dakota44

If you do not speak Spanish, you have a tough road ahead running a business. But give some of this a read.

http://www.allsouthernchile.com/sout...on-part-i.html

http://www.allsouthernchile.com/sout...les/index.html

http://www.doingbusiness.org/Explore...x?economyid=41

Rio

Thanks dakota, i will take a look now

3LionsUSA

hi, living in houston, texas and nearing retirement age..

have found lots of various countries to live in narrowed down to south america.

chile had raised itself on the horizon.

any thoughts about Horcon ?????


cheers

matttheboy

Horcon isn't all that great. It's a small fishing village just down the road from a large, polluting gas refinery (Ventanas). There's a nice beach but the town itself is a bit, well, crap.

Maitencillo, about 25 minutes further up the coast is much nicer, also pretty quiet apart from in January and February when the population swells from aruond 4,000 to 25,000. Depending on your budget, Cachagua and Zapallar might be options (but these are really expensive villages/towns-the Hamptons of Chile).

Otherwise, south of Valparaiso Algorrobo is quite nice. Vina del Mar and Valparaiso also offer a lot depending on your tastes but they're big cities. I prefer Valparaiso as it has more atmosphere, life and soul. Vina wants to be Miami but it has better infrastructure. The 2 cities are only 10-15 minutes apart anyway.

3LionsUSA

matt thanks very much.

budget is and will likely to remain very limited.

looking for a long term rent/lease. need somewhere small ~ looking for preferable small town/medium town. lived in london 50% and houston 50% of my life. family came from medium town in norfolk.

believe that i can well live without a 28 screen multiplex and a shopping mall (lived right across from one for 4 years went there maybe once or twice to buy clothes for a wedding !!).

want to spend time maybe getting to know neighbours, be around people who have time for people instead watching S.U.V.'s drop off pick up and disappear.

maybe looking for a utopia that doesn't exist, but i have to feel that somewhere i can find a place where life isn't so hectic. with some kid of view, mountains, hills, beach any or all of the above.

spent as i say most of my life in london (no views) houston where it's flat for as far as the eye can see !!!

just checking of forums such as this. looked at uruguay as well. fancied mexico up around the yucatan but friend tells me that (as well as reading up on it) that it is the "next" big development in mexico with the costa flamingo and costa maya taking over that entire northern and southern coast.

he has lived in mexico for 14 years. central america looks to have been totally americanised i.e. all now too expensive for the less than average joe to live.
(panama the baja and san miguel allende the best/worst example).

so it's somewhere south and not buenos aires. as i say uruguay has popped up a bit on the horizon. safe and reasonable is the first criteria (safe as possible anyway). relatively cheap (as cheap as possible) and somewhere before the developers get in. i am not looking to invest as i am the sole survivor so to speak, hence the rent/lease option. so i am not interested in a place to invest money and recoup it a few years from now, unless it's a lock. somewhere i could buy then sell to provide me for the rest of my retirement.

good luck to that, my investments in the stock market (limited) are far from working out.



so that's where i am at currently. about 2 years away (sooner if possible) and time to put in the leg work for find that somewhere if it in fact exists.

many many thanks for the time to input your thoughts.

any other info you could expand upon would be great.

3Lions

matttheboy

Uruguay is nice. Montevideo is a pretty relaxed city, kind of like a stoned Buenos Aires...

As for Chile, Valparaiso is a pretty big city but the main place any foreigner would want to live is a part of the city that's like a little self-contained village. Everyone knows each other (this is good and bad, obviously), there's a local bakery, local shops and it's really quite safe. It's the main tourist area so there are some really nice restaurants, cafes and small boutiques, some great boutique hotels as well. Downtown Valparaiso is just a couple of minutes walk away and is a completely different world of crowds and traffic but in the hills you're well away from this.

Rent is pretty cheap (an example, I just rented out my own apartment of 105m2 for about £300/month) although there's not a great deal of availability so it's luck of the draw in finding somewhere really decent. Options are increasing as old houses are converted in apartments though.

