Tell me some fun facts about the country Chile?

Question

i would like some fun strange abnormal facts about the country Chile, also, please provide the sources you got the facts from

Example: In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.

thank you all!

Answer 1

Let me see what fun facts I can think of . . . . .

In springtime it's a tradition for some Universities and schools to organize raft races on the poluted Mapocho river. Nowadays there's a proyect to turn the river into a tourist atraction and travel on boats like in Paris or Amsterdam.

On New Year's eve, families gather at home until midnight, after a wonderful dinner with "Roman Punch" (ponche a la romana is Champagne poored over pineapple ice cream), after that, the teenagers run off to their parties. This doesn't happen in other countries like Peru where teenagers go to a 4 day camping at the beach or go to fancy parties, but never stay home with the family.

In Chile everyone greets you on your saint's day (FELIZ DIA!). According to the christian calendar, each day celebrates at least a name, for example I'm Guillermo and st. Guillermo's day is the 26th of June so all my parents would call me that day. Since many christians picked your name according to the day you were born, your birthday was also your saint's day, that is why in many Latin American countries, instead of saying your "Cumpleaños" (birthday) they say your "Santo", like here in Peru everybody says FELIZ SANTO on your birthday..

In the Chiloe Island in the southern part of Chile, there's a traditional feast called CURANTO. It's a huge underground BBQ where you first heat a bed of rocks with fire, then you place leafs over the Hot Rocks, then Pork, Chicken, Sausage, all kinds of shellfish, Potatoes, other vegetables, etc. Then cover with leafs again, wet cloth to prevent drying and finaly, plenty earth to seal everything. The argentinian version  has more beef, lamb and pumpkins stuffed with cheese, but the true version that came from the polinesia to america is done in Chiloe. Curanto is a mapuche name for Hot Rock.

http://www.patagonia-argentina.com/e/con...

This is a good one:

In Chile, Law enforcement and the IRS (SUNAT) are a big deal, but the chileans are very solidary in terms to support on bending some laws.

I once drove from Lima to Iquique with my uncle who has a beach house in Yape (60km south of Iquique). His BMW reaches 85 mph without even noticing, so  once we were in chilean territory cars that were driving the opposite way would sometimes flash their headlights repeatedly, so my uncle slowed down to the speed limit (around 62 mph) and I asked him why? So he answered " they are warning us that soon we are going to bump into a police patrol!" and after passing the Carabineros at 100 kph we would warn everybody else of the same.

In Downtown Valparaiso, a cousin of mine once took me for lunch to a popular restaurant (not fancy but cheap), the place was packed and I notice that everybody was drinking softdrinks and I said: "lets go somewhere else because I want some wine with my meal". My cousin laughed and told me those were not soft drinks, here they serve you wine on a bottle of BILZ y PAP soft drink because they don't have a permit to sell wine!

Answer 2

first of all, persons before me were lying

We actually have not 4, but 3 moments to eat, and nobody say anything in my "santo"

I can think in one thing: the biggest fake tsunami in the world

I remember one more thing: the southest city in the world: Puerto Williams; well, strictly "fun" is the first.

Answer 3

Hi, i'm chilean and i can say you some facts about Chile.

For example;

(This is not fun) In 1960 Chile had the earthquake (accompanied by two tsunamis) stronger than humanity remember, with 9.8 degrees on the Richter scale. The epicenter was in Valdivia, in southern Chile.

The chilean people has a meal called 'Once' before de dinner (but many families don't have dinner, only the 'Once'). This meal is like the Tea Time but with bread, eggs, cheese, jam, tomatoes, cakes......and too much food.

Punctuality is not our virtue.

When you Chilean appointment at a given time, will tell you for example 'como a las 8' (as early as 8) meaning that he will arrive after the 8, ....may take even more than an hour!.

It's the same for a party, you should never get to the time...you will be alone with the homeowner. You must arrive 1 or 2 hours late.

Answer 4

Chileans eat four meals a day.  Breakfast is served depending on how early one wakes up, lunch is served between 1 to 3pm, afternoon tea is served between 5 to 7pm, and dinner served starting 9pm till about midnight.

Easter and Christmas holidays are the considered to be the most important holidays in the country. Most holidays in Chile are religious in nature reflecting the fact that religion is taken very seriously by Chileans who are predominantly Roman Catholic.

Chileans are fond of their slang so that a thesaurus might do you no good with the direct translation. For example if someone greets you with a “¡Chao pescado!” don’t go looking for a fish since the person is simply saying goodbye or see you later. Even Spanish speaking foreigners might still have a hard time with the language barrier in Chile due the noted difference in pronunciation of some consonants as well as the frequent dropping of final syllables and “s” sounds. Not to mention the rather frequent use of slang mentioned above.

In Chile a ring on the right means engaged and a ring on the left hand means married.

Family is very important in the Chilean culture so much so that when family and business is intertwined (which it more often than not is) then nepotism is almost a given and is even seen by most as a positive thing.

Class structure in Chile is determined by ones financial status with most of the wealthy families nowadays being the same old land owning families of the older Chile. The middle class has recently developed and now makes up the bulk of the Chilean population.

Social ranking is determined by ones class, which is why appearances (in dress and manner) are very important in Chile so as to present one’s self in the best way possible and so look like you belong to in a better class or at least of your own class. This is of course true not only in Chile.

Chileans are very relaxed and affectionate people towards close friends and family but can be quite formal and uncomfortable with mere acquaintances.