Chile is home to around 100 Bulgarians who cherish their homeland

Moving to Chile is like stepping into a new reality, where the distances, nature, and geographical features are completely different. This distant and little-known country is home to around one hundred compatriots, among them Miroslava Petrova-Gutiérrez, who has been living there for 30 years. She moved to Chile in 1997 with her Chilean husband and their two children, after they had lived in Bulgaria for 10 years. Today, she describes this step as a good decision, although there were also many uncertainties.

''I have a big, as they call it, corn family, like an ear of corn with many kernels on the cob. Families in Chile are always close-knit, like the kernels on a cob, and there is always someone who can help you. I became part of this family and felt like one of them. I spoke Spanish and very quickly found a job. This is extremely important because this is how social connections are established'', said Miroslava Petrova-Gutiérrez.

According to Miroslava, Chileans are not inclined to emigrate and prefer to build their lives at home. She attributes this characteristic to their islander mentality, as they live with a sense of being cut off from the world around them. Their country is vast in size. On one side, it borders the Pacific Ocean, while on the other are the Andes — a vast mountain range resembling a wall. To the north, the Atacama Desert stretches for 2,000 kilometers, while to the south lies Antarctica, which is also like a desert, but a cold one.

It is therefore no surprise that over the past five years, Chile has increasingly attracted the interest of the most avid Bulgarian tourists. Miroslava works as a tour guide and says that her fellow Bulgarians are amazed by this distant country. “To go to Chile, you have to have a special taste for adventure, and anyone who goes there is amazed”, she says. From the desert, you find yourself in Polynesia and on Easter Island, which is Chilean territory.

“They are very surprised because when they leave for Chile, they do not know what they are going to see. They set off for a country they do not know, but they are amazed by what they see. They usually spend more than 15 days in the country. This is because of the great distances: Chile has 4,000 kilometers of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. These distances cannot be covered by land; you have to fly. That is why you cannot get so quickly from the desert to Patagonia, or from Patagonia to Easter Island — it takes time. They are very surprised by the diversity of nature, by landscapes that look like those on the Moon or Mars. In the Atacama Desert, there is an area called the Mars Valley because the landscape is the same, and lunar rovers and Mars rovers have been tested there. It is a very dry place, with high levels of ultraviolet radiation, stunning landscapes and volcanoes.”

Miroslava is one of the active members of the Bulgarian community in Chile and takes part in organizing events to mark March 3, Baba Marta, and religious holidays. How will the community continue to develop?

''There are only a few of us Bulgarians in Chile, around 100, unlike in Argentina, where there are around 20,000. In Chile, Bulgarians have come either for work, like the musicians, or they are employees of shipping companies who were sent from Europe because Chile has large ports with links to North America, Japan and China. There are also people who came here with a Chilean husband or wife. There are not many of us, and so far we have not had a real organization, but I hope that we will have one now, thanks to the visit four months ago by Rayna Mandzhukova, Director of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. Following this meeting, the Bulgarians became enthusiastic about setting up an organization, and most likely, when I return, we will try to establish such a foundation. This would give us the opportunity to organize exhibitions and allow children to take part in the agency’s competitions — for songs, children’s drawings, camps, and so on. I hope that the next time I come, I will be able to tell you that we already have a foundation'', said Miroslava Petrova-Gutiérrez.

We say goodbye to Miroslava Petrova-Gutiérrez, agreeing to keep following the developments surrounding the future Bulgarian association and to share the most important aspects of its work.

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov