Chile, the long thin country on the west coast of South America is by many considered as the best place for nature travel in South America. About a third of the country’s inhabitants live in the modern capital city Santiago. The city’s European heritage is evident in their parks and architecture.

Santiago is the centre of commerce in Chile and most people’s lives are similar to those of people living in other big world cities. Santiago has a brilliant transport system with a choice between buses and the subway. Transport is relatively cheap, but also crowded. Trains and buses are, however, very punctual and clean. You will easily find a typical fast food outlet such as Pizza Hut or Burger King, but also some more typical Chilean eateries. Most people speak Spanish and they are friendly and helpful by nature. They enjoy socialising, music, art and the theatre.

People in the rural areas might be poorer, but more and more women are taking jobs to ensure better living standards for their families. They are specifically concerned about education for their children. Unfortunately many women still have to do their domestic tasks once they get home and in many families the men don’t assist with this. People in the rural areas don’t always have the luxury of public transport and some just cannot afford it. They would walk or ride bicycles to work. They also cook and bake most of their food themselves and eating out is a luxury compared to cities where people would easily eat out one or more nights a week. 

Patagonia, in the South of the country has very severe weather changes. People living here can easily be isolated with only a few other people living in the same area and not necessarily very close to them. Here people do not always have electricity and water in their houses and the weather can be very cold and very wet. There are no shops close by and they need to provide for themselves. While most people in the cities are lost without their mobile phones, many of the remote rural areas in Chile still don’t have excess to mobile networks and Internet. The Chilean government, Ericsson and Entel plan to have at least three million people in the remote areas connected by the end of 2011. This will have a big impact on the economy and will help those in rural areas to improve their living standards by having access to education and jobs online.

It is clear that the daily lives of the Chileans living in the rural areas are not always as smooth and easy as their counterparts living in the urban areas. That doesn’t mean all people living in the urban areas have an easy life as unemployment is a problem all Chileans have to deal with. They do, however have more resources available to them, but hopefully the initiative of the government and other telecommunications companies will be able to bring some of these resources to the rural areas,