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Moving to Chile

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PencahueComunity
  9/3/2021 15:25 EST

Hello Chilean forum and Md Gringo. we purchase a farm in chile years before (2012) the pandemic start and we move to chile with the family on March 2020 and start a residential-farm community.

So far we receive with open arms 5 families, mix of Europeans and Americans, and here is a glimpse of what happen;

First 3-4 weeks they experience this romantic idea-fantasy of finding the right place and everything is perfect and safe, then is follow by a shocking culture shock or reality. It varies from family to family but at the end is the same gloom and doom of escaping someone or something.

We have close to 20 kilometers of running-hiking trails, river, lake, club house, restaurant with Italian pizza oven, swimming pool, few hundred fruit trees, vip suites for families and guests, internet, we are building custom homes, etc.

The problem we have is that families are escaping someone or something, in my case the families were trying to escape bill gates, Soros, vaccines, Trump, Biden, and many Other conspiracy theories, At the end of the day my wife and kids were crying because it seems that we are nearing the end of the world and we have to live in this apocalyptic mood and start digging a hole for our graves.

And one day after so much gloom and doom I decided to get rid of all the lunatic families and start all over again,

My point and what I’m trying to say is that if you’re moving to Chile have a plan and don’t expect anyone to fix you’re life or problems. Get busy and get into a routine that works for you, and after you make the final move, stop, please stop talking about gates, Soros and the vaccines, the more you talk about them the more power they have over you.

After all this time I realize that most families moving to Chile go back to their homes countries in less than a year, why?

They are escaping the Gates, Soros, imaginary monsters (cucos) and all the other conspiracy theories, not many enablers or suckers in Chile willing to take this non sense and be part of it.

The past is history and the future is mystery, we only have the now or present moment, enjoy you’re present and remember to live, love and laugh.

Mendoza
  9/4/2021 20:50 EST

I agree with much of what was said here, a couple of points though

"National health system that covers pretty much everything ......Education is free."
Free health and education yes, but not at a western standard. You have to pay to get good quality.

"we are waiting to see what happens with the communist party"
While it is slightly alarming to see the Communist party alive and well in Chile, they are not loved or taken seriously by many Chileans and are unlikely to be a serious factor in power. They can only attain power as a minority part of a coalition at best.

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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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PencahueComunity
  9/3/2021 20:17 EST

We end up in Maule region because is the farm region of Chile, were 70% of the food comes from.

After Maule is Mapuche land and they are claiming their ancestral land, so I’m against buying Medium or big farms south of Chile, also if you like the outdoors hiking-running and have children you have to keep an eye on the pumas.

FAIRCLOUGH
  9/3/2021 18:29 EST

Pretty much the same reasosns we moved to Chile. As an international sales manager during my working days I spent a couple or more decades planning where to retire where a dollar goes a long way, the food is mostly organic, guns are heavily restricted and hence the crime rate is mostly theft of hens or lumber. The country opened their borders to many refugees from Haiti and they have integrated nicely. Some have recently come from Venezuela and pretty much everyone gets along quite well. Our home has no bars on the windows, no alarm system and we have great neighbors from all reaches of the world. We are surrounded by lakes, National parks, mountains, beaches, well paved roads, a National health system that covers pretty much everything for about half of what we still have to pay for Medicare. Education is free, drugs are not a problem and you can walk the streets safely day and night. Chile does have its problems. we are waiting to see what happens with the communist party. They keep preaching how wonderful Cuba and Venezuela are but most people know better. Just ask a Cuban or Venezuelan in Chile if you have any doubt. To help during the pandemic the government is allowing people to cash out 10% of their retirement funds. They have done this three times so far and may be doing it again. Most people squander the money and I fear they will find that when they retire they have no income left. The social security system there is privatized. People deposit their money into the system, the money is invested, the administrators keep the profits, the people eventually get the principal not adjusted for inflation and have to bear the losses if the investments don't work out. In every country that has nationalized social security it has failed the people.
Immigration is dead slow at this time. Some people have been waiting for years only to find out their papers are lost and have to start all over again. Without permanent residence you cannot get a plan for your cell phone or internet service. You have to use someone else's name and ID to get a contract. Bureaucracy in Chile is quite cumbersome and you will find you have to go to the notary's office to get anything done. Adding my wife's name to my Bank account required a power of attorney whereas in the US it is a ten minute visit to the Bank and a free cup of coffee.
All in all, life there is much more relaxing and a healthy place for kids to grow up.

MDGringo
  9/3/2021 15:58 EST

"The past is history and the future is mystery, we only have the now or present moment, enjoy you’re present and remember to live, love and laugh. "

Too right!!!

Except it is hard enjoy your present and remember to live, love and laugh if you are in North Korea. Not a conspiracy, but simply reality on the ground told by escapees. Same for Uyghurs in China, Gays in Russia. Jews in the Middle East, Muslims in Germany. Blacks in the deep south of the US. Red county citizens in Blue States. Blue City dwellers in Red States, Conservatives on University campuses, a trans person on a construction site, or an unvaccinated person in most any well-populated place right now.

The tendency for the majority to oppress the minority is common in history, I'm looking for a live and let live place that has a strong commitment to leave the minority be so that my family's future is a little less mysterious.

I'm neither left nor right, neither Evangelical Christian nor Atheist, neither gay nor opposed to gays, neither racist nor "anti-racist", neither Republican nor Democrat, neither Fox News nor MSNBC, neither xenophobic nor multiculturalist. So I am a super minority everywhere I go, because most people in America desperately want you to be in one or more of those categories.

Oh and one more thing. I don't want the country I end up in to be militaristic in the rest of the world. It's expensive not to mention annoys people in the rest of the world. Not a conspiracy just the reality of US foreign policy.

Chile checks a lot of my boxes, but a change in the Constitution has been talked about. So, I am interested in finding out about that before committing there. Thus the original question.

No place will be perfect, but I am looking for a generation or two of relative peace before my descendants will have to move again, which they will no doubt have to do just like my great grandparents did from Italy to the US right before WWI. (another hard place/time to enjoy life: in the middle of a war)

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