04/17/11, 01:36 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Chile
Posts: 14
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Living in Chile
Quote:
Originally Posted by rwinsouthla
Had a friend that lived in Chile for about 6 years in the 80s. He said while everything was much much cheaper, he was constantly getting stolen from, the water, power, and sewer service was intermittent at best, and the hired help was not reliable. Also, he had to travel 275 miles for a "doctor".
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I first came to southern Chile in the seventies and I live there now. Some things have not changed and many that have changed did so for the worse. Where I live the water is not potable, there is no sewage treatment, and it cost over US$1000 and 4 months of wrangling to get electricity connected to the house even though the utility power pole was only 60 feet away. I literally had to buy my own electric meter and my own power pole at the edge of the property. The trades people are very sloppy and unreliable, and a good number are less than honest. You almost have to count out the screws and nails that you supply for their work because if you give them a quantity, they tend to keep a good number of them and there are little stores in town that fence stolen hardware and fasteners. In other words, it is just another Latin American country and don't believe the people who say the sweetest things about the place. Food costs me about 25 percent more down there and some of it is imported from Mexico and Canada ! Good tools are hard to find and all tools are expensive, up to 100 percent more than in North America. Sales tax (VAT here, called IVA) is 19 percent. But I like my work and the scenery as well as the considerable distance from Ottawa and Washington. I didn't need a building permit since I live in a rural area so that was one less aggravation. Property ownership was easy even for a North American and permanent residency is also easy to get.
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I never even noticed that. I wonder why it's come up again.
