Una Semana en Santiago, Chile

Today was a really fun day for the gang. We took a two hour drive to Valparaiso which is on the coast. We took a bus tour and got to walk around the city near the port for a couple hours. It was a beautiful city. We went up a couple trollies and Jake was too tall for them, haha. There was a lot of graffiti throughout the city, but it was really pretty graffiti. Jake and Brett went up to the ocean and stuck their hands it. They said it was freezing! We caught Dr. Stephens enjoying the ocean and beach too!

We have made friends with lots of stray dogs this weekend (like Pedro), but we haven't had any repercussions... until today. Brittany stepped in fresh turd. It smelled awful! Her poor keds....

Our hostess MJ lives in this city and has been commuting to Santiago. After the bus tour, we went to a Yacht Club for lunch. The appetizers were so good! I think everyone could have eaten those appetizers for hours. After our lunch, we had some free time. The boys all went to the casino and the girls went to little markets along the beach. Unfortunately, the gents in this blog group didn't have the best luck at the casino.

And now we are going to a discoteca in Bella Vista. Adios!

Our last stop on Friday was the Undurraga Winery. We arrived to a beautiful estate with really nice landscaping and were lead inside to a room where we were given a presentation on the wine industry of Chile by one of their salesmen. It was an interesting presentation and none of us realized how complicated and personal-relationship-based the wine industry is. After the presentation were given a tour of the vineyard and the estate. We were shown how the wine is made and then stored in wood barrels.

After the tour we had a wine tasting. Our guide taught us how to drink the wine by first smelling, then swirling and smelling, then actually giving it a taste. Before this, however, Jake almost got cut off by the guide because when he was walking into the building, he ran into a glass table and did the splits so that he wouldn't fall face first into the table top. There is still a footprint where Jake's shoe landed on the table, and in at least one way, the Fellows Program left its mark on the Undurraga Winery.

Overall, Friday was a fantastic day of diverse activities and Brett capped it off by singing karaoke to "Sway" by Michael Buble. We have a video of it, but we decided to let Brett keep some dignity....

Following our tour of AgroSuper, we hopped back on the bus and went to Los Cipreses School. The school is actually part of AgroSuper's foundation. From our understanding, the company funds the school and its operations. We went into this visit with no expectations. Everyone was fairly uncertain about what exactly we would be doing at the school, including our guide MJ. We were greeted our side the school by some of the faculty as well as some of the students. These faculty and students took us on a tour of the school, which was built in 2002 and looked really nice. After the tour is when the real fun began. The faculty connected us with some high school students and we engaged with the students for about 30 minutes. The students had a chance to practice their English with us, and we were able to test our Spanish skills (or lack there of). They actually have English class 6 hours a week and many of the kids said it was their favorite language. Since Catholicism dominates the religious scene in Chile, it was not surprising to find out that the school has mass once a week. One time a month the mass is actually said in English, and the student-run choir actually sings songs in English as well. After hearing this, we decided it would be a cool experience to hear a few of the songs that they sing. A girl I met, Javii (who I am already Facebook friends with) sang in the choir and had a beautiful voice. Following the songs and an exchange of contact information for Facebook and email, it was time for us to hit the road and head to our next destination.

Today we all had to wake up super early and leave at 7:30 am and take a bus ride to AgroSuper, a leading company in the Chilean food industry. It took about an hour and a half to get to the factory so most of us slept on the way there. Once we arrived we were taken to a room where we watched a video about the company and were given a presentation. We learned that AgroSuper breeds chickens, turkeys, pork, salmon, grows fruits, and makes wine. The factory we were at today slaughters pigs, commercializes, packages, and sends them all over the world. After the video and presentation, they suited us all up with disposable clothing of white coats, booties for our shoes, masks, and hair nets. Kristy had to wear gloves because her nails were painted. They were very strict on cleanliness which is definitely a good thing. After we all washed our hands and were suited up, we were taken into the factory... We were first greeted by full pigs split in half where the first person on the assembly line was cutting their heads off. Some people were a little queezy, but I think Brittany definitely took it the best, just kidding. We were lead through the entire factory where they would slice the pig into different parts and process the different kinds of pork. It was then packaged in different ways and sent all over the world. The whole experience was pretty intense but it was interesting to see the way all of that is done, at least they are super strict on everything being sanitary I guess. We were all given AgroSuper bags as souvenirs. We loaded the bus and headed to our next destination.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday!

