Updating Plus3 Chile Website

We are in the process of updating the Plus3 Chile Website. Please bear with us.

Important--Delayed Flight

It looks like our flight is delayed at least two or more hours. Please check Delta for updates. It is flight 146 from Santiago. Once we are in Atlanta we may have to take later flights but your student should be able to contact you about his or her flight.

Friday, May 15

Today is our last day in Chile. The bus comes at 3:00 PM and our flight to Atlanta is scheduled to leave at 8:15 PM. We had our formal farewell dinner at Diego Pizza last night and exchanged gifts. All of us received very nice golf shirts with emblems of Pitt, Santa Maria and Plus 3. After the dinner I think there was a student organized farewell that lasted most of the night. It has been an interesting trip but I think most are ready to come home.

Thursday, May 14

This is a very late post but this means I have more to report on. Yesterday was a slow day. We were supposed to have outdoor games at the university but because of the rain, the students went bowling instead. In the evening I think there were plans for a pub named Journal, but I am not involved in pub activities. Today we went horseback riding. This is a spectacular activity but also a little risky. I am happy to report that all students went and all came back in one piece (except for some sore butts). No one even got very wet this year. The scenery was spectacular. We first rode through marshes and then through very steep sand dunes. After the dunes, we rode along the ocean for a few miles. Then we went back through the marshes to the ranch where we had a wonderful barbecue. This evening we will have a farewell dinner at Diego Pizza with people from Santa Maria. Tomorrow we can sleep late, do last minute shopping, pack and then take off for the airport about 3 PM.

Wednesday, May 13

Our visit to Chile is winding down. The saga of no wireless continues as even McDonald´s has become unreliable. Of course, there are plenty of internet cafes around but it is hard to go back to the old technology. Yesterday most of the group went to Isla Negra to see the home of Pedro Neruda, the nobel prize winning poet of Chile. They also went to San Antonio, the port of Santiago, for lunch in another typical Chilean restaurant. The weather was not great but at least it did not pour. Today we have a morning to sleep in and then we have some activities at the university in the afternoon and evening. I have not been able to post more pictures because they are on my laptop but if I don´t do that in Chile, I will do it when I get back to Pittsburgh.

Tuesday, May 12

Yesterday we went to Santiago. Our first stop was the Santiago Stockmarket. We saw a video and then had a presentation and two employees answered questions. Finally we went to see the now empty trading room. Afterwards, we tried to see La Moneda (like the White House only the president doesn´t live there, she only works there). There was some event going on and it was temporarily closed to the public. We walked around the Plaza de Armas and saw the Cathedral. We had a misunderstanding with the bus driver but we finally walked to Mercado Central and had a great lunch with a former Pitt student, Leslie Wheeling, and a former Santa Maria student, Felipe Acevedo, who also studied at Pitt. Felipe arranged the lunch. Later in the afternoon we took a funicular up San Cristobal Hill. We could see a heavy layer of brown smog over the city but above that layer of smog we were able to see the Andes. Last year and the year before it was too cloudy to see the Andes. We ended the trip with some shopping in the Bellavista area of Santiago. Our company visits are now completed and today we go to see the beautiful home of Pablo Nerudo at Isla Negra. They say it may rain but so far it looks nice out.

Monday, May 10

Yesterday we enjoyed a relaxing Mother´s day in Vina, although some students went to Renaca and climbed to the top of the sand dunes (not very relaxing). Doreen and I took one of the students with an eye problem to the local clinic. We were impressed with the speed and quality of the clinic. Of course, it was not a public clinic and it was not cheap (though compared to a visit to an emergency room in the US, it probably was). In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The atmosphere was nice and the waiters spoke English (rare in Vina). The desserts were great but unfortunately not all the dinners were. This morning we are going to Santiago.