Chilean Culture

 Before I break down our trip, I want to post about the Chilean culture. I have always been interested in Latin cultures,  so it should come as no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed the culture there just as much or even more so than other cultures. Part of it is because in the 26 years I've known Jason,  he's shared such fond memories of his time in Chile. I looked forward to our trip almost as much as he did. I felt like a little kid, soaking up all the sights, smells, sounds, people, and language.

Smells may seem weird to soak up, but one of the first things I noticed was the smell of the soaps in the bathrooms and the people walking by me. The soaps usually have a floral scent to them. The women also wear perfume that has a floral scent, like a gardenia or lilac. Similarly,  the men wear something pleasant and not too strong. On the hike up to Mirador Base Los Torres, where all hikers throughout the world go, I could tell which were Chilean or at least Latin, even if they weren't talking, by their pleasant scent. 

Chileans, as with other Latin cultures,  love their drinks and always offer a drink when one visits their home. It's often juice, coffee, soda (aka Coke), or tea. Never water, and they hardly have ice, but the juice that I had was always at a pleasant temperature, so it didn't need ice. Even during the flights, ice was not as common. If they have water,  it's bottled, though you can drink from the tap in some areas.  When buying bottled water, if we didn't want it to be a bubbly flavorless seltzer, which I liked, you had to say " sin gas". "Con gas" is the bubbly.  

Additionally,  they're affectionate even upon meeting someone for the first time.  A kiss on the cheek and an embrace is the way. They also wave to each other as they drive and never have road rage. They may honk their horns,  but they wave and smile as they do so. When walking by, most everyone greets each other.  When eating in a restaurant, people will say "bien provecho" to strangers. 

The land in Chile is stunning! We saw pretty much all of it.  The way Jason planned the trip was so we could see pretty much every region.  We started in the south, made our way north, then ended in Santiago,  which is more central.  Chile has every climate in the skinny country except for tropical rainforest.  And I had no idea that southern Chile is mostly fjords and mountains, making it a little harder to get around,  but we did it. It also made the beef with Argentina a little clearer.  They have a lot of land, and if you look at the map of southern Chile up close, there's not much besides water. Still, it's super beautiful.  After having gone to the north, which is the thickest part of the country, I didn't feel as bad for the Chileans, though.  When I post about that part, I'll include some of the details about parts of their land that they are most proud of. One of the most interesting things about the land is that it is, as people say, a lot like California in terms of climate, just backward since it's in the southern hemisphere. Though it extends farther than that.  The further south we went, the more we could see Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon,  and Washington. The further north we went, we could see Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico.

 

The language here is the hardest Spanish to understand, but I was prepared for that and worked hard. Starting in January, I completed at least one 30-minute lesson a day from a program on Audible. While it was just general Spanish,  I have heard from Jason all the idiosyncrasies about their language. Since I knew they drop all their "s's" and "d's" and I know some of the slang from Jason, with time, I was able to understand more and more. I could communicate much better as time went on as well. I don't think I spoke as well as I had hoped, but maybe a little better than I expected. 

Some last randoms:

- there are dogs everywhere! They're super happy and even know how to cross the street safely, better than squirrels!

- to swim in a public pool, you have to wear a bathing cap

- along all the roads are monuments to people who died there with lots of flowers, crosses,  and other sentimental items 

- they love futbol and the fields are the best-kept things around!

- "claro" is the word I heard the most during my conversations with people (it means "sure ", but it's used all the time!)

- the bread is some of the best I've ever had! Even the hot dog and hamburger buns are better than what we have in the States 

- there are fences around every house across the whole country, and many businesses,  no matter how safe the area is 

- tacos are car crashes here and aren't edible 

- most people struggled saying my name and one person commented that it's a rare name

Hopefully, I included everything about the culture that went through my mind while traveling.  If not, it'll come up in my specific posts about each segment of our trip.

These dogs were following the truck, which had some dogs in it.

Nightlife for the dogs!