Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

January 9, 2010

Yes, sometimes I do still hate Chile — and the world in general — but really mostly just Chile.

For instance, when we went to mail Yael her photo CD to Argentina I went to drop off the package at Correos Chile, the mail service here. I was told, “You can’t ship packages with CD’s in them to Argentina.” Obviously, since I’m a stupid gringa, I was all, “ummm, but why can’t you ship CD’s to Argentina. I mean, it’s a CD with pictures on it. It’s not a bomb.” And the lady was all, “What I mean, stupid gringa, is that Argentina is the only country in the world that doesn’t allow CD’s to come in via mail.” Well, she didn’t actually call me a stupid gringa with her mouth, but she totally did with her eyes.

We went back and forth for a few minutes before she finally told me there was a way to mail a CD if you first go to customs to get special permiso (permission) from them. Off we went to customs at the airport, which is where she told us the building was. We got there and located the proper CD mailing officials to ask them about the proper CD mailing permiso steps to take.

Their response? There are no steps. You just have to pay 150,000 pesos.

“Wait, that’s a mistake right? You meant, 1,500 pesos, no?”

“No, I meant 150,000 pesos as in $300 USD.”

Fortunately my lovely and eloquent husband was there to say, “Me estas weando?!? Por ese precio voy en avion a dejar el CD en persona.” (Are you kidding me? For that price I’ll fly there and hand deliver the CD). We argued, but there really was no other way to get a permiso necessary to solve the CD problem.

Then, in an unrelated story, but still on the same day, we go to find an office where I supposedly had a package waiting for me. We try to go to the address on the piece of paper that the post man had left in lieu of the actual package. It doesn’t exist. The street ends before we get to the number we were looking for. Nobody in the neighborhood has any idea what we’re talking about. Finally, after at least 45 minutes of driving around aimlessly we find someone who knows and sends us to the right place. We walk in. It’s 4:10pm. The friendly and happy customer service associate at the counter informs us that they don’t attend clients past 4pm. Seba starts to get mad and almost chews her out. I think he’s about to Snookie her but then I remind him you get more with honey than with vinegar. He sweetly asks if she could please just check and see if our package is there, since we’ve been driving around for almost an hour looking for the wrong address, and this is the company’s fault and that there aren’t actually any other customers in the building. They go back and forth for at least 5 minutes. At least. Finally, making a huge deal out of the fact that she’s doing us a massive favor, she agrees that she will look for our package. But this is a HUGE favor and we should be SO grateful. She turns around in her chair. She reaches back into a cubby and checks for the package. Let me make this clear to you — she does not even have to get OUT OF HER SEAT to look. We argued about her checking for the package approximately 5 trillion times longer than the nano-second it took her to turn around and reach into the appropriate cubbyhole. Â And the package isn’t there — it already got sent back to the U.S.

By this point, I’m steaming. Why charge people THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS to mail a frickin CD?!? And why fight about checking for our package when the packages are not even ONE STEP behind you?!?

And then I step outside. There’s some dude in a jumpsuit power washing/watering a giant dust patch, wasting more water than I would’ve ever thought possible and mopping the sidewalk.

Now, I’m actually writing this and laughing, not mad, because it all happened a few weeks ago and I wanted to cool down before I blogged about it in fear of ending up Very Angry like Shark (see the mopping the sidewalk reference). But if I never ranted at all, what kind of an expat blog would this be?

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34 Comments

hahahahaha ah kyle, your fascinations with chile never cease to hit a chord with me
wtf is wrong with this country sometimes?!??

Comment by Allison — January 9, 2010 @ 8:50 pm

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Wow this is a place I'm actually considering moving to?!

Comment by Hulie — January 9, 2010 @ 9:23 pm

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So glad I could be of service Allison!

Comment by kyleracine — January 9, 2010 @ 9:28 pm

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You weren't supposed to read this post Hulie! Nah, JK. These are the sorts of things that you laugh hysterically over and make life interesting here!

Comment by kyleracine — January 9, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

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DYING of laughter. DY-ING. Oscar was quick to point out that the $300 CD postage is Argetina's fault.

My vote? Buy a book. Cut out the pages in the middle. Stick the CD in the compartment. Ship a “book” to Argentina.

hahahahahah, love you

Comment by asuhey — January 9, 2010 @ 9:34 pm

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No, the not allowing the CD into the country via mail is Argentina's fault, but Chile charging you $300 dollars for the inspection in order to get the permiso is totally Chile's fault. And the guy who delivered the $300 dollar news was an asshole, which is also Chile's fault

But looking back the whole thing just makes me laugh! Both scenarios were in every way, completely and utterly ridiculous.

