Books are incredibly expensive in Chile. I’m talking $50-$80 for a new hardcover and $30-60 for a new softcover. Even used books can be $5-15. It’s even more expensive for books in English.
It’s easily 2-5x more expensive here to buy a book, sometimes more. Textbooks are closer to US prices, but that’s still much more expensive when the GDP per capita is around $15,000 and the minimum wage is about $400 per month. These extremely high prices put books out of range for Chile’s poor and even middle class.
I talked to a friend who works in a language school who told me that when she goes back to the US, the school asks her to bring books back because they are so much cheaper there. Every Chilean I’ve talked to about book prices says “oh man, don’t get me started, it’s ridiculous.” It’s a big problem.
Books are fast, simple ways to transmit large amounts of knowledge quickly. They are the the most cost effective way for poor and middle class people to learn. Those without access to the internet still read the printed word, and even those with internet access still buy one of the four published daily newspapers (primero, sengunda, tercera, cuarta) which come out at various times of the day.
I’ve talked to a few people and it seems that the reason they are so expensive is taxes. The government has a tax that amounts to about $3-6, and sometimes more on each book. Also, there seems to be a tax on publishing that gets baked into the cost somehow. All of these costs add up to $80 hard cover books. It makes no sense, when the government ran on a platform of education reform and educating the poor.
Which brings me to the Kindle. The 3g enabled Kindle provides free access to the Amazon store from over 100 countries in the world, including Chile and Argentina. You can be sitting in park, pull out your Kindle and browse for free and Amazon foots the bill. They have made deals with all of the local cellular networks so that you can buy books from anywhere. I can buy just about any book in English for between $1 for classics and $9 for brand new hard covers. The vast majority are $6 and you have the entire Amazon store at your fingertips. Books download in 30 seconds.
The new wifi enabled Kindle costs $139 and the 3g enabled Kindle costs $189 on Amazon. When buying a Kindle costs less than 2 books, it just makes sense to buy, even for those without much money. As the price of Kindles fall below $100, they will begin to be even more attractive to South American readers. Unfortunately, you can only buy a two generation old 3g Kindle in Falabella for 199,000 pesos, or about $400, as the government slaps a tax on imported electronics.
The other problem is that there are hardly any books in Spanish available for purchase. There are classics like The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quijote and The Three Musketeers, trashy romance novels, a few different versions of the Kama Sutra and believe it or not, lots of books from the “church” of Scientology. There are a few exceptions: you can find a few Isabelle Allende books and other very well known Spanish speaking authors, but there are not many.
As more books in Spanish get formatted for Kindle and Kindle’s price falls, Chileans will have a much greater access to books at a much lower price. Kindles and other ereaders are poised to change Chile and other South American countries by providing cheap access to knowledge and circumventing the taxation and publishing industry prices. It will be interesting to see if the government tries to extend it’s hand into ebooks, as they have with published books.
Note: I just got back from South Africa two days ago and finally have some time to write up a post and share some pictures. I’m planning to write this post as an overview and then go into detail in further posts about what we did in each city, plus include a practical guide to the things that I wished I’d known before going.
I left Madison on June 9th with my friends Andy and Katie, not really knowing what to expect. We had tickets for all three USA matches, plus Spain/Switzerland and an idea of where we wanted to go, but hadn’t booked any accommodation except for the first two nights. I had read all of the press about South Africa being dangerous and that we shouldn’t drive, but I wasn’t worried. I figured that if their media is anything like ours, they would really overstate the bad and ignore most of the good.
The trip was unbelievable. South Africa is an incredibly beautiful country, with varied climates and landscapes. The people were extremely nice and we never felt threatened the entire time we were there. If anything, the people, both black and white, were protective of us. They clearly really liked Americans and everyone we met went out of their way to make sure that we were having fun and staying safe. Here’s what we did:
We landed in New York on the morning of the 9th and dropped our bags with my friend Chris who works in the city. He was nice enough to take all of our bags up to his office, even though his co-workers all gave him strange looks. Andy and Katie had never been to NYC, so although it was rainy, we went all over the city. We had to catch a flight out of JFK at 1130pm, so we had plenty of time.
