Currency is definitely something that one needs to be aware of. It can be tricky to handle in a foreign country. The Chilean currency is the Peso.
I have a feeling that if I ever moved to Chile, I would have to convert the pesos into dollars almost every time I bought something. If you are like that too, then here you can see the equvalent of US dollar bills to Chilean Pesos.
$1.00 = $546.300
$5.00 = $2,731.50
$10.00 = $5,463.00
$20.00 = $10,926.00
$50.00 = $27,324.92
$100.00 ~ $54,649.97
If you need to convert a different amount than what you see here, check out the XE.com Currency Converter.
You arrive at the airport in Santiago, and are ready to begin your Chilean experience, but you need transportation to tour all of the exciting places you plan to visit. Well, you will be happy to know that there are several options.
The Alamo website show two 7 passenger vehicles that are about $110, and $117 per day.* They also show 8 and 12 passenger vans.
Rosselot supplies a 7 passenger van for about $109 a day.*
Econorent offers a 7 passenger van, costing approximately $123 a day.*
That seems to be the general price for renting a 7 passenger vehicle.
*Prices may vary.
Public Transportation There are also taxis, mini-buses, and buses at the Santiago airport. The website did not mention anything about trains, however.
Tur Transfer taxis will take passengers to central Santiago for about $24. You can find a list of other places they will take you, and the price, by going to their website.
Minibuses work a little differently. At least for Transvip. You can rent the entire bus for yourself, or you can be lumped in with other travelers. There is a maximum of 7 seats in a minibus. The price varies, depending on where you want to go. A map of Santiago, with prices (in Chilean Pesos), can be found HERE.
The final option for public transportation are buses. It appears that riding a bus will cost anywhere from $2.50 to $3 one way.
That about covers transportation from the Santiago airport.
According to Learn 4 Good, two of the best universities in Chile are Universid de Vina Del Mar, International Office of the Universidad Catolica. I was unable to find much more.
Universid de Vina Del Mar
Located in the city Vina del Mar, Agua Santa, and San Felipe.
It looks like it teaches a English to Spanish course, but I was unsure. To see more classes it offers click HERE.
International Office of the Universidad Catolica Located in Northern Chile, this university says it teaches "Intensive Spanish Programs." To find out more click HERE.
I also saw several programs that worked out of different universities, but I did not find much on the subject.
Water, gas, electricity, and telephone services are important to have in today's world. In moving to Chile, what are these common utilites going to cost compared to the United States?
Santiago Utilites the Cheapest of Allis a very helpful and informative article that tells why Santiago utilities are cheaper than other places in Chile. It also gives some approximate prices as to how much it will cost. It says that the monthly average for water, gas, electricity, and telephone services is $73, 065 Pesos in Santiago. That is approx. $150 US Dollars. This is information as of 2007.
The very informative Chile Forum was another great place to look for this topic. One person shares their budget for a month in the city of Pingueral. They say that they pay $42 for water. I believe this is in U.S. Dollars. There are some other costs that you may be interested in such as cable, heat, gasoline, and sewage. All of this is for an apartment in a town.
Another great website for some quick information on Santiago can be found HERE. It shares that Santiago can be compared to the city of Dallas in the U.S., as well as info on Chile's climate, government, tax system, medical care, real estate, shopping, and cost of living.
One of the concerns of traveling to Central or South America is the water. Is it safe for foriegners to drink, or should we just stick to bottled and filtered water?
Most of the websites that I came across on the subject of the water in Chile seems positive about the water. The Chile Information Project (or CHIP) says that it may take a little to get used to the water, but that it is generally safe. Of course, normal traveling precautions should always be taken.
The Chile Forum is a very informative site about all things Chile, and you may find the Water Quality thread to be helpful. I was glad to read the thoughts of experienced people (i.e. people who have been to Chile) and what they thought on the subject. Their feedback was also quite positive.
