Panama was incredible! It was the most dynamic city I have visited in years. It is clearly replacing Miami as Latin America’s primary financial center. There are more banks in one small barrio in Panama City than there are in Uruguay. More business is done every day in Panama than is done all year in Montevideo. Everywhere I looked new buildings were going up: not little buildings–20 to 40 story concrete and steel towers. Real estate values are soaring. One of my business associates bought office space on Avenida Balboa (Panama’s version of Rambla) a few years ago for US$73 per square meter. Offices in his building are now selling for US$3000 per square meter.

And the Internet was incredible… I think we have more bandwidth in the hotel than in all of Uruguay: a blazingly fast 11 MB in our hotel room.

For me, the best features of Panama were its restaurants. I had fantastic Chinese food, which is impossible to get here, and a surfeit of American junk food including Wendy’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Bennigan’s, TGI Friday’s, Popeye’s and Hard Rock Cafe.

Panama City is very much like Miami, except that they speak more English in Panama!

Would I like to live there? Am I sorry I moved here?

You’ve got to be kidding! Panama is like one big amusement park/shopping mall: a lot of fun to visit, but I surely would not want to live there!

Panama is hot. Panama is humid. Panama is crowded. Panama is expensive. Panama’s traffic is insane. Panama is increasingly dangerous.

For me Panama is a mirror image of Uruguay. Uruguay is a wonderful place to live, a good place from which to do business, but a terrible place in which to do business. Conversely, Panama is a wonderful place in which to do business, a good place from which to do business, but a challenging place in which to live (especially if you are a gringo).

One of the things I love about living in Uruguay is that I do not stand out in a crowd (except for the fact that I am a fat cripple in a wheelchair)as a gringo. Here, I look like everyone else. Panama caused me to have flashbacks of Costa Rica–Santiago and I were both clearly identifiable as foreigners. That could be that between the two of us we were bigger than any six Panamanians, but I think it is more subtle than that. Panamanians are certainly more friendly than Costa Ricans, but then so are North Koreans. Panamanians are certainly smarter than Costa Ricans, but then so is the average mule. Panamanians show more business savvy than anyone I have met this side of Hong Kong or Taiwan. But, Panama has an edge to it which is hard to define, but indicates to me that it could never be home–that I could never really belong there.

Panama is good for business and I will go back there often. If it was next door to Uruguay I might even work there and live here. But it is 7 hours away by plane and Uruguay is my home Regardless of whether you speak English or Spanish the sentiment is the same: home Sweet home – hogar dulce hogar!

Providentially for me, I enjoyed decent health until the accidents that crippled me in 1998. By that time I was living outside the United States, so I was able to afford health care even without insurance. (Admittedly, some of the health care was provided by practitioners whose credentials might be considered by some–anyone with an IQ above 30 –as suspect. I remember that on the island of Nevis they only had one class of physicians, and consequently even Chiropractors could prescribe drugs- “take two of these pills daily, and return three times a week forever”. The the university degree of the chief health officer of the island, a doctor whose name I do not remember, was R.N.)

But all of that changed when I came to Uruguay! Every legal resident who pays Social Security is entitled to choose from among several HMOs which are totally paid for by one’s Social Security contribution. In addition, there is also a government health service to care for the needs of the poor, and private health insurance as well (for which I could not qualify because of my pre-existing conditions).

Since I am working and paying social security I now have health insurance. Santiago researched the various plans and chose COSEM because it was reputed to have the best doctors and the newest facilities.
Eight days ago I went to COSEM for the first time to see a general practitioner in order to get a referral for a specialist. I was impressed with the modern facility. I did have to wait about an hour to see the doctor, but I have waited longer than that in the US and then had to pay $120 for the privilege. This visit cost me nothing. The doctor gave me a referral to a dermatologist to deal with the skin on my left leg which had been ravaged by a seven-year long staph infection.

Perhaps the most impressive thing was that the doctor did not tell me to put Dr. Selby ointment on my leg–in Uruguay Dr. Selby is the equivalent of “take two aspirin and call me in the morning”.

