I’ve arrived at the Hotel Fundador in Santiago, Chile (free wireless in the lobby). It is difficult to fault Chileans in the department of hospitality. One of this Weblog’s readers, Jorge Tambley, picked me up at the airport on Sunday morning and dropped me off at the hotel. Then he came back a couple of hours later to invite me to lunch with his wife and kids. Then he took me to the small airport to hunt for flight schools and onward to the various neighborhoods of Santiago. Jorge provided some insight into the world of the Chilean computer programmer. Things seem to be done on a somewhat smaller scale than in the U.S. The programmer needs to be more in contact with the client, with the users, and more aware of business problems and how to solve them. Consulting rates and real estate prices are in a more favorable ratio than in the U.S. A top programmer might earn $70/hour and a newly constructed small condo in Santiago sells for $25,000. A reasonably nice house is $100,000 and a Las Vegas-style McMansion is $225,000.
With some very kind assistance from Cristian Levy of Amity Tours (http://www.amitytours.cl/) I’ve begun to sketch out a trip to Valparaiso (Dec 30) and La Serena plus environs (Jan 2-8).
It is 8:30 pm now. Only about one more hour of daylight…
About small condos for $25.000..maybe they are located in a poor or bad area of the city. I ve been lookink for small condos and in they are in $100.000 price.
You can take a Sailing Airplane lessons in Lo Curro small airport and fly without engine.
Hope You can enjoy New Year at the sea in Valpariso (Dec 31) best in a small boat over the bayou.
What about going to Atacama desert after La Serena??
Merry Xmas Phil!
I’ve been following you for a long time now and envy your travels – HAPPY LANDINGS 2005 – be well Phil…
~snowshoes 🙂