Impressions of Northern Chile

Well, I have left Chile now, so I think I should give a taste of my impressions of Chile. From the People to the Landscapes and everything in between. All of this will relate only to the part of Chile that extends North from Santiago, because I have yet to visit anything South of Chile's capital.

The People
   Firstly, it would help if they spoke Spanish. Well, ok they do, but they cut the ends off the words, create new endings, and run all the words together. Then they change some words. Some explain that this is because Chile is so cut off from everywhere else... the Andes Mountains on the Eastern side, the Pacific Ocean on the West, Antarctica down below and the world driest desert to the North. But I come from a great big island in the ocean, so I don´t think it´s much of an excuse. All the neighbouring nations say Chilean Spanish is terrible, so this isn´t just coming from me.
   Now to the men.... well I haven´t been whistled at and called every synonym of beautiful (in Spanish and in English) so much since Cuba. Actually, Chilean men may have outdone the Cubans.  I took it all as compliments and it only bothered me when they sidled up too close so they could whisper their words. The men were largely helpful, on 2 occasions a group of men (both groups from mining area´s) became my main bus terminal support when my bus was late, finding out for me that I hadn´t missed my bus and making sure I got it when it came.
    Dress standards were very casual and mostly jeans and T-shirts, even when working. I noticed the only people wearing shorts when not on the beach were tourists.
   It seemed that 90% of adults smoked... but I have said before I might be exaggerating. It never seemed crossed their mind that you mightn´t like it.

The Food
   Nope, not good. Ok, I tried to get good, I went to the nice seafood restaurant in Valpariaso, and the Scallop place in Caldera, and ate what Jaime told me to at the place he said was really good, but nothing stood out. At best, the menu of the days were like a reasonably good home cooked meal. (And perhaps I should say that my Mum is a fantastic cook.) And somehow all the fresh fried fish meals tasted like they had been battered and fried some other time and then microwaved for my plate. Sorry Chile.

The Transport
   Oh the Chilean buses are very nice. They are clean, they check your lugguge with tags, they run to a pretty good schedule. But they are speed limited. Every time the driver passed 100kms per hour a long beep started in the passenger area of the bus, so that we could dob him to the authorities if he didn´t slow down.

The Scenery
   I took only day time buses so that I could see the scenery all the way. It was so spectacular. Most of Northern Chile is what I imagine another planets landscapes might look like. It´s very mountainous. And for the most part it´s very dry. It´s also very exploited with mining and mining exploration, which is a shame, but without it they´d be very poor and the terrain doesn´t seem much good for other things.

Environmentalism
   huh? I don´t know if the average Chilean knows much about environmental concern. They are extremely consumeristic, plastic bottles aren´t being recycled, there is a lot of litter lying around. At home I often pick up rubbish while I´m walking.... here I wouldn´t know where to start.

Other Travellers
    Are there any Germans between the age of 24 and 30 left in Germany? It used to be Australians that had the well traveled reputation, but they´re being outdone. A couple of the German travelers have told me that with the Global Financial Crisis there isn´t much work in Germany at the moment, so better to travel now, and go back to working when things improve. I´ve only really met Australians in the beach towns. I´m in a age gap here, not a lot of other backpackers my age. Some are older, but most are in their 20´s, on tight budgets (making the same mistakes as I did when I was a 20 year old backpacker), and opting to save money by not going to see things and spending it instead on alcohol and cigarettes, (to while away the hours that they aren´t using on sightseeing).

Notes:
I think I averaged about $330 (USD) per week in Chile. I could have done it cheaper, but I like to try to find nice food, and take the odd tour. Good tours give you information you might not otherwise get, and that´s worth a bit more. You also get a day off by doing a tour... somebody else organises everything and you just have to tag along. I also ate out most meals. Travelling alone, you don´t save much money cooking for yourself. Also, I like to cook.... I mean I like to cook well... limited backpackers kitchens and no access to good oils, herbs and spices (I really can´t be expected to carry a pantry) is just a bad experience. I do however often boil a couple of eggs.... boiled egg, banana, and a bread roll make a ok lunch for long bus journeys that might not stop for a meal break.