Exploring Uruguay

Expat & Travel Resource Guide

uruguay

And the Road Trip Continues: Punta Ballena, Piriapolis and Atlantida

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After breakfast, we set out for our first stop of the day, Punta Ballena. We had heard that it was the Punta Del Este of 15 years ago, but more affordable now, so we wanted to check it out as a potential location for our next home in Uruguay.

We stopped at a viewpoint in Punta Ballena and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

This was clearly a tourist stop because there were some vendors set up selling trinkets.

There was also museum nearby. But Zoë fell asleep so we didn’t get to check it out this trip. Instead of waking her to check out the rest of Punta Ballena, we decided to head out to Piriapolis.

I guess a motorcycle convention was in Piriapolis for the weekend because there were motorcycles everywhere.  We really liked the feel of Piriapolis. It has more of the small beach town feel we’re looking for.

Although we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there today, we’ll definitely be taking another trip out there within the next couple months to explore it further.

The only Piriapolis pictures we got were of a fountain at one of the small parks on our drive out to Punta Del Este the night before:

Our next scheduled stop was Atlantida, but we decided to drive though several of the smaller, more unknown beach towns on the way. There were some really neat little towns tucked along the coast. It was really cool to see that even though these communities were very small, they still had markets, restaurants, etc.

We also noticed that peat moss roofs are quite popular in these small towns… Brian kept commenting about how it reminded him of Ireland.

We stopped off and had lunch in one of these small little beach towns at a quaint family restaurant called La Caracola. The owners (I believe it was a husband and wife team) were very friendly and welcoming.

And, the food was excellent. Brian had the Milanesa with puré de papas
(mashed potatoes) and both Johnny and I ordered the Chivitos al Pan.

The portions were huge so in addition to eating her own serving of puré
de papas, Zoë shared with all of us. We definitely recommend stopping
here if you’re taking a road trip down the coast.

After we had lunch, we headed to Atlantida. Atlantida had even more of a sleepy beach town feel… it felt more residential than Piriapolis did. I’m sure during the summer it picks up quite a bit more.

We found a small park with a large fountain so that Zoë could run around. She had spent a lot of time in the car that weekend and was getting pretty antsy. She had a blast running around, picking up leaves and giving them to us as presents.

The beaches in Atlantida were nice as well, but we didn’t get a chance to enjoy them this time around. Here are a couple pictures of the beach in Atlantida we shot the day before when it was raining.

One thing we noticed on our drive down the coast is how untouched the beaches are. You still see vegetation growing on the dunes in many areas (it isn’t pulled out to make the beaches more tourist friendly). The sand even comes back onto the road in many places, making navigation interesting.

We’ll definitely be taking another trip to Piriapolis and some of these other beach towns in the next few months.

Where to Buy Gold In Montevideo Uruguay

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Our blog post, “Gold is My Answer,” was very popular.  Since that post, I have had multiple inquiries asking,  “Where do you buy gold in Montevideo Uruguay?”  So, due to popular request, here you go.

I only know of two companies that you can buy gold from in Montevideo Uruguay; Indumex and Gales both are Cambios.
Indumex and Gales both have locations throughout Uruguay where you can buy gold.

Here is a list of Indumex locations in Uruguay:

Montevideo
Casa Central
Rincon 473
# 9151615
Monday thru Friday 10am to 6pm

Tres Cruces Nivel Shopping Center
Acevedo Diaz 1785
Loc T11 and 53
# 4084060
Everyday 6am to 12am and 9am to 10pm respectively

Portones Shopping Center
Avenida Italia 5775 loc 101
# 6017832
Everyday 10am to 10pm

Punta del Este
Punta Shopping Anexo
Avenida Roosevelt y Parada 6
Loc 228A and 213
# 042-492077 and 042-496406
Winter – Apr. through Nov.
Sun. through Thu. 9:30am to 10pm
Fri. and Sat. 9:30am to 11pm
Summer – Dec. thru Mar.
Everyday from 9am to 1am

Gorlero
Gorlero and Calle 28
# 042-444172
Closed in Winter
Oct. and Nov. 10am to 6pm
Dec. thru Mar. 10am to 12am

Salto
Salto Shopping
Avenida Batlle and Ordonez 2265
# 073-37400
Everyday from 10am to 9pm

Rivera
Rivera
Avenida Sarandi 496
# 062-24585
Monday thru Saturday 8am to 6pm

Colonia
Colonia Shopping
Avenida Roosevelt, esq Casanello
Loc 03
# 052-29560
Everyday from 9am to 9pm

Here is a list of Gales locations in Uruguay:

Montevideo
World Trade Center
Luis A. de Herrera 1248
Local 20
# 628-3231

Pocitos
21 de Setiembre y Ellauri
# 711-6680

Centro
18 de Julio y Río Negro
# 902-0229

Ciudad Vieja
Rincón 483
# 915-3310

Punta del Este
Gorlero y calle 29
(042) 44-3475

ChuyBrasil 553
# (0474) 2100

I hope this helps everyone who wants or needs to buy gold in Montevideo or anywhere in Uruguay.

