Chile Forum

Fair notice to anyone trying to get anything done in Chile over the holiday, just about every office we contact now in Chile has given us the "...but after the 18th..." response.

So, the holiday is really 2 days.

everyone is likly taking the whole week off, plus the weekend.

Then everyone a week in advance is starting to plan for the holiday, and they do not want to commit to big projects or tasks that might not get done before the holiday.

A week after the holiday, everyone will be still recovering and getting settled back in plus they will be two weeks behind in paperwork.

So, basically Chile has shut down for the rest of the month of Sept.

We are trying to explain to clients that just because we are working during this period does not mean Chile is working.

That's what I call a celebration!!

yea, yesterday was our last attempt at getting anything official done. Unless you are shopping, don't bother.

The good thing was everyone was in a good mood, and any excuse to hang out and blow off the rest of the day was jumped at with a smile. We spent the 2 or 3 hours hanging out with all the account executives at Banco Estado in Temuco trying to work out some ways for expats to move funds in to the country. I will post a a separate thread regarding the news on that front, but they were all more than willing to kill the day making phone calls and executives on the other end of the lines seemed very willing to be distracted with a new issue. Typically we just get a no when asking about it because they are too busy to get in to all the issues involved.

So, we are going to surrender and enjoy our forced vacation (we really need it). This will likely be one of my last post until after the holiday.

We are still going back to work after the 20th, but we are going to be in the field with various clients for 4 or 5 days so the regular office schedule will still be interrupted anyway for the rest of the week.

Relax and enjoy the moment which is unheard of in the good ol' USA!! We are jealous, we wish we could be there!
For those that watch Carlos Mencia in the Comedy Channel (US cable)
DEE DEE DEEEEE!!

the local news stations are reporting an expected 4 million person exit from Santiago for this weekend.

That would leave about 1 million people in Santiago. Lucky for us we are planning to go to Santiago for a few days over the holiday, or nearby, so we will be working against the traffic for most of the time.

Shots on the news showed a 35 mile long traffic jam leaving Santiago.

Santiago had a sort of deserted feel to it today. I was walking around a bit downtown and it was nice to not be fighting a crowd everywhere. I think everyone who is going somewhere has pretty much gone by now.

Zulu 789 and I went to Vina on Saturday he had never been there, it was wall to wall people on the metro and at the bus station. Demasiado It's always crowded anyway but it was really crazy.

really happy to hear that. One of the reasons I can not stand Santiago is the pollution levels (there are worse cities however).

Santiago is a really nice city, if it was not for all the people. The times I have lived there and visited when everyone was on vacation, it has just been one of the best cities in the World. Easy to get around, clean air, low noise.

Really the best thing that could happen to Santiago and the country is Chile decentralizing and at least a million of the population moving out of that city. I think everyones quality of life would go up, for both those that are staying and those that are moving out.