Day thirteen-the last day!!

Today was the last day in Chile! This is so sad, but at the same time I am excited to go back to the states.  It is so strange to call back home the states.  Anyways, I woke up earlier with two other girls so we could go get another Chilean pastry for the last time.  We tried a new “pasteleria” (pastry place) and I bought a miniature apple pie.  This tasted really good! Then, we explored some more around Vina del mar (the city where our hotel was located) and found a café that had Chilean hot chocolate.  I had this a few days ago and wanted to drink it again in order to complete my journey.  Once again, this hot chocolate tasted amazing!  We just walked around the streets for a little longer seeing fresh fruits being sold, vendors, stray dogs, American shops and sidewalks flesh with streets.  When we returned to the hotel, we had to pack unfortunately.  Everything was stuffed to the maximum.  As a whole group, we ate lunch at the restaurant we ate at on our first night of being in Chile.  Our journey has come full circle.  I had a chicken sandwich with avocado, tomato, lettuce and a fried egg.  This was huge, but pretty good.  Then, we left our room and hotel for the last timeand boarded the bus to the Santiago airport which was about an hour and a half to two hour ride. Side note: I feel as if on this whole trip I have eaten and tried to sleep during any point where there was free time.  However, the sleeping was not always successful.  Anyways, we finally got to the airport, got everything situated and waited to board the plane.  This will be the last blog of my journey. I hope you the reader has enjoyed my adventures!  Chile will always be a special place in my heart and life!  Adios!

Day twelve-parte dos!!

Hola otro vez (again)!  After a good nap and packing my bags, all of us met all the Chilean students at a pizza place.  There were so many people in our group, but it was great!  The pizza was so unique also.  We were all talking and laughing and finally exchanged presents.  The Chilean students gave us a sweatshirt of their university which is really comfortable.  This dinner was great and sad all at the same time!  We all got in a group picture for good memories.  Tomorrow will be the final day which is so sad!

Day twelve!!

I know I have said this other times this trip, but today was one of the best days I have had!  It was our last full day in Chile, but today was amazing!!  We took an hour bus ride to a ranch in order to go horsebackriding!  This ranch first of all was so pretty.  There were so many dogs and cats that we could actually pet (unlike all the stray dogs).  Everything was made out of wood which made it look comforting.  There were swings, hammocks, a rock climbing wall, a fire pit and farm animals such as hogs, chickens, piglets and chicks.  Once everything was situated, we started picking out a horse.  My horse was named Brisa and she was light brown, white splotches on the face and a black mohawk mane.  She was pretty, but a little stubborn.  After the four instructors, all 19 of us, Camilo (a Chilean student) and his girlfriend had a horse, we started on our adventure.  This is where the true beauty of the day begins!  We rode on the beach, in the woods, through a swamp, through the bushes, on miles of sand dunes and back to the beach.  This landscape was really calming and serene.  I loved it!  We were able to trot and gallop which was so much fun!  All of these landscapes had mountains and the ocean in the background with 50-60 degree weather!  So far so great! I was lost in these memories and forgot about reality.  We took a break half way through and ate some Chilean clementines.  We finally had to return to the ranch after a 3 hour ride with our horse.  Even though I didn't want to stop this adventure, my inner legs sure appreciated it.  When we got back to the house, the family had cooked a lunch for us. It smelled so good! (Side note: I have learned that Chileans do not eat lunch until 1-4pm)  There was sausage, pork cooked with steamed vegetables, yellow rice, tomatoes with onions and a potato salad with fresh cilantro on it.  This meal was great!  After that the family brought out a second course of coffee and cookies.  Then, since it was cooler outside, most of us were sitting around the camp fire.  We taught the lady who owned the ranch about graham crackers, roasting marshmellows over fire and s'mores.  She helped us roast marshmellows then!  I can't describe how amazing this day was because words or pictures cannot capture this scenery!  Well, this is it for today. Adios hasta manana!  Tomorrow will be the last blog of this journey.

Day eleven!!

Hola! We had another free morning so we slept in.  A group of us went exploring around Vina del mar.  We went to a "Pasteleria" (pastry shop)/ "Panaderia" (bread shop).  Fun fact: Most of Chile's shops are just called pastry place or bread place (in spanish) not a fancy name.  Anyways, seven of us each got a fresh piece of bread/roll/biscuit and pastry all for under eight dollars (4000 pesos) altogether.  So, 14 pieces of food for under eight dollars!  They tasted so good.  My pastry was a cone-shaped caramel-filled spiral baked-dough with a caramel dollop and powdered sugar on top.  This was so messy especially without napkins, but really good.  I also had mango fruit juice.  Then we walked around to some more outdoor vendors.  There are so many little shops like these in the cities of Chile.  We then went to the beach again because I can't get over the beautiful view!  We all took more pictures and tested the ocean with our feet.  We rolled up our pant legs but the ocean tide still soaked the bottoms of our pants.  Anyways, today so far was filled with great memories in a foreign country and with new friends/family!  Next our whole group took a bus to play paint ball.  This was quite an experience.  We had to wear jump suits (like those worn in jail except not orange), chest protectors and face masks.  I am really glad we wore all this except the jump suits were huge.  I believe the crotch on mine was at my lower thigh! Anyways, my complaints follow.  The gun was too heavy, my shoes were filled with sand and the paintballs killed when they hit me.  The last complaint was serious though.  I got hit in the head!  Of course, the face mask did not cover the spot where I got hit.  This really hurt and I had a nice white spot in my hair.  Anyways, this was still fun until my gun decided not to work anymore.  This was definitely something new and adventuresome.  Then, a group of us went to eat dinner.  Now, no one should make fun of me, but we tried Chilean Chinese food!  It was not too bad especially since our waiter was from the United States!  Well, that is it for today.  Adios hasta manana!