Road Trip to Punta Del Este: Hotel and Restaurant Reviews Included!

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After we rented a car in Montevideo, we drove up the coast and headed out to Punta Del Este. We decided to find a hotel in Punta Del Este for the night and then take a slow drive back to Montevideo so we could visit a few more beach towns like Punta Ballena, Piriapolis and Atlantida.

Even though it was raining, the drive out to Punta Del Este was nice. We were finally able to use Zoë’s car seat, although the poor little girl got a little car sick at one point ☹ It’s a pretty, scenic drive and you quickly realize how sparsely populated the country is outside of Montevideo. It was quite relaxing (but I wasn’t driving ☺).

When we finally reached our destination, it was already dark so we set out to find a hotel in Punta Del Este. We stopped by several hotels to inquire about prices and they ranged from U$S 30-100 (this is the low season for Punta Del Este hotels; I’m sure the prices skyrocket in summer). We also stopped by the hostel (Brian’s friend Johnny who is staying with us was curious about prices there), but they were full.

After checking with about 8 hotels in Punta Del Este, we decided to stay at the Shelton Hotel, which is a family built, owned and operated hotel. It was U$S 30 per night for a single room and U$S 45 for a double room.

The staff was very nice and they even showed us up to our rooms and made sure the heater and TV were working properly. The staff consisted of 5 people, the Sagorsky family.  Their grandfather built the hotel in 1974 and it’s been in the family since.  We like to support family businesses.

From the moment you walk in the hotel, you feel like you stepped into a bit of a time warp.

Here are few pictures of the Shelton Hotel lobby:

And the hallway on the way to our hotel room:

We even had an ocean view from our hotel room (this is a picture from the next morning):

It was definitely a solid 3-star hotel. Nothing fancy, but it was perfect for our needs… a safe, quiet place to stay for the night. We decided to rest for a bit before we ventured out to find somewhere to have dinner since it was only around 7:30 and restaurants don’t typically start serving until around 9:00 in Uruguay.

When it was time to go out to eat, we walked around Punta Del Este a bit and settled upon a restaurant called View Point. It was situated at the top of a building, overlooking the water.

We walked into the building and took the elevator upstairs. It definitely appeared to be the nicest restaurant we had dined in since moving to Uruguay. We were all dressed VERY casual, but the staff still treated us like royalty.

We had three waiters serving our table! Seriously… the best service we’ve had just about anywhere.

Zoë had the squash and spinach ravioli. They brought hers out first so we could feed her before our food came out. The fresh pasta was covered in a simple butter sauce and was delicious. They made it special with no cheese for her since she’s allergic to milk. She said, “Mmmmm!” with every bite.

I had the seafood risotto. The mussels in Uruguay are so different than the mussels in the US. They aren’t chewy and I actually like them. The risotto was great and I couldn’t finish my whole plate, even with Zoë’s help.

Brian had the pasta sampler, which included shrimp angel hair pasta, gnocchi and two types of ravioli. He said it was delicious and couldn’t finish his portion either.

Johnny had the Ribeye steak, which was also great.

In addition to the four entrees, the guys shared a bottle of Don Pascual Tannat Reserve, and we probably had 3-4 bottles of mineral water (in addition to the wonderful bread basket). Our bill came out to around U$S 160, which is by far the most expensive meal we’ve had in Uruguay, but well worth the experience. We knew the restaurant prices in Punta Del Este would be higher than in Montevideo.

Afterwards we walked around Punta Del Este a little bit more and headed back to the hotel. We wanted to make sure we got a good night’s sleep so we could head out early to check out Punta Ballena, Piriapolis and Atlantida.

In the morning we took advantage of the Shelton Hotel’s complimentary breakfast. It included coffee, orange juice, water, toast and marmalade, medialunas (similar to croissants) and some shredded apple for Zoë. Again, nothing fancy, but it filled up our bellies.