So Valparaiso is kind of a mix of a small village and a large city around it. Vina del Mar is 15 minutes bus/car ride away which is a cleaner, more Miami-ised city. Valparaiso the only city in Chile with any charm.

I guess I'm a little biased as I live here and really love living here. It's a beautiful city, real and a little rough around the edges. There's tons more info and photos on my blog if you're interested (click on my username and then on my homepage).

Aussieoverseas

Hi there Chileans

I am currently living in the United Arab Emirates and our next step in working our way around the world (we are Aussies) is hopefully South America.

Where is the best place to look up jobs in schools - school leadership/management? My husband has been working on a school improvement project in national schools in the Emirates and also spent a year working in the South Pacific (Vanuatu). He is an educational leadership adviser as well as a teacher. He has some Spanish but is not fluent.

I will do the 'trailing spouse' bit and pick up something after arriving in country.

When does the school year start - July or January? What are the salaries like? Oh so many questions! Looking forward to answers from you...........

jewell

hello, i stayed in chile during one month, a couple of years ago, and they are very friendly and kind.
you will see many beautiful places, i mean,nature places, and fantastics beach, at least in viña del mar..

geofactor

I read with great interest a lot that you've written about Chile and would greatly appreciate a piece of advice.

I am a 39 y.o. single mother with two young children: an 8 y.o. son and a 4 y.o. daughter. I have traveled around the world in the past, both due to my former career in international exchanges and to my passion for travel. I speak virtually no Spanish, but speak Russian and Ukrainian, and usually pick up languages fairly easily.

The current circumstances of my professional and personal life are such that a year from now I'd like to take a year off and spend a year in S.America with my children. The main objectives would be change of scenery for me and an opportunity to learn Spanish for my children, especially for my son. I do not have a lot of money, so the idea is to do it inexpensively. However, even though I am used to traveling in the developing countries and do not expect luxuries, I certainly want my children to be safe and reasonably comfortable. In the past, I've visited Peru and Argentina, and also have some contacts in Bolivia and Ecuador. But from what I read, it seems that Chile is more likely to provide a safe and comfortable environment.

I envision renting an apartment in a small city or good-size town, probably hiring a nanny, and also putting my kids in a school and kindergarten respectively. I am not sure what I would to make some money -- possibly give private English lessons. I am a big city girl, but have also lived in smaller towns, so my choice of the locale there would be determined by the conditions it can offer to my kids.

Is this idea even realistic? Would it be easier to settle into a large city or a smaller town in Chile? Where can I find any info on the Chilean school system? It's probably unrealistic to send my kid with no Spanish to a mainstream Chilean school. So are there any other options for him to be in an environment with other kids? How much should I plan to budget per month for living there? Where do I start and how do I go about renting a place, hiring a nanny, finding some work opportunities there?

Since I do not speak Spanish though, I do not even know where to start. (I do, plan though, to start taking Spanish classes for about a year before heading down there).

I would very much appreciate any help and direction, even simply comments and thoughts.

Thank you so much!
Tatyana

dakota44

First of all, you can remain in Chile for only a maximum of 90 days as a visitor. From what I have heard it is possible to request an extension with the police, but probably not more than 30 or 60 days more. You then have to leave the country and return. You can do it in the same day, unless that has changed. Some drive to Argentina for a day, and then return. Without some Spanish, you are in a bit of a pickle. It is possible you will pay an entry fee (Reciprocity) when you enter and it is good for the life of your passport. Last I knew it was $100 for Americans, $75 for Canadians.

If it is really what you want to do, try to hook up with a contract to teach English. I would suggest getting certified in TEFL/TESL (teaching English as a foreign language) and applying to a school when you are there. If they hire you, they will arrange the necessary visa. Be forewarned, they do not pay much. But the cost of living there is less than here. Santiago can be expensive for apartments (in terms of local cost of living), so you might consider La Serena or some other smaller city. I have serious questions as to whether you will be able to place your children in school there without a residency visa.
I have been to Chile, Peru and Brazil many times. I agree that safety is better in Chile, but be certain it is not perfect. You do not want your children in a public school there. The police are more honest and the economy is better. I prefer Peru, for cultural reasons as well as personal ones, but I would endorse Chile as a good place to live.

