As you know by now, my first few months in Chile were not an easy adjustment at times. I struggled with the language (still do), homesickness and essentially went through the stages of grief (denial, anger, resentment, sadness) as I coped with “losing” the life I knew back home.

Now, I can pinpoint when that changed.

After months of wondering whether it was possible to be happy here, my “grief” was finally replaced with not only “tolerance,” but actual enjoyment in my experience living abroad.

At Santiago’s amusement park — somewhere between the rollercoaster that shoots backward and the one that drops its passengers straight down several-hundred feet — I fell out of hate and in love with living in Chile. Apparently, screaming at the top of your lungs for hours will do that for you.

Two of the rollercoasters, taken while riding on the orange track.

Fantisilandia is the largest amusement park in Chile, and the second biggest in South America. These statistics filled me with anticipation in the days leading up to this adventure. But I’m sorry to say, my anticipation quickly dissipated when I learned this park has a total of TEN “adult adrenaline” rides, only two of which can even be technically considered rollercoasters. TWO! And nearly half of the ten are those carnival spinny rides that make you dizzy. This is nothing but subpar by any American-amusement park enthusiast’s standards.

BUT, this is Chile.

So with our $15 entrance tickets, my friend Nora and I were excited that we’d at least have plenty of time to ride everything  twice. And time we had! Essentially, no one was in the park despite it being Saturday. Perhaps it was because we attended on the cusp of the summer season, each passing day inching toward fall. So while it did not have the big American-like rides, it also did not have the long American-like lines. We did not wait in a single line the entire day, allowing us to ride our favorite attractions over and over. It took us under two hours to ride every single “adult adrenaline” ride at least twice.

It was perhaps more amusing, though, to watch the people who were at the park — Chilean teenagers. It brought me back to my days at Circus Circus Adventuredome or Knotts Berry Farm with my friends: running wild without any of our parents in sight, rumors flying about which couples would surely be “goin’ out” after they “coincidentally” partnered up for every ride.

Fantisilandia is all that — a Chilean teenager’s paradise. Young couples played tonsil hockey on park benches, girls shrieked on rides as the boys dared each other to put their hands in the air. Hip Spanish music boomed through the speakers as everyone sang along.

Best view at an amusement park — ever.

So besides fast rides and long lines, what else is the “biggest” amusement park in Chile not so big on?  Consumerism.

Fantisilandia did not have exuberant prices for meals or sweet treats. In fact, we both had chicken and fries and popsicles for under $5 a piece. There were no gift shops of overpriced stuffed animals or silly trinkets, no souvenir drink cups or T-shirts.

Fear not, Fantisilandia was not without the people who walk around dressed in silly costumes! Although there were no celebrity sightings of Mickey Mouse or Superman, pirates were out in full force! Argggghhhh!

Argggghh!

It was a good day, a flashback of childhood fun. Except this day was way better because I was terrified of rollercoasters when I was a child, so my childhood memories of amusement parks actually contain close to no fun. So in essence, this day was great and not a flashback, but a nice glimpse of what I imagine pure childhood joy is like for the kids who aren’t terrified of rollercoasters.

Anyway, the point is … we ate our dessert before lunch, skipped down the walkways, took pictures with pirates and screamed until our throats hurt on the rides we rode until we felt like throwing up. All for under $20. Like I said: Pure joy. A fantasy land.

The boomerang!

🙂

—JDF