Localized Thoughts

Mobile Diaries Part 1: Our developer Teju Prasad starts his journey working remotely from Latin America.

FEBRUARY 5TH, 2019

Ok, so, how did I just end up in Santiago, Chile?

During my college days, I was very keen on studying abroad, but I was never able to. It wasn’t from a lack of trying. Engineering programs didn’t exactly encourage study abroad, and my repeated attempts to find a suitable program was met with many blank expressions and questions akin to, “You’re going to learn about the Fourier Transform where?”

Fast forward some years, and I come across a company called Remote Year, which facilitates travel + work, by providing the necessary logistics and infrastructure for staying digitally-connected while traveling to far off destinations.

So, I’ve just embarked on their four-month Latin American itinerary, which will take me to Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. While I’m on the road I’m going to share stories and observations about technology, business, and culture. After flying a direct LATAM flight, I just arrived a few days ago in Santiago to begin the experience.

One of the big lessons thus far is seeing Santiago’s vibrant co-working/tech entrepreneur community in action. In fact, as I’m writing this I’m looking at the farewell party for the twentieth cycle of StartUp Chile, an incubator that shares our coworking space.

Another (hard) lesson learned early on: I had heard a few stories of people having phones snatched from their hands when just checking directions or texting on the street.

Unfortunately, this has already happened to someone in our travel group! While checking his phone outside, a fellow traveler nearly had his phone stolen by a biker whizzing by, but our friend held on tight. In any event, I’m looking at the bright side and using it as a motivator to check my phone less frequently.

*In regards to the photo up top: after working on a project for Fujifilm, I couldn’t help snap this photo (right) on the way to the San Cristobal Hill (left) in Santiago.