Sunday

Today was another free day which was very nice. We finally had the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep which was great. After waking up we decided to head to the mall. In order to get there we needed to walk along the beach. As it turns out, on their boardwalk they have lots and lots of stalls set up in which people sell goods. It actually reminded me a lot of a flea market that is set up on Saturdays near my town. It was really neat to go around and see what everyone was selling. Plus we were right on the ocean which is always enjoyable. After browsing we continued on our way to the mall. One thing that really surprised me were how many American stores were there. For instance there was Lacoste, Timberland, Nine West, Aldo, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, Columbia, and many more. Oh and you can’t forget the three Dunkin Donuts and the four McDonalds of course. This was not something I expected. On top of that many of the stores names seemed English. Having American stores in a foreign country means that those companies have successfully been able to attract and appeal to foreign target markets and that there is demand for their products abroad. I am sure that this is a very good sign for a company.

While we were passing by the McDonalds on our way back to our hotel we decided that it is viewed differently here than in the U.S. They are much nicer and seem like a place that is nice to hang out in. For instance is has the McCafe attached to it along with an upstairs that is completely away from the food. Later in the evening we went to Terra de Fuego, a very nice restaurant on the beach. The view was pretty, however it was unfortunate that it was dark when we were there. When we first got here I thought it was strange that the sun set at 6. Then I realized it is because we are on the opposite side of the equator, meaning at this time of year Chile is turned away from the sun while the U.S. is turned towards it. Today was a very nice and relaxing day and it was nice to spend a lot of time near the ocean.