Horse!

Today we left the hotel around 10:00 to go horseback riding. Aside from the football game, it was one of the activities I was most excited about. They told us before the trip that they don't really ease you into it too much; they weren't kidding. It worked out absolutely fine because the horses behaved wonderfully. But when we got there we kind of just hopped up on. I have never been on a horse in my life so I was kind of freaking out. Like 3 year olds, we laughed everytime any horse used the restroom. The man told me my horse's name, but I remembered it sounded something like Chipotle so that is what I called him. He was obsessed with Justin's horse and just kind of stared his horse in the eyes. When Justin's horse galloped, mine did; when Justin's horse walked... so did mine. We went over sand dunes and through streams (one was much deeper than I anticipated and my feet got a little wet). At the end of the course we got to gallop free at the beach. Everything was beautiful and I tried to get my camera out any chance I had, but a few times when I tried "Chipotle" just took off, ususally because Justin's took off, so I had to put it away real quick and hold on. The guides were awesome, and I had an amazing time.

After we were done and I got off the horse, I thought I might never walk normal again. We were on the horses for a good 3 hours and I thought I was permanently bowlegged. After being "on land" a couple minutes, I was good to go. They also planned a BBQ for us which scrumptious food... and tons of it like usual here. We had chicken, beef, chorizo (sausage), potato salad, rice and tons more. We were all pretty wiped out after an active day and a big lunch so we were pretty inactive the rest of the day. We either slept or began to pack our things.

I can't believe we are having our farewell dinner today. It seems like just yesterday that we got here. I wish I had time to do a few more things, but I do miss my family and friends at home. We leave for the airport tomorrow around 3 so we may or may not have time to go adventure one last time tomorrow morning. One thing is for sure-- we will be visiting our favorite empanada place to say goodbye to the delicious food and the sweet waitresses who seem to bring out my awesome Spanish.

I will post a few pictures of horseback riding when I get home.

Adios!

Make Me a Bicycle Clown!

Today we slept in pretty late which was nice! Shortly after we took a nice long walk to Lithiwania... the restaurant that is. The plans for the day were changed a bit due to the fact weatherchannel.com said there was a 100% chance of rain. Instead of having "activities at the University," we went to the local mall and bowled. On the way there, a man dressed up as a clown was on the bus trying to entertain people so he could get some spare change. It was funny because we all had to figure out our shoe size in different measurements. The highest scoring boy and girl got a free Santa Maria fleece. Guess who won, haha! After bowling, nothing was really planned so we walked around the mall for a bit and then just came back to the hotel.

Isla Negra

Last night we went to a local club for a boy from the University's birthday. It seems like they have so much fun here. We sang Happy Birthday to him in French (he was French), Spanish, and of course some English!!

Annnd this morning we went on an hour and a half drive to Isla Negra to see Pablo Neruda's house (just one of them). His tour guide said that this house was his "work house." He is also burried there. It was amazing; everything was so colorful and creative.

After Pablo Neruda's house we went to lunch at a suburb. It was mostly a fish place again. Our entire side of the table got salmon. All of us have developed the habbit of making our own oil and vinegar concoctions for bread. Unfortunately, however, sometimes the waiters don't understand why we would want such a thing and clean it up any chance they get, haha. Next we went to tour a richer neighborhood on the bus and saw another beach.

Tomorrow we have the morning off and in the afternoon we go to the University for "activities." I'm not really sure what to expect, but it should be fun. I can't believe we only have four more days here.

Santiago!

La Moneda

Santiago, Chile

Today we woke up and went to Santiago. It was a good hour and a half ride there. We pretty much immediately went to the stock exchange called Bolsa Comercio. We had a little presentation and video and then we got to see the stock room. It was interesting to see the tables where years ago people handled their stocks all together in the room. After that we saw la Moneda and looked at different crafts things. We also saw a large church called the Cathedral that was gorgeous.

We then walked to Market Central (Mercado Central) which is just a giant fish market. We had reservations inside, but we couldn't find the restaurant and one of the owners who realized we were American offered us free pisco sours and began to sing "Born in the USA!" It was hilarious. Finally, we found our restaurant and had some delicious fish. We got like 16 courses of food and everything was wonderful, although I still wasn't crazy enough to try the clams. Maybe next time.

