Cosas diferentes

Here are some things they do differently here in Chile - or at least that's how it looks after a week. Hopefully it wasn't an atypical week...

• Chileans drive on the right, walk up steps on the right-hand side, pass each other by on the right. The last two are taking a bit of getting used to.
• Speaking of driving, here you drive fast and cut in or out as soon as the most minimal space opens up. Use of indicators is optional. Theoretically, the chance of collison seems far greater than in Australia, but Chilean drivers are accustomed to this style and must be way more skilled than their Aussie counterparts.
• People who don't have to clock into a office at an early hour eat breakfast at 10 or 11, lunch (the main meal of the day) at 2 or 3, and tea at 8 or 9. Kids go to bed about 10 and adults about 11 or 12. I like it!
• Breakfast and tea are similar - bread rolls, jam, chilli sauce/salsa, cheese... You tear a bit off the roll then put on it whatever you want. Proper Chileans drink maté. I'm not proper yet. Lunch is a cooked meal - maybe a chicken dish with a side of salad.
• Chileans wash their dishes in running water after squirting detergent onto a sponge, like a cheaper version of those things you can buy in Australia where you put detergent into the handle... Ah, you'll either know it or you won't.
• Today I bravely went to a big shopping mall not too far from where I live. One of the things I was looking for was Harry Potter in Spanish - but there weren't any bookshops. I think Chileans prefer doing handicrafts, playing music or doing other things where they can be together.
• Post offices are also something of a rarity because the internet is everywhere here, even in the poorest areas.
• In the train, there are millions of adds for universities as well as for dentists and various other health practitioners.

And then lots of things are the same or pretty close, but they're boring to talk about!