Day 7: Fine Wine and Poetry (10 May 2013)

Today we had our second company visit. This time we hopped on a bus to Viña Indomita, a vineyard and restaurant just outside of Santiago. The view was gorgeous from the winery and restaurant atop a large hill. Our tour guide was very charismatic, and I was again struck by how many Chileans seem to know English well enough to converse with us extensively. 

He first told us about the different varieties of grapes that they grow and some ways that they protect the vines during the winters and prevent diseases from spreading. I thought it was interesting that they keep rose bushes scattered about the property because they are weaker and will show signs of a plague first as well as attract the destructive insects away from the more important grapes. 

He then took us on a tour of the inside of the facility where they actually produce and age the wine. It smelled very strongly of grapes the moment we stepped into the building, but I did not mind the aroma. He explained how they extract the juice from the grapes without crushing the skins because that would release tannins, the compound that makes your mouth dry, into the finished wine. He told us all about the fermentation process and how each wine has a certain amount of time that it must remain in the large stainless steel tanks for an exact amount of time in order to produce the perfect balance of sweetness and alcohol. I found it interesting that the processes for making red and white wines are so different. He then showed us the large wooden barrels where they age the wine for up to two years so that the finished product contains a complex range of flavors and aromas.

Our guide also told us about the regulation of the wine industry by the Chilean government. Apparently the winery is legally restricted to one harvest per year in order to keep the quality of the wine coming out of Chile very high. This contrasts other countries in Latin America like Brazil, where they are allowed to have up to three harvests in one year. 

Next we drove to Isla Negra, where the famous poet Pablo Neruda once lived. We ate a delicious lunch at the restaurant next to his house (which has been preserved and can be toured). After lunch we walked through his house and saw how he lived and learned about his life and works via an audio tour. He was a very interesting man who loved the sea and modeled his home on a ship. The view from his bedroom was an absolutely gorgeous panorama of the beach and ocean which I cannot even imagine waking up to each morning. 

We ended our day with a final salsa class. This was my favorite one because we also learned some reggaeton and popular dances in different countries. We learned one dance that was very similar to the electric slide that I liked a lot. We did not end up getting back to the hotel until around ten o'clock, and we were all exhausted. I am looking forward to the two free days we have this weekend to catch up on some much-needed sleep. 

Day 6: Dancing and Airplanes (9 May 2013)

Today was another relatively relaxing day. We started it off on the wrong foot, however, by getting on the wrong bus to the university. We corrected our mistake after a few minutes but showed up to our cueca dance class a little bit late. 

Cueca class was interesting. Yesterday we learned that it is the national dance of Chile and saw a few videos demonstrating how to do it. The man dances around the woman, trying to court her, and both the man and the woman wave a handkerchief. The secret to the dance is in the movement of the feet, which I could not seem to get down. It seemed very simple (stepping in time in circles), but I had much more trouble than I did with the salsa class. I spoke with one of the Chilean students and she said that high schoolers did indeed have to learn to dance the cueca in gym class, which made me grateful that all I ever had to do was play floor hockey and badminton. 

After our lesson, we took a bus back to Santiago to visit the airline LAN. We got to see behind the scenes of the airport where the planes are serviced. We also toured one of the Boeing 787 aircraft, which looked quite luxurious (much more comfortable than our flight into the country, anyway!). The man who lectured us yesterday all about Chilean culture, Jose Luis, was there and told us all about his job as an industrial engineer at LAN. He must think of new ways to save the airline money by minimizing costs (namely labor and fuel) and maximizing profits (ticket sales). It was interesting to hear about some of the strategies that they have come up with to make the airplanes more fuel efficient, like towing the planes around the airport and using plastic instead of a lot of metal in the plane bodies to make them lighter. 

After saying our goodbyes to the LAN staff, we all got back on the bus and fell asleep. By the time we arrived back in Valparaiso, we were very late for our reggaeton dance lesson and decided to just cancel it and call it a day. 

Day 5: A Lesson in Chilean Culture (8 May 2013)

Today was a much-needed break. Instead of an action-packed day of sightseeing and dancing, we got to sit in a classroom and hear all about Chilean culture. Luckily we got to take many breaks to digest each section that we learned about. Topics covered included history, literature, geography, tourism, art, culture, social issues, natural disasters, advertisements, and music. 

