“José, why in Santiago…?”
I asked my friend this question many times in my first few weeks in Santiago. I might be from a very small place in Germany, but I have lived in many different cities and countries, so I’m not a country chick. I spent one year in Australia, years in New Zealand and I have travelled to many different places, not on a 2-week all-inclusive holiday package, but for discovering. Furthermore I’m lucky enough to stay I have friends in all parts of the world, who have taught me a lot about their cultures. Still, some things seemed very puzzling to me at the beginning, but that’s why you have friends you can ask, at least up to a certain point…
So I thought, maybe there are people out there who have wondered about these things too:
Why are the banks only open until 2pm?
Doesn’t that seem like a very short time? Also, when I saw a huge queue from inside the bank onto the street, I got a little scared. Pictures of the Wall Street crash in 1929 popped into my mind.
Why you can’t buy beer in the stadium?
Were there any bad incidents with this or has it always been like that?
Why do the prices for public transport increase without any notification in the stations?
This seems to happen every month.
Why am I called gringa and my friend china, even if we are not from The United States nor China?
Why is the nick name of some people “chino”, even if they look nothing like Chinese and are from Chile?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Chile and I love Santiago. It is an interesting and vibrant city with great people! I’m having the time of my life here! Just some thoughts I thought were worth mentioning.
When my foreign friends now ask me, “Marion, why in Santiago…” my answer is:
“Don’t ask. Just experience it!”
What “why questions” do you have?
And if you have any answers, share them with us!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Just from our experience over the last two days where we had 26 hours without internet and phone at work (thanks to Entel).
Why is customer support so useless?
Obviously this is not just generic to Chile! It seems to be a worldwide infection.
We got flicked from one person to the next and every one had their own excuse and needed to pass us to some other random person that supposedly knew more about the situation!
Even though there was someone here until very late last night they said they couldn’t send anyone until the next day (today) at 9am. Of course nobody showed up until 11am and nothing happened until after 2pm (hey, maybe we should fix this before lunch!)
Grumble, gripe, groan!