Hi! My wife and I are thinking about moving to Chile for a year, just to make sure that we like it. (I think we will love it, but let's try it for a year before we make a final decision.) I am from northern Canada and much prefer living in a small city, say 200 000 or less, to living in a big city. We'd like to buy an acreage or a small farm. 10 acres would be ideal, but four would be acceptable. I am wondering about how safe it is to be expats living in a rural area in Chile. We'd probably want to settle in the middle of Chile or the South, preferably where there is at least some snow in winter.
So, how safe is rural Chile for expats? Do you need guns? A gated community?