Day One in Chile

This morning after our nine and a half hour flight from Atlanta we arrived at the Santiago Airport. It was completely hazy upon our arrival, and after talking with a Chilean, he seemed to indicate there is haze every morning but it burns off by noon, similar to the marine layer in California. Once we successfully went through customs and picked up our luggage, we boarded a bus to Valparaiso. On the way much of the land was very dry and there were also cactuses. It reminded me a lot of certain parts of western United States. One thing that surprised me along the drive was all the billboards along the way. For some reason I just didn’t expect them to have them here. As we approached Valparaiso the view was absolutely gorgeous. The city is built into the hills and overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

After checking into our hotel we went out to find a place to have lunch and we got our first glimpse of the city. I really enjoyed seeing the different kind of stores and restaurants. Most of them were a lot smaller in size compared to those in the United States. One thing I noticed however was that almost all of the stores were closed. I realized that this is probably because it is Sunday and the Catholic religion has a heavy presence in Chile. It was interesting to see throughout the day the other affects this in turn had. For instance, when we went to explore later on we passed a park and there were many families out spending time together. Most of the Chileans seemed relaxed and appeared as though they were having a good time. My guess is that they still take the day of rest pretty seriously, and as a result I feel as though they are less stressed and have more time to spend with their families. In the United States we are constantly focused on work and do not get much of a break from it. As a result we do not have as much time to spend with our families. It was nice to see a lot of Chileans out with their families having a good time.

Later in the night we went to a nice Mexican restaurant and it was nice to have more time to get to know one another better. I’m very excited for tomorrow when we get to go to the University and meet some of the Chilean students. I can’t wait to get a better feel for the city and culture throughout the week and to learn about the different companies.