Santiago went to the front desk to make the appointment for me. He was told that there were no dermatologist appointments available for more than a month. However, the general practitioner had marked my need as “urgent”, so the scheduler told Santiago he would find an appointment for me quickly and call us with the time and day. That was Friday, March 7.

My appointment with the dermatologist was on Tuesday, March 11. I don’t think I could’ve gotten in that quickly in the US under any circumstances short of third-degree burns covering 80% of my body.

When the day came for the dermatologist appointment I cleared my calendar just in case there would be a long wait. To my pleasant surprise, there wasn’t. I was the second person on the list, and don’t think I waited more than 10 minutes. The dermatologist was knowledgeable, and gave me some prescriptions that have helped me tremendously. I started seeing improvements very next day. Some of the things the doctor prescribed were available right there at COSEM’s pharmacy and were extremely inexpensive. The rest we had to buy at a local pharmacy, but the price there was discounted as well because of my COSEM membership.

The whole process was easy, and frankly, encouraging. Virtually every encounter I have had with physicians in Uruguay has been positive.

I say virtually because there was one doctor that I had to endure who started out with the tired old litany of “you’re overweight”. Gee, really? I didn’t know that: I thought I was the perfect weight for someone 7′6″ (2.25 m). That encounter was actually pretty funny because, as she was talking, in Spanish of course, Santiago became visibly upset. He told it was because he knew I would not like what she said. I told him that I would absolutely not be angry or upset because I intended to ignore her completely.

Those who know me even casually know that I am a libertarian/right-wing nut. By rights, I should hate the medical system here. But I can’t, because even before I am a libertarian, I am a utilitarian; and Uruguay’s medical system WORKS!

Last year, in a desperate search to get sufficient bandwidth we bought an expensive router that would aggregate Internet bandwidth from two sources. We connected an ADSL line from Antel and a microwave link from TelMex. The Antel line cost about $84 per month, and the TelMex link cost $850 per month (that was because we bought “guaranteed” bandwidth). I must tell you, that the TelMex service was HORRIBLE! Despite the “guarantee” there were many times when my total bandwidth was less than 128K, even when no one else was in the building. We called to complain almost daily, but with no effect. 

However one year and US$10,000 later we are free from TelMex.

We have replaced the TelMex link with a second bigger ADSL line. And we have upgraded the first ADSL line as well. Now our total Internet Bill is about $400 a month, and we have more bandwidth all the time.

Perhaps the best news is that Antel has committed a significant investment to build a huge new fibre optic pipeline that will connect to the Internet backbone through Brazil–this will effectively obviate Argentina’s policy of choking off Internet access in Uruguay by limiting the bandwidth they allow us to buy from them.

My next adventure is the new G3 wireless modem for my laptop. I will be testing that out in the next week or so and will let you know. I am guardedly optimistic.

Life in Uruguay is good, and the technology is getting better!

I know real estate is cheap compared to the US and ridiculously cheap compared to Western Europe, but I have also seen prices rise since the gringos have started arriving in greater numbers, especially in the gringo enclaves.

On the other hand, electricity, gasoline, electronics, and quality clothing can be much more expensive.

There is a really good review of everything on a blog at: uruguaydreaming.com.

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Uruguay’s new tax rules: understanding what really changes for foreign nationals

On July 1, 2007, Uruguay overhauled its tax legislation. The main change was the creation of personal income tax – for income generated in Uruguay. The purpose of this article is to point out how it affects foreign nationals who live, own property or simply do business in or with the country.

What the new tax rules don’t change

The key thing to keep in mind is that nothing has changed regarding what kind of income or assets Uruguay taxes, from a territorial or geographical point of view. Uruguay will continue taxing only income generated inside Uruguay and assets located inside the country. Thus, for citizens and foreign nationals alike, any type of income obtained from a foreign source, or assets abroad, will remain untouched by the Uruguayan tax collector. A U.S. pension, dividends or capital gains on stock in a Japanese company, interest from a CD in a European bank or real estate in Australia: they all remain untaxed.

What the new tax rules change

The new legislation basically reintroduces personal income tax in Uruguay, which had been eliminated in 1974. The way the new income tax rules apply (remember: only on income generated by an activity in Uruguay) is split into work-related income and capital-related income.