We got to the airport to find it packed with soccer fans. We were flying via Dubai and we were happy to see tons of Americans, Mexicans and South Americans, all dressed in their team’s gear, getting ready to board the flight. As we were going through security, someone spotted Justin Timberlake going through security and most of the women got really excited. When we got on the plane, someone asked one of the flight attendants if he was on our flight and she just giggled and said she wasn’t allowed to say.
We got to Dubai after a 12 hour flight. We flew Emirates and it was a pleasure. It’s the best airline I’ve ever been on, with fairly large seats, personal LCD screens with 600 channels and front and bottom cameras so you can watch the scenery from the plane. The food was really good too and we quickly realized that they do Middle Eastern/Indian food much better than western food.
The Dubai airport is massive. We had a 6 hour layover and got to explore a huge area. It’s really the crossroads of the world and it was fun to see people from every corner of the globe. To kill time, we walked around and tried to guess the destination of the flight by looking at the people. We got pretty good at it after a few hours. We finally got on our 8 hour flight to Johannesburg (Joburg for the rest of the posts) and arrived at 10am.
We rented a car and got on the move to Rustenburg, about 2 hours northwest of Joburg, where the USA would play England the next day. It was incredibly strange at first to drive a car on the other side of the road, but I got completely comfortable after two days. The hardest part were the round-abouts and shifting with my left hand, although the South African drivers were more aggressive than drivers here. I’ll have more about driving in a later post.
We stayed at a camp in Rustenburg Kloof, which was a beautiful area just north of the “city” of Rustenburg. I say “city” because there was really only a mall and a few restaurants, all about 10k from the stadium. We watched the first South Africa match at a bar near our tents and it was an unreal atmosphere. The South Africans were so excited, so supportive and incredibly happy to have to tournament start. When South Africa took the early lead, the place went absolutely nuts. We were too tired to watch Uruguay/France and fell asleep by 7pm.
Lucky's Bar Rustenburg
The next morning, we were woken up by Sky Sports News doing interviews outside of our tent and I got interviewed about whether we had a chance to win. I pretty much said that we would draw and that we had a better goalkeeper and got to feature on Sky. We went to a bar called Lucky’s in Bafokeng, about 4k from the stadium. It was an outdoor bar with tons of English fans. The atmosphere was electric and only built on the way to the stadium. Most of the English were really nice, until we scored our equalizer on a howler by Robert Green, then they started to get really angry and a guy in our row tried to fight an older American fan with a neck brace on. After the draw, which felt like a win, we went back and celebrated at Lucky’s.
The next morning, we started the 6 hour drive to Durban, without a place to stay. Our plan was to start calling places from the road, but most of the places were booked up because Germany was playing Australia that night. We asked a few places if they had any recommendations and one place sent us to Florette, a woman who rents out rooms in her amazing house. We ended up staying there for five nights and it was one of the best decisions of our trip. I’ll go into more detail in my Durban post, but I went to the Germany/Australia match after buying a ticket on the street for half price and the Durban Stadium was the most beautiful stadium I’ve ever been to. Germany killed Australia, but the highlight was talking with a South African, Jordan, who sat next to me for the entire match. He was extremely nice, bought me a soda and a pie and then offered to give me a South Africa Jersey for free. He wouldn’t let me pay for anything.
Jordan and me in front of Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban
After we explored Durban for a few days, we had tickets for Spain/Switzerland and my friend from the previous game met me outside with the promised South Africa shirt. The Spain match was one of the best games of the tournament. Everyone thought that Spain would roll, but the Swiss were organized and countered well. When the Swiss scored, they stadium was largely silent. Everyone was shocked.
