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Latin Tour—a long on-going trip through Latin America

 

 

Halfway through a Latin tour…

 

The western world is full of people who haven’t considered the obvious – move to Latin America to live, work or retire! Or they have rejected it out of hand because their ideas about it have not been updated – ideas such as “It’s dangerous, unstable, uncomfortable, or wild”.

Admittedly, in the 80s, there was quite a lot of political turbulence but it has long since disappeared into history. I am writing this in San Cristobal de las Casas in the beautiful southern state of Chiapas in Mexico, a town which in 1994 was the center of  a popular uprising, the last overt mass protest event in Latin America that I know about (apart from more recent understandable protests in Argentina about bank deposits being ‘held’ by the government). And during that event not a single tourist or expatriate was threatened or harmed. There’s a lot more danger in many inner city suburbs in the west than San Cristobal during an ‘uprising’!

So it is time to update some old prejudices, a job in which IL as a group is constantly engaged, as readers surely know. It is time to realise that Latin America in many places is beautiful, safe, comfortable, calm, cheap and a joy to live in.

 

I was already aware of this because I had lived and worked in South America in the 80s for a number of years, particularly in Paraguay and Argentina. So when a combination of personal circumstances made me begin to look longingly eastwards across the Pacific from Australia, it didn’t take much convincing to get me on a plane to ‘scope out’ Latin America. The word ‘pronto!’ came instantly to mind. It would be a break, a holiday, a trip down memory lane, a chance to brush up my Spanish and above all a sharp-eyed comparison of the many attractive candidates for a place for me to live for a while. And here I am now on my second leg, this time through Central America, having had a fine tour through much of South America a few months ago. I’m right in the middle of this quest for a place in the sun!

 

What makes a good candidate for relocation, or a second home?

Everybody has a ‘profile’ of what appeals to them, in music or works of art or cities, and I’m sure my profile of a place to live will appeal to a good proportion of readers. Those who love a beachcomber’s life on a mosquito coast and have no need of modern conveniences may be less impressed – for them, I recommend a strong dose of Paul Theroux.

Below I have put a table of very subjective comparisons or scores based on a number of criteria outlined below. There are always more qualities or features to write about, but the following ones are mainly what I’m looking for (I am middle-aged, and want to live and work and play in Latin America).

 

I am looking for a small or human-scale city (around a million inhabitants seems right), big enough to be anonymous in, and small enough for me to be a player if I wish, whether socially or business-wise. Someone once wrote a piece called ‘In Praise of Smaller Cities’ and he was right on to it. Large cities, while they have unarguable advantages, have many drawbacks – difficulties getting around, competition for scant resources (such as parking spaces!), pollution (chemical and electromagnetic), lack of security, impersonality, etc. So ‘size’ is important – whether good medium size (a high score in the table below) or too big or small (a low score).

This ideal smaller city has to cater to some western modern tastes and addictions (I call them ‘necessities’). In my case, this means access to good food, via a market and a good variety of restaurants (tacos every day can wear you down!), cafes with a reasonable espresso, and good beer and wine. There has to be some way of getting what I need to buy, but I would prefer ebay to a Wal-Mart. This is a delicate issue, because a full-on presence of international stores strongly implies that foreign charm has been replaced with western flavor. I lean towards the local flavor over western influence, even if that means I have to do without! After all, we are travellers. However, the presence of ebay, fedex, the internet, and skype telephony can reduce that pain. This segues into one of the most important features: the presence of good broadband internet around town, and in any place one might rent or buy. This is absolutely necessary for me as I run various businesses via the internet, and so make phone calls internationally on a daily basis. Luckily, in most places that we are considering here, there is already good broadband and coverage is always improving.

Also desirable is an expatriate community which is big enough to have stimulated the appearance of places and activities serving that community (cafes, restaurants, entertainment, etc.), but not so big as to begin to take over the place. I think of San Miguel de Allende as an example of this foreign takeover, versus San Cristobal in southern Mexico which still truly belongs to the locals. The criterion of ‘charm’ in the table tries to assess this, and also implies a sense of authenticity.

To simplify the matter, I lean towards a climate which is somewhat spring-like much of the year. The mountainous backbone right through Central America is ideal for me, providing beautiful cool sunny days with astonishing regularity through much of the year. But access to the coast is a great asset, such as pretty much the entire isthmus of Central America has. A few hours or less usually brings you to a series of beaches and fishing towns along with the beach resorts.

The question of cost of living probably should be right at the top of this list of requirements. A great part of the attraction of living in the ‘developing world’ is the relaxation of the pressure of accumulating dollars. In short, we’re looking for more play and less work. This could be because we want to retire, or it could be that we’ve realized that life is short, stress is avoidable, and less is often more. Living will be significantly cheaper in our destination. It is a pleasant fact too that often taxes are non-existent or low in such places if they apply to you at all, and governments are either insufficiently cunning or organised or greedy enough to institute the many creative ‘parings’ of our wealth that are increasingly common in the West. I speak of extra licences, taxes, and other vampiric extractions by ever-growing governments…

Along with the topic of cost of living, comes the availability of making a living locally, whether by offering products and services, opening a business (if allowed), running a business remotely via the net, etc. Different governments have different views on this, though most are happy if you are not taking a job a local could fill. If you derive your income from outside the country, they are even happier.

