Hi all,

Just back from my third visit to Lanza and PDC. We rented a car for our 10 days and my m8 and i covered the whole island whilst the females did their sunworshipping act....lol. It really did break my heart this time to leave The place is paradise and got me to really considering a move (trying to persuade the missus to take a risk ).
The thing is that although we could afford the initial move, we'd need to both work over there to live. I have plenty of bar experience and can turn my hand to other types of work, but my wife is slightly older than me and her disability wouldn't allow her to work on her feet all day...therefore she'd require a desk job of sorts. Can anyone advise how i could research possible jobs for her?

I would wait until next year with the current worldwide climate.
Most office work would need Spanish language. The main way to get jobs in Lanza is to go over and meet people face to face.

Thanks cymmon, having her learning the lingo already....lol

¡Buena suerte! Es facil.

I lived there for 2 years, not easy, but more fun than the UK. Returned due to my dads death but looking forward to a return next year. (Depending on the financial situation of the European Union).

Go for the dream.

I intend to m8- working out living costs, even in the current financial climate, it still seems more affordable to live in Lanza than Belfast. Then again being 2 smokers it would be....lolo

Hi everyone, back again!! jhotrox, you`ll get loads of pointers on the subject of a move to PDC. We love the place aswell and have had to adjust our timescale of moving due to the change in secondary school rules and commitment here in the UK. Cy and the guys in Spenders seem to be very helpful and are worth listening to (grovel, grovel!!). I aggree on the credit crunch climate thing, and things can only get better sooner rather than later. We aren`t able to do Lanza this year but hope to be back as soon as we can. Good luck for the future and hope things run okay for you and the move happens for you..

You would be looking at between €400 and €500 per month for a place (1 bed) €450-€600 (2 bed) in PdC, this can include bills too.
It may be worth renting a car once a month, from €25 and doing a shop in Playa Honda or Arrecife.
Bar jobs normally pay €1000-€1200 per month depending on hours. May be less now, and certainly harder to get.

Hi there, having lived here since February 2004, it certainly beats living in the UK!

However, you are right in thinking about the job situation. I had a job as full time web designer until January this year, when I was told that they can only afford me part-time from now on, so I am now working without contract and on less than half my previous salary (which is not enough to live on, but I´m lucky to get a little bit of unemployment benefit to top it up).

Since January I have been looking for another part-time job but even though I have lots of shop assistant experience (and the web design of course), plus I speak intermediate Spanish, I have not been able to find anything. Don´t get me wrong, there *are* jobs, but you would have to be a fluent Spanish speaker to get those (see e.g. this website: http://www.infojobs.net, just type "lanzarote" in the search and you will see, that there *are* quite a few jobs around).

The other thing is that things work mostly by *word of mouth* here, so if you don´t know anyone it´s even more difficult to find work.

Sympathies re. your wife - I also suffer from a so-called "invisible disability" (meaning I *look* well, but I am chronically ill) called fibromyalgia, plus I have rheumatoid arthritis, and hence I am also limited in what jobs I can consider. Bar work is a no no for me, for example, but shop work, up to 5-6 hours seems that I can cope with, except when I am having very painful flare ups, and it´s only possible to go to work after taking corticosteroids...

There isn´t much bar work around at the moment, since quite a few of them have either shut down completely or have cut down their staff or the hours of their staff.

Sorry to sound so negative, but this is a "real time" update from PDC as it is at the moment - if I were you I would give it a year or so and see how the situation is then. At the moment it is, sadly, looking rather dire....