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...

Country Guide: Brazil

Name: Brazil (in Portuguese: Brasil)

Continent: South America

Capital City: Brasília

Largest City: São Paulo

Languages: Portuguese

Currency: Real

Drives on the: Right

Time Zones: Acre Time (UTC -5), Amazon Time (UTC -4), Brasília Time (UTC -3), and Fernando de Noronha Time (UTC -2)

Adaptor Types: Type C and Type N

Description: Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America. 60% of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon, is located within its borders, meaning that it is one of the most diverse countries in terms of flora and fauna. Other than this, Brazil is also well-known for its beaches, success in football, samba music and dance, and the Rio Carnival.

Why You Should Visit: Rio de Janeiro is a city unlike anywhere else in the world - its mountains, beaches and cultural attractions are incredible and it has amazing vibes. Even though it rained most days during our visit in December 2022, we still had a fantastic time and plan to go back sometime in the future. We also loved visiting the paradise beaches of Arraial do Cabo, a few hours away from the city. Other places in Brazil that look fascinating to visit include the Iguazú waterfalls and, of course, the Amazon rainforest.

Fun Fact: Brazil has won 5 World Cup titles, which is more than any other country.

My Blogposts About Brazil

Charlotte's Travel Adventures

- My Dream Travel Destinations (Rio de Janeiro)

- UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Rio de Janeiro)

- Rio de Janeiro: Day One

- Rio de Janeiro: Day Two

- Rio de Janeiro: Day Three

- Rio de Janeiro: Day Four

- Arraial do Cabo

- Travel Tips: Ten More of My Favourite Beach Destinations (Rio de Janeiro and Arraial do Cabo)

- Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old! (Rio de Janeiro)

Clockwise starting from top left: Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro; Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro; Arraial do Cabo; Botafogo Beach, Rio de Janeiro; Escadaria Selarón, Rio de Janeiro; Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

Check out the rest of my Country Guides here!

Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old!

This blog, Charlotte's Travel Adventures, is turning 5 years old, so I felt it was only right to write a post to celebrate this special anniversary!

I published my first post on the 25th October 2018, which doesn't really feel that long ago, even though a lot has happened since then. At the time, I was back at university in Nottingham, having just completed a life-changing Year Abroad, and I wanted to try to keep this whole spirit of travel and adventures going, even though my everyday life had gone back to being something more mundane, which is why I decided to start this blog.

I didn't post again until January 2019, when I wrote about my trip to Chile to visit my boyfriend Claudio, who I'd been with for about half a year at that point. And after that, I didn't write much else until I finished final exams at university in June 2019. But since then, with the exception of the first couple of months of Covid lockdowns, I've written here pretty regularly, no matter what my situation is, or whether or not I've had many opportunities to travel.

The last five years have not always been easy for me. When you leave university, it's quite a weird time, where you don't have the structure of school and university anymore, and you're thrown out into the world to figure out for yourself what you're going to do next; it's hard to know if you're making the right decisions until you can look back with the gift of hindsight. Not long after graduation, I decided that being a teacher of English as a foreign language out in Chile was what I wanted to do for the next year or two, if not longer. So I got myself TEFL qualified, started teaching online, and eventually managed to find a job at a language school in Santiago, which I planned to start at some point in 2020.

Then, of course, the pandemic happened, and life was pretty much put on hold for two years. With the exception of the last few months of 2020, when Claudio came to visit me and my family, the pandemic was a time of just having to be patient and get through each day and week at a time, while waiting to be able to get my life started again.

And then in February 2022, I was able to finally move to Chile, and since then I've been making up for lost time! I had some fantastic experiences during my 15 months in South America, and then moved to Malta for a few months to complete an internship in digital marketing, and now I've got a permanent role in the marketing sector and am currently based in the city of Bristol.

Even more excitingly, Claudio and I had a civil union in May and plan to have a proper engagement and wedding in the near future! He'll be coming to join me here in the UK later this year, and I can't wait! 

So although there were a lot of of challenges over the last five years and there will surely be more to come, I'm really happy and grateful for how things have turned out.

