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A typical Chilean Family

By Daniel Lins - 2009-01-21

This week, we stayed with a Chilean couple in Puerto Natales. It has been a great opportunity to be a part of normal Chilean life.

Here is a snapshot of a typical family life.

As a Carabinero of Chile, Samuel has served here for 7 years. Los Carabineros are the police force of Chile, respected across South America as the most efficient and honest police on the continent. After 23 years, he’s moved up the ranks, and in addition to his other duties, is in charge of all the firearms in the region – both civilian and police.

Every weekday, he gets up early and goes to work a few blocks away. It is common around Patagonia for families to work and live in the same building. For example, the grocery store across the street is also a house, and the mechanic up the road lives in the back of his garage. Around lunchtime, he comes home for 2 hours for lunch and family time, then returns to the streets in his Green and White truck de los Carabineros! This lunch time is common throughout Chile, and the only businesses open are the restaurants and super-chain stores. The Carabineros take lunch in shifts. For more about the police force of Chile, stay tuned for an upcoming video interview.

Around 8pm, he returns home and we have dinner together. Usually, the family goes to bed around midnight or 1am. It doesn’t get dark around here until 11pm in the summer. In the winter, sunset is around 4pm.

While we’ve been here, we tend to finally go to bed around 4am, because we talk late into the night. Samuel is a kindred spirit, and loves to travel and hear about travels of others. He plans to grow a big beard as soon as he retires! He’s made the round trip to northern Chile three times by vehicle (a 10 day trip, driving in shifts), and knows the roads around Patagonia better than most truck drivers. He’s helped us pick our route for the next few weeks.

As a full-time Mom, Leticia took care of us this entire week, making some wonderful local dishes and showing us all the love we’ve been missing from our own moms. We’ve eaten freshly-caught Salmon, casuela (traditional local soup), delicious casseroles, and so much more. We typically sit around after dinner for an hour or more, and talk over coffee or hot chocolate. Mealtimes in Chile are extended so much, as there is such a strong emphasis on family.

Their children are on vacation for 2 months in Santiago, with their grandparents. This is also a typical practice in Chile- the kids visit relatives in another city for the summer. Often, other kids are sent in return. This week, we met their nephew Julio, whose parents live in Santiago. Yesterday, Julio left to start his new job as a firefighter in the national park!

Their son, Samuel, 18, graduated from colegio medio (high school) this summer, and is not sure where he’s going next. He eats, sleeps, and breathes Futbol (soccer), and loves to hang out with friends. His dreams are to visit Spain and to work with his favorite team, Colo-Colo!

Fernanda is 14, and is enamored with the Unites States. She was so excited to hear that we are from the US, but disappointed that we couldn’t tell her anything about Los Angelos. She has pictures of the pop bands in the US, and probably knows more about American pop-culture than we do.