Chile Forum

Greetings Robin and welcome to the forum!
It's nothing more refreshing than seeing a woman expanding her horizons....good for you! Getting out of your comfort zone and learning customs and language from another part of the world is always positive. Best of all, you have the perfect attitude and personality for an adventure of this magnitud.
My suggestions would be...learn the language so it will be less painful for you to communicate and use " search" to the max right here in this website, I guarantee all your questions will be answered. There is a huge amount of info and it will take you a while to sort it all out and already knowing how smart you are ( after all you are a woman) you'll be taking notes. Once that task is done, feel free to throw us some questions, in the meantime.....dream girl!..'cause your dreams will come true!

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and information everyone!

It'll be interesting to see what another country's race/class issues may be, consciously or unconsciously. Thank you all for sharing your views and opinions on the matter. I'm pretty positive about everything though, and I think I'll enjoy myself down there a lot.

I welcome any additional information you might want to send my way - I'm sure I'll find a lot already posted here. See you on the forums!

Hi Robin,

You sound a lot like myself. I am a Black female from TX who moved to Chile, alone, 5 months ago. I am a marketing consultant and can work from anywhere. I am 28, single, no kids, and thought this would be exciting and maybe curb my appetite for moving around so much. It’s been a great experience, but I will be returning to the U.S. in 3 weeks! Now to your questions…

Being Black, people will definitely stare (not just glance and look away, but stop what they're doing and stare intensely...with their mouth open) and it’s really annoying. I’ve had people give me nasty snarls and say things to me in Spanish, but I try to ignore them. I’ve even seen people trip over the sidewalk as they walk and stare at me. I’ve also encountered the occasional cashier that gets angry when I come through their line. When I first arrived here all of the silliness didn’t get to me as much, but after 5 months I’m over it.

People will assume you are Brazilian and some will even try to speak to you in Portuguese. They seem surprised/confused when I tell them I speak English and I’m from the U.S. That behavior is definitely out of ignorance; some don’t know much about the world outside of Chile and others aren’t even aware of the Black population that has inhabited Chile for centuries.

Obviously, this does not include all Chileans. As with any place you will find all kinds of people with varying view, opinions, and prejudices.

There are other "Black" people in Chile. I say "Black" because they are from all over the world, not just Americans. Not on ton, but I see at least 2 or 3 other dark-skinned people in my neighborhood (Providencia) each day.

I don’t know how people will view you in terms of class, but they will definitely spend tons of time surveying your shoes, clothes, jewelry, looking at items in your grocery cart, etc. When I first got here I always thought I was about to get robbed. In the U.S. if someone is too interested in what you have and watching your every move you think the worst, but I think they are just trying to figure out how much money you have. I’ve blogged about this and I think it’s really funny to get so caught up in what other people have.

I agree with the other posters, Chile is not cheap! Food from the grocery store is expensive and I still haven’t figured out what’s brand name vs. generic brand. Lider (which is owned by Wal-Mart) carries Great Value brands that are 2-3 times the price you’d pay in the States. I lived in NY for 5 years and items were marked up considerably, but still cheaper than in Chile. You will spend almost nothing at the produce market (I forgot the name) and get some huge, high quality veggies.

The equivalent of the Dollar Tree or Dollar Store here is the $1.000 (one thousand peso store), which is about $2US. They carry the usual odds and ends found in Dollar Stores in the U.S. If you want to shop for shoes and clothes, I’d recommend taking a trip to Buenos Aires, or even Mendoza. The quality of clothes in Chile is not great, but the prices are still high. I compare it to getting Forever 21 quality and paying Banana Republic prices.

As far as banking goes, I use my U.S. account and withdraw the maximum amount ($400US) each time. You can always have clients wire the money to your US bank, set up a PayPal account, or have someone in the States deposit payments for you.

All in all, I am grateful for the experience and if I had to it again, I would. Race can never be a determining factor is where you decide to go. I’ve traveled throughout many countries and you will always encounter racism, sexism…people will always find a reason not to like you so you might as well have as much fun as you can while they stew in their own misery. You will encounter great natives as well as other travelers who are just passing through with some very interesting stories. I’ve gotten the best spur of the moment trip ideas from other travelers’ amazing stories and now know of someone to meet up with for coffee or lunch on almost every continent.

Enjoy your travels!

Hi Robin,

My name is Hugh or Hugo (when in Chile), I'm actually made in Chile (spent my first 17 years there), presently I live in Leesburg VA, I'll be happy to meet with you and answer as many questions as you may have regarding my home country.

Gracias

Hugo