Imagine that one day you woke up and decided, ‘this boring place is no longer for me.’ Where would you then decide to call ‘home’?  If you are of the Latin American persuasion, Santiago, Chile is as good as any other bustling metropolis in South America to call home, if not better. Santiago can boast a four-season, temperate climate and good year-round weather. The summers are bearably hot and dry, while its winters are crisp and not too cold with the occasional bout of rain. The crime rate is one of the lowest in all of South America, and the standard of living is moderate to high.

Santiago is the capital of Chile, and as such, it is the industrial and economic hub of the country. Therefore, finding a job in Santiago is perhaps easier than other Chilean cities, provided that you have a reasonable command of Spanish.

What if your tongue has no purchase on this most widely-spoken romance language? How might you make a living in Santiago in that case? Well, perhaps the easiest solution would be to take a certification course to teach English and to have a go as a teacher. You will find that there is no shortage of demand for teachers of English. From what’s been observed living here, Santiago residents are eager to learn English, and there is a strong push from parents to have their children gain command of the language. You might not be too surprised to learn that a majority of the movies on the big screen here are in English with subtitles, and music too, has a strong American influence. Thus, for Chileans, learning English not only is of economic benefit but also has social implications as well.

While you are teaching English, you will no doubt pick up both the idiosyncrasies and the lingo of Chilean Spanish. You should be warned, however, that some people say that picking up Spanish in Chile is harder than in most other Latin American countries, as Chileans have a very relaxed way with the language. While it is true that they often resort to short-cuts with their speech, most people arriving in Chile with an intermediate level of Spanish, do not feel that understanding Chileans is as difficult as they say.

What about the people? Are they nice? The answer is a resounding yes! Besides being quite patient with non-fluent Spanish speakers like some, the people of Santiago are gregarious and know how to have a good time.

In the city center and the neighboring providences there are hundreds of pubs and cafes. Their café cortados, known as lattes in other countries, are marvelous. The native cuisine of Chile can be found in most every restaurant in Santiago. Dishes such as Cherquican, which is a meat and vegetable stew with a fried egg on top, and pastel de choclo, which is a semi-sweet, baked, deep-dish made of maize, chicken and beef, are reflective of the food found in the typical Chilean home. 

If you are interested in international cuisine, there is plenty of that to be found in Santiago as well, not to mention that there is a take-away Chinese restaurant on the corner of every other block.

If you like variety, living in Santiago is the place to be. There are the Andes Mountains in the backyard and the beach within a relatively short driving distance. The city is just one and a half hours away from over a handful of interesting cities skirting the Pacific Ocean such as Valparaiso, Osorno, and Vina del Mar.

Within the city, one can find all the attractions that you would expect from a major metropolitan area including museums, art galleries, bohemian districts, zoo, as well as two lovely protruding hills, Cerro San Cristobal and Cerro Santa Lucia that await exploration by tourists and ‘extranjeros’ calling Santiago their new home.