Learn Spanish in Chile

Chile, the pacific strip
A window onto the Pacific. A long strip of ocean and mountains, where you can decide, for example, to visit the country only via the houses of the poet, Pablo Neruda, dispersed throughout Chile. Or, if the visit is long enough, you can take a trip to the excrescence in the middle of the sea that is Easter Island, a salty curiosity that tells of the distinctly maritime history of the country. In a forgotten Indian dialect, the word Chile means “there where the earth ends”. A good summary for an earthly extreme with a tenacious charm. From north to south. There is no other way to travel in this corridor-country. From the most arid desert on the planet, to the rocky rooftops where the Condor sits, a bird with a mythical aura. You can get there by bus… on precipitous mountain roads. You can cross the cities, like Valparaiso, the biggest port of the region. Santiago de Chile, the capital that, strangely distant from the coast, is inevitably a stop of choice. With an architecture where the colonial churches compete, literally side-by-side, with the glass-eyed skyscrapers. The wine-bars too, that you can visit to taste the local produce, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Syrah. Winemaking in Chile has made so much progress in the last 15 years or so that the appealing reds rival their European competitors. Ploughing through this territory at the end of the earth, where mining machines hunting for rich veins of copper meet with astronomical observatories, you get the impression that you are in a sumptuous no-man’s land. A feeling that is quickly contradicted by the Chilean people, amongst the most welcoming in the region, who receive the traveller as they once received the news-bearer: with care and generosity. But the geological resources and the warm hospitality are not the only riches of the country. With one of the largest fishing industries in the world, Chile overflows with lobsters, anchovies, hake and seafood. Gold from the aquatic depths that further encourages the Chilean odyssey.