And there has been a lot to document on this blog! I've spent 18 months of the last two years living abroad and have been on various exciting travels over the last five years. Since starting this blog, I've travelled in 12 different countries (13 if you count England and Wales as separate countries!), 6 of which I'd never visited before.

Here are a selection of highlights...

Visiting the Atacama Desert in January 2019

Teaching English in Poland in August 2019

Visiting Madrid in November 2019

Visiting Lisbon in November 2019

Visiting Buenos Aires in February 2020

Visiting Uruguay in February 2020

Exploring London with Claudio in October 2020

Visiting Stockholm in October 2020

Exploring Cardiff with Claudio in December 2020

Moving to Chile in February 2022

Visiting Machu Picchu in October 2022

Visiting Rio de Janeiro in December 2022

Visiting the Chilean Lake District and Chiloé in April 2023

Our civil union in May 2023

Living in Malta between May and August 2023

Visiting Sicily in June 2023

I hope that in another 5 years' time, I'll still be writing on this blog and will have plenty more exciting travel adventures between now and then!

Travel Tips: Ten More of My Favourite Beach Destinations

I still have a few more free days before starting my new job, and I don't have much planned, so I want to use the time to write my first Travel Tips blog post in a while!

This one is going to be a sort of sequel to a post I wrote in May 2021 about my 10 favourite beaches. At the time I wrote that post, I was living at home with my parents, the UK was still under some lockdown restrictions, and I was unsure when I would ever be able to move back to Chile (something I'd planned to do in 2020), as there were still very strict restrictions out there. During this extremely challenging period, my blog was a source of escapism for me, where I could reminisce about past travels and dream about future ones. The beach post was definitely one of my favourite ones to write, as it brought back some great memories, from childhood holidays to more recent trips.

At the end of the post, I wrote a list of the beach destinations I planned to visit once I was living in Chile, which were as follows:

- Zapallar (Chile)

- Bahía Inglesa (Chile)

- Iquique (Chile)

- Arica (Chile)

- Cartagena (Colombia)

- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Fortunately, in early 2022, I was finally able to get out to Chile and have my year and a bit living there with my partner, Claudio. During that time, we managed to visit four out of those six destinations - it would have been five, but unfortunately we both came down with Covid just before our planned trip to Bahía Inglesa, so that remains on our list for future travels in South America, as does Cartagena. 

After my time in Chile, I spent three months of this year working in Malta, so had the opportunity to visit even more fabulous beaches.

And now my previous list of favourite beaches is in serious need of updating! So here's a new list of ten of my faves, but made up entirely of beaches I visited in the 18 months between February 2022 and August this year...

Las Cujas, Chile

This is a beach not too far from Santiago that Claudio found out about on TikTok. The video he saw made it seem like a kind of secluded, "secret" place, which turned out to be far from the truth! But although it was very busy when we visited during the height of summer in February 2022, it was still a great experience to visit this picture-perfect beach with sparkling blue water, surrounded by vibrant green vegetation. We actually went there during my first week back in the country, and it felt like the perfect start to a year of amazing travels!

Read more here!

Iquique, Chile

Our first big trip of last year was to the city of Iquique, in the far north of Chile. This was the first beach destination located in the tropics that I ever visited, but it's not exactly a "tropical beach" per se - it's located on the edge of the Atacama Desert and has a dry, desert climate. That's not to say that the beaches there aren't great places to visit though - quite the opposite! The city has several beautiful beaches, which are ideal for surfing - the most famous being Playa Cavancha, a huge stretch of sand dotted with skyscrapers and palm trees, which reminds me of photos I've seen of Miami.

Read more here!

Arica, Chile

Arica is the furthest north city in Chile, right next to the border with Peru. We went there in June 2022 for some winter sun, as the weather there is sunny and nice all year round, which is not the case for the beaches nearer Santiago. The city has a huge beach, Playa Chinchorro, with big waves for surfing, but one of its smaller beaches, Playa El Laucho (pictured above), is probably my favourite beach in the entire country, as it's so picturesque and also has gentle waves which make it perfect for swimming.

Read more here!

