Chile – clean and modern

Well, my daughter likes to make fun of me and says I live in a third world country but Chile isn’t a third world country. Actually, the terminology does seem a bit dated. It arose after the end of WWII and was used to describe the capitalist countries allied with the United States and they are the first world countries including Western Europe, the UK and their allies.

The second world countries are those of the Soviet Union and the communist bloc, China, and Cuba while the third world countries are all the rest, the neutral nonaligned countries. This broad categorization based on social, political, cultural, and economic divisions was a useful tool during its time but today things are different. Most people don’t know enough of WWII history to understand this classification and for people today a first world country would be modern and affluent while a third world country would be poor and backwards and second world is somewhere in between.

So where does Chile fall in these categories? For the original meaning, Chile did not participate in WWII. It was a neutral unaligned country meaning a third world country. So says Wikipedia under the heading of “Third World” but under “World War II by Country” it says ” initially Chile chose to remain neutral in the war, having close trading links with Germany. Later in the war, however, Chile distanced itself from the Axis powers, and the Chilean government took steps to dismiss pro-German military officers. Relations with Axis countries were broken in 1943, and in 1945, Chile declared war on japan, being the last nation to join the war. As with Argentina, by this time the war was almost over.” So it was an ally entering after the attack on Pearl Harbor so that would mean Chile is a first world country according to NATO.

And what about the more modern sense of the word – poor under developed v. rich developed?

Chile is very modern and clean. Most of the poor live in homes with flooring, water and sewer, electricity, cell phones, and direct TV. Education is compulsory and literacy rates are high. The economy is growing and unemployment is low. The government is stable. Health care is modern and affordable. The highway system is modern and well maintained.  What else could you ask for?
Sounds pretty first worldish to me!

Lori Dorchak

 Synergy Spanish

I LOVE this course. I tried three, one with a private teacher but boring boring. This was the third and the one that worked.. In Argentina the immigration judge wants to hear you speak Spanish. I passed easily.  See what you think. Editor

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Editor note: Lori and Jim are two of our favorite “homesteaders,” homesteading in the south of Chile. They are in a beautiful area of Chile (what part of Chile i s NOT beautiful?).

However, they are located in an area of rain much of the winter. There are some pros in that. For one thing, rain for many people may be more preferred than snow. Although it does also snow but nothing like you see in the northern parts of the U.S. Next, with all the talk about water shortage, we can’t imagine ever having a shortage of water in the south of Chile. We have talked with some U.S. expats now located in Chile who tell us the rain in winter doesn’t bother them at all. They, as mentioned above, are glad it isn’t snow, for the most part. The con, of course, would be if you are depressed by rainy weather. If you settle a bit more to the north, it is still beautiful but you miss the rain. We are interested in the area around Chillan for exactly that reason. We do know Chileans who moved down from Valparaiso, Chile, because they believe there is future opportunity in the fact the south has plenty of water and even in South America there is concern about fresh water. In fact, George Bush bought a large spread of land in Paraguay and it was reported, built homes there for his family–because that land sits on one of the largest aquifers in the world.

This writer makes a good point. We, too, believe Chile is hardly third world status. For those who want to start a business, Chile is open for and encouraging new businesses.

Lori and her husband, Jim, with three of their children, came to Chile in 2012. Read more by Lori about her and Jim’s adventures homesteading in Chile at her blog at Our Chile Adventure,and YouTube channel: Chile Expat Family

Further Reading:
George Bush in Paraguay