Anyone familiar with working in South America?

[JohnnyC]

Considering taking a contract in Brazil, later moving through Chile and Argentina. Anybody have any experience down in South America? The increase in pay is pretty substantial. Not a "contractor" type job.

[randolph]

I have not worked in Brasil.
but.
(my disclaimer)
my fiancee is Brasilian, we have family there, we travel there frequently. Most of our friends are from South America. We have friends who work there and my employer has an office in Rio.

Areas of Brasil have become VERY expensive to live in, Rio and Sao Paulo has gotten rediculous. One of our friends just took a job in Rio, petro-engineer she made $200k (per year) here and took a $300k job there and she was nervous about whether it was enough or not.



I read this website daily http://riotimesonline.com/

all that said, I LOVE Brasil. the people are great, food is awesome and the country is growing incredibly fast (too fast)

[Irish]

I've worked all over the country of Brazil, in Argentina and Peru. I spent approximately 6 months in total in Brazil, a few weeks in Argentina and about 3 weeks in Peru. What questions do you have?

If you're single Brazil and Argentina are very welcoming. Beautiful available women, good beer and great food. I didn't have as much free time in Peru and when I did it was in Lima which is very dangerous anytime past sunset.

South American countries have rapidly evolving economies, meaning their currency values fluctuate a lot, and the political climate is very different than what you're used to in the U.S. My suggestion when traveling south of our border is to adopt the politics and culture of the indigenous people. Nobody gives a shit about your American politics and ideals and most people are on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to your average M4C member.

If you decide to go I'd suggest getting yourself familiar with basic greetings, numbers and the names of common food that you like to eat in the local language. If anybody tells you Brazilian Portuguese is like Spanish they don't have a clue! You can get by with Portanol (Portuguese and Espanol) which is kinda like Spanglish for us.

[JohnnyC]

I'm looking for general advice about living and working south of the equator. I know how to keep a pretty low profile, and although I don't speak portuguese, once we're in the other South American countries my spanish will work in my favor. I've got Rosetta Stone to try and at least get a quick basis in portuguese.

I'm primarily concerned with places I should avoid, specific threats to look out for. The general stuff probably rings the same as working in other 3rd world countries (I've already worked in Egypt, Central America/Caribbean, etc.) but stuff more specific to Brazil would be helpful.

I've gotten a couple good pm's with some excellent information, but I'd like to get as much information as possible.