Days 1-2: Brutal
travel with a positive outlook
For the most part, we all booked separate flights down to
Santiago depending on our respective finals schedules, but I had the chance to
travel on the same flights with my good friends Vivian and Steven. As I write,
I’m sitting in the Santiago airport waiting for Jane and Will to land before we
all take off on a drive to Valparaiso. Our last two days of travel have been
quite hectic, so I thought it warranted me taking the time to