Advice for expats moving to Uruguay (or anywhere else)

Casapueblo, Uruguay
Hi Fernando,
I just came upon your blog in my search about Uruguay. Did you and
your family eventually move there? We live in the US and are
considering a move to Uruguay and have no idea where to start. I
wanted to ask you some questions if you are living there or if you
know someone who does.

Thanks,
Tiffany
.
Hello Tiffany. I’m not in Uruguay and not planning to move there any time soon. We never planned to do so really. In fact the last person from Uruguay I talked with already emigrated and is now happily living in Ireland. She left with her family looking for the kind of stability and opportunities Uruguay simply couldn’t provide. Still, Uruguay is the country I have recommended in my book “Bugging Out and Relocating” for those looking to move to South America.

So as to contact people there my suggestion would be to start with the obvious “expats in Uruguay” search and go from there. Participate in forums, get to know people. Keep in mind though that one man’s paradise is another man’s hell.
If you want my opinion, basically what I said in this video is still very much true.
Uruguay can be a great place for you. Or Argentina. Or Colombia. Or Thailand. Or Canada. Or India.

Also Uruguay
But since you ask me and I’m not a magazine or website editor trying to hook you up with anything here’s some honesty/tough love: While you may be happy in any of those places, there’s some facts you can’t avoid. Canada is simply better as a place to live in than India. Or Colombia. Or Thailand. This is not me expressing an opinion, but a simple observation of pretty conclusive data.  Indicators of quality of life, healthcare, crime, life expectancy, GDP, education, infrastructure, employment, transportation, cost of living, and a long etcetera points in a certain direction. Uruguay is nice. Its relatively peaceful and simple living. Millions live there happily and wouldn’t trade it for anything else… just like millions of people in other countries.

My point is be honest with what you want to find in Uruguay, or anywhere else. This is one of the main points I focus on in “Bugging out and Relocating” when it comes to moving abroad. Expectations. Crime in Uruguay will be much better if you’re from Chicago, but it will be much worse if you come from Maine. Either way you’ll experience a clash of cultures. People all over Latin America are mostly used to getting by with less. Less of everything. Computers, cars, cell phones, many of these will be luxuries for you. Organization and overall bureaucracy is a lot worse, and I know this drives many people from developed countries nuts.

Now, if you want a friendly, family oriented culture you will find it in Uruguay. Family and friends, the importance of relationships between people is stronger and simply more of a priority all over Latin America compared to most of the developed world. Friends hug one another more, people greet each other with a kiss in the cheek, it just seems overall more “touchy” which some people aren’t comfortable with but it’s not meant to be sensual in any way, its just a more expressive culture in the way they interact with one another. For example people in Uruguay don’t doubt a second about sharing mate, where everyone drinks form the same straw. It’s the same in Argentina. An American more worried about personal space and worried about sharing a glass let alone a metal straw is hardly the kind of person that would integrate well in Uruguay. Then again you could focus more on being among expats from your same country, most of which went there with the same ideas and expectations, maybe even more important LEFT your country for the same reason and you just get along great with them, sticking among like-minded people in somewhat of an enclave.
My advice is be honest with yourself. The expectations you have and what you are likely to encounter there. There’s a tremendous difference between the developed and developing world. Everything sounds fantastic until you realize that other than some honourable exceptions pretty much everything is more expensive in Uruguay than in USA.

Once you are certain you want to give it a go, don’t make any permanent decision. Give it a year. Don’t sell your home in USA, rent it out and rent in Uruguay. The first year is usually the “honeymoon” period where everything looks great. The second and third year will be more down to earth but a year minimum is the time you should give it before making any permanent decisions you may later regret.
Best of luck and as the Irish saying goes, May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Food Rationing: Only one pack of sugar per family permitted.

I was going through some of my old photos, found this one from back in Argentina when there was shortage and rationing of certain staples in stores.
1 kg of sugar per family group. 1 unit.  And it cost almost the equivalent of 2 USD back in the day. For a country in which the average person was making well under 500 USD that was insane.
It’s amazing how close we came to ending up like Venezuela, in a country that produces food to feed ten time its own population.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Choosing the right Red Dot/ Holo sight for you and why the answer is Aimpont

So I found myself in that position. A new gun that needs a glass. In this case it’s a Colt M4, 14.5 inch barrel. Sure enough, I’m looking at a gun that is intended for short to medium range, so not a big magnified scope but instead a red dot sight or holographic sight.
If you’re like me, you want quality but you hope there’s something good out there that doesn’t break the bank. Here’s the thought process I went through and how I ended up with an Aimpoint Micro in spite of having initially discarded it.

Eotech.
The military uses them, so they must be good. Circle and Dot? Sounds good. A big circle for quick shots close up and that 2MOA dot for more pinpoint accuracy at longer ranges. Perfect.
Well… no. Turns out the US military is currently suing Eotech because they have lied about their specs. They wouldn’t keep their zero and also had problems with their water resistance. While many people do still trust them, to pay that much money for a product when the company is being sued by its main client didn’t make much sense to me.
So a red dot it is.

