It seems that I have had almost the same conversation with almost
everyone I have met so far in Chile. It starts with introductions, where
are you from, and once he/she hears United States, “awwww New York,
Washington DC, Los Angeles.” …And then I disappoint all of them when I
say that I have never been to any of these places. I don’t think it is
uncommon among my country to not be familiar with the touristic cities.
Of course, I would like to see all of these cities, but they aren’t very
high on my list.
Well as I told people about my lack of visiting American touristic
places, Chileans were the exact same on their responses of their own
country. The two most touristic places that I think of when I think of
Chile are the Atacama Dessert area and Torres del Paine. Well, no one in
my host family or work has been to any of these places. They all said
they wanted to and have plans in the future but it isn’t the first place
they want to go.
I think it is a way of thinking, but when someone is asked a place they want to go and see, the majority of people think about foreign places. The point that I am trying to make is people have similar perspectives but expect foreigners to have a different mindset. This may seem like a very small thing, but I found it interesting.
Well, I went to one of those two touristic must do’s in Chile this past weekend, Torres del Paine and was blown away. I have never seen mountains like it, the way they are so defined and contrasted from the landscape and the teal blue lakes in front of it. A wonderful thing about Chile is that it is so tall (distance from top to bottom is more than The US is from east to west). Because of this, you get different climate areas with different environments. From desserts, to beach, to plains, to forests, to mountains, to glaciers, if you are an outdoors enthusiast, Chile’s landscape has so much to offer. I have enjoyed it so far!
I think it is a way of thinking, but when someone is asked a place they want to go and see, the majority of people think about foreign places. The point that I am trying to make is people have similar perspectives but expect foreigners to have a different mindset. This may seem like a very small thing, but I found it interesting.
Well, I went to one of those two touristic must do’s in Chile this past weekend, Torres del Paine and was blown away. I have never seen mountains like it, the way they are so defined and contrasted from the landscape and the teal blue lakes in front of it. A wonderful thing about Chile is that it is so tall (distance from top to bottom is more than The US is from east to west). Because of this, you get different climate areas with different environments. From desserts, to beach, to plains, to forests, to mountains, to glaciers, if you are an outdoors enthusiast, Chile’s landscape has so much to offer. I have enjoyed it so far!
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Read more from Luke at https://lukeinchilesite.wordpress.com/
To find more internship and study abroad opportunities
within Walton College, visit http://walton.uark.edu/global/index.php