A hole looking down from the platform on the Entel Tower

A picture from the Metropolitan Church of Chile

A view from the top of the Entel Tower

Today we hopped on the bus shortly after 9 am to head out for our community service project. Our destination was an orphanage for teenage girls who have been abused or abandoned. We were connected to this orphanage through VE Global, a nonprofit service organization that we met with yesterday during one of our business meetings.

We were split into two groups, one group worked inside painting and fixing up a room that some of the younger girls live in. The other group worked outside cleaning up a basketball court for the girls, and replacing the rims and backboard. Since it is fall here, there were tons of leaves on the court and everywhere, so that was our first priority. Sam worked hard all day getting the old backboards down which turned out to be a mucher tougher job than it looked. Kristy, Jake, and Brett all swept the dirt and dust off the court so we could repaint the basketball court lines. Brittany painted inside and then helped paint the court lines after we had cleaned it off. Our pump up music was Lady Gaga all day - and it worked!

One of the best parts about the service day was meeting the girls we were working for. The girlswe met were between 13 and 17 years old. A bunch of them came out while we were working and talked to us. They asked us who all were single and decided to match the bachelors and bachelorettes by their choice. Andres egged it on and the whole ordeal became pretty entertaining when it got close to the time we had to leave. The girls seemed really interested in Sam and D.Bows. It was fun talking to them and trying to speak Spanish, and listening to them try to speak English. Some of us even witnessed the girls practice their English swear words. We think all of the fellows enjoyed this the most.

Unfortunately, we didn't have our cameras with us today, but Jake snapped this picture with his iPhone.

Jake with new friend

When we get the pictures of the basketball court we worked on from VE Global, we will add them!

On the bus ride on the way home, Brett was talking to Tracy about music. She said she doesn't like Pantera, and Brett didn't know who they are. Apparently, they're a hardrock band. Jake was trying to be funny and said he thought it was a sandwich shop (Pantera, Panera... Get it?) Don't worry, it took Brett a while too.

We went to dinner with a group of 8 tonight. The 5 bloggers and 4 guests (Morgan, John, Ryan and Tracy) went to Mr. Jack's, an "American" burger joint. Most of us got a hamburger with a fried egg on it. We learned that papanillo means pickle in Spanish at the restaurant tonight. We are getting pretty good at figuring our dinner bills now using pesos! We will be pros by the time we leave.

Overall, today was a lot of work, but a lot of fun! We are all excited to go to the pork plant and the winery tomorrow! What do you think: Does a hot dog go well with a nice glass of vino? We shall find out, and we will report tomorrow!

Adios!

P.S. - Tracy just walked in teary-eyed and told us she was watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's been a good trip!

On the third day, we took a bus to Terra, an internet portal company that provides a platform for multiple forms of media. They are the leaders in providing Chileans with news, video, user-generated content, and entertainment online. The company exists in 18 countries, and thrives in Chile and Brazil the most. It was very interesting to see how internet media and technology is a thriving business all around the world.

Next we visited Entel, the largest telecommunications provider in Chile. After stuffing ourselves with coffee and chocolate cake, we listened to someone from the public relations department describing the types of services Entel provides and the financials Entel carries to be able to accomplish all of this. After and hour and a half of very in-depth information about Entel, we were surprised to learn that we were able to go to the top of the Entel tower, the tallest building in Santiago. We were informed that it was very probable that an earthquake could hit while we were at the top of the building, but that it would not hurt the building or us, it just might scare us by swaying back and forth 3 meters (or 9 feet). We all decided to take the risk, and began the climb. The view was incredible. We all made it up to the very top of the tower, except Kristy and Lauren Farrelly. Since Kristy is short and used to being near the ground, she chose not to go all the way up to the top. The little trooper did make it more than half way though. Bueno!

Entel Tower

That is the view from the top of the Entel Tower!

We were then dropped off at a popular place for Chileans to pick up a quick bite to eat. It was difficult to order by pointing not knowing the names of green beans, cabbage, or chicken nuggets, but we all managed. We were surprised to find the green beans cold, and the meatballs much different than our grandmothers make, but it was food, so we were happy. There was also no "agua sin gas" or water there, which is something Americans drink more than sparkling water like Chileans.

