Day Thirteen: Two Weeks Never Passed So Quickly

After over 24 hours of buses, planes, and layovers, I'm back home and already missing being in Chile. Our two weeks passed far too quickly and it's difficult to believe that the trip is actually over. My time in Chile has been, without a doubt, full of amazing experiences that I will forever remember.

Thursday night we had our final dinner with the Chilean students and Dr. Werner. We went to a pizza place and different kinds of pizzas, including one with ground chicken and guacamole on it. We presented the Chilean students with Pitt shirts we brought for them, and they were kind enough to give all of us with USM sweatshirts! I really enjoyed studying at the university and would love to come back to it some day.

Friday morning was spent trying to fit everything back into my suitcase and looking around Hotel America one last time. Staying at Hotel America was interesting, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. After everyone was packed, we went out to lunch and returned to the restaurant where we ate our first day in Vina, coming full circle. After lunch we hopped onto our bus and headed to the Santiago Airport for our flight back to the US.

Overall, this trip has been some of the best times of my life. I learned a lot about Chile and their culture and have sparked a desire to see more of and learn more about Latin America as a whole. Every day I was able to see something new and exciting and even though the days were long, I can't imagine cutting anything from the trip. I love how close we all became over the course of our time in Chile. We left Pittsburgh not knowing each other very well, and every adventure we went on through Chile made us a more tight knit group. After being around the other sixteen students almost 24/7 while in Chile, it will be interesting to see how we spend the rest of the summer without each other.

I am so grateful I was able to spend the past two weeks in Chile with some of the best people I know. From the Chilean students to the USM staff, from the leaders of our company visits to Sarah and Jorge, our trip advisers (the two best people you could ask for) everyone we interacted with while in Chile was amazing.

Salud to the end of Plus 3 Chile 2012; a trip we all loved and will never forget.

Day Twelve: Horseback Riding!

Today we went horseback riding and it was probably one of the best days ever. We drove out to the ranch around mid morning and had some time to look around before beginning our ride. The ranch had boars, pigs, and chickens at one end, many cats and dogs running around the grounds, and of course horses. After we were given some chaps to protect our legs, we were assigned to horses and given instructions on the proper way to sit, how to control the horse, etc. We had a few minutes to practice walking around the farm and then we began to ride down to the beach! Two young horses without riders and a pack of some of the ranch's dogs joined us on our ride, bounding all around and entertaining the group. There was a fast, two lane road separating the farm from the beach so it was quite a sight to see twenty some horses crossing the road as cars and trucks waited for us. We walked along the beach for a bit and then turned to ride through the forests and the sand dunes. The views were always beautiful and when we were only walking it was quite relaxing and peaceful. Once we reached the dunes we began riding more quickly, especially when the horses needed to go up the dunes. The dune landscape almost reminded me of being on the moon or some unexplored part of the world. After riding for two hours we took a short break to give the horses some time to rest and to have some time to snack on clementines. We hopped back on our horses and walked over a few more dunes until we reached the beach.

Riding down the beach on Sarseul! (phonetic spelling of what our guide told me his name was)

We now had a straight shot with plenty of room to ride on the last leg of our journey. We all began riding at a faster pace and then began galloping! When the horse is between walking and galloping it's pretty bumpy and shaky, but once we began to move faster it simply felt like we were flying down the beach. I could not keep the smile off my face as my horse and I traveling down the shore line. After speeding down the beach, crossing the highway again, and heading back up the hill to the ranch, we returned from our three hour adventure and were ready to eat.

There were tables and chairs and log benches set up outside around a campfire and the ranch prepared a delicious meal for us. There were grilled sausages in bread similar to what we ate at Dr. Werner's house on Saturday, grilled steak, pork and vegetables cooked in a mud oven, and a variety of salads and rice. The weather was a little chilly, but perfect around the fire, and all of the food I tried was wonderful. We continued to hang around the ranch, eating, playing with the cats, and warming ourselves around the fire. When coffee and cookies were brought out for dessert, we asked the owner of the ranch if people ever toasted marshmallows in the fire. She seemed surprised at the idea but had some marshmallows and fondue sticks, so she handed them out to see us prepare this American dessert. Eventually it was time to leave so we thanked the owners of the ranch, said goodbye to all the animals, and returned to our favorite Hotel America.