Work-related income comprises any salary, fees and commissions generated by an activity (a job) inside Uruguay. This type of income is taxed at progressive rates between 10 and 25%.

Capital-related income is taxed at a flat 12% rate (with some exceptions, in which the rate is lower). What is capital-related income?

a. Rental income: Anyone (locals and foreign nationals alike) who owns property in Uruguay and rents it out will have that rental income taxed at 12% (after allowed deductions, such as municipality taxes on real estate, the rate can effectively be lowered by a few percentage points).

b. Interest on bank deposits in a Uruguayan bank in foreign currency is taxed at the 12% rate, and deposits in local currency are taxed at 3% or 5%, depending on the period of time they are deposited for.

c. Yields on Uruguayan government bonds are not taxed. Corporate bond yields issued by Uruguayan companies are –in general terms- taxed at 3%.

d. Capital gains on the sale of an asset located in Uruguay (such as a property in the country): 12% is paid on the spread between the sale price and the original purchase price (which is adjusted for inflation and improvements on the property). For those assets bought before the new tax laws went into effect (July 1, 2007), one can choose to pay a flat 1.8% tax on the sale price, instead of the 12% on the purchase-sale spread.

e. Dividends paid out by a Uruguayan company are taxed at 7% (on top of the company’s own 25% corporate income tax, a topic that exceeds the purpose of this article).

The special case of income generated by a foreign company or individual from doing business with Uruguayan companies from abroad

When providing a service to a Uruguayan company from abroad, such as technical services, the source of the income is deemed Uruguayan for tax purposes, and is taxed at a rate of 12%.

The other taxes

The main change in Uruguay tax law, again, is on income tax. But there are also minor changes in the other two main taxes that the country has: value added tax (Impuesto al Valor Agregado or IVA) and the tax on assets inside Uruguay (Impuesto al Patrimonio or IP).

Value added tax, the sales tax that one pays when paying for a meal at a restaurant or buying an item in a supermarket, is lowered from 23% to 22% (and, for some basic goods and medicines, is lowered from 14% to 10%).

Assets inside Uruguay are taxed, once a year, at progressive rates that start at 0.7% and reach 2.75% of the “fiscal” (official) value of the asset. For all practical purposes, after allowing for the minimum non-taxable portion of assets in Uruguay, and considering that the “fiscal” value of a property is usually substantially lower than its market value, this tax is not as harmful as it sounds (and on assets related to some activities, such as farming, the tax does not even apply). And the good news is that the new law establishes that this tax will be gradually phased out, and virtually eliminated, by 2017.

© Juan Federico Fischer, LVM Abogados & Consultores. jfischer@lvm.com.uy, www.lvm.com.uy & www.uruguayinvest.com

The Doctor charged US$300 for he and his team.

The Hospital charge me US$400 for the private room, the srugical suite and miscellaneous items.

The US made balloon for my stomach cost US$1700 and we bought it directly from the medical supply house, it was NOT marked up by the doctor or hospital.

Hmmmmmm…..

The short story is, that unless I want to stand before the Heavenly Throne in very short order, I need to shed 100 kg (about 220 lbs) of weight–in other words I need to lose more than an entire Copperhead in body weight. At this point, the only way to achieve that is through surgery. My body has just been too messed up by the years of infection and powerful drugs to admit of any other course of action.

I’m not going to go into all the medical details, because this is not a medical blog, it is a Uruguay blog. Nevertheless one of the big things on the minds of so many people considering a move to Uruguay is: “What is the quality of the medical care in Uruguay?”

From my perspective, it is superb!

It is very different from the medical care to which people in the US have become accustomed. Treatments here are based primarily on the science and art of medicine and NOT on insurance companies’ actuarial tables or anticipatory defenses against lawsuits by junkyard dog attorneys.

The first thing one notices is that the attitude of a doctor here is infinitely less haughty than most of his American counterparts–their bedside manner is more that of a trusted advisor than some kind of Aeschylapian demigod. In reality, they come across as very much like the ‘good old local doctor’ of days gone by, before medicine in America was taken over and destroyed by the insurance companies and the government.

If this judgment sounds too harsh to you, let me tell you about my last two doctors’ appointments, and you can judge for yourself.

