Chile Forum

Thank you!

Hello! Another newbie here. I'm a ghost writer (that means I write things for better known authors. They buy the rights to my work and publish what is now their work, under their names). I've been lurking here for months. I have a deal in the works for some work in Chile. It's looking like a pretty sure thing right now, but I probably won't have a signed contract for another 6 months - 1 year.

I'll be coming down from the US with my husband, children, and pets. I have a 12yr old son, 10yr old daughter, a cat and a dog. We'll be in Chile for a couple years for this series of assignments. We'll probably just land in Santiago for a month or so at first, then leap frog our way south and land as far south as we will be comfortable for the last year - 18months. Most of what I'll need is in southern Chile and Patagonia. We love the cold, though, and hate hot weather...so it works for us. lol The kids homeschool, and we've already made friends in Chile's homeschool community....plus we have several friends that either live in Chile or travel there often. I'm a research hound, though, and like to know just about everything about a location before I get there...so I can just focus on the experience once I'm in it. I don't know if I'll be posting much because I'm not coming from a place of real knowledge about Chile, and most any question I could have has already been answered somewhere. lol But, hello, and thanks for having me.

incorrigible wrote: Most of what I'll need is in southern Chile and Patagonia. .

Obnoxious and equally incorrigible forum poster patagoniax is in southernmost Patagonia, near the frontier with Argentina and a short ride from Tierra del Fuego. He wrote for a few magazines years ago, though none of them will admit to his "contributions" now. For Patagonia-related questions, search first and then fire away.

And welcome aboard.

Hi Incorrigible... sounds like you have some interesting assignments ahead. Maybe, in the course of time, you could post some links to your work? Or, if that's not possible, maybe you could recommend work that is not actually yours but still an interesting read?

No idea what kind of assignments you're on, but if your Spanish is up to it I think you can find a lot of background in the south of Chile by talking to people... perhaps not as stylized as the Irish seanchaí, but older generations certainly have stories (we used to have a storyteller in the forum, El Puelche, but he's abandoned us..). Remember, in Chile the south is where the strangeness comes from

FrankPintor wrote: Remember, in Chile the south is where the strangeness comes from

Yes, monumental strangeness. The further south, the stranger it gets.

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I can only wildly speculate on what sort of material you might want or in which part of southern Chile you may be interested (send PM if necessary). Don't even know how good your Spanish is. However, there is a website on the history of the British in southern Patagonia, with much of the material as "Reminiscences and Correspondence" in English. You may be aware of the significant degree of British presences and influence in southern Patagonia from about 1880 until just after the end of WWII. If there is a commercial application then you would of course need to discuss that with the site owners. Names like Campbell, Morrison, Sharp, and MacLean are well known down here.

Site: http://patbrit.org/eng/events/rrndx.htm

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Thanks for the warm welcome and all the info. =D I don't have a lot of specifics yet...and don't usually get a lot of details up front on these kind of contracts, actually. What I'll get is a contract for a "minimum of x words per month at y payrate" and a title that goes with the contract. I know "ecotourism" is getting thrown around a lot, but that could mean so many things. I just finished an "RV Living" contract but am still getting sent travel writing assignments. Then, I'm forwarded assignments that are mostly of a certain type. Travel writing seems to basically pay for itself...So it's kind of like living on a giant vacation. The pay rates are enough to cover experiencing the things they want you to write about, but not much more...and it's a wicked pain to get into. I started out with a web content producer when they were a new thing (you know - associated content, examiner.com, that kind of thing), and was recruited off that site. I don't know how one would go about starting fresh now...with 15yrs professional xp, and decent connections...I'm considered lucky to come up with paying work in the field. Everyone that pays is going out of business, and professionals from other fields are writing for free to advertise themselves all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if this is my last contract, actually. I have other skills, though, and am getting restless for something new anyway. =)

My Spanish is horrible right now, but comes back to me when I'm immersed. I spent a lot of time in Mexico and Central America as a kid and was translating for missionary programs by the time I was a teen. It takes about 6 months of not using it to almost completely forget it, but it's always come back to me when I needed it. If push comes to shove, my husband speaks German (which I understand may be helpful at times) and I've got the whole family rocking the Rosetta Stone program. =D I've spent time in countries when I didn't speak a word of the language and gotten by just fine, though. I'm smart about my limitations in specific situations, so I don't often end up in catastrophic conditions.

incorrigible wrote: I know "ecotourism" is getting thrown around a lot, but that could mean so many things.

Mostly ecotourism here is a rude trick to get North American greenies to consume tens of thousands of litres of hydrocarbon fuel to travel to Banana Republic roadheads where the last travel leg involves smoke-spewing diesel minivans distributing tonnes of fine dust over the natives and their water supplies and crops but which will bring them to lodges built of dwindling-species wood products and featuring shiny new pushbikes to ride to and fro in an effort to convince themselves of their willingness to selflessly sacrifice for the benefit of the planet.

Getting back into the groove of speaking Spanish is of course best achieved using a combination of beverages with an alcohol content of at least 6 percent and some sort of wretched disease involving fevers of over 39 degrees C which invariably help you to forget your minor grammatical errors while asking for strong antibiotics or at least some local palliatives.

awesome...that should make for some really interesting pieces...lol

Hola, everybody,
I am new to this site, and found it using google to find more about where to live in Santiago, to meet nice people, and to learn to speak Spanish.
I will be looking for someone to teach me Spanish more one on one, and I can learn as well on my own.

Thank you! to swdchile. I will take a look at it. I do well in nonformal environments! I like to self-teach and go into the local environment to learn.
Robin