Transcription
So, somebody says, "I like this idea. That's that's a lot of land that I can get. Um, and it's a developed land. So, now we got to build a house. If we build a two-bedroom or three-bedroom house in Paraguay today, what are they going to pay?"
"Um, I suppose I could probably rebuild mine. My two-bedroom place, it's 110 square metersish inside. And I think that I mean to pull a figure out the air, I don't think that would be much more than sort of 30, 30,000, 40,000 tops."
"Okay. And what are the property taxes that you pay on this house?"
"So I last last year I've got 2 and a half hectares and I paid what did I pay about $15, I think, a month."
"Oh yeah."
"All right. So, today we are heading down to the amazing country of Paraguay with my buddy, my friend Simon Cooper. Simon, how you doing?"
"Hi. Hi. Hi there. I'm doing fine, thank you. In sunny old Paraguay, having a nice warm winter's day."
"Yeah, it's winter down there and it looks like it's summer. It's looks beautiful in the backdrop."
"Oh, it's lovely. Yeah, bright blue sky as ever."
"It's a good a good place to be."
"Well, Simon, you and I talked a little bit about but but it appears Paraguay is blowing up and there's a there's a..."
"There's a it appears that Paraguay is blowing up. There's a lot of people moving there. And it So, I want to I want to talk about that right off the bat. But first, let's let's have you share with the viewers who you are."
"Yeah."
"Uh where you're from and how how you chose how you chose Paraguay, how you landed in Paraguay."
"Okay. Well, yeah. Well, hi. Yeah. I'm I'm Simon. I'm here in Paraguay out..."
"Outside the small country town of Pubi. So, about two hours journey from the capital. And I've been here now over 20 years. So very much made it home for myself. Um, I'm from England, Bedfordshire, so not that far north of London. And the gist of it was at the turn of the century, my job was ceasing to be. So I going to take time away to just rethink my life. I happened to end up seeing an advert to come and teach English in Paraguay. And that seemed like there something I really wanted to try. came and did that for two years and afterwards thought, you know, let's go and see if I can make a life for myself in this in this land and it really hasn't been that difficult and I have not regretted a day of it."
"Wow, that's so is is teaching still a thing? Are they still always looking for English teachers down there?"
"No. Um, the children all want to learn English but they just want to learn bits and pieces. Um, I tried after the school had finished doing it by myself, but I'd have a few pupils and then it would be how about, you know, paying a dollar or two next month to cover the costs and then they disappear and I'd have a new lot of pupils. So, it sort of got a bit bit of a waste of time. But there is a lot of demand for English teaching and yeah, I I still bump into people, everyone people I speak to on the street like like to practice a bit of English, pick up a few random words."
"Yeah."
"But I don't do it full time anymore."
"You don't know if there's any like schools or clinics that hire like even retirees that move to Paraguay looking for a part-time gig. If there's ESL clinics or things like that."
"Yes, there are. Um, I mean, I'm not ESL qualified because I just came out here. It was a private project. So no qualifications were needed. So..."
"Yeah."
"I can't I can't go into a school. But in Assumption, there are a number of teaching schools. Even out here in Pubry, there's one that's been going for years run by a local lady who speaks fluent English."
"And I was talking to an American woman last week and she's in the process of setting up a her little English school in town."
"Okay. All right. Good, good information. Okay. So, tell us what is going on with Paraguay? Why are so many people moving to Paraguay? I mean, there's something going on there. So, what what is it?"
"Yeah, it's seen a a huge increase in numbers of people coming here. probably the past four or five years the numbers have just been going up and up and up. Um, it's very much seen as one of the last places in the world where you can live a nice safe life but you're left alone. You got complete freedom. It that's the sort of people it draws."
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"Plus, if you want to set up a business here, it's not that complicated to get the business set up. and tax rates at at 10% are a lot lower than many other places added to added to the fact if you are they don't there are no digital nomad visas as such in Paraguay but if you're an online worker and you earning money elsewhere has territorial tax so it's not interested in any money earned outside the country so it's quite easy to work online perfectly legally and tax-free here which is another big draw."
"Do do you know if that visa that digital nomad? So do they have to prove an income requirement like do you have to show the when you when you obtain this visa that you're making a certain amount of money to be able to live there in Paraguay?"
"There is no actual um digital nomad visa to come to Paraguay. They changed they changed the rules probably three four years ago. So you you now get a temporary visa first, temporary residency for a couple of years and then you can become a full-time resident. Now to become a temporary resident, it's just paperwork. You need no um income proof or anything. You've only got to prove once you become a permanent resident that you basically it's a pretty low bar. You've just got to really prove that you're not going to be a um a problem for the country and then and they're not going to have to support you financially."
"Yeah."
"So, it's only $1,000 or so you need to prove you that that you've got and yeah, you're left alone. It's it is a low bar."
"And that would qualify the the retirees as well. It would be the same type."
"Absolutely. On their pension. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's no there is no retire retirees visa as such or retirees um residency. They would go through exact the same process everybody else. But when the so on temporary um residency, they wouldn't need any proof of anything other than who they are. On the proof of income on a permanent residency, the pension would count in the same way as having employment or having X amount in the bank would count."
