You don't eat them, you worship them from afar. You have to sometimes convince local restaurateurs that you can handle the hot stuff. Then they will bring out bowls of delicious, spicy red and green salsa to your table. Some salsa verde is made with chopped serrano peppers, which have a bit of a nip, but they're nothing compared to the Habanero. If you ask a chilehead why they eat hot foods, you'll get several answers, but the main one is the endorphin rush.
Endorphins are natural opiates released by the brain to signal pleasure rather than pain.
Me, I'd have to say the taste they impart. Hot peppers vary considerably in type, the location where they're grown, the temperature of the growing season, when they're harvested and how they're processed. McIlheny, for example, puts their picked peppers in a barrel with salt and lets them age naturally three years before processing. The result is a wonderful, smoky, rich and deep flavour. Some companies, on the other hand, use chemical enhancers to artificially age their products, sometimes giving them an unpleasant aftertaste and a thin, watery tang.