Chile Forum

Hi everybody! Just wanted to say hello. I came across the website about a month ago and the information has been incredibly helpful! I lived in Santiago in 2000-2001, met a Chilean, we got married, moved back to Oregon, moved to Austin, TX, had two kids and now we are thinking about moving back to Santiago either at the end of this year or by May of 2012. Anyway, I have a few questions that I would love some insight from you all! I'm Vegan so I wanted to see how easy it is to find organic produce and vegan food, such as tofu, tempeh, etc. Are there any natural food stores in Santiago? I am also considering selling my 100% all natural beauty products/cleaning products and wanted to see if you all think there is a market for items such as that in Santiago? Or a market for healthy cooking classes or eco-consulting? Or a market for healthy baked vegan goodies??

My daughter is starting Kindergarten this year (school year is August - May here) so we may be moving to Chile in May. Do you think it would be a problem to be a couple of months late for her 1st grade year in Stgo.? Also, we want to live in Providencia near Parque Bustamante -- is there a decent school near there? I think it's called subvencionada or something like that .. we cannot afford a private school, but could pay for the subvencionada .. any insight would be much appreciated!!

Thanks for the anticipated assistance!! I look forward to getting to know more about you all!

Tara

greenmama wrote: I think it's called subvencionada or something like that .. we cannot afford a private school, but could pay for the subvencionada ..

Subvencionada just means "subsidised"

In Chile there are colegios particulares, colegios municipales, and colegios subvencionados. Did I leave any out? The colegios subvencionados are actutally subsidised private schools. A colegio subvencionado is subject to being taken over by government regulators in the event that it appears to be in danger of insolvency. About half the school children in Chile are in colegios subvencionados. About 40 percent are in municipal schools. About 9 percent are in purely private schools (2010 data).

greenmama wrote:Hi everybody! Just wanted to say hello. I came across the website about a month ago and the information has been incredibly helpful! I lived in Santiago in 2000-2001, met a Chilean, we got married, moved back to Oregon, moved to Austin, TX, had two kids and now we are thinking about moving back to Santiago either at the end of this year or by May of 2012. Anyway, I have a few questions that I would love some insight from you all! I'm Vegan so I wanted to see how easy it is to find organic produce and vegan food, such as tofu, tempeh, etc. Are there any natural food stores in Santiago? I am also considering selling my 100% all natural beauty products/cleaning products and wanted to see if you all think there is a market for items such as that in Santiago? Or a market for healthy cooking classes or eco-consulting? Or a market for healthy baked vegan goodies??

My daughter is starting Kindergarten this year (school year is August - May here) so we may be moving to Chile in May. Do you think it would be a problem to be a couple of months late for her 1st grade year in Stgo.? Also, we want to live in Providencia near Parque Bustamante -- is there a decent school near there? I think it's called subvencionada or something like that .. we cannot afford a private school, but could pay for the subvencionada .. any insight would be much appreciated!!

Thanks for the anticipated assistance!! I look forward to getting to know more about you all!

Tara

Since you lived in Satgo already, you must know that the market for your products is very small, possibly by word of mouth or maybe in a corner of an existing health-food store? I sympathize with your being vegan, I'm sure you know that 99.9% of the Chilean population would not pass up a parrillada. Chile has amazing raw ingredients, but like some other countries (Ireland comes to mind), no idea what to do with them.

About schools... whatever you decide, it will most likely take several months for you to sort out the paperwork after arriving. Count on missing a few more months (fortunately, for kinder, I think it's not such a big deal).

FrankPintor wrote: Chile has amazing raw ingredients, but like some other countries (Ireland comes to mind), no idea what to do with them.

If I had said that, the foro townsfolk would be after me with pitchforks and organic torches...

But yes, it's true.

The schools will accept your daughter (and money) as long as you have registered her in Chile. It's probably best to do this before you enter Chile at the consulate in your local area. It may take a few months for the registration to go through, but she can still attend school as long as you have the proof that the registration has been done and it's being processed. We did this and had no problem getting our daughter enrolled.

Regarding your line of natural products, as previously stated I don't think you'll find there is much of a market for it here. However, I think you will find many products here that you could possibly integrate into your current product line and sell to your existing client base. Especially in the natural beauty product area. One example would be Elicina Snail Cream. Excellent product, look into it if you haven't heard about it. I would just rebrand it with your name and logo it and off you go. Just a quick example and the first thing that popped into my head.

BTW, being a vegan sucks! Just kidding but seriously, eat some meat.

Not sure what your budget is.
My daughter goes to Colegio Compania de Maria at Seminario with Providencia, a few blocks from Bustamante.

It's a good school, Catholic, but they let her in even though we are not.

There are organic produce sections in most of the big grocery chains. I don't know how well regulated it is.
There are a few health food, natural food, vegetarian/vegan stores with limited selections.
Tofu is relatively easy to get.

Thank you for the information! My husband is going for a visit in July and is going to scope things out. I'll have him check out the Catholic school that you mentioned. Although, we aren't religious, I'd rather have my kids go to a subvencionada rather than a Chilean public school. My husband thinks that there may be a market teaching healthy cooking classes to las viejas cuicas en Vitacura and Las Condes. HAHA .. anyway, thank you for the information. Let me know if you come across a Vegan restaurant!! The raw Vegan thing is very popular in the States right now .. although, I've been Vegan long before it became popular.

Ok I was following along until you got to the part about viejas cuicas cooking.....

HAHA .. that's true. They have like 3 nannies to do all the work for them, right?! But, what do they do in their spare time?

There is not much of a vegan movement here (in Santiago), so you might have to drop your standards slightly (I know that's easy for an omnivore to say, but if not, you will have to work very hard to keep at it).

Vegetarian produce is easy to find and organic is becoming more readily available. There is a great veggie restaurant (quinoa.cl) near my office, once per week an organic produce market in Vitacura and there are a number of shops that stock vegetarian products and organic products (eg. lachakra.cl , organisk.cl , apiopalta.cl ). There are a good supply of frozen veggie fake meat like tofu burgers etc. and most restaurants (the ones I go to anyway) have good vegetarian options, even the steak joints.

I disagree that there's not much of a market for natural products. You can buy modern cloth diapers and Weleda products in Jumbo, there is a huge increase in availability of natural products, organic food etc. It is visible around where I live and work and I think it will spread to at least those of middle income (the way it did in Australia).

Shout if you want more info, I'm always looking out for these type of items.

Even with the great selection available, how can you be a vegan in Austin? The entire city smells like bar-be que. Prepare yourself well for the amount of plastic bags you will receive at the supermarket, or grocery as they say n Austin. Bring your Whole Foods, Central Market, HEB, Sprouts, Sun Harvest bags with you. They are useful at the smaller stores and farmers markets.