I know I have been ignoring you guys for a while, but so much has been happening! On Wednesday, we went to a winery called Undurraga. It was a beautiful place, and we learned a lot about their marketing campaign and different varieties of wine. One thing that I was surprised to learn about is that in order to grow wine, alluvial soil, which is not too fertile, is the best. Too much fertility does not produce good wine. We got to do some taste testing at the end. I loved one of their sweet wines so much that I bought three bottles of it! Their wines are not very expensive and are made for the mass consumers instead of a higher end model.
Yesterday we went to Amcham – the American Chamber of Commerce, to learn more about the Chilean economy and the role Amcham plays in Chile. Chile has been really concentrating on increasing entrepreneurship in the country, but what is interesting is that they are mainly targeting for foreign entrepreneurs looking to start their business in the country. This is because the Chilean culture is such that failing at a start-up is considered extremely bad and embarrassing. If a start-up fails, chances are that the entrepreneur will not get a job in the industry after that.
We visited the Pablo Neruda house in the Bellavista neighbourhood after that. His house was designed by him for his mistrss (later became his wife) Matilda and is ingeniously done. Although he was afraid of water, he was fascinated by sailing and considered himself a sailor on land. This is completely reflected in the design of the house. The entire house is built on a slope, with water rushing down around it via canals. The house itself has low ceilings, and rooms that reminds one of different parts of a ship, like the captain’s room for instance. He decorated the house with gorgeous items, which were often taken from a ship or in some way reminiscent of a ship. His house is filled with eccentric collectibles, mismatched furnishings, and memorabilia of importance to Neruda. Dear friends like Pablo Picasso made some of the lovely paintings he had. Neruda was not just a poet and Nobel Prize winner for Literature, but he was also an Ambassador for Chile in France, a leader and a brilliant politician.
We ended the day with a visit to the nightclub called Kamakazi. The nightlife in Santiago starts exceptionally late! Our new friend Filipe wanted to take us, and by the time we walked out of the hostel it was already past 1am, and the nightclubs here don’t close until 4am! It was a lot of fun, with great music and a lot of Chilean dancing.
This morning we were so tired from last night we just barely made it through our classes. Then we went on a hike to Las Animas. It was a good hike, and we got to enjoy the waterfall at the end of it. The scenery was gorgeous, with trees and lakes and mountains everywhere. A few of us, included me decided to try zip-lining, which is basically when we cross a lake or river by zipping across a cable attached only by a harness. It was the best adrenaline rush I have enjoyed in a while! I am really glad I had the chance to try it!
I came home so tired that I decided to stay in for the night. More pictures later. Need to sleep for about 9 hours for tonight!
¡Hasta Pronto!
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