Day 6 in Chile: Isla Negra!

 

On Friday, May 13 2011, we left on the bus around 9:30 am to visit Isla Negra. The bus ride took about an hour or so until we reached our destination. Here in Isla Negra we were planning on visiting Pablo Neruda’s house. Pablo Neruda is a famous painter and his home is located in Isla Negra, which makes this area of Chile a tourist location. Unfortunately, for some reason, we were not able to visit his house until 4 o’clock, which meant we had four hours to find something to do in this deserted area. Some of the Chilean students that went on this trip with us asked locals for more interesting places to see. After doing several circles with the bus, we traveled to a poet’s grave where he was positioned straight up and looking toward the sea in the grave. There was a nice little area on top of a hill where he had been buried. After seeing this poet’s grave, we traveled to find something to eat. At this point, we drove where many fish markets were on the street. We ate at a lovely restaurant where the waiters were dressed up and CNN Chile was supposedly interviewing the owner. As far as I know CNN Chile was talking about how good the restaurant was and then they filmed us. I ate some chicken and mashed potatoes and it was made very well. We still had about two hours after lunch until we could visit the house, so we somehow found out that the world’s largest pool was nearby and asked locals how to find it. After a long journey, I must say we did find the world’s largest pool and it was awesome, even though it was not filled with water because of the cold season. Finally, we were able to see Pablo Neruda’s house by the ocean and it was very decorative on the inside. He had collections of many strange objects from around the world, such as figureheads, insects, instruments, and small boats in bottles. In addition, he had one of largest conch shells with a horn of a narwhal in the center. Once our tour was finished, we had to go to the university for our last reggaeton class. At this class, the girls made up a dance and so did the boys. It was very interesting to see what we could make up in five minutes using the basic steps of reggaeton. After this class, I got McDonalds for dinner and got ready to go out. We went to the Hollywood pub and then went to the casino to dance. Tomorrow is a free day for the most part and then we are all going to see a soccer game later in the day, so I am looking forward to it.

Day 5 in Chile: Wine and Planes!

It is Thursday, May 12^th 2011 and today I woke up around 8:30 am (which was supposed to be 7:40 am). This morning I got ready extremely quick so we could leave around 9:00 am. After some breakfast, we boarded the bus and drove about an hour until we reached Vina Indomita, a winery in Chile. The décor was very modern and the winery looked and smelled beautifully. On this visit, we learned about the process of making wine and started out looking at the fields of grapes surrounding their building. We went in and saw the large machines used to make the different types of wine and the barrels they are stored in for flavor. After touring the winery, we had a wine tasting of three different types of wine. The first was a white wine that made your mouth water and was suggested for appetizers or before dinner. The second was a red wine that was sweet and similar to a chocolate type of smell. The third was also a red wine, but it tasted of a strange tobacco mixture and I did not find it to be very appealing. The white wine was probably my favorite because it was sweeter than the others and did not have a bitter taste. After the wine tasting, we stopped for lunch at a Chilean restaurant, which was very old fashioned. I had chicken with mashed potatoes and it was made very well. The second company we visited was LAN Airlines. At LAN, we learned about their different types of planes, the growth in their company, and the places they fly to. It was very interesting to hear about the company’s success in gaining more planes from joining together with other airlines. We also were able to see their planes being inspected and went inside a large plane that was being cleaned out for their next flight. The seats in first class were amazing and could be leaned back and expanded as you pleased. After this company visit, we traveled about an hour and a half back to the hotel and went in search of a nearby restaurant for dinner. On our way, we saw a Captain Jack Sparrow lookalike, who I tried to get a picture of. The best part is he looked almost exactly like Johnny Depp in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Shortly after dinner, we went with a few Chilean students to a karaoke bar. We have been told, many people here in Chile party until five or six in the morning. To me, this seems impossible, but evidently it is common. Good night for now.

Day 4 in Chile: Mushrooms and Tomatoes!

It is Wednesday, May 11^th 2011 and today was the first day of visiting companies. We left the hotel around 8 o’clock in the morning and headed for Bosque del Mauco, which is a mushroom company. At this company, we learned about the environmental processes of making mushrooms, such as fermentation. To be honest, I loved this company because it made me realize I truly want to become an environmental engineer. In the beginning of this visit, we saw all of the manure compost giving off nitrogen gas and the smell did not bother me at all. I actually thought it was one of the most interesting steps of the whole mushroom growing process. Also, during this company visit, we saw the different stages of a mushroom’s growth and the final product. Workers that hand-pick the mushrooms get paid based on the weight of their pick. In addition, we were able to see the packaging process where some mushrooms are wrapped whole and others are canned. After this company visit, we drove to Conservas Centauro, which is a canning company my group researched previously. Since there was not a lot of information provided online about this canning company, we asked many questions regarding their farms, where they grow their own fruit and vegetables. They are especially known for their tomatoes considering they originally came from Italy. They also work with peaches and other fruits and now make some common recipes. Since they specialize in canned goods, it is very interesting to find them packaging in more bags that they make with three layers, one of the layers being aluminum foil. These bags are becoming more common since they are inexpensive and still keep food fresh. At Centauro, we received free bags of jam and a can of tomatoes. This company was also very interesting and enjoyable. After this visit, we stopped at a well-known place for empanadas where I had one with meat and one with cheese. They were even better than the place we went the other day. We drove back to the University where we learned more about Chilean culture, earthquakes, and music. After these lectures, we had our final salsa lesson, which was not very complicated until we came to the spinning part of the dance. Fortunately, my dance partner did not seem to mind that I continued to mess up and go the wrong direction. At this point, we took a bus back to the hotel and got McDonalds for dinner before we went to a party. At the party, I really enjoyed talking to the people here and learning about their customs and enjoyable activities. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s companies and hope they are as interesting as todays.

