Greetings! I just want to share what I have learned while I was in Chile.
Americans value individualism much more than Chileans. Americans usually move out of their family home when they were 18, sometimes they move farther from their home. Chileans are more focused on families and groups. This is especially true when someone moves out of the family home to get married.
I also notice that Chileans are friendlier, especially towards strangers. Sometimes they help others when needed, even if they are strangers. Physical contact is a sign of friendliness and public displays of affection are accepted here.
Chilean people like to have face-to-face contact and give big importance to relationships and family issues. Even though Chilean culture is very family-focused, they usually have 1 or 2 children.
Chileans value traditions and customs, they have deep roots of Catholicism that influence their culture.
In Chile, it is very common to greet each other with a kiss.
Chileans are not punctual, they usually arrive late.
Meals are different in Chile. It’s not so much about the Chilean food itself. It’s more that the time food is eaten is drastically different. In Chile, it’s not popular to eat a full dinner like it is in the States. Lunch is the main meal of the day and is typically consumed around 2 p.m. Here, it’s more customary to eat a large lunch followed by a small snack called once at night. Avocado is popular here, served with almost every meal.
I don’t see a lot of air conditioning in Valparaiso. Valparaiso has nice cool weather during December-January which is like their summertime. July is pretty cold when we were there for a week.
In Valparaiso, it’s common to see people sell their personal things on the streets. There are some vendors sell brand new things, usually pretty low costs. I see a lot of fruits and vegetables sell on the streets.
Landscape is very beautiful in Chile. A lot of mountains!
I would definitely recommend Chile if you feel an urge to go there for missions.
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