Food,Glorious food,and Chile has lots of it!

Lets start with some great tastes.

* Pastel de choclo: corn casserole filled with ground beef, onions, chicken, raisins, hardboiled egg, olives, and topped with sugar and butter.

* Empanada de pino: a baked Pasty filled with ground beef, onion, raisins, a piece of boiled egg and a black olive. Watch out for the pit!

* Empanada de queso: a deep-fried patty filled with cheese. Found everywhere, including McDonald's.

* Cazuela de vacuno: beef soup with a potato, rice, a piece of corn and a piece of squash.

* Cazuela de ave (or de pollo): same as above, but with a piece of chicken.

* Cazuela de pavo: same as above, but with turkey.

* Porotos granados: stew made with fresh beans, squash, corn, onion and basil. con choclo: with grains of corn. con pilco or pirco: with corn thinly chopped. con mazamorra: with ground corn. con riendas: with thin sliced noodles.

* Curanto: lots of seafood, beef, chicken and pork, potatoes, cheese, and potato "burguers," prepared in a hole in the ground ("en hoyo") or in a pot ("en olla"); a dish from Chiloé.

* Southern sopaipillas: a fried pastry cut as 10-cm (4-in) circles, with no pumpkin in its dough (see Northern sopaipillas in the desserts section). They replace bread. They are known South of Linares.

* Lomo a lo pobre: a beefsteak, fried potatoes, a fried egg (expect two in restaurants) and fried onions.

Besides typical foods, you should expect food normally found in any Western country. The normal diet includes rice, potatoes, meat and bread. Vegetables are abundant in central Chile. If you are concerned about the portions, consider that the size of the dish increases the farther south you travel. With such an enormous coastline, you can expect fish and seafood almost everywhere. Locals used to eat bundles of raw shellfish, but visitors should be cautious of raw shellfish because of frequent outbreaks of red tides.

Chile is the world's second largest producer of salmon, as well as a number of other farmed sea products, which include oysters, scallops, mussels, trout and turbot. Local fish include corvina (sea bass), congrio(conger eel), lenguado (flounder), albacora (swordfish), and yellow fin tuna.

Sandwiches

* Hotdog or completo. Almost a staple food here,and found in numerous franchises through out Chile. This one includes mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, tomato, mashed avocado (palta), sauerkraut (chucrut) and chili (ají).These ingredients make a full sandwich, called un completo. With mayonnaise, tomato and avocado it's un italiano with the colors of the Italian flag.

* Lomito. Cooked pork steaks served with anything that can go in a hotdog. Italiano is the preferred form but German purists prefer it with sauerkraut (chucrut).

* Chacarero: a thin beefsteak (churrasco) with tomato, green beans, mayonnaise and green chili (ají verde).

* Barros Luco: Named after President Ramón Barros Luco. Thinly-sliced beefsteak with cheese. Usually served with French fries,fattening and deliciuos!

* Choripán: Bread with "chorizo", a highly-seasoned pork sausage. Named that way because the contraction of "Pan con Chorizo" or "Chorizo con Pan". A frequent starter to the Barbeque in Chile,

A common combination is meat with avocado and/or mayonnaise, e.g. Ave palta mayo (chicken with avocado and mayonnaise) or Churrasco palta (thinly-sliced beefsteak with avocado). The strong presence for avocado is a Chilean standard for sandwiches that influences the fast food franchises to include it in their menus.

Desserts

* Northern sopaipillas: a fried pastry cut as 10-cm (4-in) circles, which includes pumpkin in its dough, and normally is eaten with chancaca, a black treacle or molasses. It's customary to make them when it rains and it's cold outside. Sopaipillas as a dessert are only known north of San Javier.

From Linares to the South, they are not dessert and pumpkin is left out, so, when it rains, Chilean Southerners must cook picarones. In Santiago, Sopaipillas can be served covered with a sweet syrup as a dessert, or with spicy yellow mustard.

* Kuchen (or cújen, pronounced KOO-hen) is German for pie. In the South ask for kuchen de quesillo, a kind of cheesecake.

* Strudel (pronounced ess-TROO-dayl). A kind of apple pie.

* Berlín. When they translate John Kennedy's famous quote (often mistakenly thought of as a gaffe) they say it's a “jelly doughnut”. The Chilean version is a ball of dough (no hole) filled with dulce de membrillo, crema pastelera or manjar. Powder sugar is added just in case you have a sweet tooth.

* Cuchuflí. Barquillo (tube of something crunchy like a cookie) filled with manjar. The name originally comes from cuchufleta wich means deceipt or trickery, as they used to be filled only at the tips of the barquillos, leaving the middle part empty.

Fruit

Apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, watermelons, strawberries, raspberries, chirimoyas,the list is endless .You just plant it round here and it grows!

