Entering a new country is always exciting. After Argentina I thought I had an idea of what to expect when coming to Chile. The thing is, you always have expectations, things that you read and the things that you´re told about the place. And after all, I had already lived three weeks in South America! But of course, the place will always have something else in store than what you´ve had in mind. And there is always that small culture shock you cannot avoid, no matter how much you prepare yourself.
Let´s start with the language (I personnally love comparing and listening to how people speak, it is such a deep part of the culture and even people´s personality). I had thought that I would have an easy time after finally gotten the hang of the argentinian accent. Oh how wrong I was. Chilean accent seems to be on a completely another scale of Spanish. Pronunciation is totally different, and of course people use a bit different phrases and even vocabulary. The good thing is that I at least have already gotten the hang of the everyday Spanish I need, so let´s say that it is only half as hard as I had it in Argentina. And it seems that learning to listen the new accent also gets easier all the time. Saying that, I still dread a bit what the language will be like once I get to Bolivia and Peru...
Also the atmosphere seems to be different here. It is hard to explain, but let´s say you can feel that you are in a different country. I was maybe expecting a bit more vibrant atmosphere than what it actually is (damn the stereotypes - of course not everyone dance samba on the streets :D). But then again, once you start to converge yourself in a conversation or you go and "compartir" (go out to eat and/or drink together), it is a totally different story. The people turn into this happy and sharing bunch. One thing that did NOT happen in Argentina but seems to be totally common thing in Chile, is that guys actually shout something to you on the streets. "Heyy, guapaa" or something alike is not unusual to hear. In Argentina you could maybe notice that the people did register you, but here they really let you know it. I think it was the first night that a car actually slowed down when I was walking on the street, and somebody rolled down the window and shouted me something, nearly giving me a heart attack. According to some Chilean girl I talked to at the hostel you should not feel scared, but of course you are not expected to answer either, just walk on (and maybe be proud of the attention).
What else...I have to say I was a bit disillusioned by the plain architecture of Santiago (no offense, my chilean friends and Santiago fans!). I don´t know how I´d managed to imagine a completely different picture of the city. But it´s not that I do not like the city, it does have its highlights. Take the Bellavista area with awesome graffitis or the gourgeus Santa Lucia hill, for example. And I also went to dance salsa once already, an absolute blast! Over two hours without a break, you can imagine my feet were like jelly afterwards. Oh, and there I also got dragged into the first rueda of my life (salsa in a circle where you constantly change partners)! After the first shock it was incredibly fun.
I spent five days in Santiago before moving to stay at Viña del Mar, which is just next to the renowned port city Valparaíso on the coast. Awesome place, both cities. Valparaíso has an indescribable charm. The buildings, graffitis and hills are incredible. Viña del Mar, although only 15 minutes from Valpo, has a totally different feel. It is a clean and easy-going city, including lots of parks which have lead to the name "garden city". It also has a beach although the water is not warm enough to really swim in even in the summer. I was fairly lucky in my timing to visit the city, as there was some type of culture festival taking place. In Valparaíso there were a lot of art installations on the squares, and in Viña I got to see for example an dance of Rapanui, the people from the Easter Islands. Next I will still travel back to Santiago and from there on I hope to make my way up north.
I spent five days in Santiago before moving to stay at Viña del Mar, which is just next to the renowned port city Valparaíso on the coast. Awesome place, both cities. Valparaíso has an indescribable charm. The buildings, graffitis and hills are incredible. Viña del Mar, although only 15 minutes from Valpo, has a totally different feel. It is a clean and easy-going city, including lots of parks which have lead to the name "garden city". It also has a beach although the water is not warm enough to really swim in even in the summer. I was fairly lucky in my timing to visit the city, as there was some type of culture festival taking place. In Valparaíso there were a lot of art installations on the squares, and in Viña I got to see for example an dance of Rapanui, the people from the Easter Islands. Next I will still travel back to Santiago and from there on I hope to make my way up north.
