spending lots of $$$

The last few days, we've walked around the city in the area near our hotel, and noticed that many things are the same as in the US. There are gas stations with snacks (though you can buy wine at them, too), many of the same restaurants (Subway, McDonald's, Ruby Tuesday's, Tony Romas, TGIFridays, Starbuck's, and more, and many of the same shops and products (Tommy Hilfiger, Puma, Nike, Graco (we're looking for a high chair), Wilson sports, etc. (Sadly, still no sight of a Target).

The other thing that's basically the same is prices. We went to the mall yesterday to go to the home store (basically Home Depot) to buy a fan-to make white noise for Vivi at night, to block out traffic sounds). Jeans are $30-$50. Baby clothes are anywhere from a few bucks to $20 a piece. Groceries are a bit cheaper, with fresh items such as bread or produce being cheap, but packaged items like olive oil or pasta, are more.

Our rent will be slightly less, but for a bigger and much nicer place than the one we had in LA.
We did have 1 pretty small bedroom, a tiny kitchen, living room, dining room barely big enough for a table, and a smallish bath. Now, we will have 3 bedrooms, 1 medium and 2 small, a living and dining room (medium), a sizable kitchen (all the kitchens here are long and narrow), 2 baths and a beautiful view of the Andes (whereas view before was of delapitated fence or brick wall).

I guess the reason we've noticed these things is that we were told "you can live like kings there with a decent salary." It's not that we'll be living like bums, but there seems to be a misconception that everywhere else in the world is cheaper than the US. Some places, yes: Turkey, Serbia, Peru. Others not so much. We were surprised that things cost as much as they did in Belize, Morocco, and now here. Maybe we just haven't found the less expensive places yet. Maybe we've been getting the "gringo rate." But one thing's for sure: it can't be more expensive than LA.