After lunch, we went to or hotel's sister hotel across the street to hear from Nathan Young, an Abilene Christian University graduate who has climbed to be CEO of a 9 person technology company in Santiago. He has been here for 5 years, and loves it. Although he still has difficulties gaining respect as an American and multi-cultural relationships can be difficult, he loves Chilean culture and has found many expatriate friends in Santiago. He also had a very amusing story about his experience during the 8.8 earthquake in Santiago in February. It was at 3:30am, so he was sleeping and ran out of the hallway, but he did not realize that he was in his "birthday suit" and said that all of his neighbors were staring at him, even in an 8.8 earthquake! We all had a good laugh.

Our last speaker was from VE Global, the non-profit that we will be working with tomorrow to help an orphanage in Chile. He is from Boston and helps VE Global recruit over 300 volunteers from 35 countries to help at-risk children in Chile. This work is very helpful to Chile since the education system does not provide adequate public schooling, and since these children would be left without any help through their difficult times. We will be rebuilding a recreation area for basketball outside of an all girls orphanage and re-painting the inside. But more on that tomorrow!

Right now, we are going to get a taste of Chilean seafood since we are so close to the coast, and go out on the town to see what Santiago has to offer tonight, not for too long though- we have to be ready to leave for the orphanage that is an hour bus ride away at 9am tomorrow!

Ciao!

San Crystobal

Hola!

It has been another beautiful day in Santiago. Our second day in Santiago began with a visit to the US Embassy. We walked from our hotel early in the morning, only to find out that we couldn't go in until they finished a security meeting. After the Embassy finished its meeting, we went back and listened to Drew talk about his journey to Chile and the process of becoming a generalist at the US Embassy in Chile. It was interesting to hear how generalists and specialists are assigned their two year rotations at different embassies throughout the world. They often went to language training in Washington DC for a year or more. We wish we could have seen more of the embassy, but they security was very intense. We were only allowed to go into one room, and our passports were checked multiple times. We weren't allowed to bring our cell phones or any electronic devices. It was a neat experience to see how the US Embassy operates.

Our group did not get a chance to experience San Cristobal Hill during the Santiago City Game, so we took our free time today to take a trip over to the beautiful hill this afternoon. I think we can all agree that the San Cristobal Hill will be one of the best experiences of our trip. We rode the trolley up to the top of the hill and took in a gorgeous view of the entire city of Santiago. There was a huge statue of the Virgin Mary at the very top. We took a ton of pictures with the group and hung out at the top of the Hill for quite a while. It was such a unique experience and a place unlike any other. Some of the Fellows lit candles, others bought souvenirs and snacks. What a wonderful way to spend our free time!

San Crystobal

After our adventure to San Cristobal, we took our time coming back to the hotel and looked around at the markets at the bottom of the hill. It was a cool market with a lot of little stands with bracelets, crosses, scarves, toys, etc. When we got back to the hotel, we got ready for the reception dinner. It was really fun to go to dinner as a whole group. It has been quite the experience trying to order food at restaurants. Only Andres knows what is actually on the menu, so he has had some fun translating for us! It's always a surprise when the waiters bring our food out. Kristy & John ordered a hamburger once, and it came without the bun!

We think this trip has made the 22 Fellows much closer. Everyone wants to hang out together. The restaurants have all been overly accommodating of our groups. They like to make sure we all can sit at one table together. We are having a lot of fun together experiencing the new city and culture.

Hasta mañana!

Santa Lucia Hill

We finally arrived in Chile after a 9 and a half hour flight around 9am. We took a bus to the hotel where we were introduced to our guide for the week, Maria Jose, but she said we can call her MJ. We then had an orientation at a cafe and had breakfast there. After that we checked into our rooms, and our blog group met downstairs to do the Chile city game.

We wanted to get familiar with the subway system first so we decided to take it all the way to Universitad de Chile, a main city plaza/square type area. It took us a good 10 minutes to figure out the subway system and then figure how to ask the subway people we wanted five tickets. We finally got five tickets and got on the subway.

It was 81 degrees today so we all decided to put on shorts to explore the city. This turned out to be a bad choice because we were literally the only ones in Santiago in shorts. It was awkward for all of us because we didn't expect the amount of attention we got from wearing shorts.

We went to a couple of sites around the plaza and then decided to go to Santa Lucia, a large hill right in the middle of the city. We took the stairs all the way to the top which was a great 360 degree view of the whole city. There are a lot of stray dogs in Chile, and one followed us all the way to the subway.

We are all getting ready to go out to dinner now. Pictures to come soon