"Okay. So you mentioned the word freedom and it's really attracting that type of a person."
"So it is."
"So you're you're from the UK."
"You know, I'm in the US. Yeah, there there are people you hear the the chatter all the time about people looking for these places where they have much more freedom. What's the difference? I mean, what kind of freedom does Paraguay offer compared to some place like the UK or the US?"
"Um, here you you are left alone to live as as you please. Um, there there aren't cameras up in the streets recording everything. You see the occasional police car going past, but they're just, you know, going from A to B. They're not actually doing anything. Politicians appear the week before an election, then they disappear again. And you're because there's a lot of casual employment here, you're not expected to have a 9 to 5 job. You can live, you could stay in bed all day. No one would no one would be concerned you. That wouldn't upset anybody. So you can absolutely live what you..."
"And you sold me on Paraguay, Simon. If I get the..."
"Yeah. And and then on top of that on on your own property, there's no you don't have to ask anybody's permission to build a house, to extend a house, to do to have animals, to do this, to plant that because it's your land. So a lot of freedom and it's very nice. So, you don't have to submit a permit um to the..."
"You can just like build a shed or you can build a on your land and it's fine."
"You could build a house. You and you haven't even you you haven't got to have an architect if it's a fairly straightforward one. You haven't got to have anyone come and inspect it afterwards to make sure it's stable."
"You can just get on and build it. Yep. No questions asked."
"Okay. So, and you you yourself I think did you build a house or did you buy a house?"
"Yes. Yeah."
"No, I I built a field and drew a drew a little picture and said, 'Can I have a can I have a house this shape, please?' And got some local builders in and they just got on with it."
"Okay. So, let's start off. So, how affordable is Paraguay? For those watching this going, 'Oh my, I I never heard anything like this. Can I get a plot of land in Paraguay? and can I build a house? And nothing is regulated. I we could build the style house that we want and we don't have to go through any kind of code enforcement or permitting."
"We can just find an architect to kind of design it and then we have these guys build it."
"So what can you buy land for now in these areas in these pockets where you can do that?"
"And then how much would you estimate it would cost today for somebody a viewer watching this to build a house? Let's say a two or three-bedroom house."
"Yeah, you can land you can buy land anywhere and the price depends very much location. You can it's tend tends to be quoted in hectares. So you you do have a hectare then you drop a bit off and you have the bit you really want. But in a very nice area where it's like like where I am, where it's completely safe. There's no need for fences, guard dogs, or anything. You're going to be looking at paying $15,000 per hectare, maybe a little bit more."
"Okay?"
"And you could find places where it's going to be $7,000 a hectare. So land's not dirt cheap, but then all the other costs aren't there. So you you make the money back that way. So one hectare is two and a half acres."
"Yes. Sorry. I'm so used to hectares. I've been here."
"Yeah. No, that's great. Yeah. So that So for the viewers, I mean..."
"Yeah."
"You're saying in in the really nice area, you can buy a plot of land, which you're going to get 2 and a half acres for $15,000."
"$15 to $20,000 if it's a very very nice area. Um, there's there is also no control on prices. So there's nothing to stop an owner just putting a figure out of the air and saying $50,000, I want, I'm not selling."
"Yeah. Now are these areas are they connected to electricity and water or anything?"
"They are."
"Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You would expect it to be in a loose neighborhood with other houses. I I've got other houses within eyesight but nothing within earshot. Yeah."
"And yeah, so there there will be electric, there's going to be water. If you..."
"Something of that, I mean, if it's not got electrical water, you're going to be buying a field out in the wild and you're going to be paying a lot less than that. But then you've got to dig a well and get the electric company, you put all the poles down the road, and that's going to bring the cost up anyway."
"Yeah. Yeah."
"But it's it's nice to have also it's nice to have a few Paraguayan neighbors around, become part of the community. They speak the local language, Guaraní, and they are your eyes and ears and they're very nice, helpful people rather than live in isolation."
"Okay, so that's that's pretty good for one hectare. You're talking in in a nice area $15, $20,000."
"Um, in a in a so so area where you can still connect to water and electricity. What are some of the deals going for in land would you say?"
"In Asunción, probably sort of $10 or $12,000."
"Okay."
"$10, $10 or $12,000. Um, any anything less than that and it really it's being sold as agricultural land for a farm or it's so remote or it's there's an issue of really you don't really want to be living there if someone's offering you somewhere for six or $7,000 for a hectare."
"Okay, now let's let's dive into the idea of so somebody says, 'I like this idea. That's that's a lot of land that I can get for 15 grand.'"
"Um, and it's a developed land. So now we got to build a house."
"If we build a two-bedroom or three-bedroom house in Paraguay today, what are they going to pay? How much?"
"It depends how they're going to..."
