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A Quick Trip to Viña del Mar

Category : Travel
Posted on December 13, 2010 by Nathan Lustig

Viña del Mar is the closest beach to Santiago, so we decided to take a trip. I went with a few of friends from Startup Chile, including Tiago (Portugal), Raj (UK), Hank (US) and Jesse. We took the $5 bus through the hills and ended up in Viña about 1.5 hours later. They played a movie with no sound, but with Spanish subtitles, so it was a good way to practice.

We got to Viña at about 2pm and walked around. Viña is right next to Valpariaso, which used to be one of the most important shipping cities in the entire world. After the Panama Canal was built, Valpo wasn’t as necessary anymore. Our hostel was located about 4 blocks from the ocean, atop a huge hill. We had great views of the city.

We walked all over Viña to get the lay of the land and found a cool boardwalk and a bunch of bars/restaurants. Many of the restaurants were your typical tourist trap, but we found some good ones by asking out hostel owner which were good and worth going to. We spent some time on the beach and then went out to a few bars. It’s much cooler in Viña compared to Santiago, especially at night and we happened to be there during an extraordiarialy windy time, but it was still really fun. We spent most of the day Sunday on the beach, then took the bus back to Santiago.

We were only there for about 36 hours, but it was great to get out of Santiago and go to the beach with some new friends. We’ll be back over the next few weeks and I’ll write an in depth blog post about where to go, what to do and where to eat next time. For now, here’s a few pictures:

Christmas (and Chanukah) in July

Category : Personal Thoughts, Startup Chile
Posted on December 10, 2010 by Nathan Lustig

Its about 2 weeks before Christmas and Chanukah has come and gone, but it doesn’t feel like it at all. I don’t want to sound like The Grinch, but so far, I really like it. I missed having a good Chanukah meal with my family and I know I’ll miss Christmas dinner and hanging out with my family on Christmas morning (yea, I do both), but I’ve really enjoyed being removed from “the holiday season” in the US.

There’s three reasons why I think it doesn’t feel like the holiday season to me right now. First, it’s 80 and sunny every single day in Santiago. I’m used to it being 20 and snowy during Wisconsin’s December, so it’s quite the difference. I just can’t picture it being Christmas time without the cold. Second, there doesn’t seem to be as much Christmas music, advertising and products in stores compared to the US. Yes, our grocery store has a Christmas display near the front of the store and there’s Christmas lights on Pedro de Valdivia (our street), but compared to home light displays, store displays and Christmas music in every store, it’s nothing.

Third and I think most important, Christmas is much less commercialized in Chile. Only about 10% of TV commercials are about buying things for Christmas, compared to seemingly 50% in the US. I’m watching about the same amount of TV as I do at home, but it seems like I’m seeing way fewer Christmas commercials advocating buying all sorts of things. It’s more low key here and seems to be more religious, not materialistic. That’s not to say that people don’t give and get presents, but it seems way less than the in your face materialism that US Christmas has become. There certainly weren’t people waiting outside stores at 3am to get the best sale price. Nor are there slogans like “More Values, More Christmas” like in the US.

I really have grown to dislike many parts of the holiday season in the US, so it’s been a nice break to disconnect this year. It bothers me to see so many commercials that equate buying things with happiness. It’s one of the things that’s wrecking the US. People have been conditioned to think that they need all sorts of things instead of the things that matter: people, experiences, knowledge.

What do you think? Am I just a grinch? Are you seeing more materialism in this year’s holiday season?

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone, so Seize Your Opportunities with Alacrity

Category : Personal Thoughts
Posted on November 25, 2010 by Nathan Lustig

I’ve been planning to write this post like this ever since getting accepted into Startup Chile, but it all came together the past few days.

I have stayed in a hostel in Santiago for the last nine days until I found an apartment yesterday. When I went to take a shower the first day, it was great. Nice bathroom, high pressure, plenty of hot water. After 14 hours of traveling, it was exactly what I needed. The next morning, I went to take another shower and everything was great again. After about 5 minutes, the water got cold. Frigid. I had to get out.

Some days, there was no hot water at all and I skipped showering, some days I had the same hot shower as my first day. You never know how good you have it until it’s taken away from you. Luckily for me, I only lost hot water, not something more important like this young Packers fan. Because I knew what it was like to lose hot water, I got really good at washing my hair as quickly as possible. I took my chance to shower with hot water with alacrity. Big word, I know, but my Mom’s been saying that to me since I was 3 to get me to do things, so I had to use it here.

It’s easy to think that you’re living your life to the fullest, but you truly don’t know how good you have it until you lose it. You can try to live like you’re dead as Dave Winer suggests in his yearly Thanksgiving post, but it’s much easier said than done. For me, it’s easier to take a step back every once in awhile and think about all of the things I have: health, great friends/family, ability to travel, flexibility to start my own business, rather than the things I don’t have. If you have a few basic things, you’re pretty much set.

When opportunities come up, seize them. Take the trip, learn the instrument, start your business, go talk to people. What’s the worst that could happen? Live for opportunities and experiences, not things. When you’re looking back, you’ll remember your experiences and the people you made your memories with, not the things that were around you. Control what you can, let the rest roll off your back. If Entrustet‘s taught me anything, it’s that in the long run, we’re all dead. Don’t diminish what you have, because it could be taken away at a moments notice and when you have the opportunity to do something awesome, do it. You won’t regret it.