Friday May 17, 2013 .... Day 14

Today is Friday May , 2013. This is my last blog post of the trip. Today was mostly a day of reflection because we left at 2:00 for Santiago for our flight home. I haven't really said too much about the people I have met during the trip, Pitt and Universidad de Santa Maria students, and Jorge and Brice. First, I would like to thank Jorge and Brice for helping us make this trip great. They were so nice and helped with everything. My favorite part is that they participated in different things with us like horseback riding and dancing. I think I have met some lifelong friends though throughout this trip. Everyone was great. I came into the trip knowing only four people, and now I know thirty or even more. I am glad that I have met so many more Pitt students because I am sure we will continue hanging out and studying with each other for the years to come. The hardest thing was leaving all of my new friends from Chile though. They were the best. I couldn't have had such an amazing experience without them. They helped us with everything from ordering food, to finding our way around the city, or just hanging out with us. I'm really going to miss all of them. I especially want to thank Paula, Sebastian  and Javier for spending extra time with us and helping me practice my Spanish. I think that maybe someday we will all see each other again and I wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. However, I already know that everyone is going to be successful because they are all such great people. It’s been a pleasure getting to know everyone and I can’t wait to keep in touch and hear about where everyone’s lives are taking them. Until next time Chile.

Thursday May 16, 2013 .... Day 13

Today was the best day. We went horseback riding all day. It was the coolest thing we have done in Chile and one of the cooler things I have done in my life. The tour was very scenic. It encompassed different areas like the woods, beach, dunes, and more. It lasted 3 hours, more or less I think. It was interesting because the guide only spoke Spanish to us but by this point in the trip I was able to understand most of what he was saying. I had forgotten almost everything I had learned about Spanish in high school but spending time in Chile has refreshed my memory. The guide was really cool too because he didn't care if we wanted to walk or gallop. We were going as fast as possible almost the whole time. It was so much fun. My horse didn't listen to a thing I told it to do. I would tell it to go faster, it would slow down. I would tell it slow down and it would run faster. It also seemed to like the water a lot because when we were on the beach he ran into the water even though I told him to go the other way. He kept going deeper so I was getting soaked. I really didn't mind though because I was having the time of my life. After that, we returned to the ranch and had a barbecue. The guide said he made sure to buy American style food for us, and he gave us a pretty heart felt speech at the end. Overall, it was the best day on the trip.

Wednesday May 15, 2013 .... Day 12

Today was a relaxing day. We went to a hotel with a pool, restaurant, and soccer field. I took a nap by the pool for a while and by the time I woke up we were almost ready to eat lunch. This was nice because we had a chance to talk to everyone about previous times on the trip and catch up with each other. Lunch was great too. We had steak, eggs, fries, and onions. I liked it a lot. These foods are something I am more familiar with. After lunch, I was ready to do something. Some people wanted to sleep or sit by the pool but ten of us started a game of soccer. This was a lot of fun. Verner, the professor from Universidad de Santa Maria, played with us as well. He was really good too. After the game we were all pretty tired and it was almost time to go. Everyone got together and then we walked to Verner’s house for a barbecue.

His house was really cool. It had a pool, ping pong table, Foosball table, outdoor seating, and a pergola with grapes growing over it. I meant to take a picture of the pergola because I know my boss from last year would definitely want to make something like that at his house. They had someone come in to cook the food. I don’t remember the name of the food, but it is like sausage except better. They also had shish kabobs which were really good as well. The food today was overall really good.

Tuesday May 14, 2013 .... Day 11

Today was a really busy day. We had three company visits, starting with Hela. This is the company that we had researched. We were able to see some of the manufacturing processes for different tools. The company does not require extremely hi tech equipment to make its products which is good because this reduces the cost of machinery and maintenance costs. However, Chile does not make its own machinery, and many of the things were imported from Europe or Asia. Importing these machines adds to the cost greatly. Would it be better to invest in developing machinery in Chile or is it just cheaper and better to import these products? This is something they have to figure out.

Next on the schedule, we visited Centauro. Centauro is a producer of canned food products such as tomato paste, canned fruits, and prepared meals. They have a good set up because they have many contracts with farmers to supply them and they are located near Santiago and the coast. This allows them to export more easily and supply throughout the country. I think the most interesting thing about this company is that they change the name of the brand depending on where they are trying to market the product to. I have not heard of companies doing this until now.

Next stop, Bosques del Mar. Bosques del Mar is the largest producer of mushrooms in Chile, it’s closest competition only produces 30% of what they produce. It was also interesting that the guide has worked in Kennett Square and a mushroom farm that is 5 minutes away from my house. He said that compared to Kennett Square, they do not produce nearly as much, however, in terms of South America, they produce a lot and have an efficient process. We then took the bus back to our hotel to finish our touring for the day.

Monday May 13, 2013 .... Day 10

Today is Monday May 13, 2013. This was our last day for lectures at the university. Every group had to give their presentations, ours was about Hela. Hela is a manufacturing company that makes various products such as paint brushes, saws, and scrubbing brushes. A problem that Hela is facing is that it is not aligned with a distribution company such as HomeDepot or Lowe’s. This means it is harder to get its products on the shelf and payments are usually made a few months after they are sold. The benefit to this is that they do not have to give a percentage of their sales to the distribution company. If they do align with a company, they would have to pay the company a certain percentage of their sales, but they will have more shelf space. This is definitely something they will have to consider in the near future in order to stay competitive with other firms. After we finished up the presentations, we went back to the hotel to get something to eat and we were off to play soccer (football). We played with some of the Chilean students and this was probably the most fun on the trip so far. I haven’t played soccer in forever so I’m not that good but it was more friendly than competitive. We played for a few hours too which was great considering I have been pretty lazy lately. This ended our day.

Sunday May 12, 2013 .... Day 9

Today is Sunday May 12, 2013. This is our second free day of the trip. Like yesterday, I was still feeling tired from the week so I didn't do too much today. I wanted to reflect on what we have already done and learned so far. We have learned a lot about the Chilean economy and why its geography plays a large role in it. Chilean has the Pacific ocean to the west and south of it, the Andes mountains to the east of it, and Peru to the north. The country is very long and narrow as well. This means they can produce a variety of products depending on which region you are in. This is good because it makes the economy more diverse, however, the country is very stretched out. Santiago is a huge city in central Chile and this is where a lot of people go to work and study. The government is trying to find out different ways they can encourage people to move more north or more south in order to build up those areas like Santiago is. So far, it seems they are having more success with various programs to do this. I found this very interesting. I also thought it was really cool that we were able to visit LAN and we were able to sit in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Not many people have the opportunity to do that. We also learned a lot about how the maintenance works for planes which I would never have thought of. Because today is Mother’s Day, we went out to eat at Tierra del Fuego, a very nice restaurant on the beach. The food was excellent and this concluded our day.

Saturday May 11, 2013 .... Day 8

Today is Saturday May 11, 2013. This is our 8^th day on the trip and first free day. I was pretty tired from all the things we have done and places we have seen so far. I wanted to use this day just to relax and prepare for the following week. A big group of us went out to eat near the beach, the restaurant served the biggest cheeseburgers I have ever seen. It was really nice because this is one food that I do really like. The food was very satisfying and we split up after this. Becca, Jeff, and I went to the beach to look at different shops and buy gifts for people. It was a perfect day out, maybe a little too hot, but it was nice. After we looked around at most of the shops, we just hung out until other people caught up to us. We then went bought ice cream which was really good. This was the best eating day for me because it was like eating at home. After that, we went back to the hotel and hung out and reflected on some parts of the trip. We met up with our Chilean friends and hung out with them for the rest of the day.