I spent last winter in Chile and found it to be a country that offers just about any lifestyle an expatriate could ask for. If you like the big city, Santiago with its near perfect weather is hard to beat. I'm not a big city fan but felt very comfortable there and it is very affordable. I spoke with one expatriate that lives there for about $500 a month and he liked it very much; he has lived all over the world and he said only Amsterdam compared as far as he was concerned. I'm not that well traveled so I couldn't say.

Personally, I like Ocean beaches and remote wilderness; both of which Chile has in abundance. It seemed to me the farther south you go the better it gets. The lakes region which gets most of the attention for investment and vacationing reminded me of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Galleries, rafting, fly fishing, volcano tours, nice upscale resorts, kayaking - except for the language you would think you're in Yellowstone or some playground in the Western U.S. In the Lakes region everything is about a third the cost of what it would be in the states, but when we got out into Patagonia I'd say it was about a fifth.

Well after the lakes region we went to Valdivia that's where Chile really started to speak to me in a very comforting way.

It was a very romantic place and it was difficult to be there without my girlfriend: everywhere I went it felt like the kind of place you should enjoy with someone you love. Sidewalk cafe's, river front parks and lonely beaches that go on forever as they pass beautiful fishing villages; the fishing boats were even quite colorful. We rented a small cabin that was located on the top of a cliff that overlooked the bay with a vine covered walkway that went down to the ocean.

The whole place reminded me of what the Mediterranean must be like. If I remember right this place was only $14 a night and that included fresh baked bread in the morning, and free access to the internet so you could check your email.

Next I went to Puerto Montt which is the gateway to Patagonia and met Claudio and his girlfriend; they have not only become good friends, but business partners as well. One thing you will notice when in Chile is it is a very modern place with many opportunities to make money, just pay attention and they will begin to pop up everywhere you go.

You see the US is very competitive and anywhere there is a need it's filled, not so in Chile; they don't see the holes because they are used to living with them. You will see them because you are used to having them filled in the States. Chile is very open to foreign investment and makes it very easy for you to do business. What you need is a Rout Number which is like our social security number and you can own land and businesses with the same rights as a citizen of the country.

Claudio owns a tour company and I mentioned I wanted to go fishing, well, he knew of a place that Chileans go to fish; he said its much cheaper and just as good as where foreigners go to fish, and he liked it there so much he took me. Well for $40 a day I got a guild, a boat and caught the largest sea run rainbows I've ever had the pleasure of hooking a line into, in the company of Chileans, without a tourist in sight for probably a hundred miles. It was great fun and we had a lamb roasted over an open fire and I was totally immersed in Chilean culture. This place was so out of the way that they kept teasing me, saying they were going to take the Gringo to the disco tonight. Well after dinner and some great Chilean wine they told me it was time to go dancing.

Turned out the owner said I was the first gringo to ever come there and they all welcomed me like I was an old friend and the Goncos even managed to crack a smile when the gringo got up to dance. It was there that I started to ask Claudio about land prices because the place was so spectacular - a postcard everywhere you looked.

After some inquiries, because there are no "for sale" signs or real-estate offices, you have to ask around, the prices for land I started to hear were amazing to me and that's when I decided I was going to buy a place in Chile before I left. Patagonia is amazing anywhere you go; you see one beautiful spot, then you see one even better, so it was hard to decide where to buy, but when my son joined up with us and when we went into the Futalafu River Valley, we decided this was the place to get serious about buying something.

We settled on 2 and a half hectares on Lake Espolon which is about 7 acres.

I'm having a beautiful two-story home built, a fireplace and all for $20,000. I'm sure there will be some other costs in there by the time its done in October. But a place like that in Montana where I live would cost $500,000 or more so I'm not to worried about the details. My buddy Dennis fished from shore while I was taking care of business and informed me he caught the largest trout of his life while killing time waiting for me. He couldn't think of a better spot to fish in. Now there are other places like what I found and if you are looking for unspoiled beauty, beautiful people and don't mind four seasons, or if you are like me, just want some place spectacular to go to in the winters, I think this is impossible place to beat. Now if you have to have shopping malls and lots of city life I think Chile is still a great place to get a big bang for your buck. You'll just have to look farther north than where I'm at in Futalafu. I could not of done all this without Claudio's help.

Claudio is an indispensable asset when it comes to finding a property you want, negotiating the prices and getting it all legal. I would not try this alone - he speaks the language and understands the people. He is also working out all the details of building the home for me while I'm gone. I told him there are probably other gringos that would greatly appreciate his services and if they knew there was someone here that would help them through the whole process he would probably stay busy. He can find you whatever you want Oceanfront, river or lakefront from Valparaiso to Patagonia.

Now if you need a contact in Chile to help you get started buying a place or putting together a business plan I would suggest you contact my friend and partner in Business Andy Grimberg.

Go to Part Two - Find out how Bill Lanphar bought his property in Chile and see the magnificent house he build on it for only $25,000 -