Last Thursday, I had an appointment at Hospital Militar to consult with a doctor about the possibility of weight reduction surgery. I met with Dr. Luis Taroco, who it turned out, was the Head of Surgery at the hospital. He was a chubby man of average height and the first words out of his mouth were, “you are expecting someone skinny?” That put me at ease, at least I wasn’t going to be faced with a lecture on my weight from a “body Nazi”. He spent the next 45 minutes detailing the options in front of me and explaining which one he thought was best and why. He told me the entire process through which I would have to go, and he even told me how much it cost. (I can’t remember the last time a Yankee doctor deigned to mention money.) That consultation costs me a total of 237 pesos Uruguayos, about 10 Yankee dollars.

At the end of the consultation I thanked the doctor and gave him a copy of my book about living in Uruguay.

Later that evening, I received an e-mail from Dr. Taroco thanking me for the book and sending me an article in English detailing everything he had told me during our consultation. I was really impressed–I think that’s the first e-mail I’ve ever gotten from a doctor that was attending me.

Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr. Taroco’s partner, Dr. Pedro Rivero Amespil, in order to actually initiate the process that will lead to my surgery.

Their offices were located just a block off of Bulevar España in Parque Rodo. The building was an example of the fine, well preserved, classic architecture so often found in Montevideo. Marble floors and real wood paneling displayed the wealth of a previous time.

Santiago (a.k.a. Jimbo) and Borko (a.k.a. Bubba) were with me: Santiago, to translate and Borko, to drive and push the wheelchair–Borko is proud that he is one of the few people who manages to “push me around” on a regular basis.

Amazingly, for a medical office in a country that is so polite, and is so friendly, there was no handicapped ramp. Instead, I was greeted with three marble steps. Borko took the wheelchair and went in first, and I followed tottering along on my canes. It would have been sheer hell had I not been able to do so—I think a derrick would have been required…

The lobby was spectacular: more marble and wood dominated by an antique fireplace. On the left was a steep metal staircase that seemed entirely out of place, and that I was afraid I would have to try to scale.

We arrived 15 minutes early, so I expected a good long wait. To my surprise, a white coated gentleman descended the stairway within a minute or two, got a key from the receptionist, and led us back to an outside consultation room on the front landing of the building. The hand-made double wooden doors were opened to admit my wheelchair.

During the next 30 minutes Dr. Rivero went over much of the same information previously discussed with Dr. Taroco. He went on to tell me that their goal was for me to be the very first patient using a new laparoscopic surgical procedure which is far less invasive, hence far less dangerous than flaying me like a catfish. (I think its because I am the biggest person they have ever had squeeze through their doors.) I was told that tests would commence next week with the goal of surgery around the end of June.

Again, as with Dr. Taroco before him, I was impressed with Dr. Rivero’s manner–I really felt like I had gone back in time 40 years. The meeting ended with handshakes all around and that was that. There were no charges; there were no tests–the purpose of this meeting is simply to get acquainted.

Wow!

So, if you ask me in the future, “wouldn’t you feel safer getting your surgery done in America?”, and I just laugh and walk away, remember this post.

This is a full-sized, 8½ x 11 inch paper back, with color covers and black-and-white inside. Because of its large size is much easier to read than the pocket-sized edition produced locally.  The price for the full-size paperback is the same as the retail price for the e-book, US$30. For payment, lulu.com accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and PayPal.

One other note: there was a Yankee Naval vessel holding station a few kilometers offshore for my house–obviously they were here in connection with that politicians visit.  I didn’t mind the ship that much, until I noticed that as I went from room to room its weapons readjusted accordingly…

Two ADSL lines that are 1024 down/256 up have improved to be insufficient for our needs even when aggregated together using a special high priced router.  We either have no bandwidth at all for 5 or 10 minutes at a time, or the bandwidth does not exceed the 54kbps needed to make a clear Skype call.  Yesterday for more than two hours, when people called in I could hear them but they could hear nothing.  This means we had less than 30 kbps upload.

256 + 256 = 512.

and

30 / 512 = 5.85%.

Hence, I am not even getting 5.85% of the bandwidth upload for which I am paying.

