I think it is safe to say that today definitely started out interesting to say the least. The first thing on our agenda was seeing Bosque de Mauco, a mushroom factory. The start of the tour was rocky as we were outside where they keep and maintain their compost for growing the mushrooms, which smelled beyond horrible. I don’t think there are words to describe it. I have to admit I was thinking at the time how am I going to be able to survive this for two more hours. Yet as we moved inside where they actually grow the mushrooms it got much better and actually quite interesting. I am apparently ignorant to the whole mushroom growing process. I assumed that they grew outside in a field and people then picked them when they were ready. However, they are instead grown inside in crates filled with the compost. The crates are located in dark rooms that are kept at specific temperature that vary according to the particular stage in the process the mushrooms are at. We got to see the room where the mushrooms were fully grown in their crates and ready to be picked. As we were in the room workers were in there actually picking the mushrooms. I remember thinking to myself that has to be one very long day and couldn’t imagine doing that myself day after day. The guy who was showing us around told us later that they all get paid the minimum wage. However, how much they actually earn is based off of how much they pick. At the end of the day they weigh how much each worker picked and the workers can earn two or three times the minimum wage. I thought this was a very good idea as it might provide an incentive for the workers to stay motivated.
One of the really interesting things to hear at the mushroom factory was that after the earthquake, their two competitors shut down due to damage. Thus Bosque was able to raise their prices. However in the next few months one of their competitors is re-opening and as a result, Bosque is going to lower their price so that the other company can enter the market. This was just something that I found particularly interesting. I’m sure that this is part of their business/pricing strategy.
After our tour of the mushroom factory we then headed to Centauro, a canning factory of mainly tomatoes and fruits. I was interested to learn that the factory is not fully operating all year round. The only products they make all year are their tomato products. The canning of fruits is only done in the summer. I really enjoyed the visit at the factory because the owner was very into it and was very helpful in actually giving us information about how they do business, not just how their processes work. He mentioned how they are looking to move their products to bags rather than cans in order to reduce costs. In addition to that they brand a certain tomato sauce for Jumbo, a grocery store. Because Jumbo is an upper level grocery store, they also partook in product extension and made a cheaper sauce under a different name that they can sell for less to lower income families. Although they are both tomato sauces, they are different in tastes because the composure is different. The higher quality tomato sauce is made up of much more tomatoes than the lower end one. The lower end tomato sauce is not nearly as good because it is made in a way such that production is cheaper because it sells for less. The company is also looking to make more ready to make meals. The company is a pull system, meaning that they distribute their products when they get an order. All in all it was a really great experience and it was really nice to see the owner so enthusiastic.
Later in the night we spent time with a lot of the Chilean students which was really nice because I feel as though we finally had an opportunity to really talk to them and get to know them. In our lecture earlier in the day we had learned about their 8.8 earthquake that occurred last year. I do not feel as though I would feel safe living in a place knowing that it could happen any second. I asked many of them how they felt about it and they were all very chill, not worried in the least bit about one occurring. I really enjoyed talking with them and getting to know their perspectives on certain things.
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