Brazil Beach Girl

What are your thoughts on a single, childless 30 year old woman moving to Rio, Brazil? Any other locales?

I'm looking to move abroad and would like information on the best and worst places to live. I have a medical background but don't speak a foreign language yet. I would surrender my US citizenship for the right country. Any information on employment, salary, housing, crime etc would be great. No country is too far or too close. Any and all comments are welcome.

Public Comments

1. TAKE ME WITH YOU....PLEASE!!! A co-worker fo mine just back from Costa Rica.....he said he loved it down there,nice place,very inexpensive,beautiful....he was taking some pictures and took a pic of some kids playing..and the people was unhappy of that.....evidently druglords come and take pics of kids they want to kidnap and turn into slaves,so don't take any pics of kids if you go to Costa Rica. There is alot of potential out there,especialy with your background,it would be a great chance to help those countries less fortunate than ours.It doesn't matter where you go,you always have to watch your back,it can be a cruel world out there. I wish you luck and peace in everything you do.
2. I moved from the US to Chile (solo) 3 years ago and I'm older than you! I did not speak very much Spanish and understood pretty much nothing of what I heard here at first. I did what a lot of "gringos" that come here do - taught English until I could find a steady job. Chile is a beautiful country and has every type of climate from desert in the north to ice caps in the south. I live in the center of the country where the capital, Santiago is located. In about an hour and a half in one direction I can be skiing in the gorgeous Andes mountains or an hour and a half in the other direction, I can be soaking up sun on the beach. Santiago is a fairly modern city and you can find most everything you are used to where you live now. The only negatives I would have to mention are that it is very smoggy, especially in the winter, and the high rate of theft, which you can avoid if you are just sensible and alert. Of course, you can always choose to live in a different area of Chile where there is no smog, only beautiful views and a far less rate of theft. The political climate here is very stable compared to most of the other South American countries and the economy is doing well. Chile is known to be a bit of a "classist" society, but I have not encountered any kind of harrassment because of being a foreigner. On the contrary, I have found most Chileans to be very welcoming, friendly and curious about where I come from. Housing here is easy to find and will take the biggest chunk of your paycheck, but utilities and food are very inexpensive. I personally did not have a difficult time finding employment and, as I wrote previously, I did not speak the language much at all when I arrived. If you would like to read a little bit about other expat's experiences in moving to Chile, I highly recommend taking a look at the Yahoo group called chilegringos - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chilegringos/ So, speaking from personal experience in moving to another country, I say.... go for it. It will be challenging but also rewarding and an experience worth having.
3. I just wanted to know what you decided. I googled something like 30 single childless and came up with your question. I am soon to be 30 and no worthy prospects of a marriageable man, but I want children. Just curious what other women are up to.