Just Married Chilean Style

hey all! i'm a volunteer chilean firefighter of th...

2009-11-03T11:58:40.237-08:00

hey all! i'm a volunteer chilean firefighter of the city of viña del Mar, in fact we have three main money incomes, from peoples donations, gouvernement, and our own money.
from the gouvernement we recive like 40% of our needs, the rest depending of donations and ourselves, our trainig and equipment at least in bigs cities are in par with what you call profesionals firefighters, we preferd to call them paid firefighters as we consider ourselves profesionals all so.
but we have big troubles geting the money we need to maintain, repear, and reeplace those equipments.
if you have any question i'll be happy to respond.

sorry for my english

Oh people for God's sake, stop going on and on abo...

2009-11-03T08:56:43.171-08:00

Oh people for God's sake, stop going on and on about what the absolute and universal reality of living in Chile is really like.

All any of us can ever say about life in Chile is in fact derived from our own personal experience. But let us not assume that our own experience is a universal one. Just cos it happened to me, then that's the way it is kind of thing. That would be overly simplistic and foolish.

If I were to believe all of the things that have been written in these pages I'd have to conclude that Chile is a horrible, racist, macho/chauvinistic, prejudiced, backwards place full of ugly people who don't earn enough money.

My 'reality' hasn't been that at all. I've been a frequent visitor to the country but I feel that as a Chilean who left as a baby, grew up in Australia but has been living in Europe for a while, I've been able to see it from both, an insider's and an outsider's perspective.

I can also tell you that just like everywhere else, Chile has plenty of drawbacks, no question. But just like everywhere else it also has plenty of great qualities. Needless to say, everyone's experience in Chile will not be the same for reasons to numerous and complex to even tackle.

In short, you make your own luck.

I feel truly sorry for the gentleman who ended up having to leave Chile for reasons to do with his race but I suspect (hope) that cases like this would not be so numerous as to constitute a big problem.

Still, if you move to Chile (or anywhere for that matter) with a bit of an open mind (and if you have loads of perseverance and a bit of luck) I'm sure you'll have a pretty pleasant stay... Just remember, moving countries is hard, period.

By the way, I'm a professional musician and I've been lucky enough to have travelled the world. I've also lived in many different places. I'm currently living in Zurich, and even though it is always at the top or near the top of the world's most live-able cities rankings, not to mention that it's also a gorgeous place, I still had a really shitty time in the beginning (the first year and a half or so). Mm, I must say that the chocolate and the cheese helped a little, as well as having a Swiss wife with a great family as support but it was still hard.

P.S. Sorry about the long post.

The last time I was in Chile everybody was telling...

2009-10-18T14:03:39.927-07:00

The last time I was in Chile everybody was telling me how many blacks have moved lately to the country, I was horrified of how f….. racist my country really is. I guess spending all this time in USA has helped me to see how obvious and bluntly racist many Latinos are, but seems like in Chile the problem is even bigger. They always accused Americans of racists but at least this country has been aware and working on it for long time. I usually I call myself Indio (to the horror of many of my Latinos friends) just to see reactions. I used to think classism (many times based on racist origins) was our biggest sin, but racism is strong and shamelessly displayed.

Hello, This is my first time visiting here. Your b...

2009-10-09T01:56:21.747-07:00

Hello, This is my first time visiting here. Your blog is a nice,I thought I would leave my first comment. :)

Greets from
Kenali dan Kunjungi Objek Wisata di Pandeglang

I can totally understand. I studied in Chile and h...

2009-10-07T10:04:17.338-07:00

I can totally understand. I studied in Chile and have done some business there too. I find the snobbishness too much to deal with and have taken my business to another country. Doesn't mean there aren't some nice people there of course, I lived with a very nice host family there. It depends on what you want, but I think most people who are friendly and down to earth won't like Chile long term.

Chris do you have a blog? I'm planning a major Eur...

2009-09-30T09:03:38.005-07:00

Chris do you have a blog? I'm planning a major European and South American excursion next year and as a black woman I would be very interested in reading about your experiences.

WHat a lovely story, and it certainly gives me hop...

2009-09-27T22:13:50.237-07:00

WHat a lovely story, and it certainly gives me hope for my own wedding. I am trying to plan (or rather my novio) will be planning our low-budget and last minute wedding. Could you tell me more about the planner who helped you find a location? We are having the most difficult time trying to decide on a place to have the reception (he says his chef cousin will do all of the catering). Also, do you know if a US citizen needs anything more than a passport for the Civil ceremony?

I just came across this blog since my wife and I a...

2009-09-17T12:17:33.222-07:00

I just came across this blog since my wife and I are planning to do the exact same thing. We were also cacluating on saving 60k to travel for a year. I'd love to talk to you in more detail about your trip and your plans. very exciting. we are only a 1/6 of the way in savings though lol

visiting new site, thanks !