After lunch we saw a couple more sights of Santiago. We also rode another incline type thing. This incline went much higher! At the top there were several shops and I saw a cat take on 3 dogs. It was a tad frightening.

Tomorrow we go to Isla Negra and I have heard it is beautiful!

Free days

Sand Sculpture in Vina

Yesterday Megan and I stopped at the delicious empanada place again! Then we went to the mall and searched for some clothes. It was kind of hard because it is their winter season. After going into pretty much every store, we went to a store called Zara which ended up being like a Forever 21 and got a couple tank tops.

After we just walked around a bit. We also wandered into the casino pretending we stayed there and I got some money exchanged! The evening was pretty uneventful aside from us being goofy. Atleast we got to catch up on some sleep.

Today we woke up and had a little trouble getting hot water. I really hope tomorrow is better. Then a bunch of us went out to the beach to shop around. I got a couple little souvineer type things for family and then we went to McDonalds and got some McNuggets and McChatted and McAte.

Tonight we go to a group dinner, I think Italian? YUM! I´m not sure what will happen after that. We have a long day in Santiago tomorrow. I´m excited to see it.


Adios!

Day at the Farm & BBQ

Jo, Megan, Memo, and I at the BBQ

The pool at the day at "the farm"

i am typing on a spanish keyboard and i can´t figure out how to use most of the puncuation, including capital letters... so sorry that this is going to be so gramatically messed up.

yesterday we had a really fun and eventful day. we woke up relatively early to go to a company visit at centauro. it is a canning company for tomato paste and canned fruits like peaches and pineapples. because it is their winter, only the tomato paste making was going on. the man that gave the tour was very nice, and he gave us all tomato paste and stewed tomatoes.

after the company visit we went to the day at the farm. it was nothing like a farm though. it was a very nice resort. when we got there they gave us free empanadas and then we played soccer with the chileans. they put us to shame... their footskills are soooo much better. it was still fun. mmmm, after the soccer, futbol, game we had a lunch buffet. the food was all very good. after lunch we played fooseball, ping pong, and some people swam. we got very lucky because it was a gorgeous day to be outside. we left the resort after some more fun activities with the chileans and went back to the hotel to catch a bus to Professor Kristjanpoller's house for a sweet barbeque. there we were once again introduced to some chilean traditions and we all had a very good time.

today is a completely free day which will be nice. i think me and megan might go to the mall and pick up some things because... we didn´t bring enough clothes. also, we will probably explore around and we have a group dinner tonight which i am looking forward to.

wee!

5/4:

The University is beautiful. There is an awesome view of the water! The first lecturer was great. He talked a little about the history of Chile and played music (that they play in the clubs!!!) and showed videos of Chilean dances. The professor also told us we would play a soccer game agaisnt them on Friday... that should be interesting. We got lunch at the cafeteria at Santa Maria... which is nothing like Market Central at school. Later we went on a tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. There were many places I saw that I'd like to go back. We rode something similar to the incline and they had tons of sweet handmade fanny packs that my mom would love!! We also almost got hit by a bus... I guess we are too used to walking in Oakland where drivers are aware of the fact that we think we own the streets.

After the tour we had a salsa lesson. I clearly had no experience. I got coupled with a Chilean named Willy; he was super nice and he helped me a ton, haha. After, we went out to our first club and tasted the typical Chilean drink. The girls also sang Spice Up Your Life!! That was hilarious. Luckily the bar wasn't too full.

5/5

Today was a long day. We had several lectures on Chilean business. One of the lectureres, Leslie was actually an alumni from Pitt and she went on the Plus-3 Chile program in 2004. Now she works in Chile to help businesses in Pennsylvania expand to Chile. It's crazy where life can take you. We had another salsa class after the lectures with a different girl. This time it was just us. She didn't know much English, but she did very well. She also did know the very useful phrase, "The man is the boss!"

