May 17th: Last Day in Chile

Today was a bittersweet day, as it was our last day in Chile.  To make the most of our time and to attempt to spend our leftover pesos, Hannah, Alex, and I left the hotel early to walk along the beach and visit some of the artisan shops one last time.  None of us considered the fact, though, that we were heading to the beach on a weekday morning during a time of the year with very few tourists, so when we arrived at the beach there were almost no people with shops set up.  Therefore, we sat for a while and soaked up our last views of the beautiful, clear blue ocean.  Eventually we decided to walk down the beach further to see if the artisans that do not set up their goods at the stands were at the beach, but they were not.  Instead, we found a large group of people, many of whom appeared to be middle and high school marching band students.  I am not quite sure what all of the bands were doing, but my guess is that they were getting ready for a parade to celebrate the national holiday that takes place on the 21^st (Navy Day, which also is a celebration of the Battle of Iquique).  To celebrate the fact that it was our last day in Chile, many people from our Plus3 group ate empanadas at the place we have gone several times throughout the trip.  Hannah, Alex, and I then returned quickly to the beach to finish spending our pesos on souvenirs before going back to the hotel to finish packing.

 

During our two weeks here in Chile, I feel I have learned a lot about the culture here and am now more accustomed to some of the differences between the customs of people from the United States and those of Chileans.  For example, it seems very natural now to greet people I know with a kiss, and people I see but do not know by saying “hola” or “buenos dias.”  I have also become more comfortable with listening to people speaking Spanish and it is a little bit easier for me to catch some of what they are saying if it is slow enough.  From the experiences I have had during this trip, it seems to me that Chileans are usually very friendly, accepting people, with a more relaxed lifestyle than people from the United States, which I have enjoyed during our time here.  I enjoyed the time that I spent here, and it is my hope that sometime soon I will have the opportunity to return to South America.

May 16th: Horseback Riding

Today's planned activity, horseback riding, provided a very scenic view of the area close to where we have been staying. The ride helped me realize that Chile not only has a large range of climates throughout the country because of its length, but also has many different terrains in the area surrounding Santiago and Viña del Mar. The ranch where we started our trip was in an area that was predominantly grassland with a few trees. We then rode down a trail and crossed a road to get to the beach, where we rode for a little while. Even if I lived on the coast of Chile, I don't think I would ever take the ocean for granted. The water is so blue here, and the coasts are beautiful, especially when they are a combination of rocks and sand, as they are at some points. When we left the coast, we returned to the plains landscape, which reminded me a lot of eastern Colorado except for the fact that there were significantly more trees in this area. After this area there was a stretch of sand dunes which looked somewhat desert-like. This part of the ride had the scariest part, as there was a section where the horses had to follow one another in a single file line to avoid sliding down one of the dunes. This section made me especially nervous because for a lot of the ride my horse liked to walk as close as possible to the horses next to it rather than going in front or letting the other horse go first. Everyone made it across with no problems. The final area we passed through before stopping for a small break was a forest.

 

The provided snack was delicious. The guides brought a few fresh pineapples and cut them when we took our break. I do not know if I have ever eaten pineapple as fresh and as sweet as the ones they brought. It was especially delicious since I have not had as much fruit as normal during this trip. After our break we retraced part of our original route to get back. By the end of the trip I was very ready to get off my horse because I was sore from riding such a long time. Since I have not ridden many horses I was not really sure how to get the horse to do what I wanted, and therefore it decided to trot most of the time which, as I found out, is the worst of the three speeds that we went because of the rhythm of the horse's gait.

 

Tonight, we met Verner and many of our Chilean friends at a pizza place in Viña del Mar. It was nice to have the opportunity to all be together for one last night before leaving Chile and getting to see many of our new friends. To end our trip, many of the Chileans and almost all of the people in our study abroad socialized and danced for most of the night into the early morning.
 

