Its a year or two old but still a good comparison:
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Thanks Dave, will take a look
If only I was aware of them! I just know what the public knows. Or he didn't speak much about the past with my friend or my friend is lying to me.
I have another colombian friend from Medellin that always avoids the past. It’s like if you lived in Medellin at that time you were somehow related to Escobar.
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@JonL am currently watchin the Mexican series ‘El Chapo’. Like many here have had quite an interesting life outside of being a developer. Always surrounded by Jamaicans at family parties so learned a lot about the yard men and the politics. Later in life some of these friends of the family went different ways. Including out to Bogota and other areas of Columbia, most around the early 80’s, and quite a few hit Mexico. Always fascinated me. On one side of the garden would be a large motorcycle club (very well known, support 81), on the other side were the Jamaicans… Good times! I had a hydroponics shop for several years… So many stories could write a book hehe… Interesting who you meet and talk to here on the Wappler forum!
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What were we discussing Paul? I might remember it (all that Red Bull and coffee kicking in)..
mwahahaha, lol, nothing in particular, although I do have a question for you from my Daughters, we have Portuguese heritage and I have a Portuguese passport and my mother was born there but only lived there till 8 months old, so besides knowing the language from her parents, knows nothing about living there.
I am looking at moving to Portugal as soon as possible, because this country is really not going great, my kids want to know, which I can not answer, if there is a large English speaking base in Portugal as they do not even know a single word unless it’s a swear word their Gran has thrown at them.
I am not a well travelled person, so I have no clue at all.
There is a large contingent of English speakers here. Friends put their kids in to school here and nailed the language in 18 months, totally fluent within three years. Us adults take a little longer of course. The West Coast has more English speakers, and of course the Algarve is saturated with them. We are in Central Portugal after living on the West Coast for a fair few years, and much prefer it here away from the tourists, more involved with the locals than with the English, but by choice. Like so many 'expat' communities they are bitchy beyond belief. Most have re-invented themselves or just want to gossip. We hate this so did our best to distance ourselves. In saying that there are many markets and events organised by some of these people that on occasion are fun to attend for a short period. Then you can make your escape and put some distance between you and 'them'. You won't have any issues with Residency, even if there are some complications they are easy to resolve though. All about family here. We adore Portugal. I first moved out here in around 2000 and fell in love with it. Stayed a couple of years and returned to the UK. Then moved back out about 9 or so years ago and have not been back to the UK. The cost of living is low but then so the average wage is also quite low so having a skill in demand like development certainly helps improve the quality of lifestyle you have. Some things are expensive like cars, but then rent and houses are a lot cheaper than other areas of Europe. If you do want to find a place here we work with dozens on Real-Estate companies so feel free to message me with any areas you may be interested in mate and will do my best to aid you. Can't recommend living here enough! Especially in the small villages and away from the Cities. Public transport is EXCELLENT and affordable. Very safe to let the kids out after dark. Infact the kids don't go out until after 10pm most nights! Quite normal. No violence. No drunks. Even when Benfica are playing a big game. Winners and losers celebrate together here. We can leave our keys in the door and money on the dashboard of the car. I can leave a €500 grass trimmer on the lawn for days with the car keys on the wall, and they'll still be there later on. I once dropped a fifty Euro note on a garage forecourt and several people shouted at me to pick it up. Heroin addicts direct me to parking spots in the city, and look after my car (and that money on the dash is still there)... Crime is low. Health services are superb, as are dentists etc. During this so called pandemic things have remained calm and organised. Yes the economy has been hit but the people continue with their daily existence with no fuss. You could do far worse then move out here mate!
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I actually have a Real-Estate license so could save you some money if you want to buy. We have our own legal department and accountancy experts in-house. Saying that I have not once been to our offices in Lisbon and work from home in the countryside among the sheep, chickens, horses, pigs, and turkeys! Oh nearly forgot, five dogs, six cats, two horses of our own!
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Sounds amazing Dave, thanks for all the information, really appreciate it.
In South Africa it is really not so much the violence and all the normal reasons people move for, as I have been held up, hijacked, robbed, a few times, and with the security I have in place I feel pretty safe. For me it is more about the quality of life for my kids, by the way i say kids but they are 19 and 21.
As an example my friends recently moved to the UK, the husband and wife and the eldest kid are working in a grocery store, packing products, cashier etc. and the wage they make from that is actually enough to live, not a great living, but a living, food, rent, a car, etc.
In South Africa, if you worked in a grocery store, you would be lucky if the wage covered daily food, let alone housing or any medical.
I have a skill as such in development, and so have always been capable of earning a semi decent living, like middle class living as such, my children on the other hand as much as I pushed them to try be doctors and lawyers, decided make-up artist, beauty therapist, nail technician, was more their passion. If I leave them to start careers in South Africa they will not move out of home till 50, so I am kind of hoping Portugal is a little more similar to UK in that sort of way where you can eat even if you are not a doctor.
They could fill appointment books right now! The demand is high for home visits so they would do really well. Could have a salon for a couple of hundred a month here. You could easily work a grocery store job here and make ends meet. We have lived in everything from a caravan to an old house which was swapped for a broken tractor. Our current rent is €650 a month but this is for a large house with stabbles and land, a swimming pool, large garage, fully furnished. Electricity is the most expensive thing but if we do buy we will fit solar panels. Even though we could buy we still rent. We really like the area we live in now so buying is a real consideration. Up until this point we felt as though we needed to explore more of Portugal to actually located where we want a home, not just bricks and mortar, but real friends, community, tradition, and tranquility. After years of searching we finally think we have found it.
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What we would call ‘Campo’ rents start around €125 a month for a small traditional house. Three four bedrooms start around €350 or so, and fully furnished with a pool and some land start around the €600 mark or there about, for some general idea.
My rent in England was £1760 a month not including Council tax and bills!
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Well as soon as this Corona Virus thing is a little more controlled etc. And travel is allowed, I am going to seriously start looking at making the move, sounds really amazing. I am sure I ill be contacting you a little here and there to try get things started.
So happy with everything you have described though, sounds brilliant.
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Have a couple of hundred holiday rentals if you fancy a week or two with the family hit us up!
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Indeed! Being raised in that type of environment always provides very interesting stories! Funny and not so funny ones! 
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I can't even rent a 1 bedroom flat for that. Good old south east England!
Tell me about it mate! Born and raised in Reading. Be really hard to move back there with out resulting to some kind of sketchyness to make ends meet. Had a place in Wokingham which was extortionate to say the least. Had to pass CRB and credit checks, two months down, and a security deposit and agents fees.. Around six grand in all.. That was nearly ten years ago! Hate to think what it is like nowadays.
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I agree with everything said about Portugal by Dave. Every chance I get I go on vacation there I don’t go to live permanently because it really doesn’t make much sense in my case living in Spain, but for foreigners it’s a wonderful place as long as you stay away from Algarve region.
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In SA rent converted; my house I own is about 600 euro per month, but my total earnings in a general month converted to euro is about 2700 roughly with the existing clients I have, not being well travelled makes it that I really have very little clue if 2700 euro monthly is enough to live on though. In SA it’s a middle class salary.
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LOL…indeed.
Even funnier because Mercadona is a spanish supermarket chain. I’ve got one down the street.
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