After the day at the University we were totally ready for some food so we went to a place down the street from the hotel and then Doreen Megan and I went to get gelato.

5/6

Today we had our first company visit to Codelco. Codelco is a gigantic copper plant in Chile. It was cool to see because copper is Chile's number one export by far. It turned out that in order to go inside and see everything we needed steel toe boats which we definitely didn't have. Therefore, we took the tour from our bus. The tour guide couldn't speak English so Arturo translated for us. He gave us a lot of great information about the copper making process. His name was also Jose Segura (segura is safe in Spanish), which was funny because he was the one telling us about all the safety precautions.

After the company visit, we went to Santa Maria for our 2 last lectures with Memo. His lectures are so interesting because he shows us so much we can relate to. Directly after the lectures we went back to the hotel to get picked up by the Chileans taking us to the Everton futbol game!! It was so cool to see how enthusiastic they all are. They ended up tieing 1-1, but it was such an experience. Me and Megan split Chilean churros! Yum! And then after that I had my first empanada. Yum again! This time we had abit of an obstacle trying to figure out how to order it to-go, but the bartender seemed to figure it out very quickly. I have found that if I don't know certain words or phrases that pointing and hand gestures are always a safe bet.

5/7
Indomita was my company visit. It is a winery in Chile. It was so beautiful and it was cool to see the process. They grow their grapes in the Casablanca Valley, and while we were there there were workers outside handpicking the best grapes to be made into wine. Apparently until 2006 they didn't ship to the United States, but now they do so I totally plan on getting my family some of their wine. We did a wine tasting as well. It was funny how she taught us the etiquette of wine tasting like you are supposed to sniff the wine softly and swirl it around before drinking. I have pictures of those that I have not uploaded yet.

Next we went to another "authentic Chilean restaurant" where the waiters were dressed up as cowboys. The floor was just dirt, and it was decorated super cute! Also, I'm definitley having trouble getting used to the fact that the toilet paper here is usually kept outside of the stalls, haha. Then we drove straight to the Santiago airport to do a company visit with Lan Airlines which is a huge company! We mostly just got a lecture and got to see some of the planes they had. I got a nice nap on the hour and a half bus ride home!

The wireless in the hotel still isn't up, but there is wireless at the local McDonald's classy McCafe. The man told us we had to buy something so we could sit here so we all shuffled to the counter and bought something so we could e-mail and write our blogs!

El Dia Primero!!!

View from the airplane

The wireless in Hotel de las Americas is not working so me, Brad, Caroline, and Megan went to the McDonalds down the street to e-mail family and update these blogs. The dogs are out and much more lively at night than in the day!!

So the plane ride to Chile went well aside from the fact that I couldn't sleep much. About an hour before landing, we flew over the Andes as the sun was rising so I took some awesome pictures of that! After getting to the Santiago airport I had my first trip through customs and passport check. That was quite the experience; all the paperwork and checkpoints were a little intimidating. The fee was $131 dollars and the tellers checked the money very very closely. Some people needed to get new money even if there was a tiny tear. I exchanged a little bit of money at the airport. I kind of felt ignorant because I had no idea how much to expect.
Our bus ride to the hotel was about an hour and a half. I managed to nap for the majority of the ride, but when we got into Vina Del Mar, I woke up and started taking pictures. It was beautiful! We immediately checked into our hotel. It is a little place, but it is nice. After putting our things away we went on our adventure. The beach had tons of little shops, and much of it had crafts made from the people nearby. Next we stopped for lunch at a pizza shop (not exactly authentic Chilean), however they didn't have crust on their pizza which is obviously different! We then took a bit longer walk to the local mall. We definitely stood out as tourists! I did however pride myself in finding the bathroom with directions given to me in Spanish!
Later we got a little nap, and got ready for dinner. We went to a place called Margarita and had a nice lengthy dinner! When we got there, I sat on a pepper! I don't know why; it just happened to be on my seat! I got chicken tacos and they were very good. The bottles here are sweet.. even just for water.

Tomorrow we leave the hotel around 8:30 to go to the University for the day. I am excited to see the differences between Universities in the United States and Chile.