Chile is 4,300 kilometers long and only approximately 175 kilometers wide. It is snuggled between the tall snow-covered mountain peaks of the Andes and 6435 kilometers of Pacific coastline. To the North is Peru and a desert climate and to the South is the Drake Passage, the body of water that separates Chile from Antarctica.
It is the most stable and prosperous nation in South America. In fact, Santiago, the capital, did not appear to be any different than most European cities. The great infrastructure made me think several times that I was actually in Europe. The subway system was very well organized and clean, which made me wish that the New York City subway system would be the same.
The people reminded me of Europe as well. They were very friendly and quite educated. The media surprised me as well, as they treated me like a distant brother coming from Europe. It made me feel extremely privileged to be interviewed by the oldest and most respected newspaper in the country, “El Mercurio”, founded all the way back in 1827. A second newspaper gave me an entire page worth of news, just for our country Kosovo’s independence! It quickly became apparent that the people of Chile were familiar with Kosova’s situation and could not understand why their government had not recognized our independence yet. Though the Ministry of Foreign Relations was much stricter here than previous countries as far as availability and scheduling, I did get a confirmation that they were following Kosova’s political position in the world very closely.
Despite somewhat high prices, I enjoyed my short time here and it is definitely a place that I could be comfortable living in.