May 15th: Spa Day

After our busy day yesterday, we had a fun, relaxing day planned today. This morning, we left later than usual and rode the bus to an outdoor recreation center with two pools, a tennis and soccer court, and a playground. When we arrived, we were given empanadas and drinks, and then almost everyone lay down next to the pool and relaxed or slept. After a little while, some people decided to kick around a soccer ball, and I joined them since I was not as tired as everyone else. It did not take long for us to realize that other people were not waking up so playing soccer was not going to work at that time. Therefore we joined the people sitting by one of the pools and talked until lunch time. After lunch, Hannah and I swung on the swing set and talked for a while. A few of us wanted to play tennis while we were there, but unfortunately there were not rackets and balls available for rent.

 

To end the night, Verner, the program coordinator at the university here, invited us and several of the students who have been helping us all week to his country house for dinner and games. We were able to walk from the recreation place to his house which was only about ten minutes away. There were a Foosball table and a ping pong table at his house that we could use all night. I really enjoyed watching people play ping pong, especially Brice because of the way he moved to get the ball if it was out of reach. A few people also helped build a new picnic table while we were there, which turned out really well, but looked a little bit unstable to me. A little while later, we had dinner which consisted of sausages and kabobs cooked over a wood fire. They were both very good and very filling, and it was fun to get together with many of the student guides for one of the last times. I really enjoyed the time that we spent at Verner's house, and appreciate his warm welcome.

May 14th: Company Visits

Out of all of the days during this trip, today was one of the most intense academically. Last week, we completed two company visits on two different days, and today we completed three more. The first place we visited was the factory of a tool company named Hela. There, we were shown the process for manufacturing paint brushes, smoothing brushes, and paint rollers. At Hela, the processes we were shown all involved a large amount of manual labor. As an example, the paint roller process begins with someone feeding a plastic rod through a machine so the fabric can attach to it. Then the rolls are moved across the room to be cut into the correct size by someone feeding the rod through a machine with a saw that enabled the lengths to be uniform without previous measurements being taken. After being cut, the rollers are then measured to make sure they are the correct size and blown to eliminate creases between the strips of fabric. The Hela representatives said that their company plans to acquire new machines to further automate the production process. I am guessing that tool manufacturers in the United States have more automated machines than Hela partially because labor in the US is more expensive and partially because automation is more precise and efficient. However, as these machines are introduced to the company, some of the workers' jobs will become unnecessary, so I hope Hela has plans to make the transition as smooth as possible.

 

Our second tour was at a canning company called Centauro. At the start of our tour the owner who was originally supposed to lead our tour was in a meeting to discuss a possible solution to the company's current peach shortage, but he joined us by the end of our tour. As with Hela, there was a fair amount of manual labor required to complete the process of making and packaging products. When we visited, the product on which people were working was jalapeños for another company. The main products for this company, though, are tomato based items such as tomato paste and tomato sauce. It seemed to me that one of the biggest challenges for Centauro is to make enough product to meet the demands of their customers each year, but not have a lot of extra stored because of the limited shelf life of food products.

 

After lunch, the last place we stopped was Bosques del Mauco, a mushroom factory. Upon exiting the bus, the first thing I noticed was the smell of the factory, which soon got significantly worse as we walked deeper into the site. The reason for the strong smell was the manure that is used for cultivating the mushrooms. It seemed to me that the most complicated part of the mushroom growing process is preparing the compost that is later used to grow the mushrooms. During the preparation process, the mixture of manure and hay must be properly moisturized and at the same time not have harmful bacteria growing that could later infect the mushrooms and be rich in the necessary nutrients for mushroom production. The mushrooms are grown in this mixture on trays in the factory. We got to see steps all along the production process including the growth, picking, and packaging of the mushrooms. Aside from the smell, this visit was very interesting to me, and the man leading the tour was very informative.

 

Tonight, Hannah, Alex, and I plan to spend some time touring Viña del Mar with our new friend Diego.

 

May 13th: Presentations and fútbol

This morning, we finally gave our company presentations for Jaime. Last night, my group had to change a few parts of our presentation, though, because we were asked to not present information on the important Chilean people this time, and that was the research I did for the project. Despite the fact that it had been a while since we researched the companies and I was presenting on LAN's competitors for the first time, I felt it went well. The other groups did a very good job on their presentations as well, and Jaime had very thought provoking questions. I learned through this process that it is important to know the information other people are supposed to present in case changes need to be made or something happens so they cannot present. Once everyone finished presenting, we had a conversation with Jaime about differences between the culture of Chile and the United States. Some of the differences people mentioned were interesting to me such as the lack of traffic laws. As I mentioned in a previous post, the most difficult cultural difference for me to get used to has been restaurant procedures.