One of the cats walking along a table as we were leaving the ranch.

 Tonight we're going to get dinner with Chilean students and Dr. Werner as a final goodbye. I've loved my short time in Chile and would love to come back someday. Our horseback riding adventure was the perfect way to end a trip that could only be described as unforgettable.

Day Eleven: Paintball!

After our busy day yesterday, we had a free morning today. I took advantage of the time and went to a pasteleria with some other students to get some bread and pastries for breakfast. We found a bench outside to eat and ran into some other people from our program who had headed to a different pasteleria for breakfast! After enjoying our morning snacks, we walked around Vina a bit and found a little market tucked between buildings. We looked around for a little and then decided to head back to the beach. We split up from the students we ran into and made our way to the beach. We lounged in the sun and took in the salty air before we had to meet back at the hotel for paintball.

Some of the girls at the beach

I was nervous for our paintball adventure because I'd never been before and the idea of getting hit by exploding balls of paint did not sound too exciting. We got dressed in long overalls, chest pads, and masks before picking teams and receiving our guns. There were a couple people on my team who had going paintballing before, so I began to feel more comfortable. Once we started playing, I actually thought it was pretty fun; although this may have had a little to do with the fact that I wasn't hit extensively. We finished the day with a girls vs boys game and the girls won, of course! Once the games were over we all gave back our outfits, compared hits, and got back on the bus to head back to the hotel.

Team Azul after a successful game!

Tomorrow we're going horseback riding and I am so excited!

Day Ten: Hela, Centauros, and Cueca

Our schedule kept us busy all day today, but now we're finished with company visits and classes so we can spend our last days at a less fast-paced tempo. We started our day at nine o'clock, getting on a bus to visit Hela. At Hela we got to wear our steel-toed boots again, along with earplugs and goggles to keep us safe. Hela manufactures various paintbrushes and wire wheels that are mainly used for professional and industrial use. We got to see each step of the manufacturing process which involved complex machines for the wire products and less machines and more human involvement for the paintbrushes. There was a lot of attention to detail in each step and that must be why they produce successful products.

Once we finished touring Hela, we got back on our bus and, after driving in a few circles, arrived at Centauros, the fruit and vegetable packing company that I researched prior to coming to Chile. The owner of the company, which is family run, met us and began our visit with a description of Centauros products and a taste test of some of their tomato products. We then set out to tour the processing facilities where the tomatoes are steamed and either canned or turned into a paste and canned. Tomato canning occurs during the summer months, but we were touring while Centauros was making their first batch of canned pumpkin paste, so we were able to see the machinery in action. I really enjoyed this visit because the process was interesting to learn about and the owner was able to explain everything to us very clearly. After we learned all about Centauros, and tried some fresh pumpkin puree (yum!), we headed back to Vina to grab a quick snack of empanadas before we went to our cueca class.

Our cueca class was taught by two USM students and it was very different from the dance classes we had last week. Cueca is the traditional Chilean dance and it is supposed to imitate a rooster courting a hen. We split up so that the girls could learn the girls' steps and the boys could learn their steps and after practicing separately, we paired up to perform the cueca to music! This turned out to be more complicated than I expected because there are subtle changes in the music that tell you when to switch to a different step and my partner and I had a hard time hearing when those changes happened. We had a successful dance by the end of class and then our instructors performed a cueca for us. We left USM for the last time and saw the sun set as we walked down the steps to the bus stop. Overall, another great day in Chile.

Day Nine: More Futbol!

This morning we were back to our early morning schedule and set out to catch a public bus around 8:30.  We headed to USM to listen to our last lecture on Chilean business and to give our presentations on the companies that we researched. We've already visited most of the companies so those groups were able to incorporate more information about each company while they were speaking. We visit the company I researched, Conservas Centauro, tomorrow along with Hela, a hardware company. After all five groups presented Jaime took the floor again but instead of a lecturing, he let us ask any questions we had about Chilean business or Chile in general now that we've seen the country some more. We ended up talking about the health care system and the HidroAysen project to build a dam in the south of  Chile. We ate lunch at the university cafeteria for the last time, and then caught a bus back to the hotel so we could change before heading out to play more soccer.

