Living in Uruguay & retiring near the ocean

Karen is a former gallery owner from Shelter Island in New York. She and her husband retired to the department of Maldonado on the Uruguay coast, inland from the international hotspot of Jose Ignacio, in 2021. They’ve found the “ideal home” that they described to me during an online relocation consultation with Guru’Guay in 2020. It’s a ‘chacra maritima’ —or seaside ranch—several kilometres in from the ocean. As the third of a series on Living in Uruguay Karen A Higgs, CEO of @GuruGuay, talks to Karen about what it’s like living in Uruguay. We discuss renovating a new home, the Uruguay healthcare system, whether it’s been easy to make friends and how it is to negotiate day-to-day life when you’re still learning Spanish. Sections: 00:30 Intro 01:08 Origins 01:44 Why move to Uruguay? 03:24 A SPECIAL GIFT FOR YOU! 04:25 A typical week and building a new home. 08:22 What’s different about living and visiting Uruguay? 12:37 What is not great about life in Uruguay? 17:13 How easy is to make friends in Uruguay? 22:18 How to manage with not perfectly fluent Spanish? 28:53 Health Care in Uruguay 37:02 Advice for the younger Karen 39:03 Rapid fire questions In our rapid fire round, Karen shares her immediate thoughts on: Life in Uruguay … Healthcare … The cost of living … As a vegetarian… Uruguay wine… I wish I had known before I moved here … The biggest difference between my life before and now … HUGE THANKS to Ka Boltax USEFUL LINKS Watch the Living in Uruguay series    • Living in Uruguay (as a foreigner)   José Ignacio, Uruguay: Tiny town turned world’s hot beach spot https://www.guruguay.com/jose-ignacio... José Ignacio – a billionaire playground with valet parking signs in the sand https://www.guruguay.com/jose-ignacio... Healthcare in Uruguay: https://www.guruguay.com/living-in-ur... Is Uruguay a great fit for you? Book a consultation with Guru’Guay https://www.guruguay.com/private-cons... CREDITS Idea and production: Guru’Guay https://www.guruguay.com Interviewer: Karen A Higgs, Guru'Guay Interviewee: Karen Boltax Editing: Omni www.teamomni.co Music: ‘Ta Rengo by Diego Janssen https://diegojanssen.com