Chile Forum

If you are finding aspects of daily life living here somewhat incomprehensible, have a look at this article. OK it´s about Italy, but as you may have noticed, the Mediterranean influence here is quite strong....just substitute buena onda for simpatico It is a little exaggerated but the same principles (or lack thereof) apply.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 19833.html

I'm certainly no expert on the three countries, but I have visited each one as a tourist. Other than the climate in some areas, I don't see much similarity between Italy and Chile. Italy has a storied history of art, science, architecture, food, and literature. Chile has great potential, and lots of avocados.

The simpatico concept is definitely common to both countries, nice article.

John Hyre

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¿Simpático? What is the value of simpático if you cannot find a good caffè macchiato, a bella donna, and a minimally qualified mechanic ?

For those of you who don't know, my background is Italian. I am an Italian /Canadian and I lived in Italy for the first half of my life. I still have 50% of my family in Italy as well and I travel there at least once every two years. I can assure you - Italy & Chile are NOTHING alike. Not even the slightest!

Edit: just to clarify when I say nothing alike, I do not mean Italy is better in anyway. In some aspects Chile is better; in other aspects Italy is better. Of course, these are of my personal opinion and experiences.

I think some of you are reading waaaay too much into the original post. The point was not to compare the two countries in any large sense, just to note some cultural similarity in one narrow aspect. Lighten up.

John Hyre

El Chupacabra wrote: Italy & Chile are NOTHING alike.

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

The Argentino travels to Italy, looks at the names in the phone book, and says, madre mía, look at all the Argentinos in this country !

patagoniax wrote:

El Chupacabra wrote: Italy & Chile are NOTHING alike.

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

The Argentino travels to Italy, looks at the names in the phone book, and says, madre mía, look at all the Argentinos in this country !

LOL

JHyre wrote:I think some of you are reading waaaay too much into the original post. The point was not to compare the two countries in any large sense, just to note some cultural similarity in one narrow aspect. Lighten up.

John Hyre

At least someone got my drift..and if you compare Milan or Turin to Catania or Palermo they are pretty different also, been in all of them.
That´s the trouble with an article full of generalizations, people will always disagree, just read the comments attached to the article itself

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

By inference that means Argentina is therefore NOTHING like Chile...could have fooled me. Now if you had said Kazakhstan is NOTHING like Chile i might agree.

patagoniax wrote:

El Chupacabra wrote: Italy & Chile are NOTHING alike.

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

The Argentino travels to Italy, looks at the names in the phone book, and says, madre mía, look at all the Argentinos in this country !

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA so true. HIlarious. They do love their Italian Heritage. They also know what they're doing in the gelato department, though. I have to agree with Chupacabra to a certain extent. I used to live in Italy, and She and Chile are nothing alike when you consider the oodles of history, the culture, the food. Oh God, the food. To be fair, it's hard to compare the country that invented (or at the very least perfected) pizza with the country who deems it acceptable to use ketchup on pizza in lieu of real sauce. That alone is criminal.

On the other hand, it depends on what you're comparing no?

-Italians LOVE their red tape. I remember going to 3 different floors to get fingerprinted 3 different times, on the same day in the same building, to get my student visa processed. Never mind the multiple times I had to go before and after, just to get some official paper stamped elsewhere or because I was told something was ready and then I arrived and it wasn't. And of course every official I talked to seemed to have a different story. All this done a good 4 1/2 months into my arrival in Italy on a year long student visa that specifically stated everything had to be in order within the first 3 months of arrival and I could not leave the country until this was done. Nevermind that I drove my smartcar back and forth to Slovenia every weekend (good shopping; they hadn't incorporated the euro yet) many time before this came to pass.

-Banking. God help the foreigner that needs to open a simple bank account there. And even to close it, you'll spend a ridiculous amount of time signing away your life and first born.

-Lining up. I grew up in Canada where you're taught to respect a queue. Boy did I get an education when I moved to Italy. And when I left Italy I forgot about that until I came back to Chile, where I was re-schooled.

-Driving. Actually, I cut my teeth driving in New Orleans amongst the drunks in the land of drive-through daiquiri stands but I have Italy to thank for teaching me some serious defensive driving. Frickin' tiny people on mopeds everywhere. Sheesh. Speed and Traffic signals? Mostly just a suggestion I was assured repeatedly. The phrase Crazy, Kamikaze drivers comes to mind. I'm pretty sure there are more than a few Chileans that went to the same driver's ed school lol.

-The Pituto system. Don't know what the Italians called it, but it's alive, well and flourishing in Italy also.

-Overpriced Electronics. No wait, my bad. That's pretty much everywhere except China and the US, no?

So yeah, if you really want to find similarities, they are there. Yet, when you take into account the centuries of history; the art, the music, the food, the architecture, THE CHEESE!!!... well it's very difficult to find similarities if those are foremost in your mind. Did I mention the cheese?

fraggle092 wrote:

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

By inference that means Argentina is therefore NOTHING like Chile...could have fooled me.

Incorrecto. What curious logic for such an inference. Che, it was a common joke here which I thought everyone knew, but also a reminder that a substantial part of the Argie population has Italian surnames. And unsurprisingly, the Argie side is much more Italian than the Chilean side in terms of its simpático, its caffé, its eloquio, its stile, and its cucina. And yes, I worked in Italy for a short time during the 1990s when NATO was breaking things and hurting people in Serbia.

patagoniax wrote:

El Chupacabra wrote: Italy & Chile are NOTHING alike.

Correcto. You have to go to Argentina.

The Argentino travels to Italy, looks at the names in the phone book, and says, madre mía, look at all the Argentinos in this country !

patagoniax wrote:Incorrecto. What curious logic for such an inference.

Let me spell it out:
You state that Chile and Italy are not alike.
But you also say that Italy and Argentina are alike.
Hence Chile and Argentina cannot be alike, simple enough?