Vamos a Santiago!

Hola!!

Stock Exchange

Tuesday we finally had the opportunity to go to Chile's capital!! This city was different because I felt that most of the business men and women spend majority of their time here as well as tourists so this city, for me, seemed like a city that never sleeps! (Like us but who needs sleep, si?) We first headed over to the Chilean/Santiago Stock Exchange. Here, we watched a video presentation and then heard a quick discourse on the basics of how the Chilean stock market works. One thing that I found interesting was that majority of these exchanges happen via Internet. They have computers and boards set up, but as we saw only a few brokers come in and actually work there physically.

After the market, we toured the city of Santiago. There were many street performers, many vendors, and minimal stray dogs, so I was very content. We were able to go to one of the most important Chilean cathedrals and it was so massive and beautiful! The cathedral is open most of the day, so many people were moving in and out and a few were in the pews for prayer. I am not Catholic, so it was very eye-opening on how an actual cathedral/Catholic church operates.

Presidential Palace from the front

We then trekked over to the Presidential Palace. The President of Chile does not personally live in the palace, however, the majority of his work and his wife's work is spent there and is the threshold for the majority of executive decisions. During our tour, our tour guide took us through the courtyards that the presidential offices overlook and their grand room where they have social gatherings. It was very cool to me how we were able to go through the WHOLE palace without any hindrances even though we were foreigners! Unlike the White House, we were actually able to touch things without the fear of a huge Secret Service personnel tackling us! I say Barack needs to step his game up, haha!

After the tour, we went to this famous fish market for lunch. I ordered the salmon with papas fritas and it was muy delicioso! I don't know one person who didn't enjoy their meal, or didn't eat their plate clean for that matter. We went to the hotel later and even though restless, that didn't stop most of us to have another taste of Chilean nightlife!