Day ten!!

Hola! We started with breakfast again at the hotel and got on a private bus to go to our fourth company visit.  This company was a hardware manufacturing factory called Hela. The workers did not speak English so the two Chilean students (Javier two and Daniella) who came with us had to translate.  We had a tour on how to make all of tools that Hela makes.  This was interesting to see the background of the creation of brushes, scrapers, and cleaners.  However, at this visit we had to wear our steel-toed boots, ear plugs and glasses with a strap around our neck, so we were looking fashionable!  Then, we took the bus to a fruit/vegetable canning company visit called Centauros.  This was a great company!  We started with samples of some of their products.  First we had peaches ("duraznos"), steamed whole pear-shaped tomatoes, tomato paste and squash paste.  These all tasted really good especially the squash paste!  The owner saw that I liked this "pumpkin" paste so he gave me a jar of it! Great souvenir!  Then this company showed us around to all the canning machines and told us how they worked.  I really enjoy learning about the background of a company.  We finally finished and came out to the beautiful view of palm trees, mountains and blue sky.  We traveled back to the Vina del Mar and ate at a different empanada place.  I have had eaten so many of these so far, but they taste really good.  This time I had a chicken ("pollo"), cheese and corn ("choclo") empanada.  Next, we had to learn a final dance which is called "Cueca".  This is the national dance of Chile.  This was interesting because there are official outfits, handkerchiefs in our hands and a background story.   We are done making fools of ourselves when trying to dance!  That is all for today.  Adios hasta manana!

Day nine!!

Today was a much slower and relaxing day! We went to the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria for the last time.  This is where the Chileans students we have been with go to school, but most of them are on their last year.  We will continue to see these students the rest of this week even though we won't go back to their school.  When we were there today we had present our presentations.  As some of you who are reading this probably do not know, before our trip all of us had to form groups and research one of the five companies we were going to visit here in Chile.  My group and I made a powerpoint and researched the airline company called LAN.  So, all five groups presented today in front of a Chilean professor, our two program leaders and the 17 students on this trip.  Then, we had our final lunch at the University.  There is only one choice for the main meal and sides and the lines are really crowded.  The main goal in Chile is to push through people to get where you want be if a place is crowded!  For lunch I had noodles with beef and stew sauce as the main, grapes with seeds, bread, salad and a peach juice box.  This meal was not too bad.  Then, we had some free time back at the hotel before Camilo (one of the Chilean students) picked us up to go play soccer.  Soccer was  fun especially since we played on a small turf field, but girls and boys were separated on different fields.  The boys played with the Chileans which would have been more fun, but I have many bruises either way.  Next, we went to some shops and an urban mall which is similar to that in the United States.  We all walked around there for a while then stopped at a grocery store to see what it was like.  Then, we ate some "empanadas" and went back to the hotel.  My empanada was filled with beef, corn and cheese! These taste so delicious!  Now we are back in the hotel for a relaxing night.  Adios hasta manana!

Day eight!!

Hola! Today was a free day for all of us.  We had nothing planned until dinner.  This day was also such a great day except for a very small earthquake at 8:30am which I didn’t even feel because I was asleep.  I slept in later and gathered up a group to go exploring around Viña del Mar.  We went to a sandwich/breakfast place for lunch where no one spoke english.  All six of us ordered a sandwich, but the waiter said they only had one type of sandwich left so we ordered that one. A waitress came to our table and said that they had only three ham and cheese sandwiches and two chese and mayo sandwiches.  This was only five sandwiches in total and there were six of us, so they didn’t have enough for all of us! Anyways, lunch still tasted good plus I had Italian/Chilean hot chocolate! This was the best hot chocolate I have ever had because it was really thick.  So far so good on the tasty food.  Then we walked down to the outdoor venders.  There were so many people selling items because it was a mix of Mother’s Day and Sunday. Both of these days are big in South America.  There were so many beautiful souvenirs for everyone.  As soon as I saw one awesome craft I saw something right after it that was even better.  Anyways, we got to explore the city which was a great time.  Then, we had ice cream! I tried “manjar” chips ice cream.  Manjar is similar to caramel/chocolate, so this tasted really good.  Afterwards we walked to the beach and took many pictures with many good memories! There were more venders, also.  Too many options for souvenirs.  We had to be back at the hotel by 6:30 for our fancy free dinner.  We all got dressed up and walked to the restaurant “Tierra del Fuego”, Land of the Fire.  We arrived and sat down around  7pm and ate almost constantly until 9:30pm!  The pre-appetizers were hot rolls with peppered butter and my drink was “Chirimoya” juice.  Chirimoya is a special Chilean fruit that is the size and feel of a mango, but white inside with many black spherical pits inside.  This had a different taste, but tasted good!  Then, the appetizers were grilled shrimp in butter and spicy strips of steak.  Then with another set of silver wear, my main meal was called “Risoto de locos con camarones” which is Risoto with crab and shrimp! This tasted really good, but I got full quickly!  Then my dessert was a blueberry pie with chocolate and nuts on top and chocolate ice cream on the side. I was so full, but this dinner tasted amazing.  We finally walked back and was escorted by four stray dogs! There are so many stray dogs in Chile.  Anyways, today was such a relaxing and fun day! Adios hasta mañana!