How I Survived Five Months In South America With Just $2,500 In The Bank

Looking back at my career, the most important decision I've made so far –– the one that would set me up for practically every job I've held over the last five years –– was to turn down a job offer after college. 

We were just beginning to feel the heat of the Great Recession, and journalism jobs were few and far between. The flagship paper in my home state just laid off half its staff, and the entire business looked like one big dead-end.

Somehow, I wound up with an offer from a local newspaper anyway. It was a good one, too, one that would surely keep me fed and with a roof over my head while I launched my career. 

But I was antsy. I wasn't ready to throw myself behind a cubicle and commit myself to the 9 to 5 grind just yet. 

It was with careful consideration and great regret, I wrote in an email to the editor, that I would be turning down the job offer. 

Then I booked a flight to Chile and never looked back. 

I had two months to save for the trip and about $1,000 to my name.

I worked my way through college and almost always paid my rent with a cold sweat running down my back and a massive sigh of relief.

With some meager savings and checks cashed from graduation gifts, I had about $1,000 to work with. After spending $400 on a one-way flight, I had $600 left.

For five months in Chile, I estimated I could scrape by with about $420/month (way, way too low, in retrospect) for a total of $2,100.

I took a summer job at a local library that paid $8/hour, freelanced for a local newspaper and spent my weekends pet- and babysitting for whatever I could get (about $100 if I was lucky). At the time, I was still paying $400 in rent and about $100 on car insurance.

By August, I had successfully added another $1,500 to my bank account.

It was go time.

I did have an internship lined up in Santiago –– but it was unpaid and offered no perks.

When I told my 16-year-old brother all I had waiting for me in Santiago was an unpaid internship at an obscure website, he told me the truth: "You're out of your mind."

Maybe he had a point, but there were two things I that knew for (almost) certain:

1) Reporting from a foreign country would give me the kind of experience a hiring manager would appreciate in a budding journalist.

2) And that grassroots publications are far more likely to give writers freedom to cover what interests them –– something I'd have trouble finding as a beat reporter.

Santiago was far more expensive than I'd expected, but I managed to find a room for $180/month.

Anyone who's traveled through South America will tell you it has one huge advantage over Europe –– the lower cost of living. Unfortunately, Santiago is one of the more expensive cities on the continent, and if I wanted to live in a safe neighborhood, my dollars weren't going to stretch as far as I'd hoped. 

I stayed with a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-college-professor for my first two weeks, but after that I set out to find something more permanent. I managed to find a decent apartment for $180/month –– less than half what I would have spent back home. For that, I got a room in a three-bedroom doorman building and a roommate who let me come and go as I pleased.

If you're ever looking for digs in Chile, here's the site I used: http://www.compartodepto.cl/

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