Thanks for the comments. Appreciated.
@davonz, I can confirm what you mentioned for when I was in Medellin. Just not sure of what the fairly recent prices were, especially shelter and food.
Asuncion is mentioned a lot.
ElQueso, are you around? I believe you have some recent info as IIRC it's your wife that is from there.
Is it a nice welcome fairly dramatic lowering of cost vs BA or only somewhat?
I'd imagine renting furnished apartments would be quite more challenging vs BA though, just not quite the supply.
Interesting in that just after making this thread yesterday, came across some typical Argentine (red tape) financial frustrations possibly jeopardizing me continuing at the reasonable 6 peso rate. If I have to go back to ATM withdrawals at the lower rate, BA really won't be as much worth it to me and moving on would seem even more appealing adding in also the other issues around. Going to Uruguay seems to be too much bother too.
...pondering.
Hey man, I saw your request for info and I was going to reply, but I've been so damned busy this week!
This is not a simple issue. The biggest reason that I have stayed here is not because I love Argentina, because I am awed by all the cultural stuff available, because of the beautiful women (being happily married, personally, and finding as many, easily, in Asuncion to look at), but because of one main thing - I have made a life here. I have 7 direct family members through marriage living here, and something like 20+ cousins and even more friends of the family. I have a huge number of expat friends and a few Argentine friends (but many, many acquaintances).
I just haven't felt like moving to Paraguay, which means starting all over again on most of these things.
The cost of living here bothered me quite a bit until the blue rate dollar came along and made things easier. I just don't have the pressure to move because of that now.
I haven't done a BA-Asuncion comparison in over a year as far as prices go. However, the last time I did, while inflation was still moving here, the cost of living was nearly half there, on average, than what it was here. Certainly no higher than 2/3, depending on how you want to live.
Since the meat industry here started going down hill a few years ago and in the last year or two Paraguay has started exporting beef to Argentina, beef prices have risen in Paraguay as a result, but they are still cheaper.
Living can be cheaper, but definitely Asuncion isn't BA in the availability of temporary, furnished apartments. Most apartments that are available that I've taken quick looks at via web pages are offered as "Luxury Apartments" and are quite expensive. But I don't think in terms of renting an apartment there, I think in terms of renting a house, which is more plentiful and in my opinion provides better living space. One thing about Asuncion, downtown isn't particularly a place I'd want to live. I like the Villa Mora area because it has a bunch of decent houses and shopping (the malls are very expensive, but there are a ton of independent shops where quality things can be bought cheaper). San Fernando is good, Villa Elisa, etc. Downtown just isn't very alive. Many, many better places to live unless you are dying for the city experience.
To tell you the truth, given that it's been so relatively long since I've really looked seriously into moving there, I'd hate to tell you that everything is still considerably cheaper there than here. I believe it is, but I can't base that on fact right now. I do know for a fact that where my wife's family lives it's much cheaper, but they live in poverty in a poor area about 350 klicks north west of Asuncion and that doesn't work for a comparison. I doubt you'd want to live there to begin with anyway, although there are good things about it, but it's not for the faint-of-heart nor the rookie (to Paraguay). For starters, not a lot of Spanish is spoken there. Most people speak Guarani. (talk about culture! They absolutely fascinate me!).
I'm not sure what furnished houses are like there. I've always looked for unfurnished. Furniture and electro-domostic stuff can be a bit expensive there, though, like BA.
Things I like about Asuncion:
- Not hectic, big city living - a slower life (you can find that in Argentina too)
- People are friendly for the most part and really like foreigners (unlike what I find here in general)
- People like to do business there, more like what I'm used to. Decent service without attitude. If you want to start a business there, much easier and much less ongoing issues. Of course, also a bit lesser of a local market to sell to (I'd look at some agricultural enterprise that could export - serious money there).
- Cheaper (I just can't give you the current degree of cheaper-ness)
- No things like rental laws that make it extremely difficult for a foreigner (or others) to rent decent places. I.e., the guarantee issue doesn't exist (which I think may be why, in conjunction with it not being such a tourist destination, there is no real good temporary market there)
- Low income taxes for business, and as I understand it (from our lawyer there) no personal income taxes.
- Better food. I've had better Italian food (on average), as an example, just walking into a restaurant there and ordering something off the menu than going to places here that I've been recommended. Pizza Hut is there (with real pepperoni pizzas!) and other places (although I've seen no Subways or Wendy's). My personal favorite, a bit expensive, is a place called El Paulista which is a brasilian-style churrascaria where they come to your table and cut meats still on the skewer, fresh off the grill, right onto your plate (and a pitcher of lemonade that just really gets me going!). A fairly authentic Mexican food place that is very good, a good Thai place, Chinese etc, etc.
- No big currency issues like here. You can get dollars out of the ATMs there! However, there are a few issues. For some reason, Paraguayan banks always have some series of US $100 bill that they won't accept. The unacceptable series changes over time. Also, I think they manipulate their currency value a bit at times - the value of the dollar to Guarani often drops something like 10% around the end of the year. I find both of those items to be minor annoyances in comparison to what goes on here.
A good friend of mine, a lawyer from California who lives in BA much of the year, likes Asuncion as well. He recently went to Asuncion and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Paraguayan National Ballet was a world-class outfit. He went two nights in a row to watch a rather erotic (as he commented) show that he said was quite enjoyable, just given their abilities, not the eroticism nor beauty of the female dancers themselves (though obviously that was a big plus for him).
I know a lot of people feel that BA is full of "culture." In my opinion, every place in the world is full of culture, it just depends on what you're looking for as to whether you like it. I'm not into ballet, nor symphonic orchestras, not even plays. That's me. The architecture has some neat stuff here if you're into quasi-European turn-of-the-century stuff, but it's so mixed in with concrete boxes and dirty streets that it just doesn't grab me.
To me, the culture that is most important are the people and the lifestyle. I find too much of Buenos Aires, in that regard, to be quite shallow and less than pleasing. I certainly don't remain here for the culture itself and prefer that of Asuncion. But then, I also don't find the Tango to be very interesting either...and I've come across people who so narrowly define what kind of culture they are looking for here that they are surprised that every expat in Buenos Aires is not here for Tango!
Your best bet is to go spend a little time there and see what you think. A couple of weeks or so would be a good start, I think. I know you've been there before, but go with the explicit idea of looking into moving there. You might have to spend your time in a hotel, but I can recommend a couple of good hotels that are very nice and cheaper than many (or most) tourist rental apartments here.
I see a lot of future opportunity in Paraguay. I'm almost certain that in the next couple of years, as my income and ability to be an entrepreneur increase again, I will find myself moving to Paraguay, most likely Asuncion.
