A view of the presidential palace, La Moneda
A Chilean vineyard outside the town of San Felipe with the Andes Mountains in the background
From the airport, we took a bus to our hotel. Our first look at the city was definitely eye-opening. It looked just like a big city in the United States, but there was so much smog in the air. There is a brown cloud that is constantly over the city when you look out over the skyline. As soon as I stepped outside I knew that the air quality was terrible, but I didn’t care much. When we got to the hotel, we split into groups that would share rooms. The hotel was pretty small, and like the airport that morning, didn’t use central heating. In each of our rooms was a small heater that worked only sometimes. Luckily, the group that I was rooming with got the big room with several extra beds that we could steal comforters off of if we got cold.
Our group leaders gave us no time to rest. Once we put our bags into our rooms, we were ushered into a small dining room to see an Introduction to Chile presentation from the local guides. The guide told us some of the culture that we would encounter throughout or stay. We learned that all white people are referred to as “gringos,” while all black people are “negritos,” and Asians are all “chinitos.” After our presentation, we left the hotel and walked through the city to the presidential palace called “La Moneda.” We then took a tour of it and learned some facts about its history. After our tour we returned to our hotel to rest up and get ready for some dinner.
In our first full day in Chile, we woke early in the morning so that we could take a bus to a town for our first activity. We were each given a partner and a task that we had to complete while in the city. Our leaders then dropped us off on the side of the road and left. So here I was, surrounded by the beautiful Andes Mountains, in a random town in a foreign, Spanish-speaking country, with someone I just met a day ago, and was expected to track down a fire station… This task would be our first real test of our Spanish-speaking capabilities. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to find it. All of the people whom we asked were extremely helpful. It was pretty hard to understand them because they don’t pronounce the “s” on the ends of words, and speak very rapidly. Nonetheless, we found the fire station, talked to some firemen, and were back on the bus in no time. Later that day we drove to a vineyard which was also surrounded by the Andes. It was really interesting to learn about Chile’s wine industry and to see the beautiful landscape.
The next day we woke up early, once again, expecting to go directly to the airport so we could take our flight to Copiapo for our homestay. However, our leaders had different plans. After we packed our bags, we walked through the city to the house of Pablo Nerudo, where we took a tour. His house was really fascinating because it was shaped like a boat and had tons of art inside. After our tour, we walked back to our hotel and left for the airport. I enjoyed using the airports in Chile, because they don’t make you take off your shoes or jackets, and you don’t have to throw away your water bottles. Santiago was definitely a great introduction to Chile.
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