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Advice please

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Wiidiwii
  7/19/2017 14:08 EST

Hi I need some advice and information. Here is some back story... Ill try to keep it short. Both of my parents are paraguayan. I was born and raised in the u.s. .. There was family and friends that were paraguayan around the house growing up so I guess I grew up with part of the culture. When I was a kid I spent 2 summers in paraguay... When I was a teenager I spent a summer there and I hated it.. I hated it like nothing else... I was probably 13.. When I was 14 we moved there for a year... It was the best year of my life.. I went to school and everything... I really really loved it but we came.back to the u.s. when I was 15... I have not been back since... Im about to be 26... So its been 11 years since.. Ive been to paraguay. My mother became a u.s. ciziten 2 years ago...

Anyway in September my mother was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer... She finished her radiation and chemo in june... She's in the wait and watch period.... Where she basically gets an MRI done every 3 months to see how the tumor is..since she was diagnosed the tumor has been stable.. Which is amazing but realistically that could change at any moment... The medium life expectancy for someone with his kind of cancer is 3 years but the doctors say that brain cancer are extremely unique from other cancers and that it is possible she could go on to live decades more... She is 51 btw...
Any way in January she had a seizure that left the left side of her body paralyzed...the first week she also had severe memory and time issues... Like thinking hours had passed by when only 15 minutes had gone by... It was really hard but slowly she came to.. She was in rehab for 3 weeks and she regained her ability to control the left side of her body.. She still has balance and coordination issues but can walk on her own if she takes it really slow... Anyway she is no longer able to work.. She was working as a housekeeper /nanny for a wealthy family... She makes 84k a year with great benefits... Despite her not working ..Her employer has been still paying her these last 7 months while she recovers and finishes her chemo treatment.. This has allowed me to quit my job to take care of my mom these last 7 months. Pretty early on it became clear that my mom would not be able to return to work so she decided after her chemo treat ment is finished that she would move to paraguay to live near her mom ,brothers and sister etc... Me and my older brother are going with her... My younger brother is staying.. We are all adults but I want to be there for my mom...my mother did apply and got accepted for social security disability.. They will be giving her 1139 a month which is nothing compared her old income..but. One of the questions I have is if that would be enough for my mom to live well in paraguay?

I should also mention that my mother owns 2 houses in Fernando de la mora... We will be moving into the one my grandma lives in... The other house is rented but if we need to we could sell one of the houses... I'm told they are worth about 65k each but Idk...if that's true.. That seems like a lot for third world real estate... Which bring things to me... Im a college drop out... For the last 5 years I've been working at my cousins marketing firm in NYC... I'm a draftsman... I measure apartments mainly in Manhattan and create the marketing floorsplans for that space using CAD.. If your ever house/apartment hunting and you see those floor plans with out all the construction info... Well that's what I do...I want to know if there is any kind of work like this in paraguay... Or if there's any kind of work in general? Idk how long I will be staying in paraguay for .. At least 9 months... If 3 MRI show that the tumor is stable then I will probably come back to the u.s... If the tumor start to grow then I will probably stay there still the end... Even if I'm there for 9 months I will want to be doing something... Idk... I guess I'm looking for advice or tips... My father who is divorced from my mother lives here in the U.S. .. He owns a large house in Fernando de la mora... He also owns two commercial spaces on Santa Teresa.. He rents them out for 450 us dollars each.. He told me he would be willing to lease one of the spaces to me for half price... I was thinking about opening something similar to a dunk in donuts down there since... I make all kinds of donuts at home on my spare time... Would something like this work in paraguay?... Or something like a waffle house work?.. I really just want to get some opinions from foreigners already there... Am I better off just getting a job? Rather then opening a business? Is it hard getting one open ... Like are the taxes high... Is there organized crime? Are businesses subject to racketeering? My father opened a pizzeria in Newark nj back in the early 80s.. He's told me a few times before how he would be forced to pay "protection money" to the Portuguese mob for a while until the Italians moved in and started doing the same thing... I wouldn't want to deal with anything like that...also I have a few firearms I... Was originally planing on selling it... Like most of my other stuff before I go but I'm not so sure anymore... Family members tell me that its extremely dangerous and people get jumped everywhere... That reminded me that when I was living there when I was 15 ...me and a group of friends got jumped at gun point not even a block from mariscal Lopez ave.. Right to the side of the jersey fried chicken place(Idk if that's still there)... So yea Idk I was hoping that part changed... But Idk.. I should note that is coming from family that live here in the u.s. and only go to paraguay to short times... Not from the family member that live there.should I bring my fire arms with me to protect myself? Also how is access to the internet? Is it expensive to have it in your home??? I know this is long as f***_... If anyone was able to read through it all please reply back with some answers... I really would appreciate it.

mrodas
  7/19/2017 16:03 EST

Wow, that is a long posting :)
I moved to Paraguay 3 years ago. I was born in Paraguay en lived in the US for 23 years. I am familiar with both places.

First thing, good luck with the health situation. You might want find out if your mom is under IPS in Paraguay. If she is not then you might want to look into that. IPS has now better facilities for patients and most of the treatment is free or low cost. It includes a lot of oncology. Anyway, that is if you want to take advantage of that.

Right now, the real estate market in Paraguay is booming, but not for much longer. Prices are high and some of it is inflated (not real). However, some good deals in real estate are still available. People will tell you about being able to sell high, but when the time comes finding a buyer for a high price is not easy. I have a few properties I rent out.

As far as opening a food place, there are opportunities on that, but it is competitive. I am not an expert on that. I do know a few people that own different restaurants. To be honest, for a decision on that you would be have to see first hand the market here, talk to people and draw your conclusions.

Write to me in private. I know of someone in the US that might need or want your CAD skills for some construction work.

Good luck sir.

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slicric
  7/24/2017 11:52 EST

I was in the med industry for 20 years and have a lifetime history of deep research re: health and longevity. Just want to say I would strongly suggest CBD oil for your mother. It is non-psychotropic, zero side effects and the results are staggering, esp for brain tumors. Doubtful your MD would like it as the potential of CBD severely disturbs the Pharm boys since it can't be monopolized by them. G'luck

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