 

This afternoon, we played soccer with about ten of the Chilean students. They were all very good even though some of them claimed to not play much soccer. At first I was hesitant to go after the ball because it has been a long time since I played soccer and all of the Chileans as well as some people in our group were competitive. Eventually, though, I got more comfortable with playing again and had a great time. I am not sure why soccer is not a more popular game in the United States, as it is a lot of fun, can involve any number of people, and can be played almost anywhere. To end the night, Hannah and I returned to the empanaderia since we will soon not be able to get empanadas, and that is the place we are most comfortable ordering food.

May 12th: Relaxing Free Day

After a long busy week of activity, it was nice to have a day to relax and recharge before another busy week. Most of the morning I spent in the hotel, and this afternoon, my friend Alex and I tried to go to a history museum. Unfortunately, though, I forgot when looking at the hours that today was Sunday, not Monday, so it was closed by the time we went. The building's architecture was interesting, and the building being restored next door was even more beautiful. Despite the fact that we missed the museum, I am glad Alex and I walked there because there was a Moai statute outside that was really cool to see in person. The statue was not as large as I expected from the pictures I have seen, so I wonder if this one was smaller than most. I think it is unfortunate that this statue was brought to Viña del Mar, though, because these statues represent the ancestors of the people of Easter Island and are very important to them. Then, Alex and I went to the artisan shops by the mall. Once again there was not a lot that I was interested in buying, but there was more of a selection this time since we went earlier. I have noticed while being here that despite the fact that clothes and restaurants seem to be more expensive than in the United States, handmade crafts are usually cheaper.

 

Tonight, Brice and Jorge took us out to dinner at a very fancy restaurant by the beach. We started with an appetizer of various seafood that was shared around the table. For the main course, many people ordered steak, but I decided to order a salad with crab meat since it has been somewhat difficult to find fresh vegetables. To finish, we had a dessert sampler of the most popular desserts at the restaurant. After so much food, though, I had very little appetite for dessert and just tried a little bit of each.

May 11th: Free Day

Throughout the week, we planned a grand bakery tour around the area. This morning, we carried out the tour, but it was not as grand as we originally planned. We walked down the main avenue about four blocks and then we were planning to snake back to our street stopping along the way, but we were all tired of sweets after two shops. At the first bakery, (pasteleria) Hannah and I shared a pastry covered in a vanilla cream. It was good, but what was even better was the next pastry we tried. It consisted of layers of caramel and flaky pastry and was topped with chocolate discs. The caramel tasted homemade, and was very rich and delicious. After eating those two things, even though they were shared, I was done eating sugary foods for the day. When people went back to the first bakery to grab bread, Hannah and I bought fresh fruits and vegetables at a market on the opposite corner.

 

After relaxing at the hotel for awhile, a small group of us headed to the beach to shop at the artisan booths. The artisans are all very talented, and many of the shops along the beach have handmade crafts, rather than mass produced goods. Many of the people tried very hard to communicate with me and Hannah, and sometimes we understood enough to have a short conversation with them. Once the people we met figured out that we did not speak much Spanish, many either started trying to talk to us in English or slowed and simplified their sentences. We walked all the way down the beach to a castle on the rock outcrop in Viña del Mar. The inside of the castle was less decorated and less architecturally interesting than I expected, but the views were beautiful.

 

To end the evening, most of our group went to a party at the house of one of the Chileans who lives close to the hotel. I had a lot of fun talking with some of the people there and getting to know some of the Chileans and people in our study abroad group better. It seems to me that many of the students here in Chile have studied or traveled abroad in the United States, and love telling us what cities they have visited, which for the most part are on one of the coasts. This past week has been very busy, but also a lot of fun. I can't believe our trip is halfway over and that on Friday we will be heading back to the airport for our journey home.