Overall, we weren’t really impressed with Punta Del Este… a lot of high rises crowded around the water. But, we’ll have to go back in high season to give it a fair shot. Before we close out this blog entry, here are a few pictures of the beaches in Punta Del Este.

The story of our road trip through Punta Ballena, Piriapolis and Atlantida will continue in our next blog…

How Do You Pay for Things in Uruguay?

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UY Pesos, Dollars or Plastic? We use all three.

I don’t know why, but our US banks won’t allow us to pull out more than $2,000 UYU at a time. So it’s easier for us to pull ou U$S300 and saves us two $58 UYU transaction fee at the ATM.

We typically take our US dollars to a Cambio (see pic below) to exchange them for UY pesos so that we get the best rate of exchange.

Unfortunately the Cambios aren’t open on Sundays, so occasionally we’ll be stuck with US dollars and no simple way to exchange them for UY pesos.

Then I buy a coke at the market across the street with a U$S 100 bill and get the change in UY Pesos (but don’t expect many of the stores to do that for you until you’ve established yourself as a regular customer).

Most places will accept US dollars, but if you hand them a hundred dollar bill, they’ll usually look at you like you are crazy… Very few places could break it (U$S 100 is about $2312 UY pesos).

However, if you walk into some stores, like electronics stores, you’ll see everything is priced in US dollars rather than UY pesos. I guess paying U$S 1500 sounds better than $34,680 UY pesos…

Also, because the sales tax here is 22%, we try to pay for everything we can on our debit card. Why? Because we get 8% back on most purchases when you pay with debit/ credit cards (with a few exceptions like grocery stores) and we don’t get stuck with a currency transfer fee.

Unfortunately, even though Visa and MasterCard are accepted at a lot of places, we’re finding more places don’t accept plastic than do (especially restaurants). I guess the fees are pretty high for businesses.

Of course there are places, like the ferias, that only accept UY Pesos. So, there really isn’t a simple answer to, “How do you pay for things in Uruguay.” It’s really a mix is UY pesos, US dollars and plastic.

We learned through trial and error how to balance the mix and hope this blog provides a little clarification for you.

Montevideo, Uruguay Makes the News in San Diego

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Before we moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, the San Diego Reader was a staple of our week when we lived in San Diego, California. The Reader is a weekly publication filled with neat feature articles, listings for all of the local live music shows and much more.

When we announced to family and friends that we were moving to Uruguay, not many of them knew exactly where it was on the map. So, we were surprised this week to pull up the San Diego Reader’s website this week and see a story on Montevideo, Uruguay!

It’s a brief article and I think the writer’s prices are a little high compared to what we’ve seen. Brian just got a round trip ticket from Montevideo to Los Angeles for $680. And, two people can go to dinner at a very nice Parrilla and both have the finest cut of steak, lomo, and a good bottle of wine for what he’s estimating for one person (maybe he was getting the “gringo discount”).

But, we thought it was neat to see that more people are starting to recognize that Montevideo, Uruguay is a great place to visit and live. Check out the article by clicking here.

Uruguay Restaurant Review: Taco Munoz

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From the name of this Uruguay restaurant, Taco Munoz, we thought we had stumbled across yet another Mexican restaurant in Montevideo. Not so. The restaurant is named after the owner, host, server and chef, Taco Munoz.

The atmosphere at this Uruguay restaurant is inviting… jazz music was playing in the background and a wood burning stove heated the small dining area. We really felt like we were being welcomed into Taco’s home (actually the restaurant is located in an old home).

You could see into the kitchen from the dining area, which was quite neat. Taco Munoz has a small parrilla going in the kitchen, but offers a full menu not predicated on the parrilla.

It’s amazing to me that one man runs this entire restaurant. It’s the first time I’ve seen that at an Uruguay restaurant (or any restaurant for that matter). He literally greets you, seats you, takes your order and does all of the cooking (from scratch) and you never feel like he’s stretched too thin. Outstanding service.

The meal started out with fresh baked warm bread, as well as some delicious cheese bread. And, of course Brian had to try the house wine, labeled with the restaurant’s name, Taco Munoz, which he said was quite delicious (no more wine for me with a baby on the way!)

Zoë had a huge plate of penne pasta with butter and fresh herbs. It must have been good, because she at over half of the very large plate.

Brian had a seafood stew, filled with fish, shrimp, mussels, tomatoes, zucchini and lots of yummy herbs. He said it was one of the best seafood stews he’s ever had.