I found the lecture about the differences between the United States and Chile to be the most interesting. The values of each society are different, and this difference manifests in various conflicting perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. For example, Chileans generally accept authority easily whereas we tend to be very quick to question anyone in a position of power. Another interesting difference is that Chileans do not value punctuality as much as we do, often arriving at social gatherings and even official business meetings up to an hour after the agreed upon time. There is much more emphasis on groups and family than there is in the United States, to the point where it is very uncommon to see someone going out alone. In the United States there is more of an individualistic feel, and people seem to isolate themselves as they get older whereas Chileans are very social for their entire lives. When I heard our professor tell us this, I wished that the United States had more of a group emphasis past young adulthood; it seems as though older couples tend to isolate themselves more than they might in Chile. 

We again ate lunch in the dining hall, although this time we were unable to find any seats together because it was so full of students. It was very awkward walking around to look for a spot to sit down since I knew nobody and I am not very good at speaking Spanish. The experience reminded me of being a new student at a new school. This opened my eyes to how difficult it would be to come to another country on my own and try to make a living for myself, and it reminded me how grateful I am to be on an organized trip with students who are able to speak English. 

To round out the day, we crowded back on the public bus and headed to get dinner. I am not sure how, but the empanadas we purchased seemed even more delicious today than those we had on Monday. My favorite part of the day was most certainly the empanadas. If it were up to me, I would eat them for every meal!

Day 4: Santiago (7 May 2013)

We had another packed day today. We woke up even earlier than yesterday and got on a bus that took us to Santiago for the day. Because we were first visiting the Santiago stock exchange, we all dressed up. We were all very tired and I believe everyone fell asleep on the bus. When we arrived, we learned a little bit about how the stock exchange works and how it is different from the one on Wall Street. Again, the specifics were a little much for me, but I understand that buying and selling stocks is very important for any business (even an engineering one) if it wants to do well. 

Then we were off to a busy section of the city near a large church. It reminded me a little of Times Square in New York City because the road and the square were not separated by a curb or any real barriers. We walked around the inside of the church and took pictures. Next we walked through a small museum detailing some of the history of Santiago. We then sat down to lunch at a seafood restaurant. There was a lot going on inside; it reminded me of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia because of all the vendors selling fish and other produce around the main dining area. 

We got to see some of the behind-the-scenes of Chile's politics when we next visited the Presidential Palace. We got to see the room where the president holds important meetings, and the entire building was very beautiful. I was struck by how much more relaxed the atmosphere was compared with that of the White House. We were allowed in after undergoing a simple bag check and we were allowed to stand in the very rooms that the president uses. It was a nice change from all the uptight security that we see everywhere in the United States.

Finally we headed up a large incline to a religious outpost on the top of a mountain surrounding the city. This offered excellent views of the entire expanse of Santiago, and it was my favorite part of the day because it was so beautiful. At the top of the mountain I encountered something that we do not see in the United States, which was paying for bathroom usage. An attendant was stationed outside of the ladies' room and we were not allowed to use it unless we paid 200 pesos. I was taken aback by this, but it was very cheap so I of course paid the fee and went inside. 

This marked the end of our time in Santiago for today, and we drove back to the hotel in Viña del Mar. For dinner tonight, most of us found a small restaurant that served quesadillas and also had some excellent guacamole. It was delicious! I am glad that I am enjoying the food here, because before I arrived here I was worried that it might be too spicy. But so far I have not disliked anything that I have tried!

Day 3: A Tour of Valparaiso (6 May 2013)

Today was VERY eventful. We woke up bright and early and had to leave for the university at 8:30. Some of the Chilean students took us on the public bus, which we found out drives quite recklessly. When we arrived, we got a tour of the beautiful campus. There was lush greenery everywhere and there were some amazing views of the coastline. We concluded our tour in a classroom, where we got to learn about the Chilean economy as well as economic profiles of various other Latin American countries. Much of the information that our professor imparted on us was lost on me, as I often have difficulty comprehending even the simplest economic principles. Nevertheless, I took notes and tried my best to digest the fundamentals of Chilean business. 

I liked talking to the Chilean students and learning about the differences between life in Chile and the United States. I was surprised by how similar it actually is! Their classes seem comparable and their lives sound like a lot of fun. They kept apologizing for their English, but they were very fluent and it was not difficult to understand them at all. It seems 

After taking a break for lunch in the dining hall, we boarded a bus and began our tour of Valparaiso. The city is GORGEOUS. I could not stop myself from snapping picture after picture out the window of the bus, and I took about a million more when we got off the bus to walk around. My favorite part of the tour was the open sky museum which was a path through the (steep!) streets of Valparaiso that had paintings all over the buildings. It was very impressive.

