One strategy is contacting english teaching academies in South America (there are thousands) and go to live there (of course, you'll need some money to afford a couple of renting months), that kind of work will allow you to make a living without taking all your day. The next step is to join a public university, remember in some countries of South America there are great free public universities that allow foreigners.
At least in my country, universities have no montly cost, but:
1) Spanish only
2) you need money for textbooks and such
3) really bad hours for those who need to work
Rent varies by country, but you'll find that an US equivalent is shockingly expensive - unless you think that you can live by without a fridge or other essentials (remember, in most of Latin America, rent only includes the four walls and a roof, forget about utilities, appliances, etc, unless you explicitly pay for those).
I've found that culture shock means that only people that are NOT in the situation this person is in are able to adapt to the local conditions.
My mother moved back from Canada to Uruguay, and she's shocked by the cultural differences (she lived abroad for 20 years). You won't believe how many things you take for granted that simply don't exist in a 3rd world country.