2009-09-14T09:18:39.146-07:00

visiting new site, thanks !

I came to your blog because I am half Chilean and ...

2009-09-10T06:43:58.256-07:00

I came to your blog because I am half Chilean and want to know more about the culture and have considered moving there.

I currently live in China and this exact same thing happens to me when I try to speak Chinese to Chinese nationals. SO frustrating! I'm glad to know it's not just me this happens to.

i find it funny and sad that like argentina and me...

2009-08-26T16:12:02.618-07:00

i find it funny and sad that like argentina and mexico, the chilean people either don't know about the african presence in their countries dating back to 1500 +, how many slaves were there, how much black blood they might have due to mixing, and in some cases genocide after slavery or they choose to deny it

I know I'm coming to this late, I don't even know ...

2009-08-19T13:48:49.876-07:00

I know I'm coming to this late, I don't even know if you check this blog any more, or the comments in it, but I just had to comment on this one - because OMG it rings so true for me, it makes me want to weep. I love my life, I love my kids and my husband (most of the time ;-)) but I wish I could just pack up and go, get new challenges (with them, I guess!). R thinks I'm part gypsy, because I can't stay in one place for too long. I wish I'd done the trip you're doing right now, maybe it would have helped me settle and enjoy the vanilla more...

Hi Mamacita, I'm a chilean guy and I worked for a ...

2009-08-01T14:24:05.615-07:00

Hi Mamacita, I'm a chilean guy and I worked for a boss from CO,US for about 1 year. Since my GF use to work with american customers too, we use to talk about our experiences with gringos.

I think the language barrier is the key factor for paying too much attention to those subtle, non-verbal details (like the Starbucks-syndrome you depicted in such a clear way), often misleading.

I can imagine what that counter lady though when you asked for your coffee:

1- Caucasian woman coming in: gringa or european-->foreigner.

2- Foreigners don't talk spanish--> I'm just hearing some words picked up from lonely-planet guide.

3- She doesn't really mean what she say --> I have to be sure what she wants, or I'll get fired"

4- Then your partner came up flushing her brain in cold water "Hey, welcome to Earth: gringas TALK spanish too"

Cheers, Mamacita, I enjoy your posts and I hope many more of you come here (you're so lovely and gorgeous) :)

4- A bell rings in her head "remember she

Interesting post and the whole blonde thing is som...

2009-07-20T17:47:53.356-07:00

Interesting post and the whole blonde thing is something I've seen in all of Latin America, there's a serious fascination with the Nordic.

In fact just being "white", that is pale skinned in most of Latin America will make you automatically more attractive and any latinoamericanos who deny it, you know you're frontin'. After all, why do we in the United States see some many latino (mostly mexican) guys arm in arm with 300 pound white girls who are a good 3 inches taller? It's so common that's it's become something of an inside joke among the latinos in my city. (I'm latin I guess, brazilian descent and yes brazil is victim to this same fetish)

That being said, I've been to Chile a few times and I enjoyed the country immensely. I'm of mixed-race (mulato) and obviously not white, but I've never had anyone insult me or be outwardly mean or violent.
I can say that in some of the "posh" neighborhoods I got some attitude sometimes, but once they heard my American accent they got nice real quick. It is kinda sad that I have exaggerate my foreigness just to get the same level of service an ordinary chilean would get just walking in the door, but hey, be happy for small favors...

Also, I have to say, when I finally made my way up...

2009-07-15T03:58:36.038-07:00

Also, I have to say, when I finally made my way up to Brazil, it was a relief to finally be in a country with a lot of blacks where I was able to perfectly blend in with the population. It can be uneasy being in a place where it is impossible to blend into the population. You are constantly self-conscious of the fact that you are different and anything that happens wrong, you assume it must be because of your difference.

I am a 33 year old African American man of dark co...

2009-07-15T03:53:27.994-07:00

I am a 33 year old African American man of dark complexion. I had read this blog while doing a google search on racism in south american countries as I was going on a 2 month backpacking trip across Latin America and wanted to see what I might encounter. Santiago was my first stop. I have to say that your blog freaked me out and made me wonder if I'd made a mistake in planning a trip to Chile.