When Jimbo called Anteldata to complain, he was told that they did indeed have been with problems, had had them for some time and expected to have them for some time longer.  What a wonderful way to run a service company.  And if there were any real service companies competing with them, they might end up out of business.

However, the highly touted Dedicado seems to have no more idea of customer service and then the aforementioned glacier has a steam.  After six failed attempts at installing their more expensive service, we tore up that contract.  Since we needed an alternative to Anteldata, we chose the most expensive option: Tel Mex.

Their contract guarantees the bandwidth, they actually sent out surveyors to pre-plan installations of the receiving antenna and seemed to be very professional.  Bah humbug!  Yesterday, they were supposed to show up and install the service.  Of course, it didn’t happen, and of course they had a tear jerking excuse–the problem for me is that I am a jerk and I rarely shed tears, although the situation is bringing me close to them.

Right now I have no choice but to “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and wait until they are good and ready to install the service, but I’ve already begun planning for satellite service at the end of my contract with Tel Mex.

I am told that the situation is improving, but right now from where I sit, I am more concerned that my house will be washed away when Uruguay floods due to all of those glaciers racing into the Southern Ocean and melting.

I am grateful that I’ve been able to spur this rebirth of creative energy which has been able to keep my readers and our community so well entertained during my absence.

I am afraid that the actual events that occurred are far less interesting.  I actually started writing several blog pieces that never got all the way finished.  Since my mama told it was a sin to waste, I have incorporated them into this piece today.

21 December 2006: My family is supposed to arrive from Florida in the next few hours.  I only got possession of the new house two days ago, but since we were able to start bringing things in before the final contract signing (which almost blew up in my face) we are in pretty good shape.  Granted there are doors missing, as we had to have some doorways widened for my wheelchair, and my modesty while sleeping is only protected light curtain.  Nevertheless, save for one tiny item, we’ve done well.

The missing link unfortunately is a very large refrigerator that Géant was supposed to deliver two days ago.  Without it, we will find it a bit hard to keep very much food in the house.

[Later that same day] I finally became so frustrated with Géant that I told Hernán to call Géant and tell them that I was on the way there and expected to meet the General Manager upon my arrival.  The mere threat of that seem to have a bracing effect.  My actual arrival seem to cause a least a minor shock wave.  I did a bit of shopping while waiting for the manager. When he arrived both of us were entirely courteous.  He promised me that the refrigerator would be delivered, and I told him I’d receive that very same promise for two days running.  I asked him where, “exactly” the refrigerator was; he excused himself, in order to check.  In five minutes he returned and told me it would be at my house before I left his store.  I thanked him for his courtesy–and prayed that his promise did not mean I would spend the next 48 hours in his store.

Less than 30 minutes later the refrigerator was delivered, and that crisis was solved.

28 December 2006: The Copperhead is homeless.  Last night he left our shared abode of 10 months and moved into the Palladium Hotel, six blocks from our new head office.  Finding an apartment has been tough for him, as detailed in another place.

30 December 2006:  Copperhead lands an aerie…  I had just finished printing out all 47 verses of “Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground” so that he could amuse himself during his tenure under canvas in my backyard.  But once again fate intervened to cruelly thwart my plans.  The Copperhead jubilantly returned to the house and informed me that he had signed the rental contract without incident, and had also made his rental deposit at Banco Hippopotamus (or something like that) with a wad of pesos thick enough to choke a horse.

Apparently his apartment is really great.  It is on the 15th floor in Pocitos and in a newer building.  The worst thing about it is that his landlord is wonderful, helpful, caring and keeps his promises–this means the Copperhead has used up the “nice landlord quotient” for all of Montevideo for 2007.  Damn!

30 December 2006: After a short visit of just more than a week, my nephew Nick, and sister-in-law Sue, returned north to Yankee-occupied America.  Nick had been here before and likes Uruguay a lot.  This was Sue’s first trip, and while she liked what she saw, what she heard, that is the Spanish language, seemed to her to be an overwhelming obstacle.  Their return trip to Florida was without incident and they arrived home Sunday morning 31 December.

(It should be noted that during all the time described herein, we are also unpacking, finding, sorting, buying, and generally working on the move-in.)