"Well, it there are two routes they could go down. Either you you do what I've done and have a Paraguayan style house but just blow it up so it's a little bit bigger than your normal house, or you build a North American European style house. The Paraguayan house, every builder, every lad will know how to build that. Um, the materials, you could get materials anywhere. So you're not going to be paying paying a huge amount. Um, I suppose I could probably rebuild mine, my two-bedroom place. It's I think it's it's 110 square metersish inside. And I think that I mean to pull a figure out the air, I don't think that would be much more than sort of 30, 30,000, 40,000 tops."
"Okay."
"All in from everything. And the last video we did a uh you and I did a podcast a couple years ago and we you did it with inside your house so people can still view that. We'll post..."
"Put that in the description to see um the inside of Simon's beautiful house. Okay. So that's that's incredible. So, I mean, it sounds like..."
"You could be all in on on a 2.5 acre land and a house for about $55,000."
"Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, at the end of the day, what you spend depends upon the quality of the materials you want and other factors, but yeah, that that would be a sort of a ballpark figure to be looking at to start with."
"Okay. And what are the property taxes that you pay on this house?"
"The property taxes here, it's zoned as rural taxes and urban taxes. I'm out in the countryside. So technically, I live on a farm, so I'm taxed accordingly. And you're taxed per per square meter. So I last last year, I've got two and a half hectares and I paid what did I pay? Um, about $15, I think, a month."
"A year."
"$15 a year for your property tax."
"Yeah, cuz I'm Well, I'm countryside. I'm not It's It's more in in the town, but even in the town, you're going to be talking $50, $60."
"Okay. So, all right. So, that's amazing for the whole year."
"Yeah. With with the one caveat, if you're in Assumption, everything is more expensive in Assumption. So, it's a whole different ball game. I wouldn't even want to guess what the figures are there."
"Yeah. Well, I'm guessing if you're paying $15 a year for property tax and you're two hours outside, even in Asunción, if it's like..."
"If it's what? $300 a year?"
"Yeah. I mean, that it will probably Yeah, that would sound a reasonable sort of figure."
"I mean, that's that's nothing compared to what people pay. No, it just seems an awful lot uh anybody living outside of Asunción, but for people living outside Paraguay. Oh, no. It's it's very reasonable."
"So, is there anything else that you have to pay per year to own this property and own this house?"
"No."
"Just property tax $15 bucks."
"Uh-huh. Yep."
"Yep."
"How much do you..."
"Okay. So then you obviously pay for water and electricity. What is what does that cost your your utilities per month?"
"Water is the easiest one to judge because that's pretty much the same everywhere. It tends to be um somewhere between So I pay $3 and you if you're in a city, maybe you might be spending as much as $10 a month."
"Okay. So you pay $3 per month for water. Or how about electricity?"
"Electricity. I'm a I'm an unplugging and I'm an unplugging and turning off person. But even so, I've got a very I I pay about $5 a month on electric. But..."
"Even in the warm summer when you're running air conditioning."
"I I've no, you see, I've only got a fan because I live by myself."
"Okay."
"I can move I can just move a fan room to him. Yeah. Air conditioning, they do that does double your your bill. For a family, you would be expected to I would expect you to be probably paying probably about $20 a month would be a reasonable sort of figure for a family."
"For electric only or water and..."
"For electric only. For electric only. Yeah."
"And then water for them would be..."
"The same. The same because it's just very few areas are metered water because the water is just it just comes out of wells and then goes back into the ground again."
"Your utilities, you're paying $8 a month."
"Yep."
"Okay. Then then you got to pay for Wi-Fi to be able to do this and a cell phone. How much do you pay for that?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I have to pay Yeah. I I've just just got mobile internet on on the phone. That is the most expensive. I I pay $15 a month for my my internet."
"Your That's my largest bill."
"So that is it Wi-Fi or are you only using your cellular data and internet?"
"I'm just using my cellular data as a Wi-Fi hub when I have the laptop on."
"Okay. So you have no Wi-Fi connected to your house."
"No. No. I could get it. It would put another five, $10 on on on the bill, but I can get by well enough just using the mobile data."
"Yeah. Well, it's it's working great. I mean, you're coming in crystal clear. I can hear you fine. I mean..."
"Enough signal. Yeah. Yeah. And two years ago, I don't think it was this this clear. They they're constantly upgrading the internet system."
"Yeah. Wow."
"And it's it it's I used to have 3G, but drop down to 2G. Now it's pretty constantly 4G all the time."
"Yeah."
"And I'm 15 kilometers outside of town in a field and I have no problems."
"Now, how do you get around, Simon? Where you live, you're going to need a vehicle. How did you find a vehicle? What kind of vehicle do you have? And how how how expensive are vehicles in Paraguay for somebody that's going to be looking probably for some form of transportation, a truck?"
"Yeah."
"And most likely a used vehicle."
"Yeah. Most most people yeah won't get the same I've got. They will they will want a truck because they'll they'll want a more a slightly safer vehicle. Um, but the issue with trucks here is they really do hold their value."
"Okay."
"So you'll be paying a 20-year-old truck, you'd be expecting that's what I'd pay for a 5-year-old truck sort of business. But then the plus side is if you sell it three years down the line, it's not depreciated much and you're going to get pretty much all your money back."
"Okay."
"Brand new cars are pretty much what they cost anywhere in the world. So..."