Holosun, Vortex, Primary Arms…
Knowing that Aimpoint was crème de la crème but not wanting to spend that much money, these are the brands I started to look into. Most of the reviews were very good, lots of happy customers. Vortex are rugged and have good specs, Holosun have neat features, auto on/off, models that have motion detector to turn on, Solar powered sights. Vortex has the Spark AR which seemed ideal, using common AAA under the optic.
After taking a good long look at these brands, watching youtube reviews, reading articles and such I came to the obvious conclusion: These are nice “budget” red dots made in China. Some are better than others, have slightly better reviews or better durability, or better features, better runtime, but at the end of the day… budget light made in China.
What does this mean? Well, it means less quality, less durability. The battery won’t last as long, or the design and built quality isn’t as good. Even more important nearly all of them suffered sudden death at one point, even after one or two shots in some cases. Switches would break or fail, the red dot, was more of a line, the auto on feature would stop working, the zero would be impossible to keep. With every one of them there was always something. And here is where you come to the obvious conclusion I mentioned above, which is that if you want extreme reliability and durability in spite of the intrinsically fragile, state of the art tech, you need to buy the crème de la crème. You need that “Made in Sweden” quality. If you want to be sure that sight will still be on and bright 3 or 4 years from now when someone breaks into your house, if you don’t want your sight to die, move 5 feet to the left or become so dim its impossible to see in the middle of that gun fight you wished you never saw in your life, then go for it. Save up those extra couple hundred bucks, save money here and there and get yourself the Aimpoint. An Aimpont Micro T2 may be worth 600 bucks, but a broken Holosun or Vortex is worth 0.00 USD.  Even worse, it may cost your life, and that’s a damn high price to pay.

Ok.. which Aimpoint?

Aimpoint PRO Patrol Rifle Optic $449

So you made up your mind and are spending the big bucks. What about Triijcon red dot? Tirjicon is still rather new to the red dot game, and Aimpoint is still king of the hill. If you want something like an ACOG then sure, Trijicon is what you go for, but for red dot sights Aimpoint is still the best most proven brand.

Aimpoint Micro T-2 2 MOA Sight with Standard Mount $715.99

Aimpoint options are basically Pro,  micro T2 and H2. The Pro is clearly bigger, almost twice the weight but very durable. The micros are almost half the weight, much more compact and yet very durable. This is why you seem them so often being used by guys running nice guns. The H2 and T2 are very similar, look the exact same, but the T2 is night vision compatible and has better water and temperature resistance specs. My advice is to go for the T2 or Pro if you don’t care about the extra weight and size, but if you don’t care about the night vision, the H2 is still tough as nails and wont let you down. Any of the three would make a great purchase if one sale, so maybe just buy the one your see priced best if you don’t care about night vision compatibility.
As the saying goes folks, Buy once, Cry once. Words to live by.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Coligny Riots: More trouble in South Africa

"They are throwing rocks at the house and are coming through the walls - please hurry," the panicked voice of a woman, speaking Afrikaans, shouts into a two way radio.
Minutes later her home was in flames after being hit by petrol bombs.
The attack on the Rietvlei maize farm, on the outskirts of the remote South African town of Coligny, came just half an hour after two white farmers were granted bail for the alleged murder of a 16-year-old black teenager.
Pieter Doorewaard, 26 and Phillip Schutte, 34, are accused of throwing Mathlomola Mosweu off a speeding pick up truck on April 20 after catching him picking sunflowers.
An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of Mathlomola's death, but the facts of the case have mattered little in Coligny, where the case has inflamed long simmering racial tensions.

Riots and fears of race war as South African farmers bailed over black teen's death

...

I’ve always been very interested in the situation in South Africa, especially from the Afrikaners white farmers perspective.
It gets rather little attention from the main stream media but having actually met with some Afrikaners I believe their struggle is just packed full of valuable survival information. What do you do in a worst case scenario, in a country ravaged by crime, corruption and even the government itself turned against you? Under constant attack and kicked out of their land, Afrikaner farmers have mastered the art of defensive homesteading, showing us how to harden and defend an isolated residence but ultimately showing how such a strategy is doomed to fail eventually. Many of them have quit and moved to more secured communities in the city. Many others have left the country entirely. Unfortunately, thousands have died as well, while a few still remain, struggling to keep their way of life.
In this recent incident, two farmers are being accused of brutally killing a teenage boy in Coligny outside Lichtenburg. This death sparked a mass violent protest in the small maize-growing town. In a space of a day, three houses and three trucks were torched.
The link explains in more detail how events unfold and how it quickly escalated to rioting, looting and houses being torched.
http://m.news24.com/news24/Columnists/GuestColumn/the-shape-of-things-to-come-20170509
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

When White Rice becomes a Luxury

Are you getting complacent with your preparedness? Not putting aside as much food as you used to?
Then you need to watch this short clip, its just one minute and ten seconds people, but it says so much more than I can in this post.

Venezuela: Where supplies are few and pain is everywhere

Check this video as well. The guy at 3:02, literally showing how many new holes he has made to his belt.

Yes, Venezuela again. A country destroyed by corruption, communism and downright stupidity. How on Earth do you turn a tropical, fertile, oil rich country into a hellhole where everyone in it is starving?
Food is key. So is knowing your politics, knowing when to escape these death traps in time.
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”