Motorway driving in Chile

The motorways in Chile are pretty well built, but if you've driven in countries like France where they are closed off from wild animals and human activity you may be in for a surprise. In my view they are much more like the British dual carriageways than the French Autoroutes. Don't be surprised to see people running across the dual carriageway to stand on the other side and wait at one of the many bus stops. Don't be surprised to see turnings that lead to small towns alongside the motorway, pigs, dogs, or small cabins selling cheese (Queso), or Mote con Huesillo.

One tip that may prove to be financially valuable to you is the following. When you get a ticket from a major motorway toll booth, exits from the motorway on slip roads are free if you show it to the cashier or scan it in the ticket reader.

The ticket from this tollgate gives you the right to one passage during a period of 12 hours through the slip-road toll gates between (and including) Bulnes and Mininco

If you don't have your ticket you can expect to pay 500 CLP, which isn't too much so don't worry if you lose your ticket. Click here for a conversion

Stop off point on the way from Santiago to Temuco

If you are travelling from Santiago and you want a stop off point on the way to Temuco, Saltos de Laja (Laja falls in English) is a good option. It saves taking a half hour trip into Concepción if you want to stop somewhere of note.

You can pull in there and get a local meal for a reasonable price. Entry to the falls was free as of February 2014.

It's actually nearly nine hours solid driving from Santiago, so you may wish to stop the night there. There are cabins, but I don't know how they rate:

http://www.saltodellajachile.cl/home.html

Further reading on Saltos del Laja in the Wikipedia ...



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Tur-Bus gotcha!

If you are travelling from Santiago using Tur-Bus in 'Salon Cama', make sure you don't get caught out as I did.

I was travelling from 'Terminal Santiago' near the metro stop 'Universidad de Santiago' (which shouldn't be confused with 'Universidad de Chile' or 'Universidad Catolica' ... it's 'Universidad de Santiago'! After making that mistake myself I eventually found myself at the right terminal, however I hadn't finished making mistakes for the night.

This is where I can offer you a little advice. If you buy a ticket from Tur-Bus in 'Salon Cama', check if the journey is not being carried out by another operator in behalf of Tur-Bus. I went to the Tur-Bus terminal and missed my bus that was actually being operated by 'Condor Bus', in the terminal next door.

The way to tell is by ignoring the fact that the ticket they give you has Tur-Bus written all over the back of it, and check the top of your ticket on the side where your seat number is stated. If it's being run by Condor Bus, you will see their logo:

Plugs in Chile

Moving from one country to another you have to make sure that the plugs that you use to charge your cellphone or iPad with fit into the sockets in the country where you are going.

Thankfully if you are coming from Europe to Chile your cellphone and iPad plugs will fit the voltage and sockets when you arrive.

Chile uses the CEE 7/16 "Europlug" (Type C):

This shouldn't be confused with the French plug which has fatter pins.

Greetings in Chile

In France you give varying numbers of bisous (kisses) depending on the region and gender of the person you are greeting.

In the south of Chile here are a few observations as to how to greet people in social situations (going to the bank is obviously different):

• For Women: Give a kiss to everyone. Right cheek to right cheek. One kiss.
• For men: 
• Shake hands with men
• Give a kiss on the right cheek to women.
• If you know the person well as a dear friend or family member you might:
• Shake hands
• Then if the other person leans in give them a light hug, not touching any more than giving each other a pat on the back, still right cheek to right cheek.
• Shake hands again

Chile - buying at the shops

Well funny enough I have found myself in Chile a few times recently and so I've also noticed a few interesting differences between here and everything else I've seen before.

One little detail that you might find interesting is that when you go to the pharmacy you often have to take a ticket. Don't be like me and forget that because with no ticket you don't get served (unless you are the only one in the shop.)

The process for buying products at the pharmacy, ironmongers or many other shops that receive a lot of customers is the following:

1. Enter shop
2. Check to see if there are more than two or three people waiting.
3. If so look for ticket machine. If you can't see it, keep looking, it might be just hard to find
4. Take ticket
5. Wait for your number to be called
6. Ask for what you want
7. Once you have decided on the product you want to buy they will give you a ticket
8. Go to the 'Caja' (Cashier) and give them your ticket
9. Pay them
10. Go with your receipt to the sales assistant or packing desk and get your purchases

Auto entrepreneur rules change

The auto-entrepreneur scheme has a few new rules.

Some main points from their 2011 update:

• Contribution à la formation professionnelle - 0,20 % pour les professions libérales = We pay a bit more tax for a training fund
• If you don't declare any earnings for 24 months you can't be an AutoEntrepreneur any more
• EIRL = You can apply for a form of limited liability status as an AutoEntrepreneur
• The maximum earnings allowed in a year to be allowed to remain in the scheme has changed to:
  

- €81 500 for sales or merchandise
- €32 600 for services

• Déclaration du chiffre d'affaires - you have to declare your earnings every month or 3 months (depending on how you registered your company) even if the amount is €0
• Also looks like you must earn more than a certain amount if you want your Trimestral earnings to count towards your retirement fund. (Nouveaux montants pour valider les trimestres de retraite)
  

... but that's just my understanding of what their document means. No responsibility taken.