Honestly, I didn't see any such thing on the metro. And trust me, I looked for it. Sometimes they'd look up for a second and then go back to reading their magazine or whatever. And I rode the metro on several occasions. Now I admit, I did get a lot of looks from Chileans. Just as I'd expected the looks didn't appear to be hostile but seemed to be more of a naive curiosity. I'd gone to a wine festival in the town of San Fernando a couple hours south of Santiago with some friends. The staring I got in the small town got to the point of being unbearable. I also found a lot of uncomfortable stares in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. However, in Santiago, it wasn't too bad. One day I'd noticed something interesting. I was sitting on the front step of my hostel in Santiago waiting for a friend to arrive. As Chileans would walk by, they would look at me, and then look up the building trying to figure out what it was. Maybe they thought it was embassy or something. But it's clear they are just not used to seeing black people. When I had to interact with Chileans, I didn't find them in any way disrespectful and the ones that work in hospitality were just as friendly to me as anyone else.

Chile is a stunningly gorgeous country and paradise for eco-tourists. I'd highly recommend anyone to go and even if you are black, I don't think it should stop you. Be prepared to catch some looks, because there are virtually NO blacks in Chile so it's hard to blame them for having curiosity looks. I'd say overall Chileans are not rude or hostile people. I liked the country itself tremendously, it reminds me a lot of California, but way less people and much cheaper. I could live there, but don't think I would until Chile became more diverse.

I just spent about half an hour trying to figure o...

2009-07-14T23:16:32.284-07:00

I just spent about half an hour trying to figure out how to make a comment on YOUR comments on my blog...ugh! I'm too Facebook oriented I think. Anyway, LOVE your recent pics!
Looking forward to meeting you soon too!

green trees giving lot of branches in the supporti...

2009-07-14T04:37:15.996-07:00

green trees giving lot of branches in the supporting way.
outsourse BPO and callcenter solutions.

Hey, a fanny pack is very useful while inline skat...

2009-07-13T16:08:39.689-07:00

Hey, a fanny pack is very useful while inline skating (soy estadounidense, y tengo uno). Now I know that fanny packs are acceptable in Chile, all the more reason to go. I'm thinking of moving to Santiago with my lokita chilena.

The World Leading wow power leveling and wow gold...

2009-07-10T01:01:08.443-07:00

The World Leading wow power leveling and wow gold wow power leveling

Great story! Please let me know the location of y...

2009-07-06T16:14:42.350-07:00

Great story! Please let me know the location of your dinner/ceremony and reception! Would love to check it out.

hey, I just came across your blog and I find your ...

2009-07-03T02:52:37.269-07:00

hey, I just came across your blog and I find your analysis really interessting. As a german living in Spain stuff like has happened to me too. Though I have to say, I don´t really look like a typical Northern European, as in tall, blonde, blue-eyed, so I don´t really stand out. That´s why some people might be taken aback by the notion, that I AM a foreigner when opening my mouth and will THEN misinterpret what I am going to say. Quite funny, when talking about it, but as in your case, in real life it really gets too you, because then I think, come on I´ve been living (and working) for 5 years here now, my spanish IS good :)I also read the book a while ago and it was a real eye-opener and of course I took the tests, Not surprisingly, as described in the book, I also had a light bias for white people - and though being gay, I also had problems when cross-referencing on that topic, not soo much with the gay=good thing, but with the straight=bad thing...So of course in the end I also came up with a light preference for straight people...

Hai. I came to your blog looking for a correct d...

2009-06-27T02:43:46.146-07:00

Hai.

I came to your blog looking for a correct definition of "flaite" in english for some friends, because even being a chilean, defining them is falling in contradictions.

Your entry, with a very cleaner point of view than mine -I'll assume you weren't grown here, so you aren't contaminated with the hate against them- is like what they are.

I'd like to say that even if the word is widely used to lots of things -related to fault of education and manners- in general, when referred to people, they're used for that: People that acts with a lower education level that what he has. Persons that make you being kinda afraid of walking near them because there's a very big possibility of being assaulted and you losing cell phone, mp3 player, money, etc.

The definition of "cuico" (or cuica) is super accurate and I dont have anything to add to that.

Again, thank you for explaining very well what's exactly a flaite and a cuico.

why .. ha ha .. this is his stupid opinion

2009-06-17T12:33:04.817-07:00

why .. ha ha .. this is his stupid opinion

Not sure if you noticed, but there's not many blac...

2009-06-08T15:10:47.798-07:00

Not sure if you noticed, but there's not many black people in Chile. First time I saw one some years ago I was a little bit surprised and still am whenever I run into one. Its not racist, its because I'm not used to seeing them in person, rather than in tv/movies and such.

Think about it as when black people first arrived at the USA, how did people behave towards them? It is exactly the same thing. People react like this to the unknown.

Also, 99% of the people does not have indigenous blood running in their veins, since mapuches/other indigenous didnt mixed as much with spaniards as in another countries. This might sound pretentious and somehow "racist" to you, but it is a fact.

Ohter than that, I love reading your blog, it's quite entertaining. Not sure if you read this anymore though.