I had the orange glazed chicken, which was cooked on the parrilla and layered with carrots and a rich orange sauce that was absolutely delicious. It was served with a side of potatoes covered in a thick, flavorful cream sauce. This was one of my best meals yet at any Uruguay restaurant.

And, we must be gluttons for punishment, because we ordered the Taco Munoz house dessert to share (we tried to order two and Taco let us know it was gigantic and enough for two people). It was an enormous plate consisting of a pancake (similar to a crepe), ice cream, dulce du leche, pineapple slices and some frozen melon.

Zoë had her favorite dessert, the apple pancake, which was loaded with baked apples and raisins.

I would have to say that Taco Munoz is one of my favorite Uruguay restaurant experiences so far. We will definitely be going back to see what other delicious specialties Taco can whip up for us.

Taco Munoz is located at Francisco Ros 2781, between Cnel. Mora and Luis de la Torre.

Renting an Apartment in Uruguay

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Renting an apartment in Uruguay is a very different process than our experiences in the States. Oftentimes in the US, you deal directly with the owner. However, in Uruguay, typically both the owner and the renter have a real estate agent (inmobiliaria) representing them.

As a renter in Uruguay, it’s best to have more than one real estate agent representing you… we had four. Why? There is no MLS (multiple listing service) in Uruguay, so oftentimes only the owner’s inmobiliaria and a few of their friends know about each available apartment.

Every real estate agent will have different apartments to show you, so you don’t want to limit yourself to only what one agent has to show you. Luckily we were given that piece of advice our first week here.

We decided to spend our first week exploring Pocitos to get to know the area, and start looking at apartments our second week in Montevideo. We had our room at the Punta Trouville Apart Hotel reserved for three weeks, and we were hoping to have an apartment before the end of that three-week period.

The first apartment in Uruguay we decided to check out was one we saw on the Internet. It was a fully furnished 2-bedroom apartment listed on the Internet for U$S 600.

When we contacted the inmobiliaria, she showed us the apartment and told us the rent was U$S 650… It was also listed as being in Pocitos, but it was actually in Parque Batlle. Next inmobiliaria please.

Our next inmobiliaria showed up to our hotel in a cab and said she didn’t have enough money to pay for a cab to the property. It was a “3-bedroom house” in “the heart of Carrasco,” furnished at U$S 620 per month.

We planned on staying in Pocitos, but that is an AMAZING deal for a furnished 3-bedroom house in Carrasco. She told us it had a “nice patio and a parrilla” and it was “not to far from the beach” and it was “walking distance to everything.”

Well, it was actually in Carrasco Norte. The “3-bedroom house” was a quadra-plex and the unit was a center unit. The 3rd bedroom was off of the kitchen and led to the parrilla, and didn’t have a door… I would consider it a dining room.

It was walking distance to the Portones Shopping Mall; “They have all the stores there, you don’t need any others.” And it was a good 2-3km from the beach… LOL, at least we got to see part of Carrasco we would have not otherwise seen.

After that, we had two other realtors we were working with and they were both phenomenal. We started out looking at furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments, thinking that Zoë could sleep in her travel crib in our room since we only planned to sign a six-month lease initially.

While it was a nice idea, we quickly realized we just wouldn’t have enough storage space for our luggage… or much privacy.

So, after seeing several very nice fully furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments ranging from U$S 500-900 our first week of looking, we started viewing two-bedroom apartments in our third week in Montevideo.

On Wednesday, we had a full day of apartments to see with our real estate agent. (BTW, because we did a 6-month lease with option to extend; we paid a premium. If you are willing to do a 1-year lease, you can get an even better price…)

The first two-bedroom apartment we saw was beautifully furnished, but overpriced at U$S 1200 per month (gringo discount). Then we saw a couple of Uruguay apartments in a compound type community. The whole community was gated with 24-hour security, and it even had a market and jardin (preschool) in it.

We were told there were a lot of international people and people from the US who lived there. They were reasonable priced U$S 700-850 range, however, the community was very secluded from the heart of Pocitos, where we really wanted to live. In addition to that, if we wanted to live with a bunch of people from the US, we would have stayed in the US. Zoë was tired, so we went home to rest for the day.

The next morning we were out looking at Uruguay apartments again. The first one we saw was down the coast a bit, right on the Rambla.It had amazing views (the yacht club on one side and the beach on the other, but again, it was just a bit too far from the area of Pocitos we wanted to live (at U$S 1000 per month).

