Chile Gets Its Capitalistic Props

The whole article is definitely worth the read but after my last post, I found this to be a good follow up.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs To top this off, Chile is a thriving democracy with one of the most open economies in South America. In fact, if I was starting a new tech company and didn’t need to be in any particular area, I’d start it in Chile in a heartbeat. What really struck me was how many Chileans I met who boasted of their country being a “land of immigrants.” Everyone told stories about how Chile was built by immigrants and welcomed the world’s most skilled and most oppressed. This reminded me of how America used to be before the xenophobes started blaming immigrants for all their own shortcomings and misery. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? There are some downsides. Chile is a 15 hour flight from the West Coast. And if you’re going to stay long-term, you’ll need to learn Spanish. That’s not a big price to pay for all the benefits.

Bus Clowns, Wines, and Beer

Something I will miss about Santiago are all the street performers who entertain you at the red light or take your mind off the fact that the bus driver is piloting his spruce goose of the Santiago bus fleet like a driver at Le Mans mainlining red bulls just to make it past that 23rd hour.
These men and women will dress up in everything from clown suits to mime gear. They will play music with a band of friends or throw down some serious chilean rap to the always soothing dre-snoop beat of ain't nuthin like a G thang. Never mind the guy ripping off a perfect rendition of some bach on a pan flute while the bus reincarnates the horse chase from zorro

While my folks were here, the conversation often turned to the fact that the Chilean economy is leading the South American continent. At a time of serious economic pain in the States, the Chileans have barely flinched as their long-term economic planning, that took some heat during the good times, has now paid unbelievable dividends. Squirreling away revenue like batteries and bottled water before a storm, the Chilean finance minister was able to save for a rainy day. Boy, are they putting it to good use now! The city continues to grow each day with new housing and commercial properties being built in every direction. It's not hard to look at their brand of capitalism and be a little envious. It seems like a place where you could truely pull yourself up by the proverbial bootstraps.

From the food vendors selling spring rolls and sandwiches made in their kitchen that morning, to the guy Cait and I bought new socks from as we waited for the crosswalk light to change...this place just oozes capitalism and opportunity. It's really impressive.
We're looking at a long weekend that serves essentially as their memorial day weekend. The official arrival of daylight savings time and the fantastic weather that we've had a taste of this last week. After visa problems, weeks of double classes, bad weather, and a fun but exhausting week of hosting my folks...cait and I are looking forward to some food, a bbq and some relaxation. No better way to start than a little beer and wine sampling night with guacamole and a movie.

flags or fines

on the independence day weekend several weeks ago, scott and i went to pichilemu to celebrate with our friend silvia. we had heard a while ago about how much fun the september holiday is. chileans party all week, drink chicha, eat lots of meat (cuchicheos) and go to fondas. we weren't sure where we would be spending our time off (friday and half of that thursday) as well as the whole weekend but silvia's family's place ended up being a great venue.

many people who travel to chile around this time comment that chileans are "so patriotic" because of the amazing amounts of flags everywhere. in fact, chileans are patriotic, similar in spirit to those from the USA. the flag colors are the same as well which makes the regalia look startlingly similar... anyway, i think it's notable to counter that in fact their patriotism is enforced with a fine; a 20,000 peso fine if a flag is not displayed in their residence or domicile. i would hate to be the carabinero walking around ticketing on a day so festive and drunk as this.


so about the town, pichilemu is just beautiful. there is a special green that lines the colored clay hills that end at the ocean's edge. the waves are perfect for surfers and it certainly attracts a ton of them. the fruits, vegetables, flowers.... amazing. at one point on the drive back north you can see a beautiful strip of coastline at the same time you are staring the andes in the face. the coolest part was seeing silvia's dad's beach house. just breathtaking...

check the view and other pictures from the trip out on facebook.