Chile - a review

Hello,

We ended our three-week stay in Chile with a visit to Punta Arenas by cruise ship. It was a truly beautiful time in Chile. The landscapes here are breathtaking and diverse. In the north, the Atacama Desert - dry and dusty. As you go south, it gets greener and more colorful. Even if you are no longer in the Andes, you can still see them almost all the time throughout the country. Truly an impressive mountain range. Many regions, especially in Patagonia, often reminded us of Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland. However, compared to Peru and Bolivia, Chile is very expensive, we compared it to Switzerland. So we often paid more for groceries than in Germany. Regarding the people, we have mixed feelings. Of course, we often met nice, friendly, helpful people, but more often than in other countries we encountered unfriendly people who were not very considerate. For example, it happened to us several times that when we didn't understand something and asked if they could speak slower or maybe English, the people became unfriendly and simply repeated the matter just as quickly. Even though this country is more advanced in development than other South American countries, English was still rather rare.

• A few facts from us about our time in Chile
• in Patagonia, there is often hardly any fruit and vegetables in the stores, and even the last mouldy fruit is still sold
• Chileans love fast food
• the people here are noticeably taller
• on New Year's Eve, dolls the size of humans are burned here and in other South American countries to drive away the old year
• all food is very expensive, except for alcohol
• for hiking, the country is paradise, but even the camping sites alone can be very expensive

We enjoyed our time very much and traveled the country from north to south. If you want to hike in South America but don't want to spend as much, you should consider places like Peru. Unique to Chile and definitely worth a visit are the Atacama Desert and Patagonia. In Patagonia, the combination of mountains, lakes, ocean, and forests is simply stunning :)

Valparaiso wasn't our dream. Next door in Vina del Mar, it was even more beautiful.

Until the next report :)