Hostel life and other curiosities of the life of a backpacker
The hostels are of course an unseparable part of the backpacking life. Not surprisingly, the best side of hostels is the people. They are interesting, they have stories to tell and they are also interested in your story. The best is that you get great advice from the people on the road. That is also why I am not fixing my plans too early. Just looking at the map and picking a city can be fun too, but it is really nice to travel on recommendations from people who have actually seen the place and can tell you what it´s like. Of course, the people can turn into the worst side of the hostels too. Take for example a person who snores or just gets home at six am drunk and with no sense of how much noise s/he´s making. So far, I haven´t actually suffered that much from these things. Then again, I had an incident of one guy in the same room who started to flirt excessively. This really started to annoy me after a while, when he did not get my subtle hints that I was not interested. But in general people are really nice and polite in hostels, and extremely considerate! There seems to be these unwritten rules people follow which makes life much easier. And of course, you are allowed to open your mouth if something does not please you (although I have to say that I am fairly tolerant, as long as nobody messes with my stuff).
One funny thing about meeting people in hostels is the relationship you develop with them and how you get to know them. You basically know what nationality they are, where they are coming and where they are going, but it seems almost impossible to learn the names. When you speak with the people in your shared room, it is common to refer to the other people as for example "the girl from Argentina" or "the guy from Venezuela". The conversations you have with the people vary of course. You can get the normal chat about your travel itinerary, your life situation, the weather and even the economy of your country, and of course the differences of the place and your home country. The funny thing is, even these converstations can sometimes be incredibly interesting or hugely boring. Then there are the people with whom you just connect and end up talking for the whole evening, or what´s even better, end up doing stuff together. Of course you do not get these so often, but it happens.
I noticed that around three weeks after starting my travel I had reached some routines and the things that had maybe seemed to be really annoying or time-taking were not so anymore. As one girl from one hostel said, I noticed I had finally turned on to "travel mode". There are a lot of signs for this. One is, for example, that you can sleep without anything bugging you. In Chile I noticed that even though I was in a room with four guys, having the window open and the traffic yelling all night, I still had a sound sleep. Another thing is that you get the hang of how to pack and unpack your bag. It is just like going to the toilet or having a breakfast. Of course the fact that I have a backpack of only 35 litres makes it a lot easier too. One more thing would be that asking for directions or "being lost" but still making your way through the city does not take you much effort. Orienting without a map has also gotten a lot easier. In about a day I can figure out more or less where is what, having my hostel as a base. And, I noticed I don´t worry about my passport or money all the time the way I did for the first week, although of course I still am being careful about them. At least these are some things that I noticed after a while.
In addition to meeting people at the hostel, you sometimes get into interesting encounters outside the hostel too. The most probable places are the cafes or restaurants, queues or even toilets. The funniest thing so far was my second night in Chile, when I went to eat at the famous Pio Nono street full of bars and mini restaurants or posadas, as they call them here. I had planned to dine alone, but happened to sit next to a table with four men who already had had a couple of beers and obviously were enjoying themselves. It didn´t take five minutes before they invited me to their table to have a drink, and I ended up dining with them. The guys were actually work mates - in a prison! So we had an interesting conversation about the criminals in Chile, some of the curiosities in Chile in general and of course about Finland. So, in conclusion I could sum up that when backpacking you never know who you are going to meet and what kind of day you are going to have when you get up in the morning!
In addition to meeting people at the hostel, you sometimes get into interesting encounters outside the hostel too. The most probable places are the cafes or restaurants, queues or even toilets. The funniest thing so far was my second night in Chile, when I went to eat at the famous Pio Nono street full of bars and mini restaurants or posadas, as they call them here. I had planned to dine alone, but happened to sit next to a table with four men who already had had a couple of beers and obviously were enjoying themselves. It didn´t take five minutes before they invited me to their table to have a drink, and I ended up dining with them. The guys were actually work mates - in a prison! So we had an interesting conversation about the criminals in Chile, some of the curiosities in Chile in general and of course about Finland. So, in conclusion I could sum up that when backpacking you never know who you are going to meet and what kind of day you are going to have when you get up in the morning!
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