Earlier quoted context omitted.
Enough not to starve?! I'm living in Santa Barbara, California, which is very expensive by the average American standard, and two people can get by here fairly comfortably with $2K. What's the price of living like in Santiago? More importantly, if the real perk is money and lower cost of living... I could just move to Kansas and rent a room for $200 a month.
It would seem like the big perk here would be the 40k. I really like the idea of going to Chile to get that support to build a prototype etc, and if I had some friends who were similarly motivated I would definitely consider applying. I would rather take the 40k to be in Chile than say, Kansas, because Chile would offer another set of novel learning experiences as well - which would be part of the reason for going.
Being in a foreign country is taxing even when it's rewarding. I get much less work done here in Brazil than when I'm back in the States.
The 40k is definitely a nice perk though.