Chile, chili and Chilenos

First of all I have to say Chile saved me. Saved me from loosing my travel spirit and thinking I have seen enough or having met enough people. It proved to me once again that a thin line on a map really makes a huge difference. Maybe it was also that things only could get better regarding the people and that my mind was fully opened for new encouters. From the first day I only had a good time in Chile.

But before I keep up the tradition and tell how to be a good Chilean, I have to say that there is really no need to try to be one. Because Chile is super safe, and you will have more fun with the Chileans as an "Extranjero"! People here are actually interested in those who visit their country and wherever you go there will be a friendly person trying to help you out.

If you still want to be a Chilean try the following:

- be as small as all other latin americans
- have darker hair than the rest and keep it mostly straightened
- be cheerful and look around yourself to notice who else is there
- try to mix with foreigners as much as possible
- party hard and drink a lot
- call your flag the prettiest in the world although it just a copy of the Texas one (just kidding, Chile`s is 21years older)
- call your official language Spanish but don`t use it
- speak Chilean instead, which means not pronouncing the end of words that are to long and adding "po" to all the words that are too short (therefore all words will have the same lengths and you can speek so fast that no foreigner will understand you)
- don`t do sports
- spent your freetime in Shopping Malls and even call one them "The most important shopping mall in south america"
-don`t tell anyone what makes a Shopping Mall "important"

So that`s about it. Chile has a very diverse countryside from Glaciers in the south to the driest place on earth in the north. It`s all just fascinating and if you wonder why I haven`t said anything about chili yet, well, I didn`t have any over there but I just thought the headline sounds better with it...

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Argentina - who`s crying?

Traveling is all about getting to know the people, learning from them, integrating in different cultures and figuring out the differences compared with oneself. Knowing about local habbits and modes of interaction does not only show respect but also prevents oneself from getting scammed and treated like a tourist. Especially in Latin America it can also mean to avoid the danger of getting robbed.

That`s why I want to give any potential traveler to Argentina a list of advices on how to be a genuine Argentinian. Btw. being Argentinian differs a lot from being Brazilian.

How to be Argentinian:

• be small
• pretend you are twice as tall as you really are
• be stylish
• use the mirrors next to every door in the subways to check your style
• don`t try to find an open restaurant before 10pm
• don`t go into a night club before 3am
• don`t talk to foreigners (unless they are blond and feminine)
  
• don`t smile to them (only smile amongst your friends - but be careful it might happen that you laugh)
  
• if you are forced to talk to a German, tell him he has a lot of money compared to you
• paint a sun with a face on your flag
• don`t expect waiters to serve you in bars or restaurants
• don`t expect to get past a register in a supermarket in less than 20 minutes - even if there is only one customer in front of you
• drink Mate (google, if you don`t know what it is!)
• call a bus seat "Bed" or "Semi-Bed" just because you can tilt it backwards in a 45 degree angle
• don`t speak spanish, speak castezhano
• say "lindo" about every place and piece of your country
• put "muy muy" before it
• say it 100 times a day

Of course Argentina is not so bad as it might have sounded in that list, but there are definetly friendlier and more open minded people on this planet. Having stayed here for almost 4 weeks and having visited half the country I think I can generalize it that way. But no generalization can exist without exceptions. So I had some really nice couchsurfer hosts again who offerd me a hotel-like bedroom and a nice Asado in Córdoba. They were very friendly and interested, so I will thank Ezekiel and Vero again at this point. Hope you`ll make it to Germany.

Regarding the landscape and the Cities of Argentina I can only speak for the north as I skipped the supposedly awesome Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego part for money and weather reasons. Apart from being pretty european and american, the cities and countryside reminded me a lot of Mexico, which made me miss the hospitality and friendlieness even more - ¿Dónde están, Carlos y Fernando?

Anyways, I got to see another natural beauty which totally made up for everything, including the more than 70hours on buses so far - A Salt Lake! The Salines Grandes north of Salta was an amazing trip over a 4200m mountain pass without any snow caps and down again to the salt flat at 3500m. Can`t wait now to go to Chile and Bolivia to see more of that...

The very good thing about Argentina is that it`s pretty cheap and reasonably safe for latin american standards. I personally haven`t felt as safe as here in quite a while but somehow I keep hearing mugging stories all the time. The crime is different though. People get tricked and bags snatched in parks, at bus terminals or internet cafes. Actually, there are never any weapons involved - so at least one thing that Brazilians could learn from Argentinians ;-)

I am off to Santiago now, crossing the Andes and not really crying for Argentina...

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