Chile is one of the world’s longest countries, situated in one of the most southern countries on earth, in South America. Home to the Andes mountains, it’s the natural home of beautiful flamingos, who do an amazing dance on the algae flatlands. Baby flamingos are grey (they only turn pink, due to eating shrimp).
Chile has one of the world’s four longest-lived peoples. In his book Healthy at 100, John Robbins researches the four longest-lived cultures on earth (the others are in parts of Russia, Japan and Pakistan). What he found that despite eating different foods, all ate natural food, breathed pure air, retired more or less till they died (but only worked so many hours each day), all had faith in God (nobody knew what an atheist was) and importantly, there was no loneliness (elders were looked after – it was a sign of shame if you’re not the adult child chosen for the parent to live with).
Chile has fabulous night skies. Due to lack of light pollution, Chile is one of the top astronomical sites on earth. Unlike here where often light pollution from broken lampposts to all-night-lit buildings causes havoc with birds and wildlife.
Wild penguins roam free. Unlike in England where penguins are cooped up in zoos that are too hot for them, in Chile you’ll find penguins roaming lands where they belong, free and happy. Although you may think of Chile as a hot country, obviously other areas are cold enough for them to enjoy the freezing weather. Mostly they roam the Patagonia area of Chile & Argentina. In England, some penguins were due to ice-skate for children as ‘entertainment’ until a campaign by Freedom for Animals got it stopped.
People in Chile read and celebrate poetry. Unlike in England, where even the best-selling poets live on peanuts, in Chile great poets (like Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda) are celebrated and read widely, and even less-well known poetry is seen as a necessity in daily life.
what not to learn from Chile
Not its fault, but Chile has the longest post office delivery in the world. Due to being slowed down by the Andean mountains, often it’s quicker for people to hop on a bus and deliver a letter themselves, than to post it.
The dry country of Chile has a privately-owned water board. This has caused controversies like water-thirsty crops like avocados being grown, and then boycotted on ethical grounds by many people. Most people in Chile would like to see the water company in public hands.