We all made our way to a group of turf fields on a hill by the mall and found out that we would be playing against the Chilean girls, and the boys would be playing against the male students we've met. When we arrived at the fields, there was only one female Chilean student there, so we split ourselves into two teams and played. My complete lack of soccer skills was evident when I let in multiple goals, but everyone had a good time. On our way home we stopped at some outdoor shops and then got empanadas from a little shop a few blocks from Hotel America.

Tomorrow we are visiting our last two companies and then learning how to dance cueca, the national Chilean dance!

Day Eight: My Birthday!

Today was another great, relaxing day in Chile! We didn't have anything planned until a group dinner in the evening and the rest of the day was ours to do as we wished! Joanie, Caryn, Christian, Kelli, Kirsten and I grabbed lunch at a small coffee shop type of place and then set off to do some shopping. Our original goal was to go to the mall, but along the way we ran into a market that a lot of vendors selling mainly handmade goods. Everything was beautiful and we all picked up some gifts for ourselves and for our friends and family back home. I was glad we found the market because I finally found some nice unique presents for my little sister since her birthday is coming up soon! We eventually did get to the mall, and saw that it mainly had international stores and not many specifically Chilean things. Since we decided we didn't need anything from the mall we headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases before going to the beach.

On our way to the beach we stopped to get ice cream from a shop close to our hotel. We see it almost every day when we walk but I hadn't been in yet. Since the weather was perfect we enjoyed our frozen treats at some outdoor tables. We then walked down to the beach and it was beautiful but the water was very cold! I was standing at the edge of the stand thinking that a small bit of water would lap at my feet, instead a big wave came and soaked me almost all the way up my legs! Just like in the rest of Vina and Valparaiso, there were dogs all over the beach. It almost feels like the dogs know we're foreigners too because they always come up to us and follow us but don't seem to get as close to the Chileans.

Joanie and I in front of the Pacific

After spending some time enjoying the beach, we returned to Hotel America to get dressed up for our fancy dinner. While we walked along the beach earlier in the day we saw a restaurant, Tierra del Fuego, right on the ocean and we talked about how nice it looked. Turns out this was where Jorge and Sarah were taking us for dinner! The dinner was absolutely amazing. We had delicious shrimp appetizers and then wonderful main courses. I had fettuccine with shrimp, clams, and abalones in a cream sauce and it was the perfect birthday dinner. With chocolate mousse for dessert and a view of the ocean, I had a great meal. We were all stuffed and content as we walked back along the beach to return to Hotel America; the end of another perfect day in Chile.

 

Day Seven: Spa Day

Today was another nice relaxing day after a week of fast paced activities. We got to sleep in and didn't leave the hotel until 10:30! Those extra hours of sleep are very much appreciated. Our itinerary said that today we were headed to a spa, but in reality it was more like an all inclusive resort by the mountains. There were multiple outdoor and indoor pools, a soccer field, ping pong tables, and a lot of places to sit and relax. Our day started with a couple of soccer games against the Chilean students. I chose to sit those out and cheer for the team instead, because my sports skills would probably hurt our team more than they would help. It was a lot of fun watching and cheering the team on, even Jorge played! After soccer we spent some time sitting in the sun and dancing by the pool. Some of the boys braved the cold and even went swimming in the non-heated outdoor pool. For lunch we went to the buffet restaurant at the resort. There were so many choices for food and all of them tasted fresh and delicious. As our stomachs were getting full and we were moving on to dessert, the dj of the lunch room announced that it was Allison and my birthdays and made everyone eating sing the us! The waiter brought out a birthday cake with candles and thankfully we were sitting next to each other so they brought the cake right to us! Later in the day I found out that Sarah, our trip adviser, organized it and brought the cake all the way from Vina on the bus! Allison and I loved it.

Allison and I with our birthday cake!

 After spending most of our day at the resort, we piled onto a public bus to go to Dr. Werner's house for a barbeque. We rode the bus around in a few circles, but once we arrived we were greeted by more of our new Chilean friends and the smell of delicious food. We played games of foosball, talked with the Chileans, and ate for hours. It was a great way to unwind and eat some home-cooked food while away from home.

Tomorrow we have a free day until our group dinner in the evening and it's my birthday! I can't wait!

Day Six: Vina Indomita and Pablo Neruda

Vina Indomita!

Today was one of my favorite days so far in Chile. It was Allison's birthday, we got to sleep in today and even though we woke up to find that the water wasn't working, the extra sleep was nice. We left at 9:30 to go to Vina Indomita, a winery with vineyards in the Casablanca and Maipo valley. We visited the Casablanca vineyard, where their headquarters are located. We toured the vineyard and the winery and learned a lot about the wine-making process. Our tour guide was very helpful and answered all of our questions clearly. Different processes are used to ferment red and white wines, and once that distinction is made there are separate processes for young and aged wines. At the end of the tour we got to try a few wines outside of the porch of the winery. We started with a sauvignon blanc, and then tried two different red wines. Our tour guide showed us the proper method for wine tasting, including the smelling, swishing, and more smelling of the wine. After we finished tasting the wine we contently sat in the sun while we waited for Jorge to meet up with us before our drive to Pablo Neruda's house in Isla Negra.

We arrived at Isla Negra and went straight to lunch at a restaurant next to Neruda's home. The view of the ocean from our table was beautiful and the food was equally delicious. I had an appetizer of clams and a fish soup entree and eggfruit mousse for dessert. Just like most meals when all seventeen of us plus our advisers and Chilean companions eat together, this lunch was full of talking, joking, and a lot of fun.

My fish soup

We still had some time after we finished lunch before our tour of Neruda's house, so we walked down to sit on the beach. Everyone climbed around the rocks on the shore, and since the waves were very tall, some people got splashed if their perch was too close to the water. The sun was shining, the view was beautiful, and we all had a great, relaxing time on the beach together.

With Allison, the birthday girl

We split up into groups of seven for the tour of Neruda's house and I thought it was very interesting. The guide of the house only spoke in Spanish, so I was thankful that both of the Chilean students were in the same group as me. They translated everything clearly and we learned a lot of funny facts about Neruda. He had all sorts of collections in his house from bottles, to masks, to statues that used to be on the prows of ships. In one of the hallways there was a huge fake horse sitting. Our guide told us that when Neruda bought the horse, he held a housewarming party where guests where only admitted if they brought a gift for the horse! I really enjoyed learning about Neruda and seeing one of his three homes.

A view of the back of Neruda's house

Today was full of beautiful views and beautiful weather and we all had a great time. Tomorrow we're going to the "spa", where there's places to relax and play futbol and other activities.

Day Five: What Does Mushroom Food Smell Like?

Today we went to visit Bosques del Mauco, but before we could head over, we had another lecture on culture at USM. The public bus rides continue to be exciting as we're always confused over fare and the buses either drive extremely quickly, or get stuck in jerky stop and go traffic. We finally got to USM and made it to our lecture right on time. Today we learned about the major differences in conducting business in Chile and the US. We discussed some basic cultural differences between the two nations and how they would affect business behavior. We went through various situations of opening businesses in Chile and what sort of problems each type of business might encounter. All of this information will be useful if I ever come back to Chile.

Our drive to Bosques was north along the Pacific Coast and the view out the window was beautiful. Because we were going to be around heavy machinery and a lot of dirt at Bosques, each of us got special steel toed boots to keep us safe. The owner of Bosques, who runs the company with his father and brother, met us when we arrived and was kind enough to lead us through every step of the mushroom growing, harvesting, and packing process. . The first step in the process is composting bales of hay to create food for the mushrooms. This composting involves soaking hay in water and then covering it with chicken feces, so the smell it produces is not the most pleasant. We saw hay in each step of the composting process from fresh bales, to those filling the containers where the mushrooms will grow. We then moved to a room where the containers of growing mushrooms are stored. These rooms are enormous, holding many rows of containers stacked eleven high.

