A guy I met traveling, Pinaki, begins a post on his own
travel blog with: "I’m sorry Chile. I really am." He goes on to
discuss all the misconceptions he had with Chile before arriving. The
bottom line for Pinaki is that Chile exceeded expectations.
I had high expectations for Chile, and they were met, so
while the way my thinking evolved was different, we ended up at the
same place: we both love Chile.
Some myths about Chile:
It’s boring. This is most common. I’m not sure what this means. It’s true that Chile is socially conservative. Divorce only recently became legal. The Catholic church has a strong grip on everything. Okay. Fine. It’s also less cosmopolitan than Argentina. Agreed. But there’s still plenty of "action" in Chile, plenty of culture and excitement and dancing and craziness. And an entrepreneurial people who work hard and play by the rules.
It’s expensive. After Brazil, Chile is the most expensive country in South America. This is true. Still, I had several USD $5 meals, and a metro ticket will cost less than USD $1. So it still felt much cheaper than the States. And of course with the expensiveness you get the safety and stability that a Peru or Bolivia or Ecuador can never provide.
The people
aren’t beautiful. Whatever. It’s true the women don’t blow your socks off and the
men…well, let’s just say that mullets must be an acquired taste. But there are enough pretty people. And who do you think YOU are anyway, a model?
You can’t understand their Spanish. They talk quickly. They eat the ends of words. They have lingo. But even me in all my Spanish amateurishness could get around alright, and I’m sure in a month or two’s time I could understand and speak Chilean Spanish well enough.
Ben Casnocha is the author of the bestselling business book
‘My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley”, which the New York Times called “precocious, informative, and entertaining.” He founded Comcate, Inc., an e-government software company, at age 14. Ben’s work has been featured in dozens of international media including CNN, USA Today, CNBC, and ABC’s 20/20. At a conference in Paris PoliticsOnline named him one of the “25 most influential people in the world of internet and politics”.
BusinessWeek recently named Ben “one of America’s top young entrepreneurs.” He writes prolifically on his blog which the San Jose Business Journal called one of the “Top 25 Blogs in Silicon Valley.” He’s also a commentator for public radio’s “Marketplace.”
In addition, Ben has given speeches at dozens of universities and organizations around the world. He has traveled to more than 25 countries and he also co-runs the Silicon Valley Junto, an intellectual discussion society for business and technology executives. In his free time Ben enjoys playing chess, ping-pong, reading, and writing.
