For the month of July, I was able to return a favor to a good friend of mine from Chile and give him a place to stay in San Diego. Sergio was coming to the US for the first time with his buddy Carlos, ready to live the Californian dream as seen in American Pie and American Pie 2. I was more than happy to host them and be a guide of sorts. Sergio had given me a place to stay, taken me snowboarding and helped me integrate into Chilean culture when I had just moved to Chile, so it was the least that I could do.

Curious about how they imagined California, I asked Sergio what he thought it was like here before arriving. His response: nice people, nice weather and frats. Fairly accurate I suppose. He said after leaving that it was basically exactly what he imagined. I guess I sort of live the stereotypical Californian lifestyle, which includes lots of surfing and beach volleyball. The side they didn’t get to experience was the working full time to pay absurdly high rent prices. Maybe next time, guys!

The Chileans got to see a lot during their stay, traveling to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, LA, Tijuana and all around San Diego. They learned many important quirks of American culture along the way, such as leaving a proper tip, counting coins that do not have numbers on them, ordering at Subway, sampling more froyo than you actually buy, knowing that al pastor is always the way to go and when you can/cannot drive in the carpool lane.

Traveling to a new country opens your eyes to the world. Seeing how this had positively shaped my view of the world, I was more than stoked to have Sergio and Carlos for the month, knowing it would do the same to them.

Here is a photo summary of the Chilean’s Californian July.