My opinions on Latin American culture so far

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There are more things that concern me about Chile and its culture than intrigue me. I think I am more concered and ask myself more questions about their culture than they do about their own culture. For me it’s worrying when people only talk about the good aspects of their cultures, see other Latin American cultures as a threat and consider them to be inferior. From every Chilean I’ve met so far I’ve sensed that.

They seem introverted and not very expressive. I’ve stayed in this hostel a week but I haven’t got to know any of the staff any better. We talk about the weather as the Brits do with strangers. After 1 week in Argentina I had got to know people’s individual political views, their feelings about the Falklands without even asking. Politics were sung and danced about in the street literally. I’d also got to know people’s professions quickly, their family life and why exactly they were in Argentina. So long as an Argentinian could come up with any of the following topics – food, politics, current affairs, theatre, poetry, travelling, languages, the environment, horses, art, history, cinema and speak in English, Spanish or French I was confident that I could engage him or her in at least one hour of conversation, but here in Chile I haven’t really had the opportunity to have any kind of meaningful conversation with any Chilean since that scenic bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago where two kind Chilean boys helped me find my hostel.

This last week I’m really settling into Latin America and I could say I’ve peeled off the outer, fancy layers of two countries of the Latin American onion and just now I’m getting to the raw bulb of it. I’m seeing some things that would seem ugly to European eyes. It seems Latin American culture is far more forgiving of violence and inequality than European culture is in general.

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