Posts under ‘Chile’

Below are seven quirky facts about countries in Central and South America. (Two of the entries were suggested by a Latin America Fanatico via Twitter). Venezuela adopted its own time zone in 2007. The time the country adheres to is 4.5 hours behind GMT. Before the change in 2007, Venezuela was 4 hours behind GMT. [...]

The area surrounding Peru’s main attraction, Machu Picchu, was hit hard by floods last month and won’t be available to tourists until April. Even before the flood, I’ve heard some people say that Machu Picchu was “over-hyped.” At the same time, Peru’s neighbor–Chile–is recovering from massive earthquakes. Both countries are most likely experiencing steep declines [...]

Soon after I began focusing on all things Latin America a few years ago, I had a contractor working on my house whose college-aged daughter was living in Santiago, Chile. “Why would she pick Santiago over Buenos Aires, or some of the other places in Latin America that keep popping up in the Washington Post’s [...]

Back in September, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled “you lie” during President Obama’s State of the Union Address. The incident left many people–especially Democrats–wondering if such behavior was another sign of the lack of basic civility in public discourse. While the outburst was somewhat disturbing, legislators in the U.S. still seem pretty mellow [...]

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a blog carnival in which I shared my three best travel secrets. Meanwhile, a similar joint effort was going on among a group of expat bloggers in Chile. But instead of sharing travel secrets, they each listed “Ways to Alienate a Chilean.” Margaret Snook, who writes the [...]

Mexicans favor climate change policies more than the citizens of any other country in the world, according to the results of a poll recently released by World Public Opinion.org. Americans were the least receptive to having their government focus more on climate change. The organization asked nearly 20,000 people in the 19 most populous countries [...]

The Economist magazine released its latest edition of the Big Mac Index last week. The index tracks the price of McDonald’s Big Mac in the 120 countries where the burgers are sold. It converts to U.S. dollars the purchase price in each country. The Big Mac costs $3.57 in the U.S., according to the index. [...]

By Eileen Smith, the woman behind the travel blog Bear Shaped Sphere. Eileen’s blog was nominated for a 2009 Lonely Planet travel blog award. I came home after a trip to the south of Chile to find my questionably-located Santiago apartment pretty much the same. Dusty, small, and now, with a neighbor’s door police-taped shut, [...]

Almost 6 million U.S. tourists visited Mexico last year, according to statistics released this month by the International Trade Administration Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.  More than the number of U.S. visitors to Central and South America combined. The number of people who flew from the U.S.  to destinations in Central America, South America, [...]

In this guest post, Sara, the woman behind the La Gringuita Diaries blog tells the story of how she fell in love with Santiago, Chile. Follow Sara on Twitter at @sarainsantiago. “So, I did it! I’m going!,” my friend announced. “Going where?,” I asked. “Why, Chile of course!,” she said. “I sent in the application [...]