Golden Gate National Park
After Durban, we drove back up to Joburg ahead of USA/Slovenia. We drove through Golden Gate National Park and it was absolutely beautiful. We were staying in Pretoria since it was cheaper and safer and stayed at a hostel. The next morning, we drove down to Joburg to see the match at Ellis Park. We got there really early and went to Radium Bar, which was the bar picked by the American Outlaws as the place to be. It didn’t disappoint. Katie got on NBC getting her face painted and the place was LOUD. We sung just about every American soccer song we could think of and then walked to the game. As always, the South Africans were huge USA fans.
Katie with South African Kids Going to USA/Slovenia
We went down 2-0 early, but we felt that we could score. In the 2nd half, Donovan scored a great goal and then we got another one in the 84th minute. I got huge bruises on the backs of my legs from celebrating so much in the stands. We were sitting next to three little South African kids and they were really getting into it. We scored again, capping the biggest comeback in USA history, but the referee decided he’d seen a foul. He got sent home for his poor decision. It was still a great day, even though we should have won.
After the match, we went back to Pretoria and watched the England/Algeria match at Eastwoods, right across from Loftus Versveld, the stadium in Pretoria with two Americans we had met in the bar in Joburg. We were rooting for the 0-0 draw that happened and were just about the only people supporting Algeria, as the rest were English fans.
The next day, we drove 4 hours through the mountains to get to Madikwe Nature Reserve, where we had a 4 day Safari at a place called The Bush House. Other than the soccer games, the safari was the highlight of the trip. We saw all of the big 5, minus a leopard, a lion eating a wildebeest, a cheetah and tons more. We were driven around by a trained guide and it was awesome.
Lion in Madikwe Wildlife Reserve
Lion Cubs
After our safari, we drove back to Pretoria for the USA/Algeria match, which was a must win match. We didn’t have a place to stay again, but ended up right across the street from the stadium. I’ll go into more detail again later, but FIFA and Match really screwed up here. We got accommodation because FIFA bought up all of the rooms at cheap rates, then tried to resell them at 4-5x prices and failed. The place gave us a room for a good price because they were empty, although FIFA paid for the nights.
On match day, we went to some bars and were completely surprised by how many Algerians there were. They were everywhere and wanted pictures with us. Most were really nice, but a few were a bit angry with Americans. We had ANOTHER fair goal disallowed on a blown call and the atmosphere was incredible. People stood the entire match singing, chanting and blowing their vuvuzelas. We had chance after chance and finally put one home in the 91st minute to send us through. I don’t remember the next 10 minutes because everyone was celebrating so hard. Andy and I got on TV right after the match and everyone stayed in the stadium celebrating for the next 30 mins, then went outside to sing and dance some more. Katie got a ride on a police horse in exchange for her American flag and the party went on most of the night. Those 4 hours and that one moment were incredible. Those moments are what make soccer the best sport in the world and now clearly top the list of the best sporting events I’ve ever been to.
Katie on Police Horse
We stayed with a family near the stadium and left early the next morning for Cape Town. We had assumed before the World Cup that the US was likely to finish 2nd in the group and play in Bloemfontein, which would have been a drive from Cape Town, but since we won the group, we played up north again in Rustenburg. I went to an Internet cafe to check out flights and told myself that if I could go for under $500, I had to do it. Luckily, I found a flight for $180, a car for $60, a place to stay for $40 and a match ticket for $150, so I had to go.
We climbed Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain, watched the two matches that day and then I drove to the airport for what I hoped would be an unreal 30 hours. Besides for the final result, the day didn’t disappoint. I met two Americans in the airport who were planning to do the same thing as me, so we traveled together. We slept in the airport, rented a car, drove to Rustenburg, went to Lucky’s again and hung out with Americans and some really nice Brits. The match was electric again. When the media here says that Africa is behind Ghana, it’s an understatement. Everyone except the Americans were cheering for Ghana, hard. It was a fun match and I thought we would pull it out, but it was not to be. We went back to Lucky’s and partied with the South Africans.
