Five Things I Miss About Living in Chile

It's now been over two years since I left my life in Chile and came back to Europe. In the time since then, I've lived in Malta (a great experience, but not somewhere I'd live permanently), Bristol (my least favourite place I've ever lived) and back at my parents' house in Wiltshire (there are things I miss about this, but I'm glad to have moved on). Then in April this year, we moved out to our own flat in the town of Reading, near London. So far, it's been going well, but I have to admit there are some things that I miss about life in Chile from time to time...

The Food

Chile is not a country that is well known for its cuisine, but it actually has lots of really amazing dishes and drinks that we are missing out on here in the UK! Some of my favourites include Chilean empanadas (I like the ones with cheese and tomato or mushroom), sopaipillas (a fried pastry made with butternut squash) and of course, Chilean wine!

In my pictures above, we've got a vegan completo italiano (a big hot dog with avocado, mayonnaise and tomatoes - the colours make up the Italian flag, which is where the name comes from!), Chilean sushi (which is so much better than the sushi we get in the UK), mote con huesillos (a sweet drink with dried peaches and wheat, which is served in Santiago's parks in summer) and pisco sour - a few more of my favourites.

The Weather

Obviously the weather varies a lot depending on which part of Chile you live in, as it's such a long country, but I do think that Santiago is one of the best places in the world to live in terms of weather. 

I love the summer there, which lasts for several months. There are plenty of beaches only a couple of hours away that you can visit for a day trip or weekend, or you can stay in the city and hang out in the parks or swimming pools (the one pictured above is Piscina Tupahue in Parque Metropolitano).

The winters are also a lot less cold and icy compared to UK winters, though they can be a bit hard to get through, just because homes generally don't have heating. But outside at least, it's not so bitterly cold and you even get the occasional day with 20 or 25 degrees in the middle of winter (Chileans call it veranito de San Juan). And the city is surrounded by beautiful views of snowy mountains - if you can brave the cold, you can drive an hour or two up into the mountains and enjoy a day in a snowy winter wonderland!

The Mountains and Landscapes

Following on from my previous point, I also really miss the landscapes in and around Santiago, namely the incredible mountains surrounding the city. And within an hour or two by car or bus, you can be right up in those mountains, or standing on a stunning beach if you go in the other direction.

Furthermore, you're only a couple of hours by plane from places like the Atacama Desert or Patagonia. So if you want to get away from the city and into nature, you have a whole range of options. I've always really loved how Chile as a country has just about every type of landscape you can imagine!

South America Travel

Living in Chile also gives you great opportunities to travel around the rest of South America. It's cheap and easy to take a scenic bus ride over the border to Argentina, and you're only a short flight away from bucket list destinations like Brazil and Peru. 

Of course, living near London, we're very close to mainland Europe, but it can be expensive to travel there and most of the famous places get so crowded. Generally, travel in South America is cheaper and less crowded, and I miss it a lot.

Family and Friends

I couldn't finish this post without writing about what I miss most - our Chilean family! Of course I really miss my parents-in-law, brothers-in-law and Jackito the beagle, as well as the rest of the family and our friends. I also miss taking Jackito for walks in Claudio's parents' neighbourhood and seeing our animal friends (we call the three kitties pictured above Pickla, El Loco and Pepi).

Obviously, when we lived in Chile, we missed UK family and friends, so this is always going to be something we have to deal with, no matter where in the world we live!

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, and there are other things I miss, such as the architecture, the museums and other cultural attractions, and the fact that people are a lot more conscious of their personal hygiene than they are in Europe!

Of course, there are things I don't miss; namely the bureaucracy, higher crime rates and poorer working conditions. But I would definitely not rule out living there again in the future, though Claudio is less enthusiastic about going back! We will have to wait and see what the future brings...

Exploring the Arica Province

On the last day of our stay in Arica, Claudio and I had planned to drive to Parque Nacional Lauca, which is a little under three hours away. However, the car we'd rented the day before had a slight problem, and we didn't quite trust it to cover that sort of distance, especially on desert roads in the middle of nowhere. So we decided to have a more relaxing day exploring some sights closer to the city.

The first place we went to visit was San Miguel de Azapa Archaeological Museum, which is located in a small village a short distance away from Arica. Here you can see many of the Chinchorro mummies, which are even older than the Egyptian mummies! They were made by the Chinchorro people, who lived in Arica and the surrounding area thousands of years ago, and some of them date back to around 5000 BC. They have remained intact because of the desert climate, and it's really incredible to see them in the museum today and to think that they were created so long ago. 

The museum also had lots of information and artefacts from the era of the Inca, another group that was present in the area. That was also really interesting to learn about, and it made me even more eager to visit Machu Picchu than I was already. I think this part of the world (the north of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia) is really fascinating, with history and cultures stretching back for so many years.

It was also nice to look around the garden of the museum, which was a little green oasis in the middle of the desert. It even had some petroglyphs, which made up for us not seeing the ones in Miculla two days earlier!

Next we drove back in the direction of Arica to see some more history: the Cerro Sombrero geoglyphs. Initially, we parked at an area with signposts which seemed to indicate that this was the place to see the geoglyphs. There was a pathway going up a very steep hill, which we followed up to the top. Unfortunately, the geoglyphs were nowhere to be seen from up there! However, there was a viewpoint with amazing views over the desert and mountains.

There was also a huge bird of prey, circling around and waiting for his or her chance to grab some leftover food people had dumped up there. We had seen several of these birds at Morro de Arica the previous day, but not as close as this one. I thought they might be cóndors, but a Google image search showed me I was wrong about that. In any case, it was amazing to see such a big bird so close up!

It turns out that in order to see the Cerro Sombrero geoglyphs, you just have to dump the car on the side of the road and quickly look at them from there. Unfortunately, there are fences ruining the view a bit, but it's still amazing to see these shapes of llamas, humans and other creatures that were drawn onto the hill in ancient times.

Although the Atacama Giant was more impressive to see, partly because it was in the middle of nowhere with nothing but desert for miles around, I would definitely still recommend paying a quick visit to Cerro Sombrero if you're visiting Arica.

After lunch in Arica, we visited the final destination of our trip: Anzota caves. These caves are located 12 kilometres south of the city, and are one of the places where the Chinchorro people lived. Entry is free, and you can do a short trekking there and even go inside some of the caves. Supposedly, lots of wildlife lives there, including sea lions, but we didn't see any of them. However, we did see some big lizards, which can be spotted in the following photos!

The caves are an incredible place of natural beauty, with amazing rock formations and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. Exploring them was a great way to finish our trip!

To sum up, we had a really wonderful few days celebrating our anniversary in the north of Chile and south of Peru. During our time away, we discovered beaches, cities, beautiful nature, and plenty of history and culture. This is a special part of the world, and we would definitely go back in the future.

Next up on this blog, I'll probably be writing about some new places we've been to in and around Santiago, but I'm hopeful we'll go on some bigger travels again soon. We have a few ideas, so watch this space...