The Final Goodbye

Last Day in Chile. I thought this day would be bittersweet, but it’s more bitter than sweet, haha. Two weeks is definitely not enough time in this wonderful country, and all I could do is wish for more. I went with Brendan and Kelsey to get me my one last empanada (pollo, jamón, y queso) and tres leches cake for my last Chilean meals! Packing was relatively quick, (I basically lived out of my suitcase) but the goodbye was hard. Paula, Valeria, Javier, and Alejandro all came back to say one final goodbye and it was really emotional for all of us. I’m really glad that these people, plus the rest of the USM students and professors, were there to help us. Our experience wouldn’t have been the same without them! They helped us learn more about their culture, their lifestyles, their customs, etc. My eyes have been opened to so much more now, and my global mindset has matured so much for just two weeks. I have a bigger appreciation of the Spanish language, Latin America, and studying abroad in general. I have met FANTASTIC people and have done FANTASTIC things. Who do you know who can say they’ve been to Valparaiso, partied on the beach, went horseback riding through Chile, visited the Presidential Palace, had Sunday dinner at Tierra del Fuego or lunch at Pablo Neruda’s house, had a barbecue with your study abroad coordinator, had insightful lectures about Latin American business and economics, and bonded with so many new people and sprouted so many more friendships in just two weeks? On top of that, I was able to see the business world outside of the United States, which is really important if I decide to pursue my interest in international business. I am so appreciative to everyone who had any type of investment in this trip and making these two weeks some of the best of my life!

Going to Chile has solidified my interest in studying abroad again in the future (This time for a whole semester). I’m not sure where, but it has to be great to beat my Chilean experience. Being immersed in someone else’s culture while sharing your culture with others is something I loved doing while I was here, and I’m determined to keep having those opportunities.

At the airport reppin our USM/Pitt sweatshirts USM gave us :)

Horseback Riding through Paradise

Today was my FAVORITE day here in Chile! We woke up super early to go horseback riding. To be honest, I was very nervous about this at first. I never had ridden a horse before, nor am I the “outdoor” type. Therefore, when we first got to the ranch, I was a little apprehensive. I was given one of the more obedient horses, due to my novice ranking in horseback riding, and they helped me get on and saddled up. My horse didn’t want to listen to me at first, and went away from the group eating every bush it could find. After a while, I got the hang of it and actually became excited when the horses started galloping. We trotted through the sand dunes, and galloped through the woody areas and along the beach. The sight of the horses galloping on the beach was breath-taking. Definitely planning my future husband’s proposal to me this way, haha! Riding the horses was calming as well, and it reminded me how blessed I am to be in Chile as well as how blessed I am to have had such a wonderful experience here. 

However, once the group started going and I got more acquainted with him, he started listening and behaving just fine. We started out on a sandy path to the beach, then through woody forest area, then out in the sand dunes, and returned back to the beach.

It was so much fun! I couldn’t handle the horse at first, and was so scared that he was going to throw me off. Once I got the hang of it, we started walking the horses. These horses have a group mentality, so if one horse acts one way the rest are going to follow suit. Therefore, as you can imagine, the horses started trotting and then galloping away. It probably was hysterical watching me when the horses started galloping and probably even more hysterical to hear my screams. One of the cowboy instructors thought it was hilarious to chase my horse with a whip to make him gallop when I least expected it.

After horseback riding, we all washed up and had a barbeque. There was steak, pork, chicken, sausage, bread, salad, potato salad, wine, and pisco! The food was great (as always) and after we made S’mores around the bonfire. Perfect last day in this wonderful country!  

Spa & Barbecue !

Wednesday was SPA DAY! Yes, perfect day for a diva J . It basically was a nice country club with pools, tennis courts, and lunch. This day was meant to be because the sun was shining and it was about 70 degrees. We first had lunch, which was steak and egg with fries. To me, that reminded me of American meals so I was excited. The lunch was great and was followed by pie and pudding.  Jealous yet? After lunch, I laid out on the pool chairs, listening to Hannah’s iPod, and eventually fell asleep. I wasn’t the only one napping, because when I woke up I saw at least 4 other students doing the same. We haven’t had much sleep during our visit, so a lot of students caught up on their sleep. Other students had started a game of soccer so after our nap, a couple of friends and I went to watch them play soccer. Unfortunately, my lovely friend Brendan broke his whole toenail during the game L . It looked like it was traumatic, but he handled it so well that we all decided it was a sign of his inner macho-ness.

We eventually left the spa, and headed over to Verner (USM’s coordinator of the Plus3 program)’s house for a barbeque dinner. We walked into his backyard seeing Jorge watering his apple trees and starting laughing on how content Jorge was with the plants! Verner also had grape trees which a lot of people picked snacks off of.  While the food was grilling, people played pong, foosball, and other games. Some of the Chilean students were there to join us, and it felt so nice relaxing and enjoying each other’s company over a nice grill fire. For dinner, there were grilled sausages and chicken and beef kabobs with refreshing water and soda. We stayed there for a while talking, singing, and playing games salvaging every moment we could get of our soon-to-be-ending trip. 

Brice, Alana, and I at the spa

Paintbrushes, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms!

Tuesday was a pretty packed day. We had three companies to visit: HELA, Conservas Centauro, and Bosques del Mauco. Therefore, we had to wake up very early to make it to all company visits.

