Job Discussion Forums

[GDT]

Hi folks,

I've been checking out the site for the last month or so and have been trying to make a decision. It's a little tough. Could you help? Please don't flame me: I have read over a hundred posts trying to get information, but I could use some help now.

I'm a writer (from Canada) and want to spend Jan to Aug in Central/South America. My characters go to a yet unspecified country and have some problems. It doesn't particularly matter where they go.

I need to write in the morning and work from 1 - 9 pm. This is not laziness, but simply because I write best in the morning.

I have 5 years ESL experience in Asia and already have a BA. No TESL or anything like that. I have been taking Spanish classes for 3 months. It's going well.

I need to live in a city where I break even every month. A little savings would be good but not necessary. I was thinking of San Jose, Costa Rica because it seems like a lot of crazy (read: write-able) action could happen there, but it also seems really darn dangerous. I don't like the idea of not being able to walk in the streets at night and get a drink at a roadside stand without looking over my shoulder. I'm not completely against it, but just wary...maybe somewhere else in Costa Rica?

So to recap:

1. Afternoon work
2. Reasonable wage, but nothing flashy (I don't have a flashy lifestyle)
3. Reasonably high population, maybe 100,000 or so. Guadalajara?
4. Safe enough.

Thanks a lot! I've come to recognize the three familiar people in the Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica forums and hope they might chime in! I'm up to go to all three of those places if they fit the bill.

GDT

[john_n_carolina]

...big city or small city??

in L.America, you won't get too many offers over the internet or phone. you just have to show up, like Europe.

also, in L.America you do a lot more preparing than Asia. some schools have 0 materials. so, you might be preparing a little in the A.M. also.

[MELEE]

I'm sorry, but if you think San Jose seems too dangerous for you, then you'd be better off forgetting the whole region. Maybe you're characters could travel to Japan?

[SeanStock]

Buenos Aires is fun, but more European than Latin. Extremely cheap, and 14 million people in the metro area. Beautiful white latins women, all thin and hot, and the lifestyle definitley tends to like to do things in the afternoons and evenings. I have friends taking courses that end at 11pm.

[misteradventure]

Cheap is relative. I'd like to know what you consider 'cheap'. There isn't a whole bunch of information on cost-of-living in the Argentina forum that I have seen. And, yes, nearly anyplace is 'cheap' when compared to places like Oslo, Moscow or London.

If you would provide detail like rent, salaries, etc. it would be helpful.

I'm currently in Panama, which is 'cheap' compared to San Francisco, California and New York City; gas costs about the same, food is sometimes more expensive- only unskilled labor, utilities and some local produce (i.e. would be imported to English-speaking countries, such as pineapple and banana) are inexpensive. Rents compare to American Southwest: you can rent a place for $350 a month but don't expect the nicest place or the best neighborhood. Of course, you might always get lucky.

[john_n_carolina]

...you might also want to check out volunteer programs. there, you would have free housing, food, etc and live with a local family in exchange for some type of volunteer work. like planting trees, working on an organic farm, shrimp farm, and teaching.

go to www.idealist.org

here's one in Ecuador, on the coast in Bahia working on a farm.

http://www.bahiacity.com/spanish/

but, i saw 152 posted JUST for Ecuador alone....