I have written about time and organization within my journeys in Chile, and how I have had to adjust my habits (mis hábitos), manners (maneras) and ways (caminos) to better fit into the culture that is all around me. I mean, there is breakfast in the morning, lunch in the early afternoon and dinner at night, and in many ways to think in blocks of time (cuadros de tiempo), not just in specific increments of time is a much better paradigm to follow. I mean, the expressions of “Good morning” (Buenos días) or “Good afternoon” (Buenos tardes) are used all the time and they speak more to a range of time than any specific set time.
In Chile, especially here in Santiago, the days are designed with regulation, but there is always a negotiation that is flexible when it comes to the implementation of any exact schedule (alguno horario exacto). For example, the other day, I had to meet with a plumber (un plomero) in my apartment and he called a number of times in order to set an appointment. We agreed on 5 PM as the time, and on the set day, when he had not shown up by 6:30 PM, I decided to give him a call (una llamada), assuming he would not come at all. He told me he would be the in 15 minutes and a little after 7 PM he showed up, looked over the situation and decided we needed to schedule another visit to actually fix the item in question, which he in turn decided to do later over the phone (por teléfono). When he did call me, we had almost begun a friendship and on his next visit, the third to the department, I figured I should at least invite him to lunch, heck, he’s almost family (casi familia).
A while back (antes), I went to a conference and things were extremely well organized, with the meeting times and locations (las locaciones) perfectly defined and printed out on glossy tri-fold pamphlets. Yet, something that starts at 9 in the programs actually will begin around 9:15, which now moves everything just slightly (un poco), so that something that is supposed to end at 1 PM and break for lunch will actually finish at 1:30 PM. The time really is relative; I mean what is 15-30 minutes between friends, family and countrymen (chilenos)?
There also seems to be time for a little more all the time as well. For example, one of the groups of presentations that I attended was scheduled to end (terminar) at 4 PM and allow for a break (un descanso) so that the next group of presenters, including me, could set up their materials and await the next audience. Well, in the final presentation with about 2 minutes left, the presenter put in a 12-minute video, which he showed in its entirety (completamente), much to the delight of the audience, minus one fidgety attendee from the US. While the Chileans are perfectly patient in these moments, this impatient North American squirmed in his seat. This is something that contradicts my nature (en contrario de mi natura) and the management of this is probably one of the most valuable things to learn here in Chile.
In fact, people here make time for one another rather that cutting someone off, and to me, this is a great example (un buen ejemplo) of how to best manage the course of your day and to really effectively engage with people. So, all the time, where is nothing on time, but everything gets done no matter how long it takes. This is no the land of tomorrow (mañana), but the land of today (hoy), albeit a bit delayed.
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