Friday

It was another late morning on Friday, but eventually I decided that I should probably get up to shower and pack. Luckily, packing didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would, so I wasn’t too pressed for time. When we were about to leave for lunch, Javier and Maria stopped by! They had just come by for a moment to say goodbye, but it was great to see them. When they left, some of the girls headed to Subway for lunch. I think that we all just felt like we needed some veggies! At Subway we met this Chilean guy that had lived in Canada for a while; he was really nice and actually helped some of us order. I wouldn’t have thought that ordering food would be the biggest challenge in terms of testing my Spanish skill, but it definitely has been. You learn some food vocabulary in school, but no nearly enough. When everyone was packed we loaded our stuff onto the bus and then got on. I napped on the way to the airport, and then too soon it was time to check in and say goodbye to Chile. We were a fairly solemn group at the airport – I think that everyone was a little sad to be leaving Chile. Plus 3 was just a great experience and my two weeks in Chile were a lot of fun; we met a lot of great people, and we’re just lucky that we’ll get to see some of them at Pitt in a little over a year. Also, Abi, Alexa, and I are looking at a study abroad program in Argentina for the spring, so we were talking about maybe coming down for a week before that starts. Here’s hoping!

Thursday

Thursday was a day a lot of us were looking forward to – horseback riding! We hopped into two little vans and drove about 45 minutes to Ritoque Expediciones. We went over a few basic rules and riding techniques before we got on, and then everyone got assigned to a horse. Mine was named Plátano, and we had a little bit of a love-hate relationship. When everyone was finally on their horse we set out, having to cross a shallow river almost right away. My horse did pretty well, besides deciding to eat when we were still standing in the river. We got going again with a little encouragement. We got to one part where he said we could gallop, but it was a little short, so the most my horse managed was a trot. Eventually we got up onto the sand dunes – I was definitely a little scared going up, but we all made it. The dunes were really fun, but there were some pretty narrow little paths that we had to follow. Finally we made it to the beach, where we had a lot of opportunities to gallop. It was super fun, but I always felt like I was going to fall off when we were slowing down from a gallop. My horse stopped to eat a lot, but so did everyone else’s. At one point I was galloping near the water when a wave came in, so we ended up galloping in the water; that didn’t get me too wet, but the person galloping next to me (even farther into the water) definitely did get me fairly wet. It was a little cold, but it could’ve been worse. At the end of the beach there was this little inlet we had to cross that looked fairly deep. Our Chuck Norris-like guide forged ahead to find a safe place to cross. When he did they told us to cross single-file. When about 1/3 of the group was across, they all of a sudden told everyone to just come on across. I guess the tide was coming in so it was getting deeper! I got quite wet going across (especially my shoes), but I can’t say I really cared that much since I was already wet. The rest of the trip was through a pretty swampy are, where we saw a little bit of a river that had mostly drained to the ocean. There were some fish in there that couldn’t really swim because it was too shallow – another sad sight. Our Chuck-Norris like guide again proves worthy of his nickname when he caught one of them using a broom, without even getting off of his horse; of course, he then carried it back by its gills. After our ride we all hopped off our horses and went to a little barbecue they had set up for us. It was really nice, and they had some delicious potato salad. Getting back to the hotel everyone was ready for a shower and a nap, but there was no hot water in most of our rooms. I ended up taking a shower in Jo’s room, since she still had hot water (even though I was the fourth one in). Finally it was nap time before a group dinner that night at Diego Pizza. It was nice because Werner and all our student guides were there for our farewell dinner. The pizza itself was a little too out-there for my tastes, so I ended up scraping off all the toppings and just eating the crust. We had t-shirts for our student guides, and they had USM hoodies for all of us. More gelato on the way back before getting ready to go out to Goose for our last night out. Maria and Javier showed up at Goose, which was great. It was a pretty fun night to follow a fun day. After we got back, Alexa, Marshall, and I went to the gas station for some snacks and we saw Felipe there! It felt pretty cool to be greeting someone in a random gas station.

