BootsnAll Travel Community

If you want to meet international travellers and Chilean locals in Santiago here are a few options that I have enjoyed.

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ESCUELA VIOLETA PARRA (TANDEM INTERNATIONAL)
This language school has classes, of course, but it also has a free program for language exchange regardless of whether you are a student or not.

Most Wednesdays from about 7-10pm there are group activities that encourage you to speak (1 hour in Spanish only, then 1 hour in English only). Or if you are in town for longer than 4 weeks they can match you with someone who wants to learn your native language so you can meet up in your own time as often as you want. It is a great program.

The tandem exchanges are in the school's head office on Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue in Bellavista and you should put your name down on the list there at some point before the event.

http://www.tandemsantiago.cl/
(I am not affiliated with the school but have both studied there and attended group tandem exchanges in the last month).

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CLUB 102
A group of travellers and language students usually meet in a club in Bellavista, Santiago, every Thursday to meet, practice speaking in Spanish or English and just generally have a good time.

Details: Club 102
Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue 102, Bellavista.
Thursday, from about 10pm (read: most people arrive at 11.30 - midnightish).

Sometimes there is a cover charge depending on who is DJing (CLP$3000 or so). If there is a cover charge, girls can usually enter for free until midnight. It is close to La Chimba Hostel, bus and metro transport to the rest of the city. The guys behind the bar can also call you a radio taxi if you want one.

I've been here about a month and have met a bunch of cool people at 102 - the guys behind the bar (Carola and Gerardo I think) are very friendly and speak a little English, but are happy to help with your Spanish. If you don't know anyone, you can always catch up with the guys behind the bar as a starting point - they'll introduce you to the regulars :-)
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If you have any other questions or will be in Santiago in the next month or so, feel free to PM me - I'll probably be in the interchange groups and at Club 102 :-D

I spent four months in Argentina. The highlight of my trip was renting a car in San Martin de los Andes and then driving a big loop down through the seven lakes, esquel, sarmient, Puerto deseado, Peninsula valdes, nuequen, copahue and then back to San Martin De Los Andes.

I wrote about the whole experience on my blog http://www.jamiesue.typepad.com where you can click on the category Patagonia, or here are the spots that I thought were the very best:

the 7 lakes district - http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/04/because-youre-g.html
Cablo Blanco at low tide-http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/05/love.html
Peninsula Valdes (although not as great as Cabo Blanco) - http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/05/get-in-the-bloo.html
Copahue- http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/06/fire-burn-and-caldron-bubble.html
the steppe - I drove too much of this. By the end of my trip, I was really tired of nothingness and I'm a huge fan of nothingness (I love middle of nowhere Arizona, for example). But, I think you have to experience it some...at least for 8 hours. But, I do admit that there was a lot...a lot ... a lot of nothigness. Just one of my posts on it: http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/05/dark.html there are many posts.
Puerto Deseado - I really liked this place, but really it's just a small somewhat run down fishing town. It feels very real to me, though. http://jamiesue.typepad.com/jamiesue/2008/04/the-post-i-coul.html


I'm a female traveling alone the whole time and camping many nights and I felt completely safe the whole time.

I have been living in Argentina for over a year now teaching English. Teaching is a good way to make a living as any native speaker can do it with relativly little experience. the problem is the hours. What I recommend and what I do is study spanish in downtown Buenos Aires during my breaks. I've been to two schools and a private tutor. My favorite of the two and the one I am currently studying at is called Expanish, http://expanish.com. good luck

Hi Everyone! I've been living in Buenos Aires for a while now and have run the full gammut or disasters and moments of euphoria. The biggest problem that I have had and also my family and friends is that of renting apartments. HAving a nice place to come home to at the end of the day can make or break your trip and I have seen and experienced so many problems here. When I arrived I had used one of the big agencies to rent and my apt was rat-infested and had no hot water. The next company I used never showed up to the check in and never gave me back my deposit. My mom came down to visit and found Buenos Aires Stay and rented from them. The apt was incredible and their conceirge Terry helped us with everything - tours, restaurants, tickets to events... it was truly a great experience. Not only was the place she stayed perfect but they came through on all their promises and definitly went beyond the call of duty. I now recommend http://www.buenosairesstay.com to everyone - also I use this site all the time to find out about travel options, weather and general tips on the city. Its an excellent company and an excellent tool.

Hello!

A good option for Brazilian information, including hotel, accommodations, tours, attractions and events is the website WHL.travel Brazil

Try it!