Shepard in Chile: December 2010

Hello all!

I am very jealous that you all are enjoying this holiday season with cold weather and holiday food and music. While Chile is also in the middle of “Christmas season”, we are also in the middle of SUMMER, and it feels very unnatural. Right now I am sitting on the couch in my apartment and the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it is a pleasant 75 degrees!

Rachel asked about the weather. I would describe Chilean climate as having two seasons instead of 4. While they also have “spring” and “fall”, the changes you notice here are much less gradual than what we are used to in the States. From one week to the next it feels like it changes from winter straight to summer, and vice versa. That is very typically of dry climates, as is the fact that the temperature fluxes during the day are huge! It can be 80 degrees during the day and get down to 40 at night.

Chilean dress isn’t that different from how we dress. In the city, kids are more inclined to dress in a “punk-urban” style, with hoodies, tight jeans, and converse shoes. In the countryside, it is more likely to see the traditional Chilean “cowboy” garb, which is a poncho with these huge hats. This is a picture of a little boy dressed up in that outfit on Chilean independence day. Sorry I don’t have a better photo!

To respond to the question of how expensive it is to travel, I will say that Chile is an amazing place to travel because of buses! The buses here are big and nice (almost all have two floors) and best of all, CHEAP. Although it takes much longer than a plane ride, you can travel, for example, for 15 hours in a bus for only 25 dollars. I wish the US had a bus system like that. It’s much cheaper than spending money on gasoline for your individual car, and much better for the environment to have people using a form of mass transportation.

Joseph, I’m glad you asked about the government here. It is set up much like the US government, with a president, two houses of Congress (Senate and House of Representatives), plus the judicial branch. The main difference between the US and Chile is the setup of political parties. Chile has way more political parties, but they are somewhat grouped together into the political “left” and “right”, and in that sense, it is much like our democrats and republicans.

This building is "La Moneda", the presidential palace. It's like our White House, only the president just works here, he doesn't live here.

The apartments and homes are similar to those in the States, just with a little less yard space, perhaps, since this is a big city. The biggest difference however, and the WORST thing about Chilean winter is that Chilean homes do not have central heating!!! Electricity is expensive here, while gas is relatively cheap, so people heat their homes in winter with standing gas heaters – but it just doesn’t cut it. Basically in winter, it is always cold. When I come in to my house, I don’t even bother taking my jacket off because it is just as cold inside as outside!

Zack asked about what families do for fun. Families love to spend weekends together strolling in the park and being outside. There is an amusement part here that is very fun called Fantasylandia.

To respond to Kamryn’s question about name brand soda, there is Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, Fanta… many of the brands we know. There is no Dr. Pepper however, and I am still having withdrawal! There are lots of name brands and stores that you would recognize – Subway, KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks, for example.

Joe’s question: About computers, even though computers are expensive, most people do have them, it’s pretty impossible to live without them these days even here.

Colby’s question, about finances: Luckily it hasn’t been too difficult to manage my finances. It is possible to eat well for pretty cheap (fruits and vegetables are SO cheap) and I worked a part-time job for a year as a magazine editor, which helped with income.

Beth wanted to know what the word was on the sign that showed Pan (bread). Melado?

I think it says “helado” which means icecream.

Spanish names for some everyday things:

House: casa

Dog: perro

Cat: gato

Homework: tarea

Teacher: maestra or profesora

Student: estudiante

Happy: feliz

Sports: deportes

Music: musica

Christmas tree: arbol de Navidad

Dean is interested in law enforcement people. How do they dress?

Here, the police are a branch of the military, so they dress like military men. They are a very reliable police force compared with some other countries in Latin America.

Elijah wants to know about crime there. 

There is not a lot of gun violence here because gun laws are more strict here (and in most countries) than in the US. However, there is a lot of petty crime, like pickpocketing and mugging in the street, and one has to be very careful about where to go and the time of day. I rarely walk by myself after 10 pm.

Elizabeth wonders if you have become interested in music specifically Chilean.

Chilean music is OK, but only a bit at a time. Chileans listen to a lot of “cumbia” music as well as “reggaeton” which both sound a lot alike, and therefore it gets tiresome after a while.

Shopping question: Chile has LOTS of malls, it’s sort of the new big thing in the past 10 or 15 years. The malls are far from where I live and I never go, but here’s a photo of a Chilean department store called Ripley.

Emily asks if you have a best friend from among the people you have made friends with? 

My best friend is probably Mariana who is a friend from school. But I am lucky to have tons of good friends here.

Friends from school:

Mariana and Me:

I do not have a pet since I will be leaving in January. But two of my friends have cats!

Kaitlyn wonders if you brought all of your 'technology' with you, and have you had any problems with any of it working well? 

I use my laptop for everything! School, work, music, talking on the phone to family and friends (through Skype) and for watching movies. Luckily it has continued to work well and I’ve had no problems. I don’t know what I would do if it crashed!!!!!

Colby wants to know what kinds of transportation are most used there.

I mostly walk, but there is a great subway and bus system called “Transantiago”

Cruz wants to know what kinds of seafood are most popular? Is that because they can catch it there? 

All kinds! Salmon and merluza are the most popular fish. You don’t see a lot of shrimp, but shellfish are very abundant and relatively cheap. Chile has a huge coastline and everything is domestically caught.

Chilean fishermen:

Do people there listen to stuff like hip-hop music? -Sierra

Unfortunately, hip-hop isn’t that popular. At the dance clubs sometimes you will hear it, but it’s not that big on the radio. I miss that.

Trae is a cheese fanatic and would like to know what kinds of cheeses they have there.

Trae, I am also a cheese fanatic!!!!! And this is one of the most difficult things about living here. The cheese is TERRIBLEEEE! You can find most any type of cheese but it’s not great quality and it is very expensive. I have no idea why, but it is a very very sad fact about living here. Their typical sandwich cheese is a very bland gouda. Blah.

Colin wonders if they have a national cricket team. 

Not that I know of! I doubt it….

Ian wants to know about bathrooms in public places...He just visited Italy and was not impressed with their bathrooms.

Very interesting question, because there are very few public bathrooms here and for the ones that do exist, you normally have to pay to use them, about 25 cents or so. (They’re not so great either.)

Here are some pictures of my neighborhood and apartment. I live in a new building but on a very old street. The neighborhood is very “artsy” and “free-spirited” with lots of people often playing music on the street or selling homemade jewelry, crafts, and clothing.

View from my hallway in my apartment building. This is a small mountain in the middle of the city called "Cerro San Cristobal".