I’m sorry Chile. I really am. This whole trip I’ve been slightly apprehensive about my final leg. All I heard was that Chile was really not South America, their people ‘frio’, their food expensive, their weather shitty, their girls ugly, and worst of all: their language unintelligible. I planned on spending as little time possible (4 weeks in Peru, 3 in Bolivia, 3 in Argentina, only 9 days in Chile).

But no. Although Peru is still my favorite vacationing country, I can add Chile to the short list of countries that I could easily (and gladly) move to.

The western hemisphere’s best subway. Girls that fit my definition of hot. Mild weather all year long. And most of all: ridiculously affable and outgoing people.

Random and not so Random Encounters

I’ve written in detail about meeting Santioguens in my encounters in South America in two of my last three posts. A couple more tidbits:

• In Valparaiso, my travel buddy got some nasty food poisoning. We were hanging out in a bar when she started getting sick. After they had offered us their wine, etc. another bargoer actually went 15 minutes of his way to pick up medicine for her and did it on his dime. We hung out with them for 3 hours because they were so welcoming to us.
• Since she got sick, she wanted to go to a doctor to find out what was wrong and what to do about it. Although she wasn’t a resident, and technically not eligible for medical care (well, free medical care) a receptionist was able to call around and get her care, all under 3 hours time. All for free.Try that at a public hospital anywhere.
• I love markets, and Santiago even has a bunch of markets and neighborhoods that would feel at home in Bolivia and Peru (I even got meat on a stick!). I walked around the dining area and one and was completely confused on what to get and where to eat so I did something that I hadn’t done in the entire trip: I saw something I liked on another table and asked the eater what it was called. After being seated alone and asking for that dish, they invited me to eat with them (even though they were basically finished), told me about their lives, and even got pictures taken with them. Sort of weird part: it was a couple, and the wife’s ex-husbands’ girlfriend.
• On Saturday night the guys I met on the Mendoza bus invited me pretty much out to the suburbs for a little house party. It was more or less college kids hanging out; playing drinking games like Kings (but different), doing rock band at 4am, karaoking to Bon Jovi, random reggaeton dance party at 5am, etc. The mom (who was total MILF action), told me that I could stay at their place anytime. Everyone at the party crashed there, and since I guess I was the special guest, they let me get my own bed.
• The next day I went to the poshest area in Santiago (the president lives there as well as most ex-pats) called Los Condes to have lunch with my Elkins friend Natalia’s uncle, aunts and cousins. I have two friends from Elkins, who happened to graduate in the same year (one year after me) who have parents from Chile. I failed to know this until, yes, I told them I was going to Chile. I’ve known Natalia since I was four. My parents told me she was my Montessori girlfriend, actually, but I didn’t hang out with her until college (basically, like any girl [space] friend from my hometown).

  Anyways, Natalia’s cousins live in the poshest neighborhood in Santiago, and in the most amazing apartment I have ever seen. Think of an apartment that takes up at least half of the floor, something that would cost easily several million dollars in the Gold Coast of Chicago. A view of the Andes; antique furniture from around the world. I was greeted at the door by a maid, and my 4 course lunch was served to me by the maid/cook. The food, although not what I expected, was superb, and the family was affable (both in English and Spanish)-explaining to me a lot about South American life and Chilean history.

Language

Chilean Spanish definitely is different. It is much faster than Peruvian and Bolivian Spanish and is littered with random slang like “cachay (you get it?)” and “cuanta sale” instead of “cuanta cuesta” for asking how much stuff costs. But I was able to understand it pretty well, and more importantly, Chileans could understand my Spanish better than anybody in South America. I never received so many compliments about my spanish (even though it still really sucks) I hypothesized that the Chileans don’t really have rules, so when I put together a crappy sentence, it sounds OK.

The Metro

As you should know, I love public transportation. I especially love heavy rail transit, like subways and trains. I love it so much I’m getting a master degree in it. Well, Santiago has the best subway system in the Americas (I mean, hands down) and is the cleanest I’ve seen outside of Shanghai. It’s stations are decorated stylishly, it has a touchless fare card system, I never waited more than 30 SECONDS for a train during the week. They even show rap music videos in the stations, have free movie nights in the stations, give away free concert tickets, have tons of people walking around to help you. My only complaints were the cost ($1 is pretty damn high when the average salary is less than $10,000 a year), the incredible difficulty in picking what exit to pick, and the tendency of all the hipster kids to sit on the floor on the subway. But it is seriously awesome. I would come to Santiago just for the metro.

Other Random Chilean stuff:

Chile is definitely more latin feeling than Argentina. Most people have black hair, the people weigh a little more, their food has more stews and rice, they like raggaeton more, and their girls wear far more hoop earrings. I think the percentage of hoop earring wearers should be the gold standard for how latin the countries are. So far 1. Chile, 2. Bolivia, 3. Peru, 4. Argentina.

My experience in Chile has been entirely different than in my previous countries. I stayed in tiny places (residencial in Valpo and a hostel with only 10 beds in Santiago). This minimized my contact with other travelers (in fact, I didn’t make one English speaking friend in my whole time in Santiago) and made me rely on locals for a social outlet. I never went to one club and only took one cab, and did no tours. So Chile ended up maybe being my cheapest country. I spoke more Spanish in my last week; my travel buddy basically spoke no English and the Mendoza bus guys’ friends tried not to speak too much as well. I felt more like someone who just moved to Chile rather than someone travelling through it. I liked that.