There are some considerations comparing a town like Nacogdoches to say La Serena, Chile. I haven't been to either, but I looked at Nacogdoches before transferring to Tyler. It's not a big town, but spread out enough to need a car, typical of many towns in the U.S.. Big box stores for shopping are 20 mins away in Lufkin. The U.S. is very car dependant except in bigger cities where I wouldn't want to live anyways. La Serena is very walkable and has excellent public transportation including busses, taxis, micros. That's something I think many Americans don't realize about much of the world. Our belief is that they are all desperately poor and have to walk or bike everywhere. But in most of Latin America even the smallest villages have bus transportation. And a country like Chile is fairly well developed. I can take a six hour bus trip to Santiago on a comfortable executive bus with a meal, stewardess, restroom, and movies for $40. Cheaper busses are available without the amenities too. A taxi in La Serena won't cost more than $2.00 anywhere in town, usually less. And while I could get by in Nacogdoches on $1100 a month living frugally, that would include using fans in very humid summer heat, and other sacrifices. In La Serena, a very beautiful colonial city on an excellent beach, I could rent a nice home, not a mansion, but nice, eat out regular, go to American movies at the American owned Cinemark multiplex, enjoy the new American style mall, in weather comparable to southern California. I would get much more for my money. By the way, with a slightly larger dish those who receive Directv or Dish in the U.S. can take their receivers to Lake Chapala in Mexico and still get their satellite tv. Fulltime RVers do it all the time. RVers report on the Open Roads and Escapees forums receiving a signal with their regular size dish all the way to Mazatlan, although you lose some channels at that point. A bigger dish gets them. And satellite radio extends into Guatemala and Belize. And I can get Directv Latin America in Chile, which has most of the English channels on it including the movie channels like HBO. Why would I settle for just barely getting by when there's a better quality of life elsewhere? By the way, read a post of a guy who lives on $5000 a month in Chile. Huge home in exclusive area, children in private schools, fulltime maid, eats extraordinarily well both at home and restaurants, has all the toys, travels, lacks for nothing. It isn't just we poor gringos who greatly improve our lifestyles. And if you only have, say $700 a month, consider Ecuador or few other places. Indonesia sounds nice!