Drink

*Wine :- see our wine link for a taste of the real thing!

* Mote con Huesillo: A delicous summertime drink made of wheat seeds (mote) and dried peaches (huesillos) boiled, sweetened, and served cold. Typically sold on sidewalk or park stands.

* Chilean Pisco: Brandy made from Muscat grapes. Popular brands are Capel, Alto del Carmen and Valle Elqui.

* Pisco Sour: One of Chile's mostfamous and popular mixed drinks, this consists of Pico mixed with squeezed pica lemons and sugar. It has a delicious tart sweetness.

* Mango Sour: Pico mixed with mango juice.Some new Pico mixes include Pima Colada,Cherimoya,makes great cocktails.

* Piccolo: Pico mixed with Coke.

* Boron: Red wine and strawberries.

* Eremite: ("Earthquake"): a typical Chilean drink that consists in a mix of pineapple ice cream with pigpen (like white wine).

* Schop: Beer on tap.

* Fan-S chop: Beer mixed with orange Fanta soda. A refreshing alternative on a hot summer day.

* Beers: Crystal and Escudo are the most popular (light lagers). Royal Guard and Kinsman (too expensive!) are a popular alternative. Heineken and Stella Aroids are made here under license, plus a large selection of imported beers and lagers.

* Joe*: wine and Coke-

Just click the green link to open page.

Maps
First thing you need when you arrive is a good map . COPEC the nation-wide service station, provides the best, Buy one when you arrive,at your local COPEC station. It will save you a lot of time! An example is on the link below ,and in fact you can print out the pages for free.

COPEC web map

History and Culture

The English Portal to All Southern Chile
All Southern Chile is the English portal dedicated to sharing with the World the wonders of living, working, and visiting Southern Chile.
All Chile Forum
Great site for anyone thinking of living in Chile .Full of info in English.The real McCoy for wondering or even wandering ex pats.
Chile.com
Chile.com is the largest web site of this country. Here you can find interesting information about Chile, both in Spanish and English.

Chilean Folklore
Site to rescue, transmit, and promote the traditional and related Chilean Folklore activities.(Spanish)
Ser Indígena (To Be Indigenous) Virtual Magazine
Site with information about different ethnicity represented in our country. Pictures, dictionaries, videos, music and lots of information. (Spanish)
Lord Cochrane, Chilean Admiral
Naval hero in the War of Independence. Remember 'Master and Commander'? Then Try AlsoFor a good read

Desert Album, History of Saltpeter
Dedicated to giving information about saltpeter in the north of Chile and its history.(Spanish/English/German)
Cart Cemetery Sculpture Park, Putaendo
The park, located in Putaendo, harbors all kinds of sculptures made from old carts.(Spanish/English)
Interactive Museum (Mim)
Information about the museum, public hours, reservations, costs, pictures, etc.(Spanish)

RODEO
After football Chile´s second favorite sport
The Chilean Horse
Did you know the Chilean Horse is the oldest registered stock horse breed in America?

National Parks and Ecology

Conaf (National Forestry Corporation)
Governmental organization whose objective is to recover and protect the natural heritage of Chile, minimizing the deterioration of forest ecosystems.(Spanish)

Laguna Torca National Reserve

Tourism Chile
Site with tourist information about Chile and a section dedicated to parks and reserves.(Spanish/English)
Puyehue National Park
Information about the recreational activities, news, links, picture galleries, park trails and location.(Spanish/English)
Torres del Paine National Park
Information about the national park, picture galleries and videos, maps, services in the park and the surrounding area.
(Spanish/English)
Pumalín Park
Information about the largest private park in the world, services, characteristics, trails, and project objectives (Spanish/English).
Chilean Union of Ornithology
Organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of birds and their environments.(Spanish)
Terram Foundation
Site with articles about the environment, contamination, natural resources, etc., with the objective of creating a sustainable development proposal for the country.(Spanish/English)

Recreational Activities

Atmósfera 4 School of Scuba Diving
Information, its courses, the trips, places to scuba dive in Chile.(Spanish)
Birds of Chile 1

Ciclonautas.cl, Cicloturismo
A site that claims to transmit and promote bicycle tourism. Tour consultations, tour dates, galleries, food and nutrition and everything related to bicycle tourism.(Spanish)
Dive Shop Center
Here you will find sales for scuba diving equipment, excursions inside and out of Chile, also courses for the experienced, recreational, and professional levels.(Spanish)
Kiteboarding
General information about kite boarding, forums, destinations, pictures, articles, where to buy equipment and much more.( Spanish)
Paracaidismo.net (Skydiving)
Sport Skydiving School of Friends site. Information about its courses, services, articles, videos and pictures of the jumps and places they go to.(Spanish)
Surf Chile
Site dedicated to surfing in Chile and the world. Sections on news, destinations, reports, pictures, etc.(Spanish)
Ultralight Airplanes ULTRASPORT
Company offering flying classes and flights in different variations of ultralight airplanes.(Spanish)
Nautisport
Company offering full range of Windsurfing equipement.(Spanish)
" Windsurf.cl
Windsurfing site for Chile. Sections on news, destinations, reports, pictures, etc.(Spanish)