However, I am a major worrier, so I might stick with bottled water till I was certain!
For many, organic food is a priority, so what are your options when you move to Chile? Here is what I found on the subject.
The best website I found is Tierra Viva. The website is translated from Spanish, by Google. Very nice. You can also view the website in it's original language HERE. I am not sure how they work; if they have stores, or if they deliver, and if so, where. They seem to have a fairly wide range of products, though. Here is a sample, along with it's price in Chilean Pesos, and it's price in US dollars, respectively. You can see the rest of their products and their price in pesos, at the website.
Corn - $250 - $0.43 per unit
Apples - $850 - $1.47 per kg
Eggs - $230 - $0.40 per unit (not sure if that means per egg, or per carton!)
Ripe Cheese - $6,750 - $11.66 per kg
Tofu - $6,750 - $11.66 per kg
Dried Basil - $580 - $1.00 aprox. 20 gr
Dried Oregano - $580 - $1.00 aprox. 20 gr
Fresh Basil - $450 - $0.78 per bunch?
Fresh Cilantro - $450 - $0.78 per bunch?
That is just a sample. They also sell many other products.
It seems, too, that Chile is moving toward organic agriculture. This article, that was reprinted in the Santiago Times in 2001, indicates that Chile planned on converting the entire XI region's (I think this Wikipedia article is about the same region) agriculture to organic. The tone of the article is quite positive about all of the possibilities that could arise from the change. The article is about eight years old, however, so many things may have happened since then.
There doesn't apear to be much else in the way of organic food in Chile, at least online. More than likely, food bought from a small farmer would probably be organic, since they would not have the means to buy chemicals. Availability would seem about the same as the United States. Prices might be a little lower, or about the same. All in all, at least from this side of the equator, it seems like good news for organic lovers.
Eating is something you have to do even in Chile, and going to the nearest restaurant for three meals a day gets just a little expensive. Here is some info on some of Chile's leading grocery stores.
Santa Isabel seems to be the leading store in Chile. With 16% share of total supermarket sales. Even though it's one of the top stores though, you could only find 5 stores in the big city of Santiago in the year 2004.
Another leading chain is Distribuidora de Servicios. This store targets many middle to upper class customers by offering high quality, domestic, and imported goods.
Some other popular places to shop include Unimarc-Multiahorro, Jumbo, and The Las Condes.
Here is a list of some common foods and what they cost in Amercian dollars. Keep in mind that $1.00 American dollar equals roughly 575 Chilean pesos. I'm hoping this is accurate, it's pretty much all I could find.
1 egg: 13 cents
Stick of Margarine: 43 cents
Package of Noodles: 68 cents
1 Liter of Milk: $1.03
1 Kilo of Bread: $1.29
1.5 liters of Soda: $1.29
2 kilos of Potatoes: $1.38
50 grams of Coffee: $1.50
5 hamburger patties: $1.72
1 kilo of ground beef: $2.58
1 liter of cooking oil: $1.46
Also here are just a few prices for some soaps.
Bar of soap: $1.38
450 ml. Shampoo: $2.58
750 grams of laundry detergent: $2.93
There are some of you out there who just can't do without a cup of coffee now and then, so what are you going to do when you go to Chile? Here are some interesting facts you may want to know.
You can find a chart of the Regions of Chile on Wikipedia. Using this information, and the Starbucks Store Locator, I entered the names of the capitals of the regions. The only city that showed that it had any Starbucks stores, was Santiago, which has 30.
There is another coffee company that serves Chile, called Café Origenes. I can't tell if they have stores, although it didn't look like it.
I found a tip on ordering your coffee in a review on the Santa Cruz Plaza Hotel. The reviewer says that you should ask for "café-café" or "espresso" unless you want instant coffee.
If you Google "Coffee Shops in Chile", you come up some startling results. The first few imply that coffee shops are rather undesirable places to go, as the waitresses are scantily clad.
