Best South American country for a USA ex-pat?

Has anyone on here ever relocated from the US to South America?

If so, I'd love to know where, how, and if you like it.

Thanks!

Now you're being useless AND an asshole.



nice smackdown!

There isn't one unless you're a hispanic to begin with.

The things you need to get used to are:

First, the manana thing. Manana does not really mean "tomorrow" it just means "not now". You MUST get used to dealing with this mentality. Wanting to get your shit done NOW is completely alien to these people, they can't even relate to WHY you think you NEED something so URGENTLY. This applies to EVERYTHING. It can be very frustrating, you MUST learn to deal with this. Shit takes forever to get done down here. That's just the way it is. Relax, have a beer, chill, it will get done eventually.

Lack of availability of certain things, or exorbitantly high prices for imported shit. You are used to being able to get just about ANY FUCKING THING IN THE WORLD ordered online FedExed to your door the next day. FORGET IT. Get used to the local version of whatever it is. Or do without. You might have to give up your Budweiser. Super cutting edge Japanese consumer electronics? Lagging about two years behind. From here, it is often actually cheaper for me to fly to Miami to buy expensive shit (computers etc) than to buy it here. This makes Mexico convenient. Parts for everything is always a hassle. Combine that with the manana and, well, you get the picture. These two hold true EVERYWHERE south of the border.

Stay away from the US border areas and big cities such as Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, etc. They each have upwards of 20 million people, most living in cardboard shacks. Tossup between Mex and BA as "largest city in the world" over 25 million they are actually just the biggest SLUMS in the world and are a nightmare. Totally sweet if you are a rich fatcat with bodyguards. Otherwise not so much.

The FOOD. I had no idea how important this would be. I mean, you go to foreign restaurants all the time, right? You went to that Argentine steak house just last weekend, remember? And tacos at the Mexican joint every Tuesday, right? What's the big deal?

First of all, the food in a US restaurant is NOT the real McCoy, as anyone who has ever traveled down here will tell you. They change it up for the American bland palate. The real deal is WAY better. BUT...

That Argentine steak house was great, right? Argentine beef is known as the best in the world by far, which is true. So......how would you like to have that AWESOME beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Here's your order, sir, meat, meat, and a side of meat. For dessert, filet mignon. That's how they eat it. You are viewed as crazy and unmanly if you want to have, say, vegetables. You have to make a real effort to get anything different. They are not trying to pull anything, they just eat a LOT of meat. So that is what is available. It was my friend's birthday, we had a big party. The menu? THIRTY KILOS OF MEAT and ten kilos of bread. THAT"S IT. And that was a hell of a spread to them. We went all out.

To me, the food in Brazil was basically inedible. It was SO bad I would just eat enough to make the shooting pangs of hunger go away and that's it. You know how if you are really hungry anything tastes good? Yeah, not in Brazil. This colored my outlook on everything else.

Mexico, in my opinion has the best food. I always assumed it all would be like Mexican food but it definitely is not. BIG difference. I love Mex food, but, even though I live in a tourist area so there are American joints like McPuke, Johnny Rockets, BK, that is all CRAP and I never eat there, and I am pretty much taco'd fucking OUT. I can make normal food myself, but if I go out even though there are a lot of restaurants here the choices are limited. One time I made meatloaf for this Mexican chick. It BLEW HER MIND. She had never had anything like it. MEATLOAF.

In the US we have by far the best food in the world. Everyone says, "oh, there's no such thing as american food, just hot dogs and hamburgers." I have to call bullshit on that. We have restaurants with food from EVERY country all over the place and all kinds of cool food fusion that goes on because of the "melting pot" effect. Here, if I go out, unless I go to one of the overpriced tourist places, my choices are tacos, tacos, enchiladas, flautas, or chimichangas. Know what I mean?

The most cultured and sophisticated place by far is Argentina. Now I know all the other South Americans are going to flip out but it's true. Actually, I guess that's just my opinion but it is most everyone else's too even if they don't want to admit it. If you are into museums, architecture, opera, philharmonic, etc. you will be right at home. Most other places are definitely NOT like that.

Personally, I am into the beach scene. I love scuba diving, windsurfing, sailing, kayaking, all that shit. So I am right at home as long as there is a nice beach and a coral reef. Tubular waves is a plus. To me, that by far makes up for the minor downside.

Brazil is reputed to have the hottest babes. (Debatable) Personally, I think Colombian chicks have the highest percentage of hotness plus the highest grade of hotness, but this could (and will) be debated endlessly. I need more research. Brazileras are definitely HOT.

Has anyone on here ever relocated from the US to South America?

If so, I'd love to know where, how, and if you like it.

Thanks!

No, after we've exploited their natural resources, polluted the environment and supported puppet regimes in the US's favor to the detriment of the local populace, THEN the US comes in and throws in a well publicized token donation. Well uh, no, we're not exactly welcomed with open arms. Same applies to the rest of the world.

No they don't hate us for our freedoms.

Do your homework AC.

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Brazil. Good economy, nice whether, beatiful beaches and HOT HOT women.

Brazil. Good economy, nice whether, beatiful beaches and HOT HOT women.

Sure! But then you must aim for the south and southeast.
These regions have a pretty good infraestructere. You should know that Brazil is a "car country". So much that we have huge traffic jams in almost every big city.

are you crazy?? let this north americans out of here!! hauhsusha just kiding...



but this is not totally truth, there's a lot of violence here, above average...

Yeah. Sadly our country has lots of problems too.
Violence, corruption, lack of education and heathcare, etc, etc, etc.

I think americans would LOVE Venezuela.

I think americans would LOVE Venezuela.

Chile is a nice place, with the people very friendly. Relatively low crime (biggest problem is theft, pickpocketing) I spent about 6 months there for where I work and enjoyed it very much. BTW, the postal system there works very well as I had several things sent to me and all arrived OK.