Zapallar, Chile

This beach town near Santiago gets crowded in the summer (it's where many upper-class people have their summer houses) but when we went in the middle of winter 2022, it was so tranquil and peaceful. It has various examples of European-style architecture to look at, as well as some interesting rock formations, and is definitely one of the prettiest beaches in central Chile.

Read more here!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It was a dream of mine for many years to visit Rio de Janeiro, so going there with Claudio last December was really an incredible experience. Even though the weather was bad for most of our week there, we still enjoyed swimming and spending time at the city's beaches, of which there are many. Copacabana is a very lively beach and the perfect place to enjoy a caipirinha, but our favourite beach was Ipanema/Leblon. The view from Pedra do Arpoador of the beach and Morro Dois Irmãos is absolutely breathtaking.

Read more here!

Arraial do Cabo, Brazil

Our last day in Brazil was spent on a boat trip around the paradise that is Arraial do Cabo, a few hours away from the city of Rio. On this day, we were lucky to have sunshine at last! During the trip, we visited two beautiful white sand beaches, one on an island and one on the mainland, and we also jumped out of the boat at one particular spot to snorkel around a coral reef, where colourful fish were swimming. This was definitely one of my most special travel memories of all time!

Read more here!

Papudo, Chile

Our trip to Papudo in January was actually another one of my favourite travel memories. This beach town to the north of Zapallar has some stunning beaches (such as the one pictured above) as well as some incredible wildlife to spot. We took a rather extreme speed dinghy trip to a nearby island, where we were lucky enough to see some adorable penguins and sea lions! But most special of all, we saw a beautiful dolphin jumping in and out of the water.

Read more here!

Frutillar, Chile

This beach is somewhere a bit different to the others on the list. For one, it's not by the ocean or sea, but rather by a lake, specifically Lago Llanquihue, one of the largest natural lakes in South America. In addition, it's generally not a beach you'd visit for sunbathing and swimming, as it's located in the south of Chile, which is cold most of the year! But it's absolutely one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to - it has stunning views of the snowy Volcán Osorno across the water and is surrounded by lovely architecture.

Read more here!

Viña del Mar, Chile

Even though I'd visited Viña in both 2018 and 2020, it didn't make it on to my initial list of favourite beaches, for whatever reason. But anyway, it's going on this one! Viña del Mar is one of Chile's biggest and most popular beach destinations, and it's also one of its best. Not only does it have some beautiful beaches, such as Playa El Sol (pictured above), but it also has some fabulous architecture to check out, including several castles and palaces!

Read more here!

Ramla Beach, Gozo, Malta

Of course, I also have to include a beach from my months in Malta on this list. Although the island of Malta is very rocky and doesn't have many sandy beaches, its sister island Gozo has several. I had a great weekend in Gozo, which is a very beautiful and peaceful place, and especially enjoyed visiting Ramla Beach, which has some of the clearest water I've ever swum in.

Read more here!

It has been fun compiling this list of ten more of my favourite beaches! If I had to make an overall list of my favourite beach destinations from this list and my previous list, my top ten would probably be: Rio de Janeiro, Arraial do Cabo, Arica, Papudo, Algarrobo, Slano, Zapallar, Frutillar, Ramla Bay and La Serena. But I'll probably change my mind sooner or later, as I do about most of my Travel Tips lists, haha!

Hopefully, I'll be updating this list again in the future, because I plan to visit plenty of beach destinations within the next few years. Claudio and I want to do as much travelling as possible before having kids, including visiting Southeast Asia, Australia and Mexico. I'm hoping we can do at least one of these trips in 2024, which would be really exciting!

That's all for today, but I'll be blogging again next weekend, if I have the time. See you soon!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Arraial do Cabo

It's taken me a while to write up all my posts about our trip to Brazil - it's been a really busy month - but now I've finally arrived at our last full day! Claudio and I spent this day outside of the city, sailing and snorkelling around paradise beaches.

