South America is a huge fucking continent. There are places in the Andes in Chile and Argentina that have standards of living comparable to 1st-world countries

South America is a huge fucking continent. There are places in the Andes in Chile and Argentina that have standards of living comparable to 1st-world countries and a quality of outdoor activities that go beyond what you could get in the best Alpine towns of Switzerland, with free, high-quality public education and good universities nearby. They're obviously not the cheapest places to be in, but they easily cost 1/3 or less of what living in California does.