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Vanessa76

Hi Everyone.
My family and I are wanting to move to Uruguay from south africa in 2019.

We are looking for help on all aspects.
We'll be moving with 3 of our dogs, 1 daughter will be 13 and the other daughter will be 19 in 2019.

We can not speak Spanish but are trying to learn at least the basics.

Which are the best sites for the following :
Jobs, pet friendly accommodation (rottweiler x husky dogs  who will be 3 in 2019) so will need to be fenced property, school for youngest daughter.

What is the main currency as all I've read shows pricing on most things in dollars.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Xx

Ashwani gupta

Hi Vannesa,

For your young daughter, there are bilingual schools available e.g. elbio Fernandez or Anglo but remember these are private schools hence will charge you heavy fee.

For jobs it depends where you wanna work but most of them requires good hold on spanish language.

You can find Pet friendly accommodation in both apartments and fenced only in private houses (which are away from Centro e.g. near carrasco)

Main currency is Pesos but Dollar can also be used in big retail shops.

Thanks
Ash

Vanessa76

Thanks Ash.
We definitely want to stay out of town in a house.
Managed to get hold of the UK English school, so we ok on that front..
And we've managed to get a Spanish to English translator app, so I know that will help a bit.

Thank you so much for your response.

Ashwani gupta

The only thing to be worried is that out of town is not safe to stay.

Thanks
Ash

Ashwani gupta

If the app is google translator, I dont think it will help you a lot as uruguayan spanish is little bit different from normal spanish...

Cisneros Charrúa

Greetings Vanessa and Greetings Ash,

First, concerning the dogs....in Uruguay by law now, your dogs will be admitted but they must be chipped and inspected for rabies yearly.  If the dog is not chipped, you risk having it confiscated from you.  Uruguayans are an animal friendly nation and there are pets of all kinds...that being said, no problem for the husky dogs but you may encounter serious resistance with the rottweiler as they are currently not on the approved list.  There were serious attacks on citizens of Montevideo by marauding rottweilers and the government put a temporary ban on them.  The ban may have been lifted at this point.

I do worry that your huskies will suffer in the high humidity.  Humidity during the spring and the summer seasons can easily reach and remain at 90% for months on end with daily temperatures of 35 C.  Winters are slightly more chilly.

In terms of Montevideo, there are American schools, British schools, French schools, Italian schools and a supremely excellent German school.  Montevideo schools are hit or miss depending upon the neighbourhood in which you live.

Concerning what Ash writes about Uruguayan Spanish, it is called rioplatense and yes it is different from the Spanish spoken in Madrid.  The language underwent a heavy Italian and French influence because of heavy Italian and French migration in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

You will need to learn Spanish to survive because English is far from being the second language of the country.  Most Uruguayans will speak either Portuguese or Italian or French as a second language....many of the youth will speak English but in the interior of the country, English language speakers are far and few between.

In terms of being safe outside of the larger cities, I would like to assure you that while there is crime in Uruguay, and it has been on the increase, Uruguay remains the safest country in all of Latin American outside of Cuba.  Just use common sense, please and dont display wealth or ostentation.  You will need to learn your neighbourhoods in Montevideo and some are definitely safer than others ... but being as you are from South Africa, and I have been to Capetown and to Jo burg and experienced terror and fear, nothing but nothing but nothing in Uruguay comes even remotely close to the crime levels of South Africa.

There are charming parts to Canelones, outside of Montevideo, and Carrasco, where the airport is located.

Any other questions, let me know.

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