It's probably the biggest barrier. You can get through the airport on arrival with just English, but beyond that, most people speak only Spanish unless you go to very tourist-focused places or expat enclaves.
For us, those are areas we don't find particularly interesting or desireable so getting conversational is a goal for us. We live in a rural area in the US and plan on living in a rural area there. It'll be hard enough as gringos, but almost impossible without being able to speak the langauge.
Plus most of the North American expats are damned annoying. I can see why the locals tend to despise them in just about every country.
Could you see yourself living there?
Definitely, but we already have friends there which makes it easier for us.
And you probably speak the language which helps.
Not yet, but working on it.
It's probably the biggest barrier. You can get through the airport on arrival with just English, but beyond that, most people speak only Spanish unless you go to very tourist-focused places or expat enclaves.
For us, those are areas we don't find particularly interesting or desireable so getting conversational is a goal for us. We live in a rural area in the US and plan on living in a rural area there. It'll be hard enough as gringos, but almost impossible without being able to speak the langauge.
Plus most of the North American expats are damned annoying. I can see why the locals tend to despise them in just about every country.
What makes the expats so annoying?