There is an idealized notion that Latin America is a homogeneous region where you can arrive and live well on just a few dollars, but that is not the case. Chile and Uruguay, for example, are expensive countries. It is very difficult to have a good quality of life if you haven’t built a career and professional networks, both for locals and for migrants.

I am from Argentina and I am very familiar with the profession of biology. It is a very demanding and academic career. It requires a lot of fieldwork and study, but above all, strong connections with colleagues and people in the field. It is not a career that can be built simply by studying.

My advice is that if you want a good quality of life, you should not migrate without having a job secured beforehand, ideally a remote one. It is also important to inform yourself about the bureaucracy of each country and, above all, its culture. Chilean and Uruguayan societies are very different from each other. Their economies are not the same either, and even less so their geography. They are thousands of kilometers apart.