I actually had a Chilespouse bring it over to the bride for me so that was quick and easy, probably way faster than mailing would've been anyway!

Comment by kyleracine — January 9, 2010 @ 9:49 pm

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Send her a “wedding gift” and slip a cd into the bottom of toaster box. There is probably an instructional DVD in there already.

How do you expect the sidewalk to grow if you don't water it?

Comment by Kai Heeringa — January 10, 2010 @ 1:50 am

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Ya, this is Chile. Everything seems so normal on the surface sometimes, then you actually start talking to some of these Chileans and they astound you with their stupidities….

Comment by dylanbob — January 10, 2010 @ 5:50 am

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What an adventure! This does not surprise me one bit and I had to laugh. My husband and I have experienced all sorts of craziness in mailing/shipping things to Santiago. Things have disappeared in transit or pacakges have been delivered but missing some of the contents. We found a Chileno in New Jersey who has a business and sends items in trailers a few times a year. We drive 6 hours from Rochester, NY to New Jersey, give him a box the size of an oven filled with toiletries, clothing, shoes, video games, towels, etc. once a year, pay about $200 and he ships it to Chile and his workers deliver the box to the home address. This helps us avoid lost packages or theft within the mailroom. I mailed a small package to my mother-in-law in Santiago in November and Correo Central still can't explain what happended to it. Big mystery!

Comment by Debora — January 10, 2010 @ 8:18 am

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hahaha, toasters need instructional DVDs??? what kind of fancy toaster are you guys using…can it scramble some eggs for me and fry some bacon too?

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:44 am

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It's true everything does seem normal on the surface, however, I don't think that Chileans astound with their stupidity. I think there's sometimes just a huuuuuuge cultural gap between what I think and expect as normal and what they think and expect as normal.

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:45 am

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That's definitely a better system than using Correos Chile Debora! Sometimes I seriously don't understand the mail service here. Most of the time, if I'm mailing something within Chile, they deliver within a day.

But…then there's always every way now and again when it will take them three weeks to deliver a package within Chile or it just gets lost and no one can ever tell us what's going on.

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:46 am

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Yep–it's a nice alternative to using Correo Chile and we have a name & phone# for the people doing the delivery.

Unfortunately, you might have to create a new set of rates for your customers in Argentina. $300 is an awfully large out-of-pocket expense. I still can't believe that you need special permission to mail a CD. What's going on in Argentina???

Comment by Debora — January 10, 2010 @ 9:06 am

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You know what they were doing to you. They were intentionally MISUNDERSTANDING you. They were trying to make you look stupid as though you didn't know about export restrictions. THEY RESTRICT COMMERCIAL CDs OF COURSE! If you had gone to DHL/Chilexpress or whereever, had your package ready, they would have charged you whatever the going rate is and grudgingly taken your money.

I went to Correos to purchase a postal money order to pay for my passport. Impossible. I went to the bank, SCOTIABANK of all places. Impossible. I went to Chilexpress. Almost impossible. I didn't know Maria Soler's (the consular assistant who has worked there FOREVER) second last name. I insisted that the money transfer was for the EMBASSY, not for the consular assistant. I had to call the Embassy, put the idiot clerk on the line with Soler's co-worker to explain that the Embassy routinely accepts money like this. The Chilexpress office went from empty to FULL with a lineup outside the door while this doorknob figured it out. Incredible.

The thing is that they FEIGN ignorance or stupidity so they can get out of doing their job… and they love to make gringos hot under the collar

Comment by rust — January 10, 2010 @ 9:22 am

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also, I think you should complain. LOUDLY. With names, places and dates.

see this link:

http://www.correos.cl/productos/faq_p_r2.php

Comment by rust — January 10, 2010 @ 9:36 am

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If you simply flip-flopped Chile and Argentina in this article, it could have well been written by me. The level of idiocy at Correo Argentino clearly rivals that of our neighbors to the west. By the way, I totally mailed a CD to Argentina while I was still living in the U.S., and my package made it through unscathed. I've never even heard of that rule!

Comment by Katie — January 10, 2010 @ 10:05 am

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And then sometimes the Chilean correo surprises you . . . . .like the time I send you clothing merchandise valued at $90.00 and I knew seconds after I had left the post office that I had forgotton to put the number on the street address. I was sure that was the last I would see of that package, but lo and behold and imagine my relief when about 3.5 weeks later it was kindly delivered back to my address. If that package had gone to Colombia I never would have seen it again.

