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There is nothing like paying a good $140 to have the right to enter a country. I mean who wouldn’t want to dish out the cost of a full ipod nano to see a fantastic country side? But I digress. Many consider Chile to be the Switzerland of the south minus the blonde hair and blue eyes of course.
If you have never been to Switzerland I can sum it up in three words for you; picturesque, prosperous, and very tidy. Everything is in its place and after living in Argentina I was ready to get a little efficiency back in my life.
I arrived and got settled in my 3 bedroom condo near the center of the city. After one day of living in Chile I consider the country to be American Switzerland because it resembles the states more than it does Europe. Everything is new and they have new high rises going up by the minute. I also figured that the country would be extremely clean like Switzerland, unfortunately I forgot I was in South America.
Performing typical Tourist Actions in Chile
When living in Chile (in the summer) the first thing you notice is the gorgeous weather. There is a dry heat during the day that hardly reaches 80 degrees (26 C) and there is a constant breeze throughout the valley that keeps you cool. The people are unfortunately food addicts and the name of their addiction is ice cream. Either they are eating it or lined up to buy it, they love ice cream.
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Ugly Jeans in Chile!
Next observation is the cheap housing prices and the exorbiant prices of food. I was use to buying 4 prime beef steaks in Argentina for $10. In Chile I can’t get half that amount of steak for even $15. Its a bit ironic because the fruits and vegetables that we buy in the United States (Florida specifically) come from Chile and they are cheaper than what they cost in Chile! The cost of food while living in Chile does balance out with the cost of housing so in the end everything comes out about even.
And one battle that I have taken against the women of Chile are the ugly jeans they wear. I mean, it is the 21st century. I have seen very attractive women and ugly jeans is just a deal breaker. Wouldn’t you agree? No? Maybe I am going overboard but I still wont talk to women with ugly jeans.
Greetings from Chile!
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Mate, that’s what you get for being American
Seriously though, I felt bad for the Americans lining up at border crossings for 30 minutes to pay their $140, when the rest of us breezed through like we were lining up for cheeseburgers at McD’s. You’re right, $140 isn’t that much in the scheme of things, but it feels like you’ve saved 1000s when you don’t actually have to pay it.
LOL cuz i used the American passport! Its the Americans own undoing, they shouldn’t charged Chile $140 to come into the United States to begin with. The only 1st world, efficient, country in S. America. Their not going to want to come to the United States. thanks for the comment
The jeans are horrible here. Women don’t get the concept of dressing for their bodies rather than dressing based on what’s trendy, and your average Chilena does not have the build for skinny jeans.
Are you buying your produce at the ferias? It’s cheaper and usually better quality than the supermarkets.
Do you mean the ferias at the central market?
The vega is the biggest feria (feria just means open-air market), but most neighborhoods have their own as well. If you’re shopping at la vega then you’re getting great quality and selection, especially this time of year – enjoy it!
Im living near the center, corner of carmen and santa isabel, do you know how close a feria would be from my house? I went to la vega but thats quite a ways out of range.. thanks for the help!
Totally not looking forward to those entrance fees. Kill me now.
I have a solution for you… travel via Bus through mendoza, you wont pay a penny
I’m from Chile, living in the states for ten years now and I have to say that you may be right about the jeans on girls, of course, in some parts of the city; low class neighborhoods, which is where I think you were most of the time, because I recently went to Chile and the city in general is really clean. I saw no trash on the streets. Where I lived in the states before (which is Houston) there would trash and bums all over the place, so it really depends on which part of town you’ve lived. Next time (that’s if you do go back), make sure you have some sort of guide to show you all the nice areas the country has, and yes, the stupid united states OF America culture is plaguing my country. It’s a shame.
P.S.: “I have scene very attractive women”.. SCENE? Really?
I traveled to many of barrios in the city and lived in centro in an upcoming area where most things were newly built. I am not saying that places in Santiago or Chile aren’t clean but when you have the moniker of being the “Switzerland of the South” which implies being absolutely spotless. Santiago is not the cleanest of cities and I can say that considering that I did visit almost all the barrios including upper, middle, and lower classes.
I didn’t live in a low class neighborhood, I didn’t party in a low class neighborhood. Overall the women in Chile have a very bad fashion sense and this has been confirmed to me by Chilean women. I understand you may be defensive but those are the facts since I saw that every day I went outside no matter what barrio I was in.
I did have some guides that showed me around the city so being shown around the proper areas isn’t the issue. Thanks for the spell check
Why must we criticized always rater then enjoy, and embrace each-other’s culture?
I do not see any Chileans come to America trying to change you people.
Some race rather value the contain of the mind, rater than a stupid piece of rags…
Get over your Capitalism/Imperialism plague.
It’s irrelevant trying to compare Chile with an European country…
Why don’t you just moved there instead?? Chile is not holding all the drug and blood diamonds wealth of the world. May be that’s the reasons it’s not clean enough for your Majesty.?
Man get over yourself please.
If you have a better way to try and describe Chile Yolandita I’d love to hear how you would describe the country.
I’ve been in chile for 2 years from now, and i think the $140 are fair, it’s the price that chileans have to pay to enter the United States… I disagree with you in a lot of aspects, first, i found most of the cities pretty clean, but the weather sucks, hot in the summer, and way too cold in the winter, easily 0ºC and there’s no heating inside most houses… Also i think the nightlife it’s incredible and cheap, for the cost of living, who i would dare to say it’s like the USA, ridiculously expensive country, for Latin-American standards… There are a lot of pretty hot girls, specially in upper neighborhoods, but there’s a lack of beautiful guys. And you’re right, not european, but a very americanized country, but they have a pretty interesting/non-conservative/educated youth, who differs a lot from older generations.
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