The next apartment we saw was a small two-bedroom apartment overlooking the park, and a couple blocks from the water. At, U$S 850, it was perfect. We decided we would take that one…

Until we saw the next and final apartment on our tour. It was only a half of a block from the water and one block from the park. It was nicely furnished and the second bedroom was a little bigger, which was nice for Zoë.

It also had a pool, parrilla (barbeque), gym and 24-hour security. It was slightly more at U$S 900 per month, but gastos communes was less (basically like HOA fees that you as a tenant are responsible for when renting an apartment in Uruguay).

So, we went to lunch to talk about our options and decided to make an offer on the final apartment we saw. We made an offer that day, Thursday. We offered a little less than the asking price, in exchange for paying six months rent up front.

Unfortunately the owner lived in Argentina and was out of town, so we were told we’d have to wait until Monday for an answer. Monday came and we received a counter offer, which we quickly accepted.

However, on Tuesday the owner decided that since Zoë walks, she wanted to renegotiate (I guess she was afraid Zoë would break something). We decided that we weren’t interested in renting from her at that point, and made an offer to rent the other apartment we liked.

Unfortunately, that owner decided that since we did not have an Uruguayan job, he didn’t want to rent to us (even though we were paying six months rent up front plus a security deposit). At least he let us know immediately.

Our real estate agent assured us this was not common, and that it was the first time they’d ever experienced anything like this when working with families like ours to rent an apartment in Uruguay.

Luckily, there was an apartment that had just become available in the heart of Pocitos that they could show immediately.

So, Brian went down to take a look at it (Zoë was down for a nap) and it was perfect! It was bigger, less expensive than either of the other places we were looking at (U$S 700 per month) and right on 21 de Setiembre (one of the main drags in Pocitos), one block from the park and 5 ½ blocks from the water. It has a lavaropa (washing machine), drying lines on our back balcony, and we have a front balcony as well.

We immediately put in an offer on it. It was accepted; we signed the papers Wednesday and moved in on Thursday. It was a great feeling to know that we’d be out of that hotel. As much as we all love each other, we also need our own space.

So, even though it was a trying process to rent an apartment in Uruguay, we’re happy with the way things turned out. We love our apartment. Our porters are great (yes, we have porters… it’s pretty cool). Our apartment came with a parking spot, which we don’t need since we don’t own a car, and Mario (one of our porters) was able to rent it out to another tenant for $1000 Uruguayan pesos per month. So, that essentially dropped our rent to only about U$S 655 per month. We couldn’t even get an unfurnished studio for that price in San Diego, let alone a furnished apartment with porters!

We would also highly recommend the inmobiliaria who helped us our rent our apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay. They are professional, very friendly and extremely helpful. We also found that they had the most listings to offer us to look at in the Pocitos area (they cooperate with several other agents to find you the perfect apartment to rent or buy in Uruguay). You can visit their website here.

As promised here are pictures of our new apartment in Uruguay:

Front Balcony
Living Room
Kitchen
Guest Bathroom (small shower behind door)
Master Bathroom
Zoë’s Bedroom
Master Bedroom
Back Balcony

Massage in Montevideo Uruguay

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UPDATE: Jan is no longer in MVD. Both her and Ken moved on to the beautiful Andes in Ecuador. Not only will we miss them, but our backs will too 😉

If you’ve been looking to get a massage in Montevideo, Uruguay, you have a few options. There are a number of clubs or “spas” around that offer massage services. If you want an “okay” massage, you can get one… BUT… if you want a GREAT massage you’ll want to go to Jan Wallace.

Even though most of you haven’t heard of Jan, many celebrities have. Jan started practicing massage in 1983. She was trained in Oregon and first licensed there. Oregon has very strict licensing guidelines as opposed to Uruguay, which has none.

After practicing for many years in Oregon she moved to San Diego, California where she worked at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. La Costa Resort and Spa is the #2 Spa in the world. She was Barbara Walters preferred massage therapist at this spa. After Jan’s time at La Costa, she created her own massage business in San Diego.

Now Jan lives here in the Pocitos area of Montevideo, Uruguay. We had the pleasure of meeting Jan and we immediately took advantage of her services. Wow…  Jan gives an awesome massage. We are now her regular clients.

She is trained in a variety of massage techniques, including Swedish Massage, Shiatsu/Acupressure, Reflexology, Sports Massage, Lymphatic Drainage Massage, Trigger Point Therapy, Deep Tissue and Pregnancy Massage.

