Santiago, Hello!

            ¡Hola todos! We are currently residing in the beautiful Santiago, where the Andes Mountains are found at every direction you look. Our environment changed immensely from the oceans to the mountain ranges, but that just shows how much Chile has to offer.

We are now at the Hoteles Plazaelbosque, which is a fifteen-story tall building with a view that one could have always asked for. There is a park next to the hotel, where people skate, walk around, and relax in. Even more, there is the Parque Arauco near this park, too, which is the mall that provides plenty of options to dine and shop. For extra convenience, there is a large supermarket near this hotel, too, that we can purchase water and snacks for our trip without worry!        

Our Hotel

The View from the Hotel

I asked my classmate, Laura Hayes, on her thoughts about our newest destination. She is in love with Santiago because it is beautiful from the architecture and mountains, the people are very nice here, and it reminds her a lot of her trips in Europe. And she is not the only one to think that this place is stunning! We went to the mall last night for comida (food), and had a decent meal at Cocina Chile, but what made the experience at the restaurant even better there was the waiter, Martin. We were able to know him very well and he told us about some of the areas around Santiago. Many other students also went to this mall for food, and I believe that they had a good night here.         

 

El Parque Arauco

Karine Mikitarian noticed a lot more people in the area than Buenos Aires. There were plenty more street vendors who sell hand-crafted jewelries, toys, and more, perfect of souvenirs. She feels comfortable in Santiago due to the people she have talked to and the places she has seen.

Marta Gravier Trujillo-Bencomo talked about the climate of this country. Due to the intense heat wave just earlier, there was an uncontained fire that has occurred. Smoke blanketed the city, and it was difficult to see even the Andes Mountains. Thankfully the fire has seemed to die down slightly, but the smoke still remains. Many other students have been finding themselves sunburnt, too, something they did not expect to happen in a January day. Still, we are applying more sunscreen and drinking plenty of water to keep ourselves safe from the sun while still enjoying our trip.

            Overall, we are very excited to be in Santiago and wish to see even more! We hope to see you join us more on our adventures in Santiago, Chile! ¡Adios! 

Healthy Living in Chile

Being abroad, it is easy to fall off track of a healthy lifestyle. However, there is still plenty of opportunities to keep up with healthy living!

Having many students on our trip that are either athletes or just very active on their own, health is important to them. The first way there is to get in exercise is walking up the countless hills in Chile. The second day in Chile, we went to Valparaiso to go on a graffiti tour. Not only was the art incredible to see, it was a great workout going up and down the hill!

In Valparaiso there was a set of stairs and to get down a slide! (Matt G and Matt L were spotted on the slide numerous times)

During the Santiago City Game we walked up hundreds of stairs. Walking to see The Statue of the Virgin was a hike and that was only the first task!  The game continued by walking several miles to go to the different famous sites in Santiago. Today as seen in other posts we hiked on the Andes Mountains! The site was breathtaking so it didn’t even feel like a workout, but it certainly was.

Students hiking on the Andes

The second way to stay in shape is exercising on your own! Emily H. and Chelsea went on a run through the streets of Santiago, Chile one day. This was a great way to explore the hotel's surrounding area and stay active. The gym has a lot of great equipment that can help with different varieties of workouts! There are weights, cable machines, and cardio machines. Matt L. has been to the gym several times to go running on the treadmill, or lifting weights with Eric. Right next to the gym is the pool to either swim around in or do laps in depending how crowded it is. We might not have a lot of free time but if you manage your time right it is easy to get in a quick workout!

The hotel gym

Many students have been going to the pool after long days of walking.

The food is amazing in South America, another way to stay healthy is choosing good meals. It is easy to get sucked into eating a piece of cake… two but eating well balanced meals can be easy! Luckily for us, our breakfast the hotel provides is abundant with fresh fruit, eggs, whole wheat bread, and yogurt. Chile is known for their seafood, especially salmon and sea bass which are both high in protein. Along with that you can usually choose rice, veggies, or roasted potatoes. Since we are out and about all day it is very important to keep hydrated! Water is your best friend here.

This salmon and rice is from La Tasco De Altamar right near the hotel in Santiago!

This is a salad from Fauna in Valparaiso. There were many healthy options!

Most importantly is getting enough sleep. There is always time in America to get back on track with exercising and eating healthy but you can’t get back the sleep you missed. As exciting as it is to be in another country that seems to never sleep, we have to make sure we take care of ourselves first by sleeping and eating right.

Valpaíraso Graffiti Tour

Sunday was our second day in La Viña del Mar, Chile. Our first activity for the day was traveling to Valpaíraso, a neighboring city, for a walking graffiti tour. Our tour began in the Plaza Sotomayor with a brief history of the city. We learned that the beautiful blue castle-like building located in the plaza is currently Navy Headquarters of the Chilean Navy and is called El Edificio de la Comandancia Naval.

El Edificio de la Comandancia Naval

We then continued the tour by going to the top of one of the hills in Valpaíraso and then walking down through the streets and seeing and learning about the graffiti.

In Valpaíraso, we learned that although graffiti is technically illegal, it is “legal” to paint on a building with the owner’s permission. I also asked the tour guide what happens if someone paints over someone else’s artwork. He said that it is very disrespectful and even can be dangerous to do so. He also said that people who paint over other people’s art without permission are called TOYS which means “tag on your stuff”.