Wednesday

Wednesday we had a free morning, so most of us slept in. Lunch was at Entre Masas, an emanada place. The empanadas were good, but there was just a little too much cheese – it was overwhelming! The afternoon was spent down at the beach playing games. Mimo came to say goodbye since he had to go to New York for a wedding; it was really sad to see him go, but we took a requisite “Mimo face” picture before he escaped. The beach games were fun – the basic sack race and some tug-of-war were my favorites (partially because my team won – yay Team Mimo!). After the games a group of us hit around of volleyball, and then just hung around for a little while before heading back to the hotel (with sand in our shoes, of course). That night we had one last salsa class to polish our moves – it was fun, but a few of us were disappointed since it was supposed to be a reggaeton class (though I’m still skeptical of how you can really teach reggaeton). That night not many people wanted to go out so it was only a small group of us that ended up going back to Café Journal. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up running into this Alaskan kid we had met earlier that day.

Tuesday

I think everyone was excited for today because we got to go to Isla Negra to see one of Pablo Neruda’s houses. When we got there we split up into different tour groups – 2 Spanish and one English. I went in the first group; Ben was with us to translate, but it turned out that none of us really needed him to, which was nice because it saved him having to translate. The house was incredible, but unfortunately you’re not allowed to take pictures of the inside. One thing I noticed is that a lot of the stairs and the doorways are really small; it didn’t look like Pablo Neruda was an especially little person or anything, so that confused me a little. At the end of the tour we got to see where Pablo Neruda and one of his wives were buried. We had a lot of time before lunch, so some of us went back to the little stalls by the street (more shopping – crazy, right?). That didn’t take up enough time either so we got a big game of BS going, which was pretty tough considering the bench that we were trying to play on. At last it was time for lunch, so we went back to the café and got to choose meat or fish, rice or potatoes. I went with fish, clearly, and potatoes, which were both delicious. Something else that I’ve observed is that almost every restaurant gives you bread and butter before your meal. I know that there are a lot of restaurants in the U.S. that do that too, it just seems like here it’s almost every one! I’m not complaining, since I love bread – just an observation. On the way back we stopped to see the world’s largest swimming pool (yup, it’s in Chile!). It was absolutely huge – not very wide but really long. Apparently they sail boats in it. I have to admit that it seemed a little silly to have the world’s largest pool right next to ocean, but I guess a pool is a little more predictable, and perhaps more kayak/canoe friendly. After looking at the pool, some of us walked on the beach for a bit. I was wearing flip flops so I took those off and got my feet wet; unfortunately, a bigger wave came in that I couldn’t quite outrun, so my pants got a little damp (after having rolled them up). For dinner a few of us went to try Telepizza; ordering was an adventure because their menu is a little confusing, but I was pleased to find out that my Spanish was more than sufficient to deal with the confusing rules of pizza ordering.

Monday

It was Santiago today! We had to get up early, which was a little rough, but there was time to sleep on the bus, and I definitely took advantage of that fact. Our first stop in Santiago was the company visit – the Santiago stock exchange. Our speaker kept apologizing for her English, but I thought it was fine; I guess she hadn’t practice in a while and she hadn’t found out that the presentation was in English until a few hours before. The presentation was good; I enjoyed it because it was much more business, as opposed to the engineering focus of some of our other visits. The trading floor was really pretty, but it was almost sad that there were only three people there since pretty much everything is electronic nowadays. After the stock exchange we went to see La Moneda, which is kind of like the White House. Then some people took pictures with a friendly policeman and his dog. We continued on to the Plaza de Armas, which was a big square with vendors selling paintings, some statues, and a really pretty fountain. A big group was gathered around this one guy that was trying to be funny; I wanted to watch, but I couldn’t really see. For lunch we went to Mercado Central, which is this fish market area. We got all these different types of seafood, only to find out that they were only the appetizer! I think there were four kinds of fish to follow all of that, so there was definitely more than enough food. Luckily, all of it was very good. Finally we got to go up this huge incline for a view of all of Santiago. It was really beautiful, but because of smog we couldn’t see the Andes very well. Apparently, it’s a pretty religious place so there were a lot of religious symbols, including a statue of La Virgen. When we got back down we went to a little shopping area that seemed pretty upscale. There were a lot of jewelry places and this frozen yogurt place called Yogen Früz. It was really neat because you got to choose a fruit (or a mixture) and then you chose chocolate or vanilla and they had this machine that would make it right there! I got chocolate with raspberry, which was undeniably delicious. I slept most of the way back, which was good since Mamma Mia was playing.

Sunday

Sunday was our first really slow day in Chile. I think that all the sleep deprivation was finally starting to get to everyone. After getting up very late we all headed out to find somewhere to watch the Chile vs. Mexico game. We walked around for a while with no success and I think everyone was getting ready to just sit down at the next open place with the game on. In the end we sat at the taco bar really close to our hotel. Lunch was pretty good, but Chile lost, which was sad of course. The rest of the day was basically nap time. Some of us went back to the beach for a little to look at some of the stalls a little more, but nothing too exciting. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant with the group, which was good. I’ll admit that it surprised me a little how many good Italian restaurants there were so close to our hotel!

Saturday

So I realized I had saved all these posts on my computer, but had not put them up, so here are the rest:

This morning we tried going to a museum with one of the Easter Island statues, but unfortunately it (along with most other museums apparently) was still closed because of the earthquake. After that we headed to this one street across the bridge with a lot of shops. It was a pretty crowded street, but it was kind of fun to see all the different people doing their Saturday shopping. To be honest, it really wasn’t all that different from something you’d see in the U.S. other than the fact that everyone was speaking Spanish. We went to a few artisan places, which were really neat, and everyone caught up on their gift buying. When we were done shopping we went to a really nice little Italian restaurant that had great food. Everyone was pretty tired at that point so we headed back to the hotel, and took a quick rest before heading down to the beach where there were little shops. Another short rest after that before a few of us went to dinner with Jo and Ben; dinner was really fun and we had some great food (especially dessert – mango mousse and tequila flambéed fruit). We weren’t sure if we were going to go out since everyone was so tired, but in the end we headed to a party on the roof of Camilo’s apartment building, which has a great view. The parties there are always fun just because you get to meet so many new people.

Friday

Today was our day at the spa; we got to sleep in a little, which was nice, and had some time to sleep on the bus too. The spa was really nice, but not what I expected. It was pretty fun, but it would have been significantly better it if hadn't been cold and rainy. We played soccer shortly after we got there, before it started really raining. It was actually a lot of fun, and so I was glad that I didn't stick with my original impulse to sit out. It started drizzling a little, which made the concrete pretty slippery; I had the honor of being the first to fall, of course, but several others followed me lead.

After soccer we had lunch, which was really good; there was an extensive buffet with tasty mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, we couldn't swim after because it was bring your own towel (which we hadn't) and you needed a swim cap (which we chose not to purchase from the lobby).

When we got back we hung around for a bit, before heading to dinner. Almost the whole group ended up going together to the Chinese place right next door to the hotel (different Chinese place than before). It turned out to be a really fun dinner, and my food was great! I had ordered the vegetable chop sui, which I mostly didn't recognize (it looked like vegetables, just not ones I could quite identify - maybe leeks and bean sprouts and some other things). I was skeptical, but it had a really good sauce.

We were looking for this one place called Stingray, but we couldn't really find it at first. It turns out we had walked past it multiple times. We definitely got there too early because there was almost no one there and they were still setting up and they had no change at first. After a while it picked up and we found the second dance floor, which was better than the other... The music was a lot of stuff that we all knew, different from what they were playing at Huevo.

Tomorrow begins our free weekend, which looks like it might be dampened (both literally and figuratively) by the weather :(

Thursday

Thursday was the visit to the vineyard, Vina Indomita. Both the buildings (inside and out) and the area surrounding them were gorgeous, and our guide was really good. We walked between the rows and she let us taste some of the few remaining merlot grapes. I really liked this one cave area off of the barrel room that doesn't have much oxygen, which I guess is good for the wine. Towards the end of the visit we had a wine tasting with a white and two reds. Our guide helped us out by explaining the proper tasting techniques and whatnot. Personally I liked the white, but I usually do prefer white to red. When we had finished she also brought a few glasses of a chardonnay for us to try, which I thought was pretty different from the chardonnays we have in the states (which was, in fact, a comment she had made).

After that we headed to the airport to visit LAN Chile, which was a pretty cool visit. We got to go into two maintenance hangars and see some airplanes that were being worked on. We were also allowed onto one where we got to play in first class! I think we were all having a ton of fun with the snazzy seats, and I was excited by the sturdy and versatile tray tables. They also had pretty big tvs...

Lunch wasn't great... it was a pretty meat heavy menu so I ended up with a "vegetarian plate", which basically means lots of vegetables - there were beets, avocado, lettuce (shredded), cucumber, tomato, celery, cheese, string beans, egg, and some unidentified orange thing. Anyone that knows me can probably see I ended up eating the cucumber, some celery, some string beans, and two hunks of cheese. Luckily, I had Ritz bits in my purse, which I munched on when we got back to the bus. Despite the less than satisfying food, the restaurant itself was pretty cool.