Day 3 in Chile: Customs and Traditions!

Today is Tuesday, May 10^th 2011 and we spent a lot of time at the University. We left the hotel at around 10 o’clock to go to the University for lectures on Chilean business. When we arrived at the University, we saw a gentleman, who was preparing for graduation. As previously mentioned in my last blog post, the tradition at this University is to throw the graduate into the pool with their clothes on immediately after they graduate. We watched some of his friends make his congratulation poster outside when he was not around. Unfortunately, we missed his graduation and did not get to see him thrown in the pool, but when we were walking through the University later in the day, we saw his poster with a large piece of his tie and the ponytail that he used to have. Today, we learned a lot about business in South America. Our lecture was very detailed on each country located in South America. We discussed the many interesting details about South American countries, such as the economies, laws, imports, and exports. After the lecture, we asked many questions we had concerning Chile and South America. Later, we ate lunch at the University and presented our power points on our companies to get feedback before we begin visiting them tomorrow. After our presentations, we learned reggaeton, which was extremely fun! I enjoyed reggaeton much more than salsa because it is easier to move with the flow and most of it is in your hips. Salsa, on the other hand, requires a lot of specific steps and movements, which is more difficult for me to do. Once we finished dancing for the day, we got McDonalds and then went to the supermarket for some snacks. I am planning on going to bed early tonight since tomorrow will be an early morning.

Day 2 in Chile: Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria!

On Monday, May 9^th 2011, we began our day with breakfast at the hotel and shortly after met some students from the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria. We took the bus to the University and were given a tour of the campus. It is extremely beautiful, but since the buildings are mostly all open it was rather chilly inside as well as outside. On this tour, we learned some interesting traditions of the University. One of these traditions was to throw someone in the pool located outside if it is their birthday or if they are graduating. When the students are graduating, they supposedly give them their diploma then cut the boy’s tie or cut the girl’s stockings before throwing them in the pool with all their clothes on… suit jackets and all. The tie or stocking is then posted on a poster where they congratulate the student. After this tour, we participated in lectures about Chile’s culture and history. These lectures were very intuitive and thought-provoking. It helped me gain a better understanding of the country and what I can learn from this experience. Later, we took a tour of the cities Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. The cities were similar, but definitely had their differences. Valparaiso is more of a city and tourist area, although I did not notice any other tourists. Vina del Mar is not as populated, but it still looks similar with the houses up the sides of the hills. We stopped in several locations to take pictures and walked to a spot with great view of Valparaiso. Additionally, we stopped in a Roman Catholic Church, which was beautiful, but the outside looked nothing like a church. It was a yellow colored round building with a statue of a man in the front. There were also beautiful praying areas near the church. We walked to get fried empanadas and they were very good. I had one with ham and cheese, but they also had dessert ones that looked delicious. We traveled back to the University after this tour of the area to learn how to salsa. We learned the steps and danced to some salsa music, which was fun. Later, we joined some students from the University and went to a pub. It was a very exciting day, but now I am going to bed.

Day 1 in Chile: Arrival and Exploration!

Santiago's fog

Today is May 8^th 2011. We landed in Chile this morning around 7:00 and did not leave the plane until around 7:30. The plane ride was long, but movies were playing on the television screens in the aisles, so I was entertained. I found it rather difficult to get comfortable on the plane and did not get much sleep. After leaving the plane, we set foot in the city of Santiago and it was much colder than I had expected. Additionally, I always heard that Santiago had high levels of smog and air pollution, but I did not expect the fog to be so thick in the morning that you could only see 20-30 feet in front of you. We traveled about an hour by bus to the hotel where we were assigned our rooms and then took a look around the city of Viña del Mar. While we were walking in our group, I noticed a bunch of heads turning, so we must have really stuck out to the locals. After walking around some of the area, we found a nice, quaint place to eat lunch. I ordered a hamburgesa con queso, and it was truly the largest burger I have ever encountered. If you can imagine the size of a soft shell taco when it is rolled out, I would say this burger would surely compare. After a large delicious lunch, we decided to explore some more of the area. This time, we walked the opposite direction (toward the casino) and enjoyed the scenery of the large playground and the Pacific Ocean next to the casino. The waves were beautiful and the weather became comfortable. There are many dogs in this area of the city and one continued to follow our group around. It was very cute, but I did not want to pet it in fear that it might have fleas. Later, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we tried barbeque meats and typical Mexican food. After dinner, a group of us went to get ice cream even though it is freezing outside. So far, Chile has been interesting. I hope within these next few days we will get to see more of the country.

Preparing for our Travels

It is May 6^th 2011, the day before I leave for Chile, and my mother and I have been shopping and getting ready for my trip. I have already started packing and just need to get some other stuff in order before I am completely ready to leave. My flight tomorrow leaves around 5:30 pm. I will hopefully arrive in Chile at around 7:30 am after our Plus3 group meets up in Georgia. I am looking forward to this experience and hope I get to see most of the area before we leave.