life in Uruguay? Good for families?

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IntTeacher
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:21 am

life in Uruguay? Good for families?

Post by IntTeacher »

What is life in Uruguay like? Good for families? What is your quality of life like?
teacherguy
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:11 am

Post by teacherguy »

Very good for families. I taught at the Uruguayan American School a while back. Montevideo is a very pleasant city. Very European in a lot of ways. Lots pf parks, good food, great beaches, friendly people. There are parts of the city that you'd maybe not want to wander through alone at night, but for the most part it's a safe place. I lived in Carrasco, which is the upper class suburb of the city nearest to the school. I'd walk alone at night and never felt unsafe. UAS (I assume you're looking at UAS) was a good school when I taught there. Very much orientated towards the school being a "community." I miss Uruguay and UAS.
teacherguy
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:11 am

Post by teacherguy »

Sorry, I didn't really answer your quality of life question.

Montevideo is more European than Latin in my opinion. I enjoyed the city, but I did find it a bit dull at times. It's not a particularly vibrant place in regards to culture. (I'd come from teaching in Cairo, where I very much enjoyed the insanity.) For a single guy who likes the "what kind of weirdness will I see today," part of living overseas I got bored fairly easily.

For a family though it would be a different story I'd think. Montevideo has some nice malls with all the mod cons. The old part of the city is pretty, with fun shopping and a good vibe. The weekend market is always interesting and vibrant. The food is fantastic, assuming you like meat. Not a lot of options beyond that. The city is fairly clean, wasn't a lot of pollution. And like I said above, it's safe. Very safe in comparison to other South American capital cities. It has a great health care system.

You have to learn Spanish. Uruguay is one of the top tourist destinations for South Americans, but not so much for westerners. So English is not widely spoken.

Travel is easy, and the beach areas to the north are unbelievable.

It is an expensive place to live though. Similar in costs to America. Taxes are VERY high. And you'll be taxed on your income. (Or at least I was. Things may have changed.) If memory serves about a third of my monthly pay went to taxes. I even had to pay a tax on the square footage of my apartment. If you're a teaching team you'll be fine. With a non-teaching spouse it might be tight.
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