From the Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town
The next morning, I drove back to the airport and was back in Cape Town with Andy and Katie by 1pm. We took a drive around the Cape, stopping at beaches, towns and mountains, before stopping in an English pub to watch England get destroyed by Germany. We saw one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen from the top of a mountain, overlooking the Cape and then went back to Cape Town to watch Mexico/Argentina.
The next day, we drove to Stellenbosch and the towns around it, about 30 minutes outside Cape Town to tour the winelands. It was a beautiful day and a great way to relax. The vineyards were all set in incredible locations, many surrounded by mountains and rolling hills. We did tasting at 3 different places, then went into Stellenbosch to explore for dinner/games. We got back to Cape Town and prepared to leave the next morning for our last day.
It was raining the entire day on the 29th, so we drove around and explored Cape Town and had a great meal in the Cape Malay section of town. We got to the airport at 4pm and were back in Madison on the 30th at 10pm. It was an exhausting two day trip via Dubai and NYC again, but completely worth it.
Overall, the World Cup and South Africa were amazing. The soccer was great, the people were incredibly nice, were were safe the entire time and it cost about what we expected. I’ll likely come back to South Africa sometime in the future and will for sure be in Brazil in 2014!
This post was sort of a rambling overview, but I’ll get into more details about each city, the soccer and South Africa in general over the next week or so. I hope you enjoy reading!
I’m on my way to South Africa for the World Cup right now with my friends Andy and Katie. This morning, we flew out of Milwaukee to New York and will be exploring the city for the day. Late tonight, we fly out of NYC and head to Dubai, where we catch a plane to South Africa. We’ve got tickets for USA vs. England, USA vs. Slovenia, USA vs. Algeria and Spain vs. Switzerland and we hope to be able to catch Brazil vs. Ivory Coast and Cameroon vs. Netherlands.
We’re going to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Rustanberg, Durban and hopefully Kruger National Park for a safari and we’re all excited. It’s my first trip to Africa and I’m hoping its as amazing as World Cup 2006 in Germany was. I’m confident that the South Africans will pull off a great tournament, just like the Germans did in 2006.
I’m not really sure what to expect out of the US squad. I think the US got a fairly easy group compared to what they could have gotten, but there are not easy teams in this tournament, save North Korea. I’m thinking the US will advance and most likely lose to Germany in the round of 16. I’m looking for Landon Donovan to continue to build on his breakout performance in the 2009 Confederations Cup and his loan stint at Everton and really show that he is a world class player. Clint Dempsey will continue to shine out on the left flank like he has for Fulham.
With Charlie Davies not fully recovering from a deadly car crash, the US is really thin at forwards. Luckily, three previously unheralded forwards seem to be hitting their stride right at the right time. Look for big things from Hurcluez Gomez and Jozy Altidore. The most improved player from qualifying til now seems to be Jose Francisco Torres. I think he can have a breakout performance at the World Cup, attracting attention from clubs in the best leagues in Europe.
The biggest problem for the US is at the back. Tim Howard is a world class goal keeper, but the defense in front of him looks shaky. Oguchi Onyewu looks amazing in 2009, but suffered a knee injury in qualifying. He doesn’t seem fully recovered. Green Bay’s own Jay Demerit looks solid as the other center back, but the outside backs will have trouble with fast players like England’s Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney.
The African sides look to be really strong this year. Ivory Coast looks really good, but they have a really hard group. Cameroon and Ghana looked solid, but both are suffering from injuries and the hosts, South Africa have a decent squad that will be boosted by the home support.
So who’s going to win it all? I’d love to see Spain win it all, but I don’t see it happening. I think they’ll make a deep run, only to come up short. Argentina is an easy pick since they have arguably the best player in the world in Lionel Messi. As Arsenal’s coach said after getting lit up for 4 goals, Messi is “like a video game player.” Ultimately I can’t see Argentina taking it because they have a moron for a coach in Diego Maradona. England, Germany, Portugal, France and other traditional powers look to be weak, but you never know when a team will catch fire, like Germany and France in 2006. I’m going to go with the safe pick and choose Brazil, even though they left Ronaldhino at home.
