monique

Welcome to BE.

Unless you are a hit and run troll, you will see that this forum is not only for sharing experiences and offering advice and help, but for friendship as well and as such, the occasional tangent comment is perfectly acceptable.

Like anywhere else, you will find all kinds of people here, mostly helpful, funny & polite, but a few rude & sarcastic ones as well which I rather just ignore. I did not think you meant to be rude, but the comment was not necessary either.

go outside and play

whew, the only reason I logged in was to try to help the original poster... as I do in other forums. Talk about las chicas chilenas all you wish!

dakota44

If you took the time to notice, my primary posts were about locations in Chile and comments on how great the country is as well as other related comments. Oh, but you did not take the time to notice. How fair of you. You chose to pick a very brief comment with the words Chicas Chilena in it and then sound off. It was rude and ignored the on topic contents of my other posts. I would say that you should consider that when two posters are exchanging brief friendly comments with each other, let it be. It's normal for here.

go outside and play

I'm sorry you found a light comment offensive within my attempting to help, and are clearly having a bad day. It's great you have such a friendly forum.

All the best

dakota44

You are right. It's been a bad day of physical pain, and I'm grumpy. perhaps I was too harsh, but the point was still relevant. When I arrived here I would never have presumed to make that kind of comment regarding other posters. After all, I was new and they have been around for ages. In any event, the tylenol 3's are kicking in, so I feel better. Water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. Welcome to the forum and hope you find it worth the effort. And Chile is wonderful. My favorite place in many ways.

monique

Feel better soon.

monique

Hi Matt-The-Boy: we're considering purchasing a vacation property in Chile in the near future...close to Stgo. and of course we want beach. Could you recommend for us 3 or 4 places?. I know on the top of your list is Valparaiso...Vina is nice, but if I remember correctly from many moons ago, the water is freezing cold. Muchas gracias!.

dakota44

Define "close to Santiago" You are a Chilena? I seem to recall that you were born there, but I may be mistaken. I ask because I was advised that non-Chileans cannot buy property in Chile, unless they are granted resident immigrant status.

I like La Serena, but honestly have no experience in other coastal Chilean cities to compare it to. I recall that in La Serena, the beach was for the people. No hotels or residential buildings were allowed. Only restaraunts and Tiendas. And they were very spread out with often 300 or more meters between them. There actually were not that many. I rather liked that idea. The rich (Hotels etc) could not buy up the beach and deprive the average every day Chilean of it's use.

There are numerous condos and apartment buildings directly across the street from the beach. Out the front door and 30 or 40 meters away and you're on the beach. More than convenient enough for me.

monique

Hi Dakota: So you forgot me already? I only have Canadian citizenship, but I think I can regain Chilean citizenship since I was born there. As a matter of fact, recently the government eased the rules for foreign born children also and now can grant immediate citizenship to them without the previous requirement of a 12 month continuous residency.

I did remember that you liked La Serena a lot and that is one of the places I'll check out. By near I meant up to 5 hours drive from Stgo. I have seen on the net the quantiest "cabanas" in La Serena, though we had an apt. in mind, but I think we will decide once we're physically there. Though still far from retirement, I like quiet towns and not looking for any wild place.. Gracias for suggestions.

dakota44

There are plenty of apartments overlooking the ocean in la Serena.
Here are two photos from the beach area. One looks North and the other South. You can see the apartment buildings to the side of the photos. Believe me, you would have no trouble finding a nice apartment there. There are very nice restaurants right along the beach. A wonderful sidewalk and benches all along the beach. La Serena is one hour by plane and about 6 and a half by bus. So, probably can make it in 5 or 6 hours by car. Nice drive too. I enjoyed the visuals during my bus trip from La Serena to Santiago.

matttheboy

hello monique (and dakota), i´m currently in buenos aires stuffing my face with steak() but will come back to reply to some of the points raised in the next couple of days when i get back to chile.

cheers,

matttheboy

dakota44

mmmmm Argentine beef. You're making me hungry.

matttheboy

well, i'm back from BA, a few kilos heavier...

anyway, in response to a few of the points raised before:

Dakota, i'm not sure who told you that you need to be a resident in chile in order to buy property but, fortunately, they're mistaken. anyone can buy property in chile with just a RUT number which you can get in just a few minutes at your local SII office (servicios de impuestos internos). one of the big reasons why chile has been so successful in recent years is that it has one of the most open economies in the world and actively seeks foreign investment. there are no restrictions on foreign owned property with the exception of areas deemed to be national security risks-basically, right next to the argentine, bolivian and peruvian borders in the mountains.

Monique, the water in chile is, well, chilly until you reach the north..arica, antofagasta north...la serena has water that's a little warmer than vina but it's still really cold-14-15C in vina and 16C tops in la serena. dakota's right about the water-front in la serena, there are loads of apartments for sale and being built with quite spectacular views out to sea and the promenade and beach are clean and well maintained. i liked the city quite a lot. i haven't been during the school holidays but i've been told it's like Vina-bumper to bumper traffic and lots of screaming kids...!

My personal favourite beach town is Maitencillo about an hour north of Valpo. The beach is incredible, in summer a lot of bars and restaurant owners from santiago open up in the town and out of season it's a quiet, peaceful place with amazing views. It's just 1h45 mins from santiago. There are quite a few new buildings going up, especially just behind the town in the private communities (Marbella being the most 'top').

I guess it all depends on your budget and what you expect to be able to buy. I would assume La Serena would be cheaper than just north of Valpo/Vina as it's so much farther away from Santiago. New, 100m2 apartments in Maitencillo seem to be going for around us$150-250,000. You can buy a decent sized house in a private community a couple of minutes drive from the town for the same or less but often without a view of the sea.

feel free to ask more questions, i'll be happy to help out.

(ps, if you click on my username there's a link to my blog about Valpo and some other stuff about chile. it may help you think of different places or it may just make you chuckle.)

dakota44

Interestingly enough, it's what I was told while in Chile. Mind you, by Chilenos who may not have known better. Should have researched it better. Good to know in case I decide to spend more time in La Serena.

You are right about La Serena being very busy in the summer months. It is the place that Chileans go while most foreigners go to the South, as I understand it. Much less expensive for Chileans to go North. But I don't mind a beach crawling with bikini clad Chilenas.

As for apartments in La Serena...yes, I agree much less expensive than in some other areas. I remember seeing some very nice places in a top quality building across from the beach for around $80,000. But that was about three years ago.

monique

Thank you very much for all the information Dakota and Matt. Maybe we'll meet up in La Serena one day!.