About the country
| Capital | Santiago de Chile |
| Currency | Chilean Peso |
Why did I think about a Sabbatical leave to travel? Because of Chile. I dreamed of traveling through Chile and especially Patagonia already at university. However, after handing in my Master’s thesis, it was a little too late and risky – in terms of the already approaching winter on the Southern Hemisphere – to fly to southern Chile. The Torres del Paine National Park is the number one top-most destination on my travel bucket list. However, to truly dive into the vibes of another culture, I felt that I needed to stay in South America for some more time. I would have to take all of my holidays as one pack to get some more valuable travel time, though, this still felt too short. So I considered the option of a Sabbatical leave. It worked out, starting in October 2022.
Chile has such a stunning variety of landscapes, from the windy southern tip of the continent, Cape Horn, through glaciers, lakes, to Easter Island in Polynesia, big cities like Santiago, the vibes of Valparaíso, and the Atacama Desert. No matter where you are, the distance to the Pacific Ocean is always comparatively short.