Emily Helenius (left) and Sarah Bondar (right)

Claire Newman said her favorite piece was the mural on Hostal Acuarela by the street artist that goes by the name of Mono Type. The story behind this mural is that a couple coming to Valpaíraso for a graffiti festival had nowhere to stay and made a deal with the owner of the hostel to paint a mural for the hostel in exchange for a place to stay.

By Mono Type

One of my favorite pieces from the tour was a painting of an elderly lady painted by Ella and Pitr, a couple from France. The couple has a European style of graffiti. The European style of graffiti is known to use mostly black and white colors and occasionally some red as can be seen in this piece.

By Ella and Pitr

After the tour we had the opportunity to walk around and explore for a little and have lunch on our own. Hannah Kirby, Matthew Lawson, Emily Jansson, Claire Newman, and I chose to have lunch at a restaurant on a balcony that was highly recommended by our tour guides called Fauna. The view from the restaurant was incredible and Hannah said the lunch was one of the best meals she had eaten throughout the whole trip.

The three images above are of Valpaíraso

Valpaíraso is not like any city I have seen before. It is so unique and colorful, with graffiti artwork on every corner. I never thought of graffiti as an art until I got to see all these amazing paintings and murals everywhere with such intricate details, each having a meaning of their own.

Chickens for Days

Today, we toured Gallina Feliz, or in English, the Happy Hen. It is one of the few organic farms located in Chile (though its organic certification has been temporarily suspended due to nonorganic ingredients in the chicken feed). A two hour bus ride up a bumpy and endlessly curving road took us through the beginnings of the Andes Mountains and into farm country. This would be an interesting visit, and our first true farm visit during this program. Being very aware of the farming conditions in the industrial farms that dominate the States, I was keen to see if Chile held higher standards for their animal producers. While this farm fell short of my expectations, they do monumentally better than farms in the US. This can start a whole conversation on societal values and an understanding as to why the US industrializes the lives of animals more than other countries, who value the quality of the animals they produce.

The farm itself is worked on manually by eight employees, and started up about ten years ago. The owner of the land came to live at the property, but realized there was a high demand for eggs. Seeing a marketable opportunity, the owner began a chicken farm from scratch. There are 10,000 hens on site, producing one egg a day, and fed a plant-based feed. While some chickens roamed around, the majority were kept in small house-cage structures. Predictably, the placed smelled of farm animal and other unmentionable fumes, natural to the nature of the farm life. Gallina Feliz sells 90% of their egg production to retail, and the others are either thrown away or sold elsewhere. They plan on growing, as we saw them building another hen house, some 15 feet by 6 feet sort of size. Hopefully there is a second house in progress so that the hens can move more freely.

The littlest of the chicks

While visiting Gallina Feliz was a new experience, it made students wonder at the conditions at farms back home. My friend Kevin commented, stating: "I hope that the States are more regulated than here. Apparently, they treat their chickens really well compared to others, but it seemed like they didn't."

Another student, Vraajesh, said: "I feel the conditions were really poor. The farm was solely for business purposes and had no regards for the lives. But then again, that's how farms function in the animal business. The only plus side was that the chickens weren't being artificially injected with anything."

Finally, my roommate, Karine, said: "The US should consider adopting some Chilean farming methods. Having more local smaller farms around the US, allowing the product to be fresh and of better quality."

This business meeting was eye-opening, and made us think a little deeper than bottom lines in the business sector. It offered us insight to the food industry, and a business that has to feed hundreds of people. It is fascinating to learn how that works, the amount of work left to improve the industry, and realizing the real work we as business students need to focus on.

Patio Bella Vista

This afternoon after our business visit to AmCham we stopped at Patio Bella Vista for lunch and shopping. The bus dropped us off and we had an hour to explore and grab a bite to eat. A group of people decided to stop at The Pizza Factory where they enjoyed different kinds of thin crust pizza. Brian Forbes decided to try Hawaiian pizza for the first time! SIE has provided a great opportunity for each of us to step out of our comfort zone and try new things.  Another group ate at Puerto Bella Vista, were they enjoyed different seafood meals. They all left with very full stomachs.

A group of friends and I ate at Openbox Restobar overlooking the Patio Bella Vista. We have been very lucky with the beautiful weather for it allows us to take in the whole outdoor environment and atmosphere that this country has to offer.  At Openbox Restobar we decided to try the different selection of sushi options. Maggie Carbin loved the salmon avocado rolls and really enjoyed the lively area. From our table we could see the different shops and other restaurants in the area.

Beautiful Buganbilias flowers and view overlooking the Patio Bella Vista. 

 

Left Chelsea Doucette and right Katie Griffin enjoying their sushi.

Another group of students decided to spend the rest of their time poking around the different shops. The stores were all unique having their own individual flare with artwork and beautiful flowers throughout the shopping area.

Above is a photo of the artwork that lined the wall on one of the corners. 

Sarah Bondar and many other girls bought different jewelry items for themselves and for gifts. Dustin Braman and Mike Dalton bought themselves fanny packs to be more efficient while walking around the city.  Now we are off to our next business visit Gallina Feliz, after taking in more of the culture and beauty that Chile has to offer.