Lots of mushrooms!

The rooms are entirely dark except for a flashlight carried by the owner and the flashes of some of our cameras as we try to see the mushrooms growing. The next step in the process was the harvesting of mushrooms. The original stacks of eleven containers are moved to two rooms with stacks of either five or six containers so that the harvesters can easily move through the room to cut the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are harvested the best mushrooms are packaged for commercial sale and the medium best mushrooms are packaged to be sold to wholesale. The fresh packaged mushrooms are sold only in Chile. The bottom tier of mushrooms is canned to be sold around to globe. Prior to visiting Bosques, I had not realized how detailed and precise the growing of mushrooms needed to be.

Once our visit to Bosques was concluded, we took our bus back to USM to take our second reggeaton class. The class was very high energy and felt a lot like the Zumba classes I take at the gym. We repeated some dances from last class, and also learned some new steps. One of the songs (click to listen to it!) has been stuck in my head since we first danced to it in reggeaton class and I enjoyed listening and dancing to it again. After our dance class we were on our own to get dinner so I got empanadas (again) with some of the other students. As usual, they were delicious.

We had some free time before our reggeaton class so I walked around campus to find a nice view of the sunset.

Tomorrow we're visiting Vina Indomita and Isla Negra. I can't wait to learn more about Pablo Neruda and the wine making process!

Day Four: Visiting LAN!

We’ve only been in Chile for four days, but it feels like so much longer. Today we began the day with another public bus to USM, where we had our first lecture on Chilean culture. We discussed Chile's geography, history, political system, art, and literature among a variety of other topics. It was an interesting lecture that reminded us of how unique the country is. Once we finished our lecture we ate lunch at the cafeteria and then hopped on the bus to head to our first company visit.

Part of the building where we have lecture; it's an interesting combination of closed ceilings and open air.

Our first visit was to LAN Airlines, based at the Santiago Airport. LAN is the main airline in Chile, and most of South America. We met with one of the company's engineers and he presented some very interesting topics. We learned that LAN has one of the most modern fleets and is making many innovations to their fleet. Through research they found that adding "winglets" to the end of the wings on a Boeing 767, they could reduce the amount of fuel needed by the plane, and thus modified all their 767's with this change. LAN is also adding new planes to their fleet that are made from a composite material instead of entirely metallic planes. The metallic planes are heavier, can corrode when at seaside airports, and cause the air inside of the plane to be very dry. By using the composite material for the plane, these problems can be decreased or eliminated. We did not get to see any of the planes up close, but the visit was still interesting and informative.

Once we thanked our presenter and left LAN, we headed back to USM for our second salsa class! We started with a short review of the steps we learned on Monday and then moved on to some more complicated ones. After practicing the steps by ourselves, we paired back up with our partners to continue working on dancing together. While this does feel more like salsa, I think it's more difficult than practicing alone because you need to coordinate the movement of two people into one smooth dance. We ended the class with a "free dance" when our teacher simply turned on the music and told each pair to go ahead and dance around the room, continuing to use our basic salsa skills. The class was more challenging than our first, but it was still a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we visit Bosques del Mauco, a mushroom company.

Day Three: Santiago and Reggaeton

Today we visited Santiago, the capital of Chile. Since it is an hour and half to two hours away by bus, we left the hotel around 7:30 or 8. The plus side of the bus ride was that we all had a nice nap before we visited Bolsa de Comercio, the main Chilean stock market. They gave us a presentation about the Chilean stock market and a brief overview of how it works, but because I've never studied the topic before, I was fairly confused about the entire system. An interesting development we learned about was MILA, a joint stock market between Chile, Peru, and Colombia. After the presentation we headed down to the trading floor. One main difference between the American and Chilean stock exchange is that almost no one uses the trading floor at Bolsa de Camercio. The brokers mainly work from their offices because the entire market can be accessed online.