Good luck

Exijo

Hello all!:

I'm wondering if this forum is still working, well i hope so. I was redaing the posts and i realized your interest about my country (my english is not good enough as you can see). I'm just returning from Spain, i was living there since 2006, and some month in States (C.O) before that. I had the posibility to travel a lot and at the same time to compare Chile from other countries, so now i know what do we have, and what is different, ugliest or prettiest than other places (im I clear??). There could note my country has a huge touristic power unexploted mostly at the extrems, south and north. Deserts and Virgin rainny forest has incredible landscape i never saw someting similar in europe (austria and swtzerland exepts) , the opposite thing happens in the cities, we dont have much to show (exept a few ones). Now im starting a touristic bussines, a different one, giving support, help, transport, recomendations for hotels, cities or places (the real ones, not the tipical-toristic) to visit; like a friend in Chile, but not hindering. So, if any one wants to come here, i colud be a good guest (discreet one).
I would like some advise from you, couse you should be my potencial costumers lol, or better if you are interested on my work.
Well, i was sincerous telling you my intensions (to make bussines), and i hope to not offend any one.

Un gran abrazo.

Exijo.

tigernerve

A WORD OF IMPORTANT WARNING FOR FAMILIES MOVING TO CHILE: Chile is not the same as other countries. It's very different and will not be what you expect. This only applies to Americans and then countries without embassies in Chile. All documents other then your passports will be rejected in Chile, unless legalized by specifically a foreign Chilean consulate before coming to Chile. NO ORIGINAL, CERTIFIED OR NOTARIZED DOCUMENT WILL BE ACCEPTED IN CHILE, if not done by a Chile consulate outside of Chile. They will not accept birth certificates, or school transfers. They will not make any exceptions, even for getting children into a new school. All documents brought into Chile are legally considered worthless, unless you first get them legalized outside of Chile. They make no exceptions. This will be important to do especially, if you wish to submit documents for either a temporary residency or permanent residency. Most embassies in Chile will legalize your documents for you, however the US embassy will not. If you can not get your embassy to do it in Chile, or if you do not have a embassy in Chile, then your in for a nightmare after your in Chile. You better send them to a Chile consulate first.

I totally misunderstood before moving here. I had all our families birth certificates notarized by a US notary. I was totally surprised, when I found out that legalization was not the same as notarization. Everyone in my family was born in a different country and according to Chile, each certificate has to have to be verified by the Chilean consulate of the issuing country. I was born in New Zealand and Chile has a NZ embassy which gladly legalized by birth certificate in Santiago, however, my wife and children were born in the USA, Guyana, and Suriname (Dutch Guiana). The US embassy will not do this for Americans. And last there are not consulates here for Guyana or Suriname. I applied for my temporary residency when I first got here. My 90 days are now up and they want to give me the residency, but this one thing is forcing me to leave the country. This one thing might keep you from getting your residency also, so beware.

Heed this warning if moving to Chile.

tigernerve

Let me add a quick reference to this: http://chileabroad.gov.cl/san-franci...legalizaciones

dakota44

Chile is not alone in having requirements for legalization of documents. Doing your homework before going is a good idea. All that information is available online. As for you now having to leave Chile because your 90 days are up, you only need to cross the border, to Argentina perhaps, and then return for another 90 day stamp. You could also apply for a 30 day extension in the country You can then apply for another 30 day extension and another until you have reached 180 days. with the immigration office. I think it needs to be done in 30 day increments to get to another 90 days although possibly you could ask for another 90 days right up front. Check with Immigration.
Your post is more a lesson about doing ones homework. As I said before, all that information is easily available online.

dkhazenirad

Hi there,

I am thinking, well I am going to be most probably going to Chile in late of 2010 and wondering what if any contemporary advice is available, in regards to the earthquake. I will be planning on going over to Santiago first and aim to work as an english teacher for the business community and to a further extent work as a teacher in a more general sense. If any Brits out there have any advice I would be most grateful.

Kind regards,

Dan!