"Okay."
"In Paraguay money, they're expensive."
"Mhm. Well, what are you driving?"
"Sorry."
"What are you driving?"
"I've got a little motorbike. Um..."
"Okay. So, you don't have a vehicle?"
"No, I've I've got a motorbike. I've got a little generic Chinese motorbike. They all the the various um there are a number of brands in Paraguay. They're basically all the same bike."
"Mhm."
"But it means that I can get down the roughest of the rough tracks. There's nowhere I can't go. I can get through the deepest mud. And when I want it repaired, I can go into any little mechanic that's got a a hammer and a screwdriver and he can mend it and it's going to cost me a dollar or two."
"Okay. Unlike a truck where you've got to actually have a proper mechanic."
"How much does it cost for a motorbike there to find a motorbike?"
"If you're getting a motorbike like what I've got, one of the generic Chinese one, which is what all the Paraguayans go around on, you'll be paying I got my my one is sort of a lower end and that's 4 million. So that's about five or $600."
"Okay. And you can get a bigger sort of big trials bike, you and you'll be off about $1,000."
"Now, if you price a vehicle, somebody moves there and they're going, 'No, we need to get a a used truck to get around all things. We're building, we're going to be building this this house."
"What what can you find? Have you priced any of these trucks, these used trucks out?"
"I've looked at them. I've I've been with people who've been looking to buy their trucks, so I've seen the prices they go for."
"A um you'll be probably spending in the region 20, 25 million. So..."
"What? 25 million?"
"Yeah."
"Um, in Paraguayan currency is is about 3,300 in US."
"$3,300. Oh, there you see. I completely Yeah. So for Yeah. So for probably about between sort of $3 to $7,000..."
"You can find a truck."
"You get..."
"You get a truck. Yeah. You..."
"Can you find a quality truck at that price point?"
"Yes, you can."
"Okay."
"And it will be rather than rather than it being a 5-year-old one, you'll discover it's a 15-year-old one."
"But if you if you're okay with that because that's just the way it is."
"Yep. Yep. You can find a quality truck at that. And another point I often say to people is when you do buy a vehicle, when you do buy a truck, don't get anything too high tech with too much computer gubbins inside. It's okay if you're in in the city, you'll find a mechanic outside. A mechanic can mend a truck, but he's not going to be able to do all these complicated electric things."
"Yeah."
"You will end up going to the main dealer and being charged a fortune."
"Okay, that's good information. How is it easy to get a license there to drive?"
"Yeah. Yes. Yeah, you there are a number of hoops you have to go through such as um getting a driving license. like having a driving test, um having an eyesight and hearing test, watching the fire brigade do a first aid test and proving that you a police certificate to say that you live in a particular town, but they all travel. It could be done in a day."
"No. Is is there a test in Spanish that you have to take?"
"No. Um, there's a driving test but the way it works is a driving test because they don't um discriminate against everybody, everybody say everyone has to have a test certificate but it's understood someone from outside Paraguay coming to Paraguay already knows how to drive."
"Mhm."
"So almost always, not always, occasionally you will meet in his own says, 'Yeah, show me how to drive.' But generally a certificate just gets taken out of the drawer, your name's put on it, stamp, stamp, stamp, there you are, you've passed your test because they understand that test is there for a local that's never driven before, just just to get them safe on the road. But they understand foreigners on the whole have been on road with an awful lot more cars on them."
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay."
"So, it's it's just, you know, just collecting bits of paper like anything else."
"Yeah. Well, this, you know, it that's what makes Paraguay so special. And I think there's a tremendous amount of people catching on to this. It's a tax haven there. Most people that start businesses up um they they do it in Paraguay because of the tax breaks."
"Like you said, um, you know, you it's incredibly affordable. We're talking you can do a new build on a 2.5 acre property and 50, 50, 50,000, $55,000. If you need if you need a vehicle."
"Yeah."
"You could you could buy a a truck very affordable for $3,500 to $7,000. Um, I'm guessing that there are people that would just rather coming from Canada in the US, they'd probably drive all the way down and bring their own vehicle."
"There are some. The trouble with doing that is the importing a vehicle."
"Ah, okay."
"You you can get hit by a customs charge that's higher than the value of the vehicle if you meet the wrong customs official on the wrong day and you don't have a fix to this enter. smooth things over."
"Ah, okay."
"It's generally better to to sell the vehicle and buy a new one this end."
"I see."
"Otherwise, you might get stung."
"Okay, that's good information. Yeah, that's that's terrific. Okay. Well, we we talked about visa. You're talking about the income requirements, approximately a thousand that you have to show to move to Paraguay."
"Um, we haven't talked about rents yet. Do you have any idea like for many people always starting out, they go to they go to the capitals, they go to the cities."
"Um, Asunción is the capital of Paraguay. Do you have any idea what rents go for there?"
"Yeah. Well, where most people hit the ground first in Asunción is the the modern retail and business district of Viamora and the two or three neighborhoods by that."
"Okay."