After we finished looking around the trading floor, we went to walk around the center of Santiago. La Moneda, the building that the Chilean president works from, is only a block away from Bolsa. There are police guarding La Moneda, some on horses, but there are still some stray dogs laying on the lawn and sidewalk surrounding the building. There are stray dogs everywhere we've been so far. It seems almost impossible to walk down the street without seeing at least two or three dogs. From La Moneda we walked to a beautiful cathedral that had a lot of stained glass. After spending some time looking around, we crossed the street to the Chilean National History Museum. All the signs describing the paintings and artifacts were in Spanish, but with the help of some fellow Plus 3 students whose Spanish is better than mine, I was able to get a grasp on the history of the nation.

By the time we finished looking around the museum, it was time for lunch! We took a bus over the the fish market that has some restaurants inside of it. We went to Augusto's and had some delicious seafood. Our last stop in Santiago was Cerro San Cristóbal, a really big hill with a statue of the Virgin Mary on top. To get most of the way up the hill, you need to go up an incline similar to the Duquesne Incline, except it was much steeper and longer.

The view up the incline. Midway up the incline there's a spot for the two carts to go around each other so both can run on the same track.

 At the spot where the incline ends, you're high enough to see all of Santiago. But there is so much smog from the city that the view is very hazy. We took some group photos and then begin the walk up to the Virgin Mary. To reach the top of the hill, there are a lot of steps to climb and a walk through a silent prayer garden. The view from the very top is beautiful, although not too clear because of all the smog. We then quickly headed back down to the bus so we could drive back to Valparaiso and make it back in time for our next dance class.

Joanie and I on Cerro San Cristóbal with a very hazy view of Santiago.

Our dance class today was reggaeton, a dance style very different from salsa. The dancing was very energetic and more tiring than our salsa class yesterday. About halfway through our lesson, some students from USM were standing around the space we were dancing and watching us. Our teacher just invited them right in to dance with us and they looked like they were having just as much fun as we were. After class we took the public bus back to our hotel in Vina. The buses in Valparaiso/Vina are smaller than the public buses in Pittsburgh, and also drive much faster. Taking these buses to and from the University is certainly an adventure. The dance class was our last structured activity for the day, so we were on our own for dinner. 


Tomorrow we visit our first company, LAN Airlines.

Day Two: Lectures and Tours and Salsa, oh my!

Our first full day in Chile kept us busy as bees. We started our morning with breakfast at the hotel and then took public buses to the Universidad Technica Frederico Santa Maria. Bus fare was less than I had thought it would be, despite the fact that gas is about 800 pesos/liter.  We got a tour of USM once we arrived on campus to see the main sites of the university. In the center of the campus there is a pool that is the center of some campus traditions. When it is your birthday or if you are graduating people throw you into the pool, no matter the weather outside. Allison and I both have birthdays while we're in Chile, but we're hoping we're not at USM those days so that we can stay dry. 

After our tour we met Dr. Werner and Jaime, two professors at the University. Jaime then taught us about the economies of some Latin American cultures with a specific focus on Chile. It was interesting to see how the nations of Latin America differed from the US. After three hours of lecture we headed to lunch at the campus cafeteria. It was more like a high school cafeteria than the university dining halls that we're used to. The seating area was crowded so instead of sitting as a whole group we spread out through the Chileans. Because we don't look very Chilean, a lot of the students would stare at us and whisper to each other about the Americans. 

Once lunch was over we met up with two more Chilean students who took us on a tour of Valparaíso and Vina del Mar. We visited the main square of Valparaiso, a memorial to Artouro Prat, and rode an ascensor to the top of one of Valparaiso's hills. While we were at the main square, we walked up hundreds of stairs to reach an area of Valparaiso that has many outdoor paintings. There is a lot of graffiti and street art in both Vina and Valparaiso, but most of it is actually really interesting and adds to the character of the area. The hill we climbed had many colorful houses, mosaic lampposts, and street art everywhere.

A painted building in Valparaiso.