One of the machines at HELA

Our first company was HELA, which is a company that manufactures paintbrushes and similar equipment. We were able to take a tour of their factory and see the machines that make all the equipment. It was so cool to me to see how blended human labor and machinery were in making their products.  For example, the hair for the brushes were put together manually, but the stamping of the wood, the wrapping and melting of the plastic wrap, etc. were all handled by the machines! One of the engineering students was telling me how massive the computer programming would have to be done for just one machine to do all the operations which shows how much genius goes behind manufacturing these products! 

Tomato Paste

The next company we went to was Conservas Centauro which is a primarily tomato product company that also sells other canned food items. My expectations were that the production process would be highly technical and fabricated, but it was not like that at all. Everything was super fresh! The tomatoes are washed without chemicals and then mixed and mashed together in a machine, and further processed with other equipment. We were also able to see how these tomato products (paste, salsa, ketchup, etc.) were packaged. In fact, Conservas Centauro has a special relationship with a retailed called JUMBO whom they exclusively distribute their salsa to. Therefore, they already have pre-made JUMBO packaging for their salsa. The owner also informed us that they also produce canned fruits, peppers, and now onions. In fact, they are trying to phase over to having onions be one of, if not solely, their main product for Chilean consumption of onions have now surpassed the consumption levels of tomatoes. 

At this point, we were extremely hungry (American appetites are one of a kind) so we took a lunch break and got….EMPANADAS! (it’s basically like “agua sin gas” to us now). I ordered a spicy sausage empanada and then for dessert an apple one. Even though this wasn’t our usual empanada place, the food was delicious! I never tried a dessert empanada before and didn’t really know what to expect, but it tasted just like an apple pie. :) 

The last company we visited was Bosques del Mauco, a mushroom farm. We were warned about this company pre-departure because of its alleged putrid aromas that infests the farm. However, I didn’t think it would be too bad.

Mushroom Farm

Mushrooms

…I was wrong. The smell was horrifying but I think I held composure quite well compared to Brice who looked like he was going to cry! Besdes the smell, however, the process of growing and harvesting the mushrooms is so cool!  First, they collect compost by mixing it with soiled straw, manure, microbes, and fungus. Sounds disgusting, but the owner made it sound so interesting on how natural the process is. Once harvesting is started, they harvest the mushrooms for about two weeks where workers carefully hand-pick the biggest ones

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Last Day at the University and Soccer!

Today was the last day at the University and even though it's not hard to say goodbye to the cafeteria food, it is sad to be officially done with our studies at the University. I loved looking at the view from the top of the stairs, and going up meeting random Chilean students so it's sad saying goodbye to all of that. During our last lecture, all of the groups presented their presentations on the different companies we had to research. Overall everyone did well and Professor James was very pleased with our presentations, but as a knowledgeable man as himself, he had even more information about the companies and industries to give us. At the end, Professor James gave us a goodbye and good wishes for the rest of our trip.

For lunch, we went to the mall food court for a quick meal, because there was a soccer game planned for us and some of the Chilean students. Now, I wasn't planned for athletic activity on the trip so I left my tennis shoes back at home. Therefore, my position was goalie. I was in a team with Jorge, Javier, Hal, and Brittney. Another tidbit: I am not a soccer player nor have I ever been skilled in this sport. However, despite me failing at most of my attempts to block the ball, it was so much fun!!! In P.E in high school, I've always hated soccer but this game really made me want to learn. Everyone was having a good time, and a few were really talented so sometimes the games got really intense (aka my expertise was not needed).
For the remainder of the week, we have three more companies to visit, horseback riding, and a spa day. Seems like we’re going to get a lot of good relaxation…
 

Sunday Funday

Once again another wonderful free day! I wanted to sleep in really late because we rarely get any sleep. My plan was to wake up around noon, but unfortunately my sleep patterns aren’t used to such luxury so I woke up around 10am. The only thing required for the day was a special dinner at 6, so a couple of friends and I decided to go back to the beach and relax a little. Before we went to the beach, however, we went to lunch at “A Elena’s” I think it was called. It was Mother’s Day so there were a lot of pretty decorations that added to our peaceful lunch date. We all ordered the ravioli but I got it with Alfredo sauce instead of the traditional meat one and it was delicious! I don’t think I’m ever disappointed with Chilean cuisine. After lunch, we headed back to the beach and I was determined to buy these cool Chilean pants I saw the first day we went to the beach. These pants are striped, baggy, pajama-pant like and come in different color patterns. I knew immediately I wanted them so Sunday I was on a mission of getting the right ones. I ended up getting a red-black-gold-green one that reminded me of Ghanaian colors, and I found it perfect to represent my Ghanaian heritage with authentic Chilean pants. 
I also picked up a cool, quirky pair of sunglasses that look like they’re upside down but still very fashionable. 

 

Dinner was planned to be very formal, so we had to go back to the hotel to get ready. I wore a dress and a blazer and the guys were in dress shirts, ties, slacks, etc. We had a reservation for “Tierra del Fuego” which is a beautiful restaurant located on the beach. (Obviously I wanted to be by the ocean all day). It was the BEST three course meal. We started off with appetizer plates of crab, shrimp, oysters, scallops, and squid with seafood sauces. Then, we got our entrée and I ordered Lasagna de Espinacas con Centolla (Lasagna with Spinach and Crab)
I have never smiled so much after eating a dish. Then, for dessert, we had more full plates of assortments of popular desserts. There was chocolate mousse cake, pudding, flan, meringue pie, and gelato topped off with some wine. Not to make you jealous, but imagine all of this in a restaurant with blue glass windows overlooking the beach at night.

 Perfection. It was so nice just to dress up and have a relaxed, yet formal dinner with everyone and talk about how much we’re enjoying Chile so far. One of the best nights I’ve had in Chile so far and I’m so excited for more!