Bolivian President Evo Morales flees town ahead of speech after angry miners throw dynamite ...

The government didn't lift any subsidies on flour and sugar. There were no subsidies on either one of those products.

It must have been the CIA setting off those sticks of dynamite. It couldn't have been those indigenous, wonderful friends of Evo.....the "Bolivian Bone Head"

I am a retired Canadian. I had thought to retire to Bolivia. There seems to be upheaval all around the globe. Canadians are also angry at our government and especially, our provincial government, here in British Columbia, where I live. We are so heavily taxed now, it's almost impossible for my pension to cover the cost of living. I had at one time read, the cost of living in Bolivia, was very reasonable. I have been trying to find a good, real estate web site to research the cost of buying a home there. I was sort of looking for a gated community or a condo community. Not speaking the language, I'm finding it difficult to find an agency, that is in English.

I would really appreciate any advice, anyone could give me. Can a retiree live there on a visa? Or what is necessary?

Thanx for any advice.

Gloria

he should flee to libya

Gloria wrote:

I am a retired Canadian. I had thought to retire to Bolivia. There seems to be upheaval all around the globe. Canadians are also angry at our government and especially, our provincial government, here in British Columbia, where I live. We are so heavily taxed now, it's almost impossible for my pension to cover the cost of living. I had at one time read, the cost of living in Bolivia, was very reasonable. I have been trying to find a good, real estate web site to research the cost of buying a home there. I was sort of looking for a gated community or a condo community. Not speaking the language, I'm finding it difficult to find an agency, that is in English.
I would really appreciate any advice, anyone could give me. Can a retiree live there on a visa? Or what is necessary?
Thanx for any advice.
Gloria

I can try to help you out if you contact me through my site http://www.boliviabella.com/what-you-want.htm... Use the contact form to send me a message with your email address.(It's a secure form so your message and data won't ever display online).

Gloria wrote:

I am a retired Canadian. I had thought to retire to Bolivia. There seems to be upheaval all around the globe. Canadians are also angry at our government and especially, our provincial government, here in British Columbia, where I live. We are so heavily taxed now, it's almost impossible for my pension to cover the cost of living. I had at one time read, the cost of living in Bolivia, was very reasonable. I have been trying to find a good, real estate web site to research the cost of buying a home there. I was sort of looking for a gated community or a condo community. Not speaking the language, I'm finding it difficult to find an agency, that is in English.
I would really appreciate any advice, anyone could give me. Can a retiree live there on a visa? Or what is necessary?
Thanx for any advice.
Gloria

Call the Bolivian Embasy regarding visa questions.

Call the Bolivian Embassy for Visa questions.

http://www.vipbienesraices.com/sys/es/vip/vip...

Gloria wrote:

I am a retired Canadian. I had thought to retire to Bolivia. There seems to be upheaval all around the globe. Canadians are also angry at our government and especially, our provincial government, here in British Columbia, where I live. We are so heavily taxed now, it's almost impossible for my pension to cover the cost of living. I had at one time read, the cost of living in Bolivia, was very reasonable. I have been trying to find a good, real estate web site to research the cost of buying a home there. I was sort of looking for a gated community or a condo community. Not speaking the language, I'm finding it difficult to find an agency, that is in English.
I would really appreciate any advice, anyone could give me. Can a retiree live there on a visa? Or what is necessary?
Thanx for any advice.
Gloria

Gloria wrote:

I am a retired Canadian. I had thought to retire to Bolivia. There seems to be upheaval all around the globe. Canadians are also angry at our government and especially, our provincial government, here in British Columbia, where I live. We are so heavily taxed now, it's almost impossible for my pension to cover the cost of living. I had at one time read, the cost of living in Bolivia, was very reasonable. I have been trying to find a good, real estate web site to research the cost of buying a home there. I was sort of looking for a gated community or a condo community. Not speaking the language, I'm finding it difficult to find an agency, that is in English.
I would really appreciate any advice, anyone could give me. Can a retiree live there on a visa? Or what is necessary?
Thanx for any advice.
Gloria

I recommend going to Santa Cruz. You need a visa. Go to the Bolivianconsulate website to fill application and see all fees and vaccinations needed. Three are many Americans living there. Contact an American cooperative school they are very friendly and will give u good advise Good luck !

hmm,Bolivian people are among the friendliest people. However, get to know people before you decide to do anything. Go visit the country, understand the local customs. you may change your mind. It is not easy to live in Bolivia, one good thing is that if you have friends, they can really be good to you. However, the country is backward, you may find it difficult to deal with the government and the way it works.