"That is it's the most expensive part of the city, but for anyone coming here for the first time, it's the easiest, softest introduction to the country. So, it's where you want to go to start with. And that is the only place you're going to find state-of-the-art apartments. But you're going to be paying up upwards of $1,000 a month."
"Wow."
"For an apartment there."
"So, in the nicest area, you'll pay a thousand a month in Paraguay."
"A thousand minimum. Probably a thousand to 15 depending on if you if you've got a gym in the building and all, etc., etc. Yeah. Now, how about people that want to cut that cost in half and live in Asunción more affordably?"
"Yeah."
"Possible. Yeah."
"Is it possible? Yeah."
"Absolutely. Yeah. It's those are the Viamora prices. If you're moving out, if you move out into a more Paraguayan, like should I say district, because more it's quite Miami-like. If you move away from there."
"Yeah."
"Your your rents are going to drop. You'll be pro probably paying yeah, you could well find somebody for $500 a month. Wouldn't be at all surprised. But then..."
"You would want to have a look at the neighborhood first."
"Make sure you you're comfortable with it. It's got the level of security that you're happy with."
"And there's not a neighbor that's played music at 3:00 in the morning every single day."
"Mhm."
"Because the police are not going to come around and tell them to turn it down."
"So, do you find that overall in in I don't know much about Paraguay. I've never been. Is would you say in the cities in where you're at, it's a safe country overall or are there or are there safety concerns?"
"It's a safe country as long as you're sensible and don't go to places which are obviously going to be dangerous. Um, there are There aren't um the big favelas, shanty towns as you get in Brazil. Um, you will find a mansion next door to a shack. So there's no large communities of very poor people living desperate lives who you want to not not live near because they're they're they're still part of the community here. They're not pushed to one side."
"But that said, there is a lot of poverty here. So you you would want to look around, but it's obvious you can see the state of a street. Do I really want to be down this street?"
"Mhm."
"But most of the country, especially once you get beyond Asunción, is peaceful, easy to live with, quite safe. If you do get too deep into the wilds, yeah, you you might be isolating yourself a bit and you're going to want to want some security."
"If you there are areas where drugs are traffic traffic through from Bolivia through to Brazil. They take a corridor across the bottom of the Chaco, across the middle of the top of southern Paraguay. They go across anywhere across there you wouldn't really want to be living, but nor Paraguayan."
"So..."
"Mhm."
"There's enough nice country to live in. The whole of whole of southern Paraguay is on the whole fine, apart from the odd scruffy little settlement which you find in absolutely any land."
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. All right. Great information. So, as far as Okay, we know you live in Piribebuy, right? Is that Did I say it correctly?"
"No one can say it right."
"Yeah, it's a It's a It's P I R I B. How do you spell it?"
"P I R I B E B U Y. Piribebuy. Yes."
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Yeah. Okay."
"A bit of practice."
"Okay. So we covered where you know that's where you live in in the country. You're two hours outside of Asunción. Asunción is the capital. Are there any hidden gem cities that..."
"I'm I'm unaware of and but people are catching on to and moving there because it's a really cool place to live. Are are there any kind of hidden gems like that in Paraguay?"
"There aren't. There are none that have been suddenly discovered, but there are some very nice places. If someone's coming in and they want a more expensive lifestyle, San Bernardino has always been popular. That's very much the um summer retreat for the well-to-do from Asunción. It sits on the side of a lake. It's Yep. It's It's quite nice again because it is a well-to-do retreat town. It's It's not the cheapest place."
"Yeah."
"And it it has a large expat community, but they tend to be scattered in the countryside. So, there's a big support network there if need be."
"Um, elsewhere in the country, further into the interior, the city of Encarnación is quite nice. It's it's a student town, so it's it's got it's it's quite lively. Um, it's quite safe and it's a regional hub, so it's got everything anyone could need in that city. And down south, Encarnación again, and more than Encarnación, more of a beachside, it's on the Paraná River. That's that's been modernized in the in the past decade. So, it's quite modern down there now. Very nice. But better than it are in the countryside surrounding it. There are a lot of quite pleasant towns. Again, a lot of them are quite heavily expat towns. There's a large German community down in that part of the country and there has been for best part of a century."
"Mhm."
"But again, it's a very nice part of the country. Um, where where I am, I'm in one of the few bits of highland and my town of Piribebuy is here. The larger town of Caacupé is also here and we're only two hours from Asunción. So I can get to the capital and do something in a day and get home. If I'm further away, it's not so comfortable. From here, do it easy. And in the hills in summertime when it's 40 plus degrees, it's just just a little bit fresher up here."
"Yeah. So, help people understand that. What What does Paraguay border? What countries does it have access to?"
"Right. It's flopped in the middle of southern South America. It's bordered on on the south and west by Argentina, on the north by Bolivia, and to the east Brazil."
"Okay. So, making it really a a centrally located area. Fantastic. Because you're not far, really. You're not far from Chile."
"You're not far from Uruguay."
"You're on the border of Argentina. You're right on the border. I mean, it's like really, you have access to so many amazing places there."
"Yeah."
"It's very well located and because it's in the middle, it's it's got the beauty that it's still Paraguay. It's not tourists miss it. They do the circuit and they go all the all the neighboring countries. So, it's still got its own culture which is nice to enjoy and it's it's not a tourist version of the culture."
