Valparaiso

May 6, 2013

I woke up to the sound of dogs barking.  There are dogs all over Chile, stray ones follow us around when we go, and the dog that lives next to the hotel barks whenever a stray passes by.   We all managed to fall back asleep before the alarms went off, but it was still far too early when they did.  We had tasty biscuits and yogurt for breakfast; I hope they stay tasty, because Brice says this is what we’ll be eating for breakfast for the next 2 weeks. 

After breakfast, some Chilean students met us at the hotel, and helped us find our way to Valparaiso on the public bus.  The bus was so crowded that I started panicking almost immediately.  The ride was painful and claustrophobic, making it seem much longer than it actually was.  We finally got to the university and learned that getting around the campus involves more walking up steps than walking on flat ground.  

 I took this picture just after we got off the bus.  That is one of the school buildings.

We took a tour of the university, led by one of the Chilean students, while we waited for our class of the day to start.  I honestly did not know what to expect from a Chilean university, but I certainly didn’t expect views like this:

Or courtyards like this:

After the tour, we went to a lecture about the current state of the Chilean economy compared to other Latin American countries.  The lecture was interesting, but, to be honest, a lot of the technical business things went a bit over my head.  I’ve never taken a business or economy class of any kind before, so I don’t understand some of the terms.  Wore than not understanding the terms, I don’t understand the implications of certain things.  The professor talked about causes and effects in an economic market, presenting some of the things as common sense, while I had no clue how one thing led to the other.  I assume the business students followed better than I did, and I’m sure many if not most of the other engineers did too.  

After class, we went to lunch in the school cafeteria.  The lunch didn’t look terribly appetizing, but it tasted better than it looked, and I was so hungry that I didn’t care. We had salad with a piece of beef, as well as split pea soup, bread, and grapes.  The bread was good, and the meat was tasty, if tough, but I don’t really like grapes, so I didn’t have any of them.  The drink with the meal was a juice box full of peach juice.  I had never had peach juice before, as it is not particularly common in the US, but it was really good, and I wish I could find it back home. The students we were with said that the lunch is usually better, so I have high expectations for Wednesday.

After lunch we went on a tour of Valparaiso, including a visit to the open-air art museum and a couple of stops at really good spots for taking pictures of the view.

There were so many pictures on all of the walls, and there were even sculptures, like this one:

 The art was fantastic, but even better was the view:

This city is absolutely beautiful.

When we were done with our tour, we quickly stopped for a delicious dinner of empanadas, and went to dance class.  We learned the basic steps to the salsa, and started to put them together into something resembling a dance.  This class repeatedly reminded me of just how uncoordinated I am.  The dancing was fun, though not easy, and we will go back again on Wednesday for another lesson.

So far, everyone has been really nice and welcoming.  The information we are learning is interesting and informative, and the weather has been spectacular.  I hope it continues like this for the rest of the trip, though I could use with getting a bit more sleep.