Me speaks you language muy good and much willing I to helps use to relocation in our beauty full country. Please you send us $200 dollars for this application fee we fills out for use now. Gracias Senior para Canada fellow.

I still plan on retiring in Bolivia, the land is expensive but building is relatively cheap, and cost of living is dirt cheap compared to here in the USA. Add to that an abundance of good beer and happy people, and you have a recipe for retirement! My wife is a Boliviana though, and has a HUGE family in Santa Cruz, so that helps as well. Plus she came with a few thousand hectares of land near Orubu, so that helps :)

Callate wrote:

I still plan on retiring in Bolivia, the land is expensive but building is relatively cheap, and cost of living is dirt cheap compared to here in the USA. Add to that an abundance of good beer and happy people, and you have a recipe for retirement! My wife is a Boliviana though, and has a HUGE family in Santa Cruz, so that helps as well. Plus she came with a few thousand hectares of land near Orubu, so that helps :)

Sorry I was gone so long, I lost this site, and had a hard time finding it again.

My son, daughter-in-law and little graddaughter, are thinking to move to Bolivia as well. While I am retired, he is not. He is an Electronics Engineer. He can be a S.C.A.D.A. operator.(supervisory control and data aquisition). Or an Instrumentation Field Engineer. This would be in, mines, gas fields, refineries. He can build and repair anything electronic, or do automation research. I don't speak engineer's geek, so I don't know what all he can do.

My son is also working on a project, building winter greenhouses. With a global shortage of food which is only going to get worse, you can feed yourselves year long. Seasonal vegetables are no problem in these greenhouses, even in Canada's arctic temperatures, these greenhouses work. The insulation is soap bubbles, and fuel cells. I don't speak that geek either, and I get lost in the technical explanations.

I was sort of looking at one of the condominio clubs. Living on my own, I would like close neighbors. If my son does move there, he would probably buy land or a farm, where he can build his greenhouses. I could perhaps, build a little house on his property. Does anyone know, of a real estate web site there, where you can view property in English. I can pick out a lot of words, but, not enough to understand all.

I expect, the American people there, know what is happening to your country. Things there are terribly hard for people. It's getting the same in Canada, people are really struggling to feed their families and keeping a roof over their heads. In our huge countries, with minerals, gas and oil, farms, orchards, ranches, food is becoming very costly. In British Columbia, where I live, gasoline is $1.40 a liter and, we have huge gas and oil fields.

Thanks everyone for your valuable info. If you have any more advice, please post. This time I will keep track of where this site is.

We have property around Santa Cruz, actually near Urubo (http://www.urubo.com/inicio.html ). My wife's family knows the family of the guy that originally started planning that community. We are trying to sell some of the property we own there at the moment. If you buy IN the community, I think (last I heard) the land was going for around $270 a square meter. Outside (ours is just outside) it is going for around $170 a square meter.

You need to just keep looking around to try to find a site that shows in English as well as in Spanish. My personal opinion though, is that you really would not want to move to Bolivia if you do not speak Spanish. I am sure you could get by, and learn it as you go, but it would be a severe disadvantage to NOT know Spanish there. Most Bolivians do NOT speak English (or speak very limited English) so you can see how that would be a problem.

Good luck!!! Maybe we'll see you there in a decade or two! ;)

BoliviaBella wrote:

<quoted text>
I can try to help you out if you contact me through my site http://www.boliviabella.com/what-you-want.htm... Use the contact form to send me a message with your email address.(It's a secure form so your message and data won't ever display online).

I did e-mail you. However, I couldn't find a send button. I tried everything I could find. I could have missed it. I am still learning how to get around on the computer. Please advise.

Angela gonzalez wrote:

<quoted text>
I recommend going to Santa Cruz. You need a visa. Go to the Bolivianconsulate website to fill application and see all fees and vaccinations needed. Three are many Americans living there. Contact an American cooperative school they are very friendly and will give u good advise Good luck !

Thank you Angela.

Do you have an e-mail for the American co-operative school?

I will try the Bolivian Consulate web site.

