old for you, if you love it stay there,or go there and stay, my part of wanting to leave have very different than oh i think america is a bad place, ya know i didnt ask for you to bash me, just asked if it was possible to make a living in Chile on that. If you are a weathy fellow then I dont expect you to live on that, and im not looking for wealthy people to comment cause everyone has their own standards.but thank you for your camment at hand*.

My opinion only though. But the USA affords you freedoms that few countries in the world do. You are hardly a totalitarian society.

some, with their eyes wider open...
may differ quite significantly in their opinions about "freedoms" - in the usa or anywhere.
- or of exactly how creeping said totalitarianism might actually be in any society...
not only at present - but in the near-term future
(all it takes is to just LOOK around... we mean really LOOK)


good luck halfuseful...
as the old truism goes - love it or leave it!
seems like you are ready for the latter - others have (and will) decide the same
btw - from your financial situation...
additional sources of income and/or wise investments will hedge your bets
just be prepared for serious simplicity and frugality - like gato alluded to...
but as in all things, there will always exist duality
and sr. gato forgot to add the many joys - that will also be part of such a future
once again... suerte

halfuseless wrote:no offense taken but I bet you live in the USA or are from there and are still proud of where you came from yet you may or may not live in Chile, I am not running from anything, I am gunning for a new life, and I am sorry if you have heard that the US is a communist country, sorry it gets old for you, if you love it stay there,or go there and stay, my part of wanting to leave have very different than oh i think america is a bad place, ya know i didnt ask for you to bash me, just asked if it was possible to make a living in Chile on that. If you are a weathy fellow then I dont expect you to live on that, and im not looking for wealthy people to comment cause everyone has their own standards.but thank you for your camment at hand*.

Oh no I think you got me all wrong. I am not bashing you. And as opposed to many on this forum, I am not about wanting to live in the wealthy suburbs in Santiago.... Cuicos kind of are not what I live to be surrounded by.

So yeah, not bashing you. Actually I was born in Chile and live in Canada. My dad was imprisoned for 18 months under Pinochet. I know what it is like to have your world yanked out from under you. It is for that reason and that reason only that I roll my eyes when people refer to the US as communism. Not a personal attack against you as a person.

If you think that I said 360 K is not enough because I have impossibly high standards I am here to tell you that when it comes to Chile I have very low standards. I do not yearn for a car in Santiago, I eat at Mercado Central cause I choose to, would never dream of spending 100 USD in a restaurant in Chile (Astrid y Gaston being an exception to check it out), love taking the bus and metro, drink wine from a garrafa, and buy sopaipillas from street carts. And having said all that I have no trouble telling you that 360k is not a lot of money.

As to the matter at hand, I will tell you that I have family in Las Condes, La Reina, Colina, and Maipu. Maipu is not a neighbourhood expats gravitate to yet even there it would be a stretch to try and make it on 360K. I wish only good hings for you. That includes you being able to access appropriate health care, transportation, etc. Chile is not the cheapest country in Latin America in which to stretch a buck.

Back to the US.... When people say that they are losing freedoms in the US and feel that Chile compares favourably I ask you to imagine what it is like to live in a marginal neighbourhood in Chile, to imagine what it is like to live in Chile not as an expat (position of priviledge for many) but as a Mapuche or person with darker than average skin tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILMvTqHsy4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhlLIcGcgDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQJmJts1MTQ

This is what pacos do in Chile to people who are not expats. SO yeah..... US is not that bad.

One thing I will say is if your injury was caused in the service of your country I think it is shameful that you only get that amount of money to live on. Veterans deserve more than they get from US administrations.

Buddy I have lived in many places, I have visited Canada very often, I used to live 15 miles away, and it is quite diff. than the US, I also lived for 7 months in some of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia,Kosovo,Afghanistan,.. I have witnessed the different sides of freedoms, this post has nor did I ask about freedoms in each country, I asked if it was possible to live on a certain amount of pesos, and thank you for telling me that it would be hard to live on that, but i please ask dont talk to me about freedoms, and as for your dad im sorry, I to was sent to prison I got out of the army and a drunk mid 20's male tried to beat up my cousin at a gas station that we pulled into, my cousin was days into being 18, i took the guy out with 1 punch and called for help , the guy was family with the DA and I got a goo 2 years behind the bars and a couple on probation, , and just now I watched your youtube. your a joke, what are the video's to prove? from here on out i Will not respond to your ignorance.