Before you go to Chile: eras, customs, phrases and what is still there

Eras in a line

Empire and the colonial Americas (1492–1808) — From Columbus's landing in 1492 Spanish settlement spread through the Caribbean, then to the mainland: Cortés took the Mexica capital Tenochtitlan in 1521,…
Revolutions and new nations (1808–1898) — The first decades of independence were hard.
Revolution, war and dictatorship (1898–1975) — After 1945 Latin America became a front in the Cold War.
Democracy and today (1975–) — Since 1990 almost every Spanish-speaking country has chosen its governments at the ballot box, though democracy has been tested by economic collapse (Argentina…

La once — The meal that replaced dinner for many Chileans: bread, tea and something on top at seven, avocado on everything, a name nobody can explain, and an invitation…
Fiestas Patrias: el dieciocho — The week Chile stops for the eighteenth: dance halls built of wood and branches, a handkerchief dance everybody learned at school, empanadas by the million,…
La hora latina: the elastic hour — An invitation for eight means you may arrive from eight.

En Chile mucha gente no cena: toma once. — In Chile a lot of people do not have dinner: they have once.
El 18 de septiembre Chile celebra sus Fiestas Patrias. — On the 18th of September Chile celebrates its national holidays.
Si a usted lo invitan a una casa a las ocho y llega a las ocho, se encontrará con el anfitrión en pantuflas. — If you are invited to a house at eight and arrive at eight, you will find your host in slippers.