Comment by Ritamae39 — January 10, 2010 @ 1:31 pm

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Oh God. I was actually sort of missing and all “I'm here for another two months” but maybe not so much anymore. Once, my mom sent me a care package and after MONTHS it got sent back with a nice letter from those intelligent folks at Correos Chile and they think it explained that I had missed my THIRD opportunity to go pick it up. Third? What the hell? I never even got a first notice.

Comment by Sara — January 10, 2010 @ 7:49 pm

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Girlllll…. Guatemala is that times three.

It's nice when you can look back and laugh, but the journey there isn't always pretty!

Comment by uniquelyordinary — January 10, 2010 @ 8:37 pm

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hahah. i love postal service rants.

reminded me coincidentally of the time YOU sent me a very small package from santiago to valparaiso and i had to go to multiple post offices, call multiple phone numbers, and eventually return 3 times to correos chile just to get it. they kept saying it wasnt there and sending me around on a scavenger hunt to other places until i got mad when they insisted they didn't have it and said “this is the THIRD time i've been…” for some reason hearing that this wasn't my first time at the post office, the guy turned to the coworker and said i'd already stopped in before. so then the guy reached down picked up the package and handed it to me. it was right next to them the whole time! i would say they are just in it to make gringas' blood boil but more so i think they're just inefficient and lazy.

Comment by lydia — January 10, 2010 @ 8:41 pm

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Such is life here sometimes. What a pain in the butt with your money order too!!!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:53 pm

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haha, Chile probably based their correos system off of a non-functioning one such as Argentina, wouldn't surprise me. And yes, I mailed a CD to Argentina about a year ago for a different client so I think this new nonsensical rule is a new one!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

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haha, mom only you would forget to put the number on the street address. LOVE YOU!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

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See, I think they sometimes just make stuff up to mess with you!!!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

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Oh I so believe it…we were in Costa Rica for a few weeks and I've never been in a place where people move SO slowly. And that's a country known for their tourism industry so I can only imagine Guatemala!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:55 pm

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It's like you have to find some kind of magic key words and then BAM, all of a sudden they'll do what you're asking!

BTW, I'm still sorry about that!!!

Comment by kyleracine — January 10, 2010 @ 8:56 pm

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Oh my! I for some reason always get really choked up when mail goes awry I don't know why that is.

I am glad you can laugh about it now! keep the sense of humour up! It's important.

Comment by Decoybetty — January 10, 2010 @ 8:58 pm

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omg this takes me straight back to when I was living there 15 years ago.. nothing and I mean nothing has changed I swear lol

Comment by caspix — January 10, 2010 @ 11:03 pm

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I know, right? Well, I was multi-tasking when I filled out the address label (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

Comment by Ritamae39 — January 11, 2010 @ 4:44 am

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I still get mad thinking about my experiences with Correos….and its been five years. If you ever want to ruin your day, just go there….it's guaranteed.

Comment by flojindamesa — January 11, 2010 @ 6:23 am

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hehehe, the first time i was in chile, i had my dad send me a package full of japanese food from japan. it never got to chile. it ended up back in japan months later wrapped in correos de chile tape. a bunch of the food packaging was cut open! i guess they thought the dried shiitake mushrooms were shrooms, LOL!

Comment by Kathleen — January 17, 2010 @ 6:38 pm

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Oh my God! I love this jajajja!!
I'm a Chilean and I must said, even we complaint about that. I mean is so annoying to do a “trÃ¡mite”, they send you everywhere and everywhere means places where nobody knows what to do. In the moment, we just get really upset, but later we just laugh cause at the end we live here and we like to laugh of ourselves. I know Chile could be really frustrating sometimes, but I love my country and just tell you, thank you for having patience with us

Comment by Brian — February 1, 2010 @ 10:08 am

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Oh my God! I love this jajajja!!
I'm a Chilean and I must said, even we complaint about that. I mean is so annoying to do a “trÃ¡mite”, they send you everywhere and everywhere means places where nobody knows what to do. In the moment, we just get really upset, but later we just laugh cause at the end we live here and we like to laugh of ourselves. I know Chile could be really frustrating sometimes, but I love my country and just tell you, thank you for having patience with us

Comment by Brian — February 1, 2010 @ 6:08 pm

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I can’t believe that you hate a country just for a bad experience with a dam person when assuming that your from the U.S. the Japanese don’t hate the U.S. even though they killed their people when Pearl harbor happened. Plus if your going to a dam foreign country dont you think you should know a little about the language? Next time think about ranting about a country when there is much “dirt” on the country you live in and probably more

Comment by Poptarts — October 12, 2010 @ 8:53 pm

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