Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...

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Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...

Hi, I am looking for some advice from people who have experience in the arena of living abroad. First a bit of background and then some questions for you all...

I am 31 year old man and single. I am a U.S. citizen. I´ve been to Peru for a month and now Costa Rica for three months. I have a degree in Psychology, three personal training certifications, a yoga instructor certification, a very minimal base of knowledge in Spanish, a passion for learning Latin American dance and a relative love of the English language. So that´s me in a nutshell...here are my questions.

What country in Latin America provides the greatest opportunity to learn to dance and dance very well?

What country provides the greatest economic opportunity for a person with my background, skills and experience?

Which country has the lowest cost of living, the lowest pollution emissions, the healthiest foods and diet, the greatest emphasis on health, etc...?

Are there countries outside of Latin America that can offer more in the areas of health, dance, culture, etc... for someone wanting to move there?

Thanks for any input!

Cheers.

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Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...

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Sep 11, 2009

Thought about Ecuador
by: Dixie

Hi I have just read your request and thought it a great idea to answer. Have you thought of Ecuador. We have now been living here for the the past year. I wont go into our journe but you can certainly read more about us on our website www.retire-in-ecuador.com. If you subscribe to the Newsletters you will be able to see how we have found it here.

Ecuador has just been named as the number one desintation to retire or relocate at great cost of living prices by International Living. I know you are a young man and not about to Retire and even though our website says Retire in Ecuador we are by no means retire although in our 50's.

There are many great dance studios here in Cuenca where we live at the moment. Cuenca is a cultural and arts city and we love it. We also spend a fair amount of time living on the coast in Ayampe where my husband is developing some property with local and over seas Partners. Love the coast in this area where the rainforest meets the ocean. Not many of these beautiful places left in the world and at such affordable prices.

We feel that there are so many opportunities opening up in this country. A friend today told us of the great changes he is seeing. It is starting to be a place where it is not just about the rich and poor. The middle class people are now also having a voice.

They say a couple can live here on $500 per month. I think we live very well and very cheap.

Pollution (bus fumes etc) are a bit of a problem. But no so much in the mountains or on the coast where we live. What a great way to live. We would never have been able to do that back in Australia. When the weather is not good on the coast we pack up and go to our apartment in Cuenca. Travelling here even by plane we believe is very cheap. We can take a great luxury bus from Guayaquil to Olon (3 hour trip)(near to Ayampe where we have our beach house) for $5.50 each. We can take a mini van from Cuenca to Guayaquil (3 hour trip) for $12 each. A plane ticket for th same through LAN at the moment is $39 per person for a 20 minute flight.

We eat healthy food and of course you need to be mindful where you purchase or you can grow your own..............but we now have a wonderful new organic market right across the river from where we live. Supermarkets are clean and affordable.

At the coast as in the mountains there are juice bars where you can buy the most delicious fresh smoothies.

I could go on and on and I thank the owner of the website giving me this opportunity to speak about our love of Ecuador.

Feel free to write to me at any time.

Ciao for now
Dixie

Sep 07, 2009

new south america expat forum
by: GoSouthExpat

Thanks to questions like this that are not specific to one certain country, we've created an additional forum under our Expat Forums page that you can now use for general South America questions. Thanks for bringing it to our attention that not everyone has a country-specific question. From now on in the Expat Forums section you'll see a new option called the South America Forum under the 10 individual country forums. I've moved your question to this South America forum. It'll be interesting to see the responses you get.

As to your questions, it sounds like Argentina or Brazil would be good choices for you. Although they are a bit more expensive than other countries, both have many well-recognized dance academies and schools. Argentina has its famous tango schools and Brazil has its famous samba schools. However, every country in South America is a "dance" country. Latin Americans just love to dance - every type of music and dance.

As to the cheapest countries to live in, you'd probably want to take a look at Ecuador which is considered the least expensive country in South America for expats at this time. However, you also want to read up on the political and economic stability of countries you may consider living in.

In any situation you'll have to take a good look at the standards of living. Living in South America implies being open to lowering your standards in many ways, especially in terms of services such as utilities and medical services, but that is counteracted by the rich cultures of the region, the freedom to enjoy the fruits of your labor (our cultures are not so extremely workaholic), and the chance to learn new and exciting things.

Take a look at our Expat Links pages (located at the bottom of every page on the site). You'll see some links to some very interesting websites about Ecuador, Chile and others by clicking on "Add a Useful Link". This takes you to the page where others have added links to their websites.

It's important to research the availability of jobs. If you are a psychologist you would have some trouble getting work in that area because frequently university degrees from other countries are not recognized or accepted, especially in the medical arena. Having a steady income is important because many countries require you to be actively working in order to maintain your residency/visa status (it's the same in the US).

We'll tweet and blog your post to see if we can encourage some more responses from different countries.

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Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...

Comments for Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...

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Looking into a life of self-growth, challenge, fun and discovery...