You Know You are in Chile When… 17 Quirky Habits I Observed
You know you’re in Chile when even the most ordinary parts of daily life turn out to be a little bit strange. Here are mine.
After travelling around South America and living in Chile for a while, I can’t help but compare. I’ll admit it outright: Chile is a genuinely quirky country. Being the longest country in the world, with the ocean on one side and towering mountains on the other, glaciers in the far south of Patagonia, and the driest desert on Earth, the Atacama, in the north, Chile’s extremes practically guarantee you a list of strange impressions and stories to tell.
A quick disclaimer before we start: this post isn’t meant to offend anyone in any way. It’s entirely observational, written with affection, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
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You know you’re in Chile when…
Virtually every sentence ends with the word “cachai,” which roughly translates to “you understand?” or “got it?” If you want to actually decode what people are saying to you beyond that one word, here’s my full [guide to Chilean slang].
Nobody seems bothered by street dogs, of which there are genuinely millions, wandering calmly through every city as though they pay rent.
You hear about a natural disaster at least once a week, usually mentioned as casually as someone else might mention the weather.
You can play golf in the middle of a desert, which is exactly as surreal as it sounds.
There’s an entire menu dedicated solely to hot dogs (completos). And it’s not just a sausage in bread. It arrives buried under an almost absurd number of toppings, served on what can only be described as a small plastic pedestal, as though the hot dog itself has been knighted.
To travel to the northern region, you need to pass through a passport control, despite never actually leaving the country, a quirk of Chile’s strict agricultural and sanitary border checks between regions.
Ordering coffee with milk genuinely confuses the waiters, something I’ve written about at length in my [ode to why coffee in Chile is so bad].
Streets are covered in graffiti and mosaics, and rather than being treated as vandalism, it’s widely embraced as art representing the country’s history and culture. Antofagasta in particular has some genuinely striking examples.
You witness some of the most diverse landscapes and climates on Earth, sometimes within the same week of travel.
You can float in a bright blue lagoon in the middle of the driest desert on the planet, which still doesn’t quite make sense even after you’ve done it yourself.
Going to the beach is taken to an entirely different level. A towel and a parasol are nowhere near enough. A proper beach day involves packing what feels like your entire house and constructing a small fenced-off village on the sand, complete with a perimeter net, as though staking territorial claim for the day.
You can watch an acrobatic or juggling show while waiting for a red light to change, and then be politely asked for a small contribution before the light turns green again.
Listening to Chilean Spanish makes you genuinely believe an entire sentence is just one long word. I go into far more detail on this in my [guide to Chilean slang], if you want to understand why.
You can listen to a live music performance while doing your grocery shopping at a local market, completely unannounced and entirely normal to everyone except you.
People don’t simply “go out for a drink.” They go to “piscolear,” a verb the Chileans invented from pisco, their national spirit, purely so they’d have a word for the specific activity of drinking it socially.
You’re the only person who flinches during a tremor. Everyone else continues their conversation without missing a beat.
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What a fun collection of facts and impressions Anna. I had absolutely no idea about the diversity of Chile’s landscape, nor about many of the things you mentioned. And although I don’t normally eat hot dogs, I’d certainly make an exception for one served on a pedestal – I think that’s hilarious.
lol You notice that no one is afraid of temblors except you….yeah, I seem to be the only one reacting. When Chileans don’t react, that’s when I know it’s going to be OK. I made a similar list a while back, check it out here: http://bayessence.com/you-know-youre-chilean-if/
I read your post, that’s so funny! So I am not the only one who couldn’t stop the urge to write a post like that.
Oh, how I love traveling with you! Your descriptions and photos are so captivating! Chile is not a place I had given much thought to before, not sure why. Now I am intrigued. Thanks!
These photos are amazing. It sounds lively and delicious. And going to the beach there does sound like a big deal – probably wonderful once your little world is set up.
I’ve never been to Chile, but after reading your post I’d love to go. Sounds like a fun place and very different.
What a lovely share about your experience of Chile. I’ve never been there and doubt that I’ll ever get there. So thanks for sharing this fun post.
Thank you for the compliment.
How interesting, and colorful! I’ve not been to Chile, but it sure looks like it would be an interesting place to visit.
Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful post. Many thanks for supplying these details.
You also know you know you are in Chile when Chileans take us obvious some incredibly ridiculous things. Here you are some examples…
In the longest country in the world, if you are North (Antofagasta for example) and you want to travel by plane to Arica, surprise!!!!!! You will have to fly to Santiago!!!! (1.400 kms South of Antofagasta!!!!!!). Yes, ridiculous, but it is Chile!!!!!
If you want to find some information about bus departing from Calama to Uyuni, you will have to go physically to Calama bus station for the information. Anything you find in websites (Atacama 2000 for instance) it is not updated, contact phone numbers do not exist, email addresses do not work… Riculous?, yes, but it´s normal in Chile. Remember you are in Chile were things are difficult for tourists and people is not ver kind and/or helpful.
The thing about homeless dogs, it´s true. In the cities of Chile you have homeless dogs everywhere wandering around. It is a fact, there is no discussion on this.
Dirt, in Chile people camp in beaches but they don´t take rubbish with them when the leave the beach. Well it is normal, it is Chile and dirt lays in beaches, parks and corners of cities. At least in the cities of Chile, north of La Serena. But this is normal, this is Chile!!!!!
So be aware of all these, if you are planning to travel to Chile…it´s not easy, it is not an easy country, nor easy, nice or helpful people.