Strongly connected to this, the issue of ‘Legalities’ concerns the readiness of the authorities to be helpful and generous to expatriates in terms of granting residency, citizenship, tax breaks, etc. Panama is a leader in this area.

Privacy is a serious issue in these days of Orwellian super-surveillance, and a very desirable feature of a new home is the respect afforded to the individual’s privacy, for purposes of investment, banking and so on. The results of this will be quite different for US citizens compared to Australian, European or Canadian citizens. US citizens are under more pressure from their government than the others, and have to be more thorough in research on this.

Political stability is another very important requirement, of course, particularly if one is interested in settling long-term and buying a property. Apart from Colombia, a special case, the stability of practically all Latin American countries is much improved over the last 20 years, democracy marches on, and while nothing is perfect, the wild-eyed dictators with the gold epaulettes have moved on, perhaps to just deserts (pun intended). Twenty years ago, working in Paraguay, I found it exotic and interesting to observe Stroessner and his cronies, but today I much prefer a solid bureaucracy grinding away at the center of the state.

 

A table of comparisons

What is not included

I left out smaller towns such as Pucon in Chile, or Malinalco in Mexico which I visited and was very impressed by, and which may well be a great choice as a place to live. They are many and varied in Latin America, but they are just too small to be contenders for me, although some people will be completely at home in such places. Similarly I have not included the big cities, and nor have I considered some of the very ordinary, somewhat charm-free cities such as Guatemala City. I also avoid the tourist traps, such as Cancun, or Punta del Este, which may be fine for a brief visit, but lack in many other ways, particularly in charm and cost of living.

 

Scale of ‘marks’:

This is highly personal and somewhat arbitrary. The best or most desirable that exists so far approaches a 10, while the worst or least desirable approaches a 1, that is, I’ve stretched the scores to cover the spectrum of what exists at the moment. So Asunction, Paraguay is a 9 in terms of cost of living (it’s the cheapest city in the world right now, according to recent reports), while the most expensive I’ve considered  in Latin America is Santiago, so I give it a ‘2’. Still, compared to most western cities, Santiago is not costly.

 

 

 

By Tim Strachan

 

 

Some conclusions

 

The best scores

 

Latin America is a dynamic kaleidoscope of interest and quality, and different for everyone. The prosperity of any country seems to move in a wave, and what is up today is down tomorrow. And there lies much of the interest, and potential profits in real estate too, if you buy low, wait and sell high.

The table tells us that Montevideo in Uruguay is right up there at the moment – the people are laid-back but friendly, life costs little in terms of food or property, the city is charming and of a good size, and it is very near the bustle of Buenos Aires, and the touristy sophistication of Punta del Este. There is a strong European feel, compared to the more indigenous flavour of Central America and much of the upper half of South America.

Cuenca and Quito in Ecuador are serious contenders. But I would caution anyone who has any respiratory problems about the high Ecuadorian, Peruvian and Bolivian cities, as they work the lungs, at least for the first weeks until you become accustomed to the altitude.

 

In Central America

I love the smaller cities of Mexico, and some of the best, such as Oaxaca and San Cristobal in Chiapas are terrific in many ways, except I feel they are too small for settling. However, others do not think so, and many have settled in these pretty towns from all over the world.

 

The worst scores

So far, Santiago scores worst, mainly due to its climate, pollution, costs compared to others in Latin America, and a certain lack of ‘charm’. However, as a city it is bounding ahead, and will continue to do so with its new forward-looking President, la Senora Bachelet. There are numerous other smaller places too, in Chile which could be of great interest. Keep in mind that I am not even considering some of the least salubrious cities, nor do the large cities get a mention here – all of these would score much below Santiago, and just don’t make it as contenders at all.

 

And next? What will I do when I settle? What am I doing as I travel?

All the beauties of the rest of the Latin Isthmus are waiting for me, as well as some of the beautiful countries of north-western South America – Venezuela and Brazil in particular. I particularly look forward to experiencing Joao Pessoa in Brazil, Cordoba in Argentina, Antigua in Guatemala, and Granada in Nicaragua. Perhaps the editor will allow me to update this report with a second or third as time goes by, to let you know the final winner (at least for me)!

 

 

… to be continued...

 

Bio-pic

Tim Strachan hosts the websites www.laptop-office.com and www.writer-4-hire.com . He has been travelling on and off for 30 years and has lived and worked in a variety of countries. He provides services in writing, website creation and in direct phone assistance for issues relating to laptops and travel. Find him at tim@writer-4-hire.com