You could tell the paintings were done with time and care and contributed to the atmosphere of Valparaiso. We finished our tour by heading over to Vina and seeing a clock made out flowers planted on a slope. It tells accurate time and even has a moving second hand. Post-tour, we grabbed some empanadas for a snack and then took a bus back to the University for our first dance class.

Sunset in Vina. The view is from the flower clock.

We met our dance teacher and found out that we found be learning how to salsa today! I've always wanted to be able to salsa so this class was something I was really looking forward to. Even though we may have looked like we didn't know what we were doing sometimes, the salsa class was so much fun! After learning all the basic steps on our own for the majority of the class, we paired up for the last few minutes to begin practicing dancing with a partner. We'll have another salsa class later this week so I'm excited to learn more!

In the evening our whole Plus 3 group went to karaoke with the Chilean students we had met and some of their friends. Almost everyone got up to sing and even though we don't all have the best voices, we had a great time. We had an early morning the next day, so I went to sleep as soon as we got back to the hotel. We're headed to Santiago tomorrow and I'm excited to see the Chilean capital. 

Day One: Arrival in Chile

We've returned to our hotel for the evening and it feels as though we've been moving nonstop since Saturday when we left for the airport. Once we landed in Miami we used our layover time to eat dinner before boarding the Boeing 767 for our flight to Santiago. Two movies, eight and a half hours, and a lot of restless sleep later, we landed at the Santiago International Airport around 7:30 am. We proceeded through customs and went to find our luggage. We arrived to the baggage claim to find two free roaming dogs sniffing all the luggage for illegal contents. This is very different from the US where the dogs are usually led around on leashes, especially in public places. We finally found all the luggage and exited to immediately see our faculty director, Jorge, waiting right outside along with Javier, one of the Chilean students who will be with us for the next two weeks. Although we had succeeded in exiting the airport, we still were not done with our journey. Next came an hour and a half long bus ride to reach our hotel in Vina Del Mar. The landscape we drove through varied from looking dry and arid to very fertile with multiple vineyards. At least we reached our destination, Hotel America.

Our lunch! All this food for two people.

From the outside our hotel appears to be a regular house, but it had many corridors and rooms and it was fun to explore the building. It's also in a great location, close to the beach, a lot of restaurants and a grocery store. We spent some time unpacking and then headed to lunch at the Tiki Taco, a Mexican restaurant not far from our temporary home. Evan and I decided to share a parradilla, thinking it would be a reasonable amount of food for two people. To say we were surprised when our food came out would be an understatement. Our server brought out a giant plate of vegetables, and then a miniature grill with two large pieces of chicken, two steaks, two pieces of pork, and four different sausages along with a multitude of potatoes! Despite our strongest efforts, we were only able to eat about half or three fourths of the meal.

After lunch we grabbed our raincoats and met up with Javier and his younger brother to go to a futbol game; Everton, the home team, vs San Marco. Even through the rain, the crowd was noisy and invigorated, singing over the course of the entire game. At the end of the first half, Everton was down 2-0, but no one seemed discouraged, with good reason. In the second half Everton scored three goals! They won the game with just a few minutes left. As the timer ran out and the fans all started to cheer, the referee pulls out another red card on a player from the guest team! This bizarre event ended with the referees being protected by police with riot shields as both teams left the field. I'd never been to a soccer game before, and this exciting match was a great way to start.

We start bright and early tomorrow, taking the bus over to the university at 8:30. I can't wait to see the university and meet more Chileans!

Departure

This is it! Last night we had one final workshop with all the Plus 3 students. It was great to see everyone and learn where they're traveling to. Aside from our Plus 3 group going to Chile, students are going to Germany, China, and Vietnam. Each group had to perform a skit that demonstrated improper etiquette and professional behavior and it was interesting to see what is culturally acceptable in each country.  After the workshop all the students headed to Chile went to dinner together, the first of many meals we'll share over the next few weeks.

In about two hours we'll be leaving for the airport and taking our flight down to Miami and from there an overnight flight to Santiago! I am so excited be in Chile; I've been abroad before but I've never been to South America so this experience will be completely different. I can't wait to be immersed in the Chilean culture and see everything I can while we're in there.

The next time I write it will be from Chile!