I can’t wait to be in South Africa and hope to write a few posts during my down time, but I can’t guarantee anything. I have 2 posts scheduled to post while I’m gone, but any new posts I write in South Africa will be about South Africa. I’ll be back on June 30th!
It stared with leaders like Hugo Chavez, Mahmood Ahamdinejad and Saddam Hussein who wear their anti-Americanism as a badge of honor. Next, it was the developing countries who generally liked the US but felt they were not getting a fair shake. Next was Russia and India. Then came China, America’s largest trading partner and largest foreign holder of US dollar denominated securities. Yesterday, it was the oil producing countries in the Middle East. Even Germany has quietly started to complain. What issue has managed to unite most of the world? The US Dollar’s viability as the world’s reserve currency.
Back in April, I questioned whether the US Dollar is America’s Achilles Heel. Each day, I am more and more convinced that it is. Back when leaders like Chavez were the only ones questioning dollar hegemony, most of the rest of the would could safely ignore his statements as the ramblings of a dictator blinded by anti-Americanism. Most people did. When developing countries complained about the devaluation of the dollar, people could brush the complaints off as jealousy. When Russia started rumbling about moving away from the US dollar, some people started to take notice, but were not concerned, as they viewed Russian statements as posturing to reassert itself on the global stage.
Finally, when China’s central bank head made statements that he was not happy with the huge increase of the money supply, people began to take notice, but were still not convinced that there was a problem. Next, China signed currency swaps with countries like Argentina, Brazil, Thailand and others that allowed businesses to do deals in Yuan, rather than relying on the US dollar. This was a clear shot across the bow at US dollar hegemony. China has also stopped buying longer term US securities, prefering short term notes that they can roll over more quickly, while stockpiling raw materials, rare earth metals and precious metals.
Yesterday, the world had to take notice when the Middle East oil states held secret meetings with China, Russia, Brazil, France, Japan and others to discuss selling oil against a basket of currencies and gold, rather than US dollars. The US was left on the sidelines. Pretty much everyone is denying that these meetings took place, but where there is smoke, there is fire. It is the logical progression for the rest of the world.
They cannot attack the US militarily and win, so they have to attack the US’s biggest asset and its biggest weakness: the reserve status of the dollar. It is America’s soft underbelly. I don’t believe that these countries are moving away from the dollar because they do not like the US or want to see the US fail. They are moving away from the dollar because they are scared. They are scared that the US will continue to print huge amounts of money to inflate away its massive $90T+ unfunded liabilities (yes, T=trillion) and national debt, making their dollar denominated securities go down in value. I have seen people say that America’s unfunded liabilities between the debt, medicare and social security is over $120T, or about 10 years of GDP. You can see their fear in skyrocketing gold, which hit a record high of $1,045 per ounce today. The oil producing nations are tired of pumping their tangible, natural resources in exchange for dollars that are not backed by anything. They are simply looking out for themselves.
Taken together, these country’s actions are a frontal assault. They are saying “enough is enough.” They do not want to accept our paper, which is backed by nothing, in exchange for their manufactured goods or natural resources. Unless the US takes decisive action to stop the erosion of the dollar, I fear that the US will lose its biggest competitive advantage: the reserve status of the dollar. If this happens, our standard of living is fated to go down.
Books are incredibly expensive in Chile. I’m talking $50-$80 for a new hardcover and $30-60 for a new softcover. Even used books can be $5-15. It’s even more expensive for books in English.
The new wifi enabled Kindle costs $139 and the 3g enabled Kindle costs $189 on Amazon. When buying a Kindle costs less than 2 books, it just makes sense to buy, even for those without much money. As the price of Kindles fall below $100, they will begin to be even more attractive to South American readers. Unfortunately, you can only buy a two generation old 3g Kindle in Falabella for 199,000 pesos, or about $400, as the government slaps a tax on imported electronics.
