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Which Latin American city would you rather live in?

FrankFrank 2,374 Posts
edited July 2011 in Strut Central
My wife and I are thinking about moving to Latin America next year. Possible target locations include:

Mexico City,
Managua,
San Jose,
Bogota,
Santiago De Chile

and this would pretty much be our order of preference...

Does any of you have any experiences about any of these places?

  Comments

  • doisndoisn baleadas&pupuzas 303 Posts
    only been to those places for some weeks, i would vouch for Bogota. It??s a bustling metropole and within just a short drive you can have beautiful landscapes beyond the outskirts. Colombia in general is very nice and has great people, food & culture. Whole Country is on some booming tendency.

    b/w

    are you going to retire Frank?
  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    Frank said:
    My wife and I are thinking about moving to Latin America next year. Possible target locations include:

    Mexico City,
    Managua,
    San Jose,
    Bogota,
    Santiago De Chile

    and this would pretty much be our order of preference...

    Does any of you have any experiences about any of these places?

    Bogota is really really cool. Stayed there for about 2 weeks all told last month. But I'm moving there this fall so there won't be any records anymore! ;) It is fucking cold as hell, though, easily the highest in altitude of any of the cities you mention above. GREAT nightlife: Coolest bar I've ever been to in my life is Andres Carne De Res. 5 stories of hot women dancing! Also, there's the Bogota Brewing Co with numerous locations around the center of the city (which is nice because Miller owns a monopoly on all the major beer brands there and they are all shit). BBC has insanely good beers and at least 4-5 seasonals at all times. There is also "Zona T" which has tons of English pubs and Cuban cigar shops.

    From an economics standpoint, Managua is going to be the cheapest both for housing and living expenses by far. Nicaragua is after all . You will live like a king there and have a super nice place. Santiago has expensive housing and things are generally pretty pricey. Bogota is crazy for real estate: there are super affordable places in the worst neighborhoods you can imagine, but anything in a nice neighborhood is going to be San Francisco prices (not joking). A big part of that has to do with the fact that every apt building has a hired doorman who lets you in and watches shit.

    Personally I wouldn't live in San Jose, but Mexico City is super rad and still somewhat affordable to get a nice apartment I've been told.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    It's a great idea man. South America is very fresh too. I'd suggest moving wherever your dollar has the most strength, and wherever you can get great food and weather. Of course I'm Argentina biased though.

    - spidey
  • AndreBretonAndreBreton 344 Posts
    Mexico City. Basically because I love it and my dad and bother live there. I don't have experience with the other places but DF has great art, music, food, clubs, ladies, like any major metro area.

    The ancient ruins sprinkled across the city is a plus as well.
  • DanteDante 371 Posts
    AndreBreton said:
    Mexico City. Basically because I love it and my dad and bother live there. I don't have experience with the other places but DF has great art, music, food, clubs, ladies, like any major metro area.

    The ancient ruins sprinkled across the city is a plus as well.

    Mexico City, of course. The above post explains it quite nicely. If you want / need any specific info just drop me a line and I'll try to help.

    If I had to chose another city in Latin America it'd definitely be Buenos Aires.
  • pimlicosquirrelpimlicosquirrel 772 Posts
    Although Mexico City is wild fun with incredible food, it's the last place I'd live just because of the pollution.....actually, I also didn't like how spread out it all was. Quibble.

    My list would go, of the cities I've been to....

    Does Harlem count?
    Iquitos
    Lima
    Rio
    BA
    Salvador
    Sao Paulo
    La Paz
    MexCity
  • empanadamnempanadamn 1,462 Posts
    Dante said:
    AndreBreton said:
    Mexico City. Basically because I love it and my dad and bother live there. I don't have experience with the other places but DF has great art, music, food, clubs, ladies, like any major metro area.

    The ancient ruins sprinkled across the city is a plus as well.

    Mexico City, of course. The above post explains it quite nicely. If you want / need any specific info just drop me a line and I'll try to help.
    .

    what's a good online info source for the above? i plan on coming down to cancun for a wedding, but after, really interested in exploring DF for a few days in late november.

    thanks in advance.
  • francozola0francozola0 129 Posts
    Dante said:
    If I had to chose another city in Latin America it'd definitely be Buenos Aires.

    I enjoyed Mexico City but Buenos Aires was by far the best city Ive visited in South America.
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    i've thought about this a lot myself and we can discuss this more on sat
    my friend lived in bogota for a year and said he could not stand the weather in the end
    much like in Lima, the winter rainy season is some BS, i would opt for the LA city with the lowest stress factor...for me that's BeloHorizonte Brazil but ultimately Montevideo is the shit

    great city, nice boardwalk with the sea, great food, super calm, close to argentina and brazil
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    Wherever you pick, I expect you to take over the "Poast A Latin Banger" thread.
  • FrankFrank 2,374 Posts
    Some great input, thanx guys. This more or less affirmed our rating so far. Thing is, that we have to chose from a list of destinations for my wife's next work assignment and these were our Latin America picks so far... Mexico City is still our top favorite by far and Managua seems pretty attractive as well... would also make a great home base from where to go other places. While I heard great things about the city, I had already read up on the climate in Bogota so thanx for making that point, A*****e. This might be a bit too cold for our liking. Especially seriously cold nights all year round... not nice.

    We'll find out where we end up sometime around Xmas... there's never any guarantee, so far they've always sent us where we wanted to go but we might just as well end up in Asia, back in Africa (which I'm secretly hoping for a bit...) or even Europe. It's quite a gamble...
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    Mexico City seems a bit cramped to me

  • FrankFrank 2,374 Posts
    The_Hook_Up said:
    Mexico City seems a bit cramped to me


    I like big cities... I even enjoy Lagos.

    Tegucigalpa also would be an option but I'm worried Honduras might a bit too rough even for us...
  • DanteDante 371 Posts
    empanadamn said:
    Dante said:
    AndreBreton said:
    Mexico City. Basically because I love it and my dad and bother live there. I don't have experience with the other places but DF has great art, music, food, clubs, ladies, like any major metro area.

    The ancient ruins sprinkled across the city is a plus as well.

    Mexico City, of course. The above post explains it quite nicely. If you want / need any specific info just drop me a line and I'll try to help.
    .

    what's a good online info source for the above? i plan on coming down to cancun for a wedding, but after, really interested in exploring DF for a few days in late november.

    thanks in advance.

    If you read spanish, this is probably the most complete guide: http://www.chilango.com
  • pabloscooterpabloscooter 370 Posts
    I've only been to Mexico City and Managua out of the ones you posted and Mexico City seems more "westernized" by far, but I had more fun in Managua and enjoy Nicaragua as a country a whole lot more too!
  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    there is tons of dog shit in the smog in mexico city
    http://articles.latimes.com/1999/apr/30/news/mn-32636
    shit in the water
    http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=344836&CategoryId=14091

    but it looks like its getting better
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