• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

Uruguay As An European City

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Aug 12, 2008
in Uruguay
0
Starting A Small Business In Uruguay
209
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Retire In Style To The Switzerland Of South America: Uruguay

“I’d been bouncing around Latin America for about a decade by the time I discovered Uruguay. After years living, traveling, and doing business in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and elsewhere in the region, what struck me about Uruguay was how orderly a place it is. Things work here. Traffic is controlled. Roads are paved. The streets are clean. I’d heard Uruguay referred to as the ‘Switzerland of South America’ but dismissed the idea as so much rhetoric. When I finally saw the place for myself, I realized there’s really something to the association.

“Uruguay isn’t Switzerland. But the parallels are striking. Mention ‘ Switzerland,’ and people think beautiful, safe, peaceful, clean… They think of tradition. Efficiency. Trains that run on time. Systems that work.

“Uruguay is Latin America, no question. But there are theaters everywhere. Bookstores. Cafés. Art galleries. The place has a very European feel. The Spanish even has an Italian accent to it.

“Everywhere is the contrast between Latino and Euro. People idle at the corner cafés, sipping coffee and watching the world go by, just as they do in Europe. But you also see them walking down the street carrying leather-covered gourds, sipping mate through pewter straws. Businessmen are as at home galloping a horse on the pampas as they are taking lunch meetings in the city. Tall, slender, sophisticated, well-dressed women unashamedly put away two-pound steaks…

“Not only the people, but the cities, too, have a European flavor, with parks and plazas and tidy tree-lined avenues. But in these parks on Saturday afternoons, you see locals, young and old, passionately dancing the tango. It’s like Europe with the cobwebs shaken off. The premier cities of Europe are beautiful, of course, but they can seem dead. Uruguay’s cities are modest by comparison but gloriously alive.

“There’s one comparison between Uruguay and Switzerland that, in my mind, is quite literal…and that has to do with how safe and peaceful Uruguay is. Coming and going as much as I do, I’m struck, every time, by how lax the security is at the international airport in Montevideo compared with security in the States, certainly, but even elsewhere in Latin America. These people aren’t worried about terrorists. Why would they be? Why would any terrorists come this far south? Uruguay is one of the world’s last refuges, a truly safe haven, blissfully separate from the troubles of the rest of the world.

“Uruguayans are happy, friendly people. My new neighbor embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by this at first. In most Latin countries, men only kiss women. But, after the initial shock, I was charmed.

“I actually look forward to my return flights to Montevideo. The Uruguayans on board walk up and down the aisles, greeting each other and treating everyone, even strangers, like old friends.

“For me, Uruguay is a chance to recapture a quality of life that’s a fading memory in the States right now, a chance to live in safety and friendship and at peace, a chance to escape the craziness of much of the rest of the world these days.

“It’s also a dramatically beautiful place, with white-sand beaches and lush mountains.

“Maybe the biggest difference between Uruguay and Switzerland is the cost of living. Uruguay is more expensive today than it was when I first discovered it and decided to make the move from Nicaragua to Montevideo. But this is a relative statement. Things that were dirt-cheap two or three years ago are only very cheap today. It’s still possible to live well here on about $1,500 per month.”

Friend David James moved from Nicaragua to Uruguay two years ago and maintains that the Switzerland of South America offers the best standard of living of anyplace in the New World. He’s settling in for the long haul, hard at work just outside coastal Piriapolis.

Kathleen Peddicord

Comments

Tags: 'health care''health insurance''investment''retirement'Uruguay
Share84Tweet52
Previous Post

Global Real Estate Investing 101—Taxes

Next Post

How To Borrow To Buy Real Estate

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Couple enjoying the beach
Argentina

Top 10 City Beaches In Latin America

by Live And Invest Overseas
November 11, 2020
0

The ideal life for many is being able to take a short drive from home to the beach, or from...

Read more
Lisbon Pride, same sex friendly countries, gay friendly countries

Top 8 Gay Friendly Countries

September 7, 2020
an empty beach san blas panama

Why We Left It All Behind And Moved To Panama City

June 17, 2020
A Portugal passport with US dollars

My Top 4 Countries For Obtaining A Second Passport In 2020

December 5, 2019
Vina del mar beach

10 Of The Best Places To Live Or Retire In Latin America

June 16, 2019
christmas fireplace with tree and presents

10 Of The Strangest Christmas Traditions Around The World

December 24, 2018
Property Investment Markets 2016

Top 10 Property Investment Markets For 2016

December 31, 2015
Next Post
Financing Property purchase Overseas

How To Borrow To Buy Real Estate

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.