Because we were so exhausted from walking around all day, we really needed some food to recharge. We decided that it was about time that we try some of Chile's famous empanadas! They were DELICIOUS. I also decided that I would try some of the offerings of a nearby bakery, so I had a panqueque which was equally tasty. 

After dinner, we headed back to the university for salsa lessons. Our teacher was quite funny, and very good at dancing. I picked up the basics of salsa relatively quickly, but once he began adding turns and different steps I got confused. However, I had a wonderful time trying to keep up! We get to take dance lessons again on Wednesday and a final time on Friday. I love that I got to visit a country with such a rich culture. 

Day 2: We Are Definitely Tourists (5 May 2013)

Needless to say, I did not sleep very soundly. It is difficult for me to sleep in an upright position with lights on all around me, but apparently I slept well enough that I did not get a chance to eat any of the breakfast they served about an hour before we landed (which, I'm told, was relatively tasty). Oh, well.

When we finally disembarked the plane, we had to wait in a multitude of lines before we could leave the airport. First we had to pay an $160 entrance fee into the country. Then we had to have our passports stamped. Then we had to go through customs. Then we had to claim our baggage, which thankfully did not get lost. Finally, we had to all take out Chilean pesos from a single ATM near the airport exit, which took quite a while. 

However, we there met Jorge (our professor) and two Chilean students named Tomás and Marcello. Though I did not speak with them extensively, I am excited to talk with the students here in the future. It will be very interesting to see what sort of differences there are between the United States and Chile. 

We then boarded a bus to drive to our hotel in Viña del Mar, about an hour and a half away from Santiago. Because this is my first time out of the country, everything excited me, from the signs in Spanish to the very different landscape. Despite this, the motion of the bus lulled me to sleep within moments. 

The hotel we are staying at is very cute. My room (the only quad room) opens into a small courtyard. Once we got settled into our rooms, we walked to a nearby restaurant called Tiki Taco and got lunch/dinner (it was about 3 pm) as a group. The food was very good and the waiters were patient with my terrible Spanish. Then we walked around the beach and the boardwalk and took lots of pictures since it was such a beautiful day with very picturesque scenery. 

My first awkward encounter of the trip occurred when a street performer dressed as a mime singled me out and began performing around me, even taking my sunglasses and pretending to be blind in the streets. I had no idea how I was supposed to react so I did what I do best and laughed awkwardly (a lot). He was quite funny and everyone took a lot of pictures of him as he performed. 

I was reminded of just how poor my Spanish skills are when a group of us went to get some ice cream from a nearby mall. Ordering and paying was very difficult for me and I ended up getting the wrong flavor and paying with the wrong amount of money. All we could do was laugh at ourselves because we knew how difficult to understand we must have been. 

All in all, this was a very eventful day. Being in Chile for not even a day has made me very excited for the rest of the trip!

Day 1: A Day of Travel (4 May 2013)

Today was a very long day. After spending the night in Tower C with the rest of the Plus3 programs, we woke up bright and early to catch the 9:30 am bus to the airport. After checking our bags and getting through the security line, we grabbed some lunch and waited for our 1:30 flight by playing cards. When it was finally time to board, I was pleasantly surprise that I had an entire row to myself! I spent the almost three hour ride listening to music and napping.

Once we arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth, we began a six-hour wait until our 9:25 flight to Santiago, Chile. The Dallas airport was very large (much bigger than Pittsburgh's), so we went exploring and got a bite to eat again. The airport also had a much-needed charging station, so we spent a lot of our time clustered around our electronics in a gate adjacent to ours. We passed the time by talking and speculating about what things might be like in Chile. Like several of the other students, I have never been out of the United States before and taking my first trip abroad is very exciting. I cannot wait to spend two weeks in Chile.

When it was finally time to board our airplane, we were all very tired. I shuffled to my assigned seat, only to find someone else already sitting in it! After a brief conversation, I decided to switch seats with the gentleman so that he could sit with his girlfriend in the row ahead of me. This meant that I was in the very center of the airplane, with my fellow students Hal and Alana on either side of me.

After takeoff I settled in for the ten-hour flight. The dinner they served was better than I expected, and the in-flight movie was about FDR. I fell asleep rather easily a little bit after midnight, excited about the day ahead.