Tuesday, December 05, 2006

"It's Not about the Money....

....It's about all the things the money will buy!" :)

GL was remarking the other day, "geez fuBarrio, for someone without a lot of money, you sure spend a lot of time thinking and talking about it."

uh, good point. But, for that matter, for someone without opposible thumbs on their forepaws, I spend alot of time online too.

So, why all this obsession with the alweakly dollar (TM) on a blog supposedly about living in South America as a US Expat?

Well, for better or worse, the expense of living here factored in a BIG way in deciding on Montevideo. Although relatively inexpensive, it is clearly not the *cheapest* place on the planet to settle, but I wasn't really looking for the cheapest. I was looking for the "best value".

For different people, "value" means different things.

For me, my dream was to have a time machine and live in Europe in the 50's....back when mere mortals and hairless dogs could afford a nice quality of life as out of work expats. I never lived in 1950's Europe, but this is *close* to how I'd imagine it:

relative security
de-emphasis on US pop culture
gentle climate
lots of fresh foods -- fast food still very rare (novelty)
inexpensive
emphasis on free time
de-emphasis on "car culture"

Of course the fact that nearly everyone here *is* European helps complete the illusion!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have described living in Spain under Generalissimo Franco. b

Anonymous said...

I certainly agree with you about Uruguay providing the best value for money spent. It is interesting to me how we have apparently chosen the obverse and reverse of the same coin: you see an image of 1950s Europe, and I see Eisenhower's America with subtitles...

fuBarrio said...

southron,

yes. actually your description may be more apt...certainly more creative in any regard.

for anyone who somehow found this post,hasn't seen southron's site already and would like more info on uruguay, southron's blog is *it* uruguayliving.com.

it's everything a blog by a bald dog would like to be, but alas isn't.

he's also written a ebook on living here as an expat (available on his blog...some of you should be expecting one for xmas! :)

fB

Anonymous said...

I enjoy your blog. Please keep it up. I may never get to live in Uruguay and may not even get to visit, but I sure enjoy reading about it. You, Southron and others allow me to enjoy it vicariously. Best wishe.
Richard in Atlanta

Anonymous said...

I enjoy your blog. Please keep it up. I may never get to live in Uruguay and may not even get to visit, but I sure enjoy reading about it. You, Southron and others allow me to enjoy it vicariously. Best wishes.
Richard in Atlanta

fuBarrio said...

Richard,
Thank you for the warm wishes....if there's anything you'd like to see or hear about in particular, let us know.
Paradoxically, after you've been here a while, you aren't as good of an observer for the US expat....you start to take the marvellous/strange/different/interesting for everyday and forget how cool it was the first time a horse drawn garbage cart "clipped clopped" past you on the street.

fB

fuBarrio said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
fuBarrio said...

Anonymous said...
You have described living in Spain under Generalissimo Franco. b

12:35 PM


The Southron said...
I certainly agree with you about Uruguay providing the best value for money spent. It is interesting to me how we have apparently chosen the obverse and reverse of the same coin: you see an image of 1950s Europe, and I see Eisenhower's America with subtitles...

9:30 PM


FuBarrio said...
southron,

yes. actually your description may be more apt...certainly more creative in any regard.

for anyone who somehow found this post,hasn't seen southron's site already and would like more info on uruguay, southron's blog is *it* uruguayliving.com.

it's everything a blog by a bald dog would like to be, but alas isn't.

he's also written a ebook on living here as an expat (available on his blog...some of you should be expecting one for xmas! :)

fB

10:12 PM


Richard said...
I enjoy your blog. Please keep it up. I may never get to live in Uruguay and may not even get to visit, but I sure enjoy reading about it. You, Southron and others allow me to enjoy it vicariously. Best wishe.
Richard in Atlanta

1:42 PM


Richard said...
I enjoy your blog. Please keep it up. I may never get to live in Uruguay and may not even get to visit, but I sure enjoy reading about it. You, Southron and others allow me to enjoy it vicariously. Best wishes.
Richard in Atlanta

1:42 PM


FuBarrio said...
Richard,
Thank you for the warm wishes....if there's anything you'd like to see or hear about in particular, let us know.
Paradoxically, after you've been here a while, you aren't as good of an observer for the US expat....you start to take the marvellous/strange/different/interesting for everyday and forget how cool it was the first time a horse drawn garbage cart "clipped clopped" past you on the street.

fB