We had known that we wanted to do a day trip like this during our holiday, but initially it was difficult to decide where to go! Arraial do Cabo, Búzios and Ilha Grande were the options we were debating between, but eventually we decided on Arraial, because not only is it the most convenient one to get to, but also because the photos online look absolutely incredible. We were really hoping that we'd have a day of sunshine, and that the beaches would look just as amazing in real life as they did in pictures. Fortunately, that was exactly what happened!

We booked a full-day tour which included transportation, a boat trip and a buffet lunch, and came to something like 80 pounds for the two of us, which was pretty great value! The minibus came to pick us up at our hotel at around 7am, and once everyone was on board, it was time to make our way over to Arraial, which is about 3 hours to the east of the city of Rio de Janeiro, but which is still located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We made a stop about halfway through the journey at a motorway service station that was very similar to the ones we have in the UK. (It was surprising to me, as in Chile motorway service stations are not a thing, and we just have to stop at petrol stations!)

The minibus was quite cramped and stuffy, and I felt pretty sick by the time we finally arrived. But I was happy to discover that the weather was sunny and hot. At last!

We made our way to the port and were taken to the boat where we would spend the next 4 hours or so. 

I was really excited for the trip, but as soon as we set off, the motion sickness that I already had from the minibus journey got 10 times worse. Other people on the boat were drinking and partying, whereas I was staring at the horizon and trying not to throw up!

After what felt like a long time, we reached our first stop, Praia do Farol (Lighthouse Beach), which is located on an island. Here we had to ride on little motorised dinghies in order to get to the beach, which was quite fun!

We had rented snorkels on the boat, but we didn't see much underwater at this particular stop. That didn't matter though, because the beach was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. The ocean was turquoise and a perfect temperature, and the sand was white. We only had 20 minutes there, but we could have easily spent hours swimming and sunbathing, given the chance!

One of the best things about this stop was that the swim in the ocean completely cleared my head, and I could enjoy the rest of the boat trip afterwards without feeling sick.

Our next stop was Praia do Pontal do Atalaia back on the mainland. Here we had our first snorkelling success, seeing some white, yellow, and stripy black and white fish of various sizes! There's also a grotto here (Gruta do Amor - Grotto of Love), which we swam to. We had 40 minutes at this beach, but they went by in a flash, and again, we felt like we could have spent much longer there! This was really turning out to be the trip of a lifetime!

But it was our third and final stop that turned out to be the most memorable. This time we didn't take a dinghy to a beach; the boat stopped at a spot some distance from Praia do Forno (Oven's Beach) and we could jump straight out into the water, which was about 15 metres deep!

Claudio and I had a truly amazing experience snorkelling here. Even though we didn't see turtles as we'd hoped (Arraial is well known for its turtles), we still saw some incredible wildlife. There were more fish here than there had been at the previous stop, and what made it even better was that there was a beautiful coral reef of many colours, which we explored together. I've always dreamed of visiting Australia and seeing the Great Barrier Reef, and I'd never expected to experience something similar in a completely different part of the world!

We had just 15 minutes at this particular stop, but those 15 minutes were definitely one of those times that we'll remember forever.

Then the time came to head back to port.

After a late buffet lunch in the town centre, we headed back to Rio, arriving at around 8 or 9pm. It had been an amazing day, but we didn't want it to end yet!

So after dumping our stuff in the hotel, we went to Copacabana Beach for one last paddle in the sea and a caipirinha. While we were there, we had the fun surprise of seeing the "Holidays are coming" Coca-Cola truck pass by, driven by Father Christmas of course! (I hadn't known it really existed outside of the adverts!) It was a nice end to a really special trip.

Both of us were a little sad to leave Rio (especially because there was finally sun in the city on the day we left!), but I'm sure we'll be back at some point in the future. I think it would be really nice to spend at least a month there (preferably a dryer month than December!), visit places like Ilha Grande, Búzios, Paraty and Petrópolis, and try to get fluent in Portuguese. That would be a dream!

Since we got back, a lot has gone on - Christmas, New Year, and even some more travelling! But first I want to write my round-up of the year, which has become a tradition for me on this blog. So that will be coming next, followed by a couple of posts about our recent travels within Chile. 

See you soon!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day One here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Two here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Three here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Four here!