Online groceries! what a pleasure!

We are all running with the groceries for holidays celebration. It is so tiring and supermarkets are all full. That´s why we decided to share this list of online supermarkets. Be careful, make your order with time, in some pages you should do it one or two days before the day you need it. Especially, if you don´t have a lot of availability and you want your order the delivery at special time range. Normally, you can select morning, afternoon or all day.

1) Jumbo

2) Lider

3) Telermercados: This is online an online supermarket

4) La Vega Virtual: only for fruits and vegetables

 

Another tip! If you live close to a supermarket, you can tip (around CLP 2.000) the packer and they can walk you home with the shopping cart. This is useful if you don´t have a car.

 

 

Cheers! Our wines recommendation

To be honest I did not know much about wines.. but don´t get disappointed please continue reading! Living in Chile, I learnt to enjoy wines and I was able to get good advice for this post.

You should know that here it is typical when you are invited to a dinner to bring a bottle of wine. In supermarkets, you have plenty of options so if you are not an expert it is difficult to know which wine to buy.

Chile is known for its Carménères, a wine grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeux, France and rediscovered in Chile in 1994, very interesting story. You can also find perfect Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noit and Sauvignon Blanc.

Below you can find a list of wines brand that we totally recommend, you can find it in supermarkets or special wines shop:

1) Casa Silva, Los Ligues, Gran Reserva

2) Santa Ema, Reserva

3) Montes Alpha

4) Gran Tarapacá

5) Concha y Toro, Serie Riberas

6) Vino Catalina, Viña Santa Ema

7) Casas del Bosque: It has a delicious Sauvignon Blanc, perfect for this time of the year. The Pinot noir is our favourite.

Cheers!

Haaaaave you met Ted?

 

How I met your mother´s fans will understand this introductory line.. In real life it is not so easy to meet people like Barney and Ted do it in How I met using that simple introductory technique.

One of the main challenges when you moved to other country is to develop your social network. Making friends abroad can be an intimidating experience and sometimes is difficult to know how to start. The sooner you start knowing people, the better and quicker you will start adapting to your new reality. Creating a solid network will help you to understand better the new culture, share experiences (both good and bad), have an emotional support and, of course, have a good time.

Below you can find some tips to meet people:

• Before moving, read information about Santiago in expats web pages or blogs (like Inside Santiago!).
• Check among friends if they know someone living in Santiago that can introduce you: Review facebook and Linkedin.
•  Register in Expat forums. Internations is one of the biggest expat network, there is a Santiago community, which has events almost every month. It is one of the best way to meet people.
• If you are not a native Spanish speaker, start taking Spanish lessons in an Institute with a group of people. Apart from meeting  people, it is critical to start settling in Chile.
• Enrol yourself in a social club. You can find social clubs in our Where to live section.
• Register in a sport activity: gym, runners club, golf, tennis, football, etc… Don´t miss our getting fit: outdoor and indoor mood post!
• If you have kids, invite kids their age over to play – you’ll get to know their parents.
• Become a member of business or professional associations.
• If you met neighbors, invite them for a drink or small party.
• Hang out in pub and bars. For example, California Cantina.
• Voluntary work: Completing voluntary work for charities is a further ideal method of making friends abroad while simultaneously contributing to a good cause. Before, check if your visa allows you to do charity work.
• If you have a baby, you can register into a mommy playgroup (we are planning to dedicate a post to this subject).
• Every two Wednesdays, check our What to do in Santiago section, you will find different activities and also could be a good way to meet people.

What worked for you? Share your experience with us!

Survival fashion tips#1: Just arrived to Santiago

 

If you just arrived to this new city, you will probably feel identified with one of these 2 options:

• you moved to the city with a few luggage or ;
• your things will arrive with the moving company. So….here is the news: This will take a while!

In both cases, you will need to go shopping to survive the first couple of months. Don´t panic! to help you, we will give you some useful tips:

-The easiest, popular and fastest way to shop what you need (or want) in Santiago is in shopping malls. So, here below we give you a list of the most visited malls.

• Parque Arauco. Las Condes
• Alto Las Condes. Las Condes
• Costanera Mall. Providencia
• Portal La Dehesa. La Dehesa

In there, you will find a lot of affordable fashion international brands. Some examples are:

• The GAP
• H&M (only in Costanera)
• Forever 21
• Topshop
• Zara
• Banana Republic

Apart from that, Chile has very important National department stores with great variety of products (from clothes to furniture) good prices and practical shopping experience.

The best well known are:

• Paris
• Falabella
• Ripley

 

At last but not least,we have brands we love that are:

• Rapsodia
• Bimba y Lola
• Jazmin Chebar
• Prune
• Paula Cahen D´anvers
• Etiqueta Negra

Apart from malls, you have some new and beautiful shopping areas, but normally you won´t find the  commercial brands.

About this, we will continue talking in the next posts, but with this information you have your survival fashion  kit ready to go!

In black and yellow wheels

 

If you still don´t have a car or maybe- like me- you don´t drive, it is good to have in your cell phone different numbers of taxis. There 3 good apps that works here in Santiago:

• Easy Taxi: http://www.easytaxi.com/cl/
• Safer Taxi: http://safertaxi.com/cl
• Uber: https://www.uber.com/cities/santiago

These applications are great because you don´t have even to make call, you download the app, create a user and then you can use it very simple when you need it. In general, in 5 minutes your taxi arrives.

If you are more traditional and you need to call to trust, here you can have some taxi agencies:

• Taxi Neverias: http://www.neverias.cl/sp/
• Taxi Apoquindo: http://www.transportesapoquindo.cl/
• Taxi Andes Pacífico: http://www.andespacifico.cl

Best boutique hotel in Colchagua

 

In the Colchagua Valley (about 3 hours from Santiago) you can find the best red wines in the country; the best Carmeneres come from this area. Specially, the ones from the Apalta region, which are the most premium wines.  Look in the bottle for the especification, and try La Apostolle, Montes or Viu Manent.

Great wines are easy to find, but  great accomodation is another story.  They are mostly overpriced and old, so it’s hard to find the bed and breakfast feeling in most hotels or lodges in Colchagua.

So finally, after several trips we came across Hotel Boutique La Sara. This wonderful country house, with only four rooms, is owned by the Bisquert Family, who have a winery in the area. It is a comfy house, with a fireplace and an open kitchen. Guest can relax together by the fire, while enjoying some jazz and wine. The river is very close by, so if the weather is nice you could sit outside, and listen to the water. It has an old farmhouse feel, yet it is very exclusive.

Inside Santiago- Nice to meet you!

Where should I live? Which is the most appropriate school for my children? Where should I cut my hair? Which are the best restaurants?

From critical questions to simple ones, our mission is to make the life of expats or future expats in Santiago easier.

We are 3 friends from different countries living in Santiago de Chile, a modern city, down south. We have different professional backgrounds and different expertise areas (Marketing & Communications/ Fashion Designer/ Human Resources and Expat Management) which allow us to complement and learn from each other.

You should know that we are not native English speakers, but we decided to write mainly in English to be able to reach more people.

As foreigners, we have been there, discovering the city. We would like to share our experience and facilitate your integration into this country.

Our goal is that you relax, have fun and enjoy your life in Santiago. Start this journey with us!

Welcome to Inside santiago

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If you would like to share your experience, a tip, your business or be our sponsor, please write to the following email:insidesantiago@gmail.com