At night we went to some place called Huevo, which was a lot of dancing and a ton of fun. When we got back to the room I could hardly walk because my feet and hips were so sore! I think that hours of dancing doesn't go well with days of standing and poor foot construction, since my feet were quite swoolen and bruised :( Still worth it though :)

Wednesday

It was a somewhat early start, but we had the chance to sleep on the bus, on the way to Codelco. All this time I've been fighting between my desire to look at all the scenery and towns we pass and my need for sleep - so far it's been about half and half. Codelco was a surprisingly interesting visit, made all the better by our florescent vest, glasses, and hard hats. It was my company, but I kept getting shuffled away from our guide, and the visit seemed much more engineering than business, which was slightly disappointing; overall, though, it was a good visit.

Following that we headed to Centauro (canning) which was a really cool tour, but I ended up getting sick :( I think it was just a combination of exhaustion and dehydration (and other such factors) since it passed as quickly as it had come.

When we finally made it back to the hotel we had an hour for dinner, so a group of us went to this Chinese place right down the street, but actually ordered empanadas (I got a cheese one - again: good, but kinda bland). After rushing through dinner it was back to the university for lectures and another salsa class. This salsa class was probably the most fun, since we were practicing almost an entire dance and the teacher really stopped to demonstrate and explain the moves we weren't getting.

It was definitely a long day, but it was still pretty fun overall.

Tuesday

Tuesday was more lectures at the university; it was really interesting to hear from a former Plus 3 participant living and working outside the US, which is something I'm hoping to do. Lunch was in the cafeteria again, but there was a little more that I could eat, and no server had to freak out on me :) We had about 1.5 hrs. at the university when we weren't doing anything, so some of us wandered around campus and hung out a little by the soccer field.

After another lecture it was time for another salsa class; I had fun at the first one, but there were definitely some things that I was just not made to do... I was definitely nervous for the second class because I was afraid it would be partners and I would make a fool of myself. In the end I probably made a fool of myself, but it was actually pretty fun; in my opinion, it seemed like my group was doing better than several of the others...

We didn't get dinner until after the salsa class, which was a little rough, but we all survived. I have to say, I was shocked to find out that the McDonald's here doesn't serve any filet o' fish; I tried to order a salad without the chicken (which was on the board), but they said they didn't have salads, so I tried to order a yogurt parfait (also on the board), which they also do not have. In the end I had fries and a Coca Light, followed by delicious raspberry gelato from a place across the street!

After that we stayed in, since we were warned of a rough day to come.

Catching up - Monday

So I've been slacking... we've been here for a week, and this is my first post. Anyway, Sunday was fun, but relatively uneventful. I got no more than half an hour of sleep on the plain, which was incredibly frustrating, so it felt great to finally arrive! I showered right when we got to the hotel, and then had the chance to chill for a little before some of us went to lunch. After wandering for a bit, we ended up at a place called Cafe Unplugged, where we had a strange, but good pizza. Dinner was all together at La Margarita, where I think we all learned to not trust the waiter when it comes to portion size - he kept telling us that they were small when people said they were going to share, and so they each got their own, and the portions ended up being huge! I got shrimp quesadillas that were pretty good, but a little bland.

The next morning we headed to the university for some lectures; the campus is right by the ocean and it's so pretty :) While there, everyone also kept commenting that all the students looked really put together - they weren't sloughing it in sweatpants like we sometimes do... We also noticed that they all seemed to have cute jackets for whatever reason.

After a welcome and lectures we ate in the student cafeteria, which was an experience, though not the best; vegetarian options were definitely limited, and the serving guy freaked out on me because I was trying to serve myself something that was out that I guess we weren't allowed to take (I thought it was a vegetarian entree since the line I was in said vegetarian on the sign, which turned out to just be no meat - shocker).

When we were done at the university, we had a tour of Valparaiso, which was mostly from the bus it seemed. We had gotten out to take one of the ascensores (hill elevator things) and the view was really pretty at the top, but the ride up was a little scary. At one point on the tour we were in Plaza Sotomayor, where the street is separated from the plaza by only a single, faded yellow line.

On Monday, we also saw more about what Jo was talking about in regards to the whole "lots of dogs" issue... they're all over! Most are fairly friendly, but you don't really want to touch them, which is hard.

One spot of frustration during the day was that the weather had definitely said 73 degrees and sunny, and it was definitely not 73 degrees! It was also sunny only after around 2:00.

Dinner was on our own, and then we went to karaoke :)