Entertainment

Panoramas
Information about the cinema billboards, performances and articles on literature, theatre, and gastronomy. Classified by age group.(Spanish)
Chilean Casinos
Site dedicated to the casinos and Horse Racing around Chile.(English)
The Coliseum
Site of computer games. News, reviews, demos of the latest games and arenas to play online.(Spanish)
Santiago Municipal Theatre
History and general information about the Municipal Theatre, yearly calendar, seasons, news, prices, and online reservations.(Spanish)
Valparaíso Municipal Theatre
Information about the theatre, annual billboards, prices, photo gallery, friends association, and more.(Spanish)

Organizations and Services

State Railway (EFE)
Company site with information about the destinations, itineraries, hours, varieties of services and making reservations. (Spanish)
UK in Chile
British view of living in Chile
US State Dept Chile info
Chile specific info for US citizens
CIA world factbook for Chile
Well detailed resource for economic activity
Chilean Meteorology
Information about the climate and weather in Chile, the meteorological forecast of the day and topics of interest such as ultraviolet radiation, El Niño, La Niña, Agrometeorology, satelite pictures, and more. (Spanish)
National Tourism Service (Sernatur)
Site about tourism in Chile: attractions, services, agencies, hotels, transportation companies, circuits, routes, tour guides, statistics, etc.(Spanish/English)
National Environmental Commission (Conama)
State owned institution that promotes the developmental processes of environmental sustainability, coordinating the actions derived from the politicians and strategies defined by the government in regards to the environment.(Spanish/English)
National Fishing Service (Sernapesca)
Organization in charge of implementing national fishing policies and overseeing the carrying out of the laws and regulations for the activity.(Spanish)
Chilean Antarctic Institution
National Institution to communicate plans, coordinate, orientate, execute, publish and control all the antarctic scientific, technological, logistical, environmental activities.(Spanish)
Chile Inside
Intercultural management agency specialized in the organization of professional internships, working holiday programs, voluntary work projects, Spanish language courses and accommodation throughout Chile.(Spanish)
De Utilidad /Yellow Pages
Chilean Yellow Pages. Search for companies and products by city and region. Addresses, maps, and web sites.(Spanish)
Mapcity
Site to search for ad)Al Mar and Valparaíso in Chile, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Sao Paulo and Río de Janeiro in Brasil, and Mexico City in Mexico.(Spanish)
Arturo Merino Benítez Airport
Site about the main airport in Chile. Information about airlines, flight arrivals and departures, arrangements, airport stores, transfer services, meals, etc.(Spanish)
Chilean Meteorology
Information about the climate and weather in Chile, the meteorological forecast of the day and topics of interest such as ultraviolet radiation, El Niño, La Niña, Agrometeorology, satelite pictures, and more.(Spanish)

Newspapers

La Tercera Newspaper (Spanish)
The Santiago Times (English)
El Mercurio Newspaper(Spanish)
Las Últimas Noticias Newspaper (Spanish)
La Segunda Newspaper (Spanish)
La Nación Newspaper (Spanish)
La Estrella de Valparaíso Newspaper (Spanish)
El Mercurio de Valparaíso Newpaper (Spanish)
El Sur de Concepción Newspaper ( Spanish)
El Mostrador Newspaper )Spanish)

Magazines

Ercilla Magazine (Spanish)
Que Pasa Magazine (Spanish)
Caras Magazine (Spanish)
Cosas Magazine (Spanish)

Television Channels

Chilean National Television (Spanish)
Channel 13 Television ( Spanish)
Chilevisión (Spanish)
Mega Televisión (Spanish)
Via X Televisión ( Spanish)
Artv Televisión (Spanish)

Radio Stations

Radio Horizonte (Spanish)
ChileLindo.com (Spanish)
Radio Infinita (Spanish)
Radio Emisoras Beethoven (Spanish)

Chile Specific Search Engines
123 Chile
Anden Chile
Antena
Busca Chile
buscaCHILE
Buscapique
Chile Contact
Chile Crawler
Chile Websites
Huifa
ChilNet
DMOZ
Escape Artist - Chile
Guia
LANIC
NIC Chile
SIPO
Terra
TodoCL
WEPA!
Yahoo!