Have you moved there Rich One?
My husband's company is transferring us there in a couple of months. In fact, we have less than 90 days to go in Argentina
We were there in September for a week to look at schools for my son.
My impression is that basically you can get all the American brands (along with the crappy ones you don't really want and the chain restaurants you forgot even existed -- California Pizza Kitchen, anyone?) but at South American prices. Sure, it is cheaper than here, but it is still bloody expensive. So you will still end up hauling loads of stuff back every time you do a visit back to North America. The only difference is that, at least if you run out of something, you can suck it up and buy it. In Buenos Aires half the stuff you still can't even buy, even at an added cost.
We had a look at some homes. The closed communities are odd -- unlike here where you buy the land and can build whatever you want, in Chile most of the "condominios" (closed neighbourhoods) build all of the homes for you and you choose from home style X, Y, or Z. This means the neighbourhoods can just be row upon row of identical houses. Creepy.
As for schools, the bilingual system is unlike any other in the world. With a couple of exceptions (that will cost you over US$25k a year), a bilingual private school there consists of everything in English with the exception of Spanish grammar until 6th or 8th grade, depending on the school, and then the reverse -- everything in Spanish, with the exception of English grammar, until you graduate. Sorry to make an overarching statement, but after learning this, I understand why Chileans have a much poorer level of English than Argentines -- they can go to some of the poshest schools and still go into university without having received an English education in 5 years. It's really not the ideal for anyone with a bilingual family either.
With the increases on tuition in Argentina next year, tuition at his new school will work out to about US$30 cheaper per month in Santiago (well, the school is in Chicureo, to be precise, and Pilar : Buenos Aires = Chicureo : Santiago). Not a big difference, but whereas most foreigners moving to Chile complain about the high costs of tuition, for us, once you get over the first year of tuition (it includes a one-time incorporation fee), it may well end up being cheaper than here.
Getting into the schools is the most ridiculous circus of snobbiness. We were lucky to be accepted into all of the schools we applied to, one of them we basically told to eff right off as they were so rude in person. The other two are very similar, but you have to pay a one-time incorporation fee to go to the school, and one of the schools was us$8000 and the other was $4000 so we ended up going for the cheaper one (their monthly tuition is exactly the same thereafter, the higher incorporation fee is another status thing). The slightly cheaper school seemed more friendly and seems like it is going to be more supportive of our child initially. The more expensive one gives the kids absurd amounts of homework beginning in grade one. We figure once we have had a year or so in Chile to figure things out, we can always move our child to a different school.
Inflation -- Chileans are up in arms about this! They think they are in a crisis. Most would flip out if they saw how we are managing....
Anyway, it shall be very odd. I am very sad to leave Argentina, it has been my home for over 12 years. However, this is a career opportunity for my husband. Rich One, or anyone else on the board who is in Chile, it would be great to meet up on the other side of the Cordillera as of Feb 1st.
Cheers