Additionally, Jan one of a select few individuals in the world who practices Bio Energy Therapy. Bio Energy Therapy is a non-invasive treatment that can help with may chronic problems that are often considered incurable. We opted to use this therapy to help heal some back, neck and shoulder pain. We were surprised at the speed with which we experienced positive results. Jan can explain this technique in much greater detail if you’re interested in learning more.

World Famous Tattoo Artist Visiting Uruguay:
Set Your Appointment Now

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Johnny Luck, world famous tattoo artist, is in Montevideo, Uruguay from now through August 15, 2009.  He is setting appointments to work out of Good Luck Tattoo on 21 de Setiembre @ Hellauri.

If you want or need a tattoo, please contact us to set up an appointment. In the meantime, Johnny has an extensive portfolio with him that you can touch and feel, and a couple of examples of his work posted online. Click here to check out his web page.

Click here to contact us.

Getting Your Mail While Living in Uruguay

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Mail forwarding is something we considered before moving to Uruguay. Of course we have an address here in Uruguay, and we do receive mail here… BUT… We soon found out there are several reasons to forward mail through a mail forwarding service.

The biggest reason we decided to use a mail forwarding service is that our US Banks require a US physical address for our accounts. In addition, various other businesses we work with require a US address on file as well.

The second reason we decided to use a mail forwarding service is that we quickly found that many websites we love to shop on don’t ship to Uruguay.  The ones that do ship products to Uruguay tend to have an excessive charge (I was quoted $320 for FedEx to ship a case of Agave Nectar to me! It was “only” $90 for the USPS slowest of slow shipping methods).

Before we decided on moving to Uruguay, neither one of us had ever used a mail forwarding service, because we never had a reason to forward our mail.  The most we had ever done was put a in forwarding slip at the post office.

We researched a couple of different mail forwarding services. What we were looking for was for a mail forwarding service that was easy to use and transparent. The mail forwarding service we decided on using was Earth Class Mail.

The mail forwarding service we chose, Earth Class Mail, lets us check, manage and forward mail from anywhere in the world, via our computers. So whether we’re in Uruguay, or on a weekend adventure somewhere else in South America, we can access our mail and have it forwarded to us as long as we have Internet.

So we’re going to review the plan we chose to use with the Earth Class Mail, mail forwarding service. Getting started with Earth Class Mail was pretty easy. We first picked the plan we wanted. There are three options: Essential mail forwarding plan, ValuePlus mail forwarding plan and Professional mail forwarding plan. We use the ValuePlus mail forwarding plan for a few reasons:

  • There are three of us (the Essential mail forwarding plan allows only 1 recipient; ValuePlus mail forwarding plan allows up to five)
  • The maximum amount of mail pieces received and scanned per month is 100… that is plenty for our needs (you pay a per piece fee if you go over that)
  • We got a discount by choosing a longer subscription (12 months; you get an even better discount for 24 months)
  • And, as with all of the mail forwarding plans, we get unlimited shredding, unlimited recycling and free storage for one month

We then had to choose our address. You can either choose to have PO Box or a physical address (or both, depending on your needs and budget). PO Boxes are available at no additional cost. Physical addresses require an additional monthly fee (ranging from $9.95 to $29.95, depending on location). UPS and FedEx won’t deliver to a PO Box and our bank requires a physical address, so we chose to have both.

After that, we had to have a form notarized to give Earth Class Mail permission to receive our mail. And, of course you have to remember to provide your address to friends, family and businesses you work with. After that, we were all set to go.

Once the mail forwarding kicked in and we started getting mail, we realized how easy the service is to use. When Earth Class Mail receives a new piece of mail for us, we receive an email. We then login to our account to see the scanned image of the envelope and can choose to have them:

  • Scan the envelope’s contents so we can view it online
  • Have the envelope/package forwarded to our location.
  • Forward the electronic document (PDF) to anyone we want
  • Shred personal information
  • Recycle junk mail
  • Have the originals archived with Earth Class Mail

We’ve found that by Earth Class Mail’s mail forwarding rates are reasonable. We pay about U$S 50 to have a FedEx Priority envelope forwarded to us in Uruguay. And, we paid as little as U$S 6 for a small package to be Forwarded down to us via USPS

If you’re a European citizen, I also noticed that Earth Class Mail could get you set up with a street address in various European countries and cities.

Overall, we’re very happy with the Earth Class Mail, mail forwarding service and recommend it to anyone that is planning to live or travel abroad.

Get Earth Class Mail Here