Callate wrote:

I still plan on retiring in Bolivia, the land is expensive but building is relatively cheap, and cost of living is dirt cheap compared to here in the USA. Add to that an abundance of good beer and happy people, and you have a recipe for retirement! My wife is a Boliviana though, and has a HUGE family in Santa Cruz, so that helps as well. Plus she came with a few thousand hectares of land near Orubu, so that helps :)

Well, I guess I need advice, on how to find a Bolivian husband then. Only thing though, I am a spoiled Canadian lady, very used to my creature comforts. I require, an electric stove, a big fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer, deepfreeze, hot and cold running water. Perhaps this will help, I do love to cook.

I found a web site, with Bolivian music. That is enough right there, to make me love Bolivia. I love the Mexican flamenco guitars, and the flamenco dances. I love all Spanish music.

They have all that stuff you say you require, it's just harder (or relatively more expensive anyway) to find it there. You may want to buy it here and have it shipped over there in a big container on a ship along with the rest of your furniture and stuff. The hot water is typically provided by an instant-water-heater rather than a big water-heater like we tend to have here though. I would suggest adding an air-conditioner to your list as well, but that's just me.

I don't know about Canada, but most of our circle of friends are Bolivian and Peruvian, but there aren't too many "available" ones, or I'd hook you up ;) Not too many of them own property in Bolivia either, but I lucked out with my wife because her father (and mom for that matter, and all her brothers) still lives there and takes care of the land (and my horse *L*).

If you like Santa Cruz, check out Aldo Peña's music, he has a LOT that is a good celebration of Cruceño life. Not exactly "traditional" but he is well-loved around there these days. Azul-Azul is another modern band from Bolivia, but is more "rock" than "traditional" (although they do have a few traditional-type songs).

It would be interesting to talk sometime over a beer or five. What made you pick Bolivia of all places? Before I met my wife I would have NEVER guessed I would EVER set foot in Bolivia in my life, and knew nothing about it at all, I mean not even where on the map to find it. I do know now that they have an EXCELLENT export product in their women though ;)

Just kidding about, the finding of a husband.
It was actually my son and daughter-in-law who suggested, they would like to move to Bolivia. My daughter-in-laws mother had back packed all over South America. She really loved Bolivia and the people. She said, the Bolivian people could be as poor as church mice, but, they could still laugh. This was a few years ago though. It sounds as though the Bolivian people, are struggling to house and feed their families too now.
My pension was good when I retired, now, not so good. The cost of living keeps going up and up, my pension stays the same. I live in the north, and, I'm very tired of the cold winters and the high cost of living. Perhaps, it would be better to rent for a while in Bolivia, and then make a decision.
Would not shipping furniture on a container ship, cost a fortune? Bolivia isn't on the sea coast, so the furniture would have to be trucked to Bolivia? Or perhaps shipped by train?? I have things I love, and would hate to part with. But thought shipping stuff by sea, would be an arm and a leg.
I did plan on living in Santa Cruz. La Paz is too high in altitude. My daughter-in-law is asthmatic and I have a bit of a heart condition, so we can't live too high up.
Thanks everyone, for all of your good advice. I will keep checking back, for any bits of advice.

I don't know about the actual cost of shipping, but my wife's family does business between here and there, and some of that involves shipping stuff (cars, furniture) between here and there or there and here and they say that the cost to do so in a shipping container ship is "not very much". I have yet to actually find out or call to inquire about "how much" is "not very much" but I do know that we will eventually have to know because we have "stuff" that will need to move with us (hierlooms, a grandfather clock, and most of our household furniture, which is primarily antiques that we are not going to leave behind here). My udnerstanding is that we should be worried more about getting stuff robbed along the way than we should about the cost of shipping.*LOL* Oh well...that's life.

I do have to agree about the people of Bolivia though. I can cite MANY examples in my wife's family and in our circle of friends of people in Bolivia working as salesmen in stores even though they are trained as professionals (engineers, draftsmen, etc) because there just does not seem to be much work there (although my wife assures me that I could easily find work there as an American computer nerd). Even though much of her family is working little or sub-standard (she has 10 brothers there), you are right, they always seem to be happy and laugh easily, and I envy thier ability to go through life relatively stress-free. They are a wonderful people. I think Paceña helps a LOT.*LOL* Medical professionals seem to do OK there, as well as landowners/ranchers, but for the average joe, it seems these are difficult times there as well. Some of that is because of the government and the people, but some is just economic crap. I think the economy there is made worse because of poor decision-making at various levels of government, but contrary to what many in-country Bolivians seem to think, to me it seems to be slowly getting better there. I could be wrong (and likely am, if history serves as a guide *L*) but that is what is seems like to me.