"M."
"So I can..."
"In my local town in Piribebuy tomorrow, it's the annual town parade and the town will shut down and they'll spend five or six hours parading through the town."
"And it's it'll be a lovely day out, but that's done for the locals. There's no it's not done for tourists."
"Yeah. Now you're out there um you're out there in Piribebuy by yourself."
"Okay."
"Yes. Are there any other expats? And um and then my question, my next question is, is communication for people that are going, 'I want to do what Simon did. I want to buy a few hectares. I want to build a house. I want to live out in in the in the beautiful country of Paraguay, but..."
"Will I have difficulty um communicating with people?"
"Um, learn Spanish."
"Yeah. That's that's point one, two, and three. Um, yes, you do need to learn Spanish. The there are some other expats around here. There are mostly German. I don't speak German, so again, I have to communicate in Spanish with them anyway. Um, other than that, within probably a 10-mile radius, I know there are Canadians. I know there are two or three Americans. So there there are some, but being in the countryside, the draw for this part of the of the land is to be in the countryside, not in the town itself. So all my near neighbors are all Paraguayan. So I need Spanish to talk to them, which fortunately I have these days."
"So you're definitely Okay. So if you're going to live out in the countryside, you're going to need to know Spanish. If you live in Asunción, do you find that a lot of people know how to speak English for the for the people that are coming from all parts of the world and going, 'Okay, I don't speak Spanish, but I speak English.'"
"Um, not that many, but in people that can speak in Paraguay, being able to speak English is a few steps up the career ladder. So if in the areas like Viamora, for example, you are going to find a higher proportion of locals who you can communicate with in English."
"Where is that at? Viamora."
"Viamora in Asunción."
"Okay. Okay."
"Around that area, that's where you'll get the highest proportion of locals speak English because that's where the international businesses are. That's where the shopping malls are. That's where the the international tourists and visitors come into."
"Okay."
"And so they got the chance to practice their their English."
"Out here in the countryside. No."
"Well..."
"What would you say? I mean, you you've been there for quite a few years and you've probably seen some people move out there that don't speak any Spanish."
"I mean, living in a when you live in in a place like you're living and and you're Yeah, clearly immersed in in the world of Spanish. How long does it do would do you think it takes a person to start grasping it and being able to get along, you know, get on? How long would you say? I know it's I know that's a weird question because it obviously varies from person to person."
"Yes. These days I I do see a lot of people coming here with no Spanish who are communicating through Google Translate. Unfortunately, Paraguayans are incredibly relaxed people. That doesn't annoy them, that they're cool with you doing your Google Translate. So you people are going to um that's going to affect the speed of which somebody's learning Spanish because..."
"They've got all this text to go back on afterwards."
"Sure."
"But without that, I mean, in two or three months, you you've got the basics, be able to get from A to B, discover what it is you're buying, but to have a conversation, probably a few months."
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's that's great information."
"Well, let's break down some of these costs. What um for groceries, how much how much do you spend per month on groceries? To give the viewers an idea the cost groceries?"
"Again, I'm not the best person because I I live by myself, so I I haven't got a family to budget for. But but but for a family, I would imagine you should be able to get by on probably living well, so $200 to $400 a month on everything, including the best cuts of meat."
"$200 to $400. How much do you pay per month on groceries?"
"I probably pay about $150."
"And then how about eating out, Simon? And how much do you pay for at a local restaurant?"
"Um, for a pair of per Paraguayan dish, how much do they charge for that?"
"If you're at a local restaurant where you know local workers go for their lunch, you'll be paying $5."
"And do you but do you have a budget? Do you know how many times you go out maybe per week or?"
"No, I try I haven't got a budget. I try and go out at least once a week just to have a day when I'm not cooking. Yeah, rather than a budget because on those sort of costs, you don't you don't have to roll it have put a budget aside for it. You just I don't fancy cooking today. I'll, you know, I'll pop into town and eat and eat in a local cafe."
"So, if you eat at a local cafe, obviously you're going to get a drink too, you might even get a dessert. How much do you typically pay once a week to do that?"
"Right. Well, if I'm going in just going to a local cafe, probably not a dessert because they you'll get a dessert if you go in a restaurant. They're not dessert people here other than restaurant meals."
"Okay."
"But I would I would expect to pay between $5 and $10."
"Okay."
"For food, drink, whatever I fancied."
"What is a typical dish that you eat there that they make?"
"They make quite a lot. They um a lot of them have got local names. Um, they do they're very popular. It tends to be pasta or rice with some meat with a bit of vegetables. Sometimes a bit almost a stew, sometimes more like a bolognese or something like that."
"Mhm."
"Um, they do a lot of that. There's a there's a soup with um potato um meat potato balls in it called bori bori, which came out in a report last year sometime as one of the best soups in the world. And it is it is quite nice."
"Nice."
"And they've they've got more they got a lot of local snack food. Um empanadas, which you get all over Latin America obviously you get here as well, but they've got more local ones. Um, cheaper, which is cornbread. Cheaper wasu, which is more of a spongy cornbread. Um, sopa. Soaper, which is soup. Soup in Paraguay is solid rather than liquid."
"Mhm."
"So that's that's another mazy, cheesy sort of thing."
"Do you ever get like a beer or like a you ever have beer? How much do do they charge for a beer there?"
"For a beer, you would buy beer. You'd either buy a whole liter bottle. Yeah. You probably buy a liter bottle rather than um getting that. And that would probably be depending on the brand between a dollar and a $1.50 depending on the brand."
"All right. So, that'll that'll jack the price up to $6.50 with your meal at $5. Then that's probably a fun ride back to your place in the country and bike again."
"Yeah. Again, because all all laws here are suggest just suggestions. I you you can wobble on home as long as you mind your own, don't do anything unless on the way."
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. So it's it's obviously an incredibly affordable as far as restaurants."
"It is. Yeah. It it's quite possible to spend a lot of money here. I have heard of expats living a luxury lifestyle but then having to go back to their country a couple of months a year just to finance the rest of the year in Paraguay that lifestyle."
"Yeah."
"But there's no reason to live like that."
"Yeah. Yeah. All right. So the next thing is Simon, what do you do? What do people do? What what are some of the things to do in Paraguay? Now, and I and I ask that because the one thing that a lot like Paraguay is landlocked, but I mean, you can get in a car or you can get in a plane and you can access the ocean fairly quickly because you're so close to all these countries that have access to beaches and oceans."
"But what do people do in Paraguay? What are some of the the key things that they do there?"
"Socialize. Um, there there are a lot of sites to see. Paraguay is very much a country for the independent traveler, someone that's prepared to make the effort to find places."
"Okay."
"There there are hills to climb. There are um nice very nice bits of countryside to walk across, museums to visit, country houses, um historic sites, plenty of waterfalls, and there's even a bit of rainforest."
"Mhm."
"So, there's plenty. But it is it does depend on you doing it for yourself. Tourist information, it's not really optimized. Never has been because for the locals, they tend to stay where they are and they know everything within a certain radius of their house and they don't need anybody to tell them to go and see this hill."
"Okay. Is there any wildlife out there that it's different or some wildlife that you need to be cons that you need to be concerned about?"
"Wow. There's there there's always snakes."
"Yeah."
"Plenty of snakes. Um, yeah, there are I I've met on my grounds. I've met rattlesnakes. I've met pit I've met pit vipers."
"Wow."
"So, there you have to give them a bit of respect."
"So, what happens like out there where you're at? This kind of leads into health, health care. So, this is like, so let's say you're just kind of doing some gardening and you get you get nipped by one of these vipers or rattlesnakes. I mean, is there a way to like keep venom in your uh like a serum, you know, in your house in case you get bit? People do that or?"
"No, I've never heard of anybody doing that. No, you would have to you'd have to find someone to take you into the local private clinic. But on on the other side of the snakes in Paraguay, it is assumed that every snake is lethal."
"Yeah."
"So anywhere where there are people living, a snake had quite a a short lifetime. And that's another reason not to go and buy somewhere way out in the wild because the snakes wouldn't have been cleared out."
"Okay. So..."
"This is snake territory. If Yeah. If a Paraguayan sees a snake, it's it's an ex-snake regardless of what sort of snake it is."
"Okay."
"So you So I can be fairly safe stomping around stomping around in the grass."
"I was going to say I mean all the way..."
Up to the point where we hit snakes. Everything sounded fantastic. I mean, you could buy property for nothing. You could build a house for nothing, and uh oh, you got like rattlesnakes and vipers.
>> Yeah. You know, just comes to the territory. And obviously, you've got the insects are of a legion. There are many, and they are large.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, there are some, there are many spiders. Some of them are poisonous, but not very many.
>> Um, everybody at some point is going to be bitten by ants because there are a lot of ants in Paraguay, and some of them are quite aggressive.
>> But this goes with the territory.
>> Yeah. What is the biggest thing that's happened to you since you've lived there? Have you had any kind of experience or, you know, an injury that's happened?
>> Um, not animal related. I've managed to not be injured by animals, which is, which is fortunate. No. Oh, no. I did once, sorry. Going along on my motorbike down one of these dirt roads, uh, a dog grabbed hold of the back of my ankle.
>> Really?
>> Yeah. Yeah. That hurt.
>> So you couldn't outrun the the dog or?
>> No, because the dirt roads, they're all rutted, so you don't go very, you can't go very fast.
>> Oh.
>> And, and it was starting from pretty much level with me.
>> So you?
>> Most dogs here are chilled. But people that keep guard dogs, they are aggressive. And if one of them for some reason is out on the street, they will attack anything that's moving. So, so you almost need like pepper spray or something.
>> Yeah.
>> Well, I've learned what you do is you slow down because then they get bored because they've got nothing to chase.
>> Ah.
>> That's what I've, I've been chased by two or three, and I've discovered that's the way to put them off. But 90% of the dogs here are very relaxed. I go, you will go into any Paraguayan town, and you will see a pack of dogs roaming around, and they're not stray dogs. Owners just let their dogs wander. So, their dogs, they meet up with their friends, they amble around town for the day. Then in the evening, they all just go back to their various homes.
>> Mhm.
>> They don't bark, they don't chase people, and they're but definitely not strays.
>> Yeah. So, the last thing we have here, Simon, is the healthcare. What do you do if you do get injured?
>> What do what do people do? Do they have a public healthcare system? Is it a quality system in your opinion? How do you access it? And what does it cost?
>> All medical of any sort is paid for. The costs are even for the biggest, the biggest thing, say, for example, that would have been tens of thousands of dollars in the States, is going to be $5 or $7,000 here. So, they are prices are a lot cheaper, but you have to pay for everything. Um, in the public hospitals, anyone that's here has access to them, but it's advisable not to use them for anything other than the most basic because they're very crowded. Um, a lot of them work on, you take your ticket like you do on the meat counter, and you wait your number to come up, so you could be there a while.
>> Okay.
>> Um, and yeah, you don't want to use the public hospitals, but every town has a private clinic, which is what I would use. There's one in Pere, even though it's a small town. Larger towns have got larger private clinics. Some of them are fairly modern. And then at the regional centers, like my nearest one is Caacupé, that has a proper hospital.
>> Okay. So broken bones, um, things like that, you would go there first if it was, and then if they deemed it was too serious, you would be moved on to Asunción?
>> Where there are top quality, top quality hospitals, but that's the only place, the real best of the best are.
>> Okay. So you pay out of pocket?
>> You pay out, yes. I pay out of pocket. I pay to use.
>> Okay. So there's no, there's, but if, but you can access to public healthcare, and that's free?
>> It's free, but I would pay the same way as a Paraguayan would pay. I, I would have to pay for my medicine if I was in a public hospital. I'd have to pay for bed sheets. I'd have to pay for the water drip. I'd have to get someone to bring my meals in.
>> Even for the public healthcare?
>> That's, that's how public healthcare is.
>> Another reason you don't want to use it. So now for the private healthcare, is there insurance offered to people in Paraguay that you could pay monthly insurance and get a comprehensive kind of coverage?
>> There? Yes, there is, and there isn't. Um, some of the Asunción hospitals, the best of the best in Asunción, they offer insurance, and it's all there, and you're good to go, but then you are tied to that particular hospital.
>> Mhm. I've heard that there are general insurances which would cover more, more hospitals, but because on the whole, they're all individual standalone medical units with no central organization, whether you, whether they are going to want local healthcare there or not is debatable. So an international healthcare, if, if one is at a reasonable price, might be the best option because that's going to give more flexibility.
>> Yeah. Because I was going to say, what happens if, let's say you, you get injured on a, on a, yeah, in an accident on a, in a car accident or a motorcycle accident, you're in, you're in the hospital in one of these private hospitals for three weeks, or you had a, or you had a heart attack and you're in these hospitals for an ICU for like three weeks or whatever, and you come out and they say, "Oh, you owe $7,000, $8,000," and you don't have that money. What happens then?
>> Then you're going to be, then you're going to be in trouble. Um, you would, you would struggle. You, you would end up having to sell your possessions to cover the bills.
>> I see.
>> Or, or you would set up some sort of, um, appeal or fund. I occasionally see, um, something like that has happened to an expat who's here with very few, um, possessions, very few, um, savings, and people have then set up a fund to try and cover their costs. But yeah, you are going to be faced with a bill, a lot lower bill than you were facing states.
>> Yeah.
>> But there will still be a bill.
>> So that's a shortcoming compared to some of the neighboring countries, the the healthcare, because some of the neighboring countries have really good healthcare, and it's, and it's affordable, and you're fully covered in some of these countries. It's free in Brazil, free in,
>> A variety. Yeah. Some countries down there. But, um,
>> Okay. So that's one of the, that's one of the shortcomings of, of the freedom of the freedom that comes.
>> Absolutely. You have to, yeah, have to be aware that you get total freedom, but there's going to be some payback somewhere, and that's one of the places where it comes.
>> Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, that's everything, Simon. Um,
>> Brilliant.
>> That's everything we've covered. Tell us about, so you, you do, you do a YouTube channel, um, on Paraguay. Tell people how to, how they can find you on YouTube, the name of the, the YouTube channel.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. I've got a YouTube, um, on Paraguay channel. It's quite easy to find. Simon's Paraguay. So it's got a nice straightforward name. There's, there's a hundred or so videos on there. The majority are in the countryside showing what, what this land actually actually looks like. And obviously, do take a look, and I'll be more than, more than happy to receive a few more subscriptions because that always helps the channel grow.
>> Yeah. And it's a great resource. I've visited it, and anybody that's ever, anybody interested in moving to Paraguay, it's a terrific resource to, to dive into and just kind of, um, check out some of the videos there. Well, Simon, Simon Cooper, thanks so much for taking the time to share all this information and updated information. I truly appreciate it.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you for your time.
>> Yeah. Okay. Have a great rest of the day, and I'll talk to you soon.
>> And you too. Thank you.
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