Chile Forum

Bien Gloria! Bien! Es asi no mas, no? Chile Lindo y Querido no es perfecto, pero no existe un pais perfecto, y menos el de ellos, ya que se quejan tanto de Chile.

Chile lindo y querido y aunque imperfecto, es MI TIERRA y pesar de que (admitiéndolo) también de vez en cuando me quejo de sus imperfecciones ...estoy en mi derecho!

driving sucks everywhere!

Personally I prefer driving here then to the USA (and in Montevideo, Uruguay as well, though fewer cars makes it a quite a bit less hectic).

I like having to drive actively, and to drive a little more aggressively. One thing that the "craziness" is good for is that you know to JUST GO and to assume whatever other car will do the exactly what you think they're going to. In the USA its so "safe" driving that no one pays attention, or assumes the other car will get out of the way, not cut them off, etc... so when they do, the combination can be deadly.

Plus its just boring.

Here you know exactly how every other car is going to behave around you. Plus you're allowed to drive how you like in that environment. For me, I actually feel just as safe if not safer on the roads. Its a huge advantage to know that 99% of the other drivers are as alert as you, because we all drive a bit crazy and have to be!

Personally, I think when people talked about driving conditions here in Chile immediately after they arrived, it is more of a cultural shock than a complaint or insult toward the country.

There are always things one can find in Chile that are different from where he/she is from. It should be a good thing to discuss about them and share our experience of how we coped with life here in order to help the newcomers (IMHO).

TP

If you can survive and enjoy driving in Chile then you will be a better driver.
As other posters have mentioned, that driving here you must be more aware of what is around you on the road.
For some of us that are brought up driving on the other side of the road , it is an interesting conversion.
You can not relax at all when driving in Chile, particuly when when fighting taxis and buses in the center of Santiago.

Chilean drivers are aggressive, but no more than say New Zealand or Phillipines or Thailand,
In some countries the drivers are poilte and considerate of others on the road, Australia, Europe are good examples.

At least here you do not have to spend half your time looking for speed cameras or police with radar guns, instead of looking at the road and other drivers.

I enjoy driving in Chile, it is always a challenge and keeps you awake and on your toes.

T_Robo said it, it's cultural shock more than trying to offend the country, I don't' think she means to =D. If she does we have to learn to tolerate and be auto-critico



offtopic: Doña Gloria those Handpainted floorcloths, you make are exclusively with Christmas themes on them? or do you make different ones..I always wanted someone to paint one with the "white tree" from lord of the rings

here's a pic http://www.greenwillowglass.com/images/ ... 500_BG.gif

Ignite wrote:



offtopic: Doña Gloria those Handpainted floorcloths, you make are exclusively with Christmas themes on them? or do you make different ones..I always wanted someone to paint one with the "white tree" from lord of the rings

here's a pic http://www.greenwillowglass.com/images/ ... 500_BG.gif

To answer your question, I paint custom floorcloths of all types and some designs of mine as shown in the blogger.That tree is very pretty and I could paint it exactly like the image, I'm impressed how nice it is.

As a new resident of Chile, I too am looking for helpful information regarding a driver's license. After reading the posts here, I found only one useful reply. The rest were absolutely useless personal opinions about driving/drivers in Chile. I hope this changes for this forum to continue fulfilling its purpose.

If someone can share helpful information about getting a Chile driver's license, I would appreciate it. For example, where do I go to actually apply or take a test, or get a Driver's Book (I am living in Vitacura for now)? Useful personal experiences are also appreciated. I have a valid California license as well as a Chile ID card.

Thanks

try using the search feature for the forum: topic1329.html

or just go to your local Dept. of Transit and ask them.

forrestc - in my experience, all I needed was to show my California license and my Carne and take the eye test and psicotecnico test, which was stuff for reaction time/hand-eye coordination. This was in La Reina. My boyfriend got his in Vitacura and he just wanted to pipe in to say that there they are very stringent and even when he went to renew his license and friends of his have had similar experiences. I felt in La Reina they were pretty lax once I showed I had a California license. I wasn't asked for any documentation of residency in the municipality, so if they give you a hard time in Vitacura it may be worth it to try in another municipality. The municipal Departamento de Tránsito is the place to go.

Trollz FTL

At the risk of sounding anal retentive, I have to say that one of my pet peeves in this forum is the improper use of non-English words—especially Spanish—since they often times create confusion, but sometimes their inclusion turns out to be unintentionally hilarious, as in gringalais’s post above. One can see why she zipped through the process of getting her driver’s license, whereas the boyfriend had some difficulties. Apparently it wasn’t really the location.

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Living well is all that matters.

gringalais wrote:forrestc - in my experience, all I needed was to show my California license and my Carne ..

El Z was right, the lack of one accent mark does change the meaning completely
TP

El Zorro wrote:Apparently it wasn’t really the location

haha!

Thanks ROOK and gringalais. Your information was very helpful.

Forrest