Life In Chile

Hi.

My name is Ray Harbaugh. I started this web site, www.greatchiletravel.com, to share something of our life in Chile and what our family experienced during the 14 years that we lived in Chile. We are doing this because we want to encourage you to travel to Chile. You won't be disappointed. We lived there, and we truly enjoyed it. We love the Chilean people. Hopefully, someday, we will be able to return.

Here is a picture of my family.

Originally, we were going to focus on travel to Santiago, Chile. We later decided to cover the entire country, and that has been a challenge, about as challenging as Chile's crazy geography. We are also trying to avoid the urge to be an online encyclopedia for all things Chile, and that has slowed us down at times.

GreatChileTravel is also a small family business. Although it has been challenging to develop our web site, we haven't given up. I asked a few members of our family business team to share their experiences about living in Chile.

Our daughter Katie was recently interviewed about her experience of Chile culture. Here is what she says:

Harbaugh trades life in Chilean capital for rural life in South Mississippi
By: DeAnna Edwards, Staff Writer, Jones County Junior College Paper, Radionian

Most people say that Chile is an unforgettable country of great beauty, stunning nature and exciting eperiences.

Katherine (Katie) Harbaugh, a pre-nursing student at Jones, got to experience this unique environment first-hand while living in Chile for nearly 14 years. Harbaugh was born in Athens, OH. Her parents later felt a call to be missionaries, so they gladly accepted and moved to Texas to attend language school and learn Spanish.

Here is what my youngest daughter, born in Valdivia, Chile, Elizabeth, has to say about life in Chile. These are her words, straight from the heart. Really! :-)

What I most like about Chile?

I really enjoy everything about Chile. Especially how the weather is set up. Christmas there is during summer which makes it very different. We open gifts at midnight instead of waiting till the next morning, also usually after opening gifts I go outside with my friends and play.

The people there are very nice.

I also really like summer there because there are many places to go to for vacation.

My favorite place is Lican Ray. It's located more south of Chile. There is a huge lake there where we could always go swimming. I also really liked camp there when I could meet with my friends there that I only saw once a year.

I really liked my neighborhood. It was safe and I would be able to go outside with my friends. Also it is very easy to make friends there. I made a bunch of friends when we first moved to Rancagua with no problem at all.

The food there is really good also. I miss the empanadas, sopapillas, churros, cazuela, anticuchos, choripan, completos, and all the types of beans that they prepared. I also really liked the fresh bread that is sold there, you can go to any store and they always have fresh bread, nice and warm ready to eat. There are tons more foods that I can't even think about...

Well I also liked the Chiloe Islands. It was so cool how they were divided and you could see the next island far away from the main island. The people there were poorer than more north, but that didn't stop them from being nice. We would go inside a home and they would always give us something to eat or drink. They were very hospitable.

Anyway I really miss my friends there, my home, and my dogs.

It's very hard to explain how much I love Chile, my home sweet home...

Here are some words from my son Timothy. He grew up in Chile.

What I Liked Most About Chile

Of the many different things that I liked most about Chile, my top picks would have to be the food, the friendliness, and the very nice scenery.

Chile has many very delicious foods. My favorite is The Chilean Cazuela. Cazuela is a type of stew with meat and potatoes in it.
It’s soo good!

The friendliness there is very amazing. We had just moved in [to Rancagua], and the next day I had friends already. Friends that are still my friends now 10 years later.

The scenery is so awesome. The place we live ( Rancagua ) is surrounded by the Andes. Basically all of Chile is surrounded by nature. Most of the year the mountains are covered in snow. Every time I walk outside the door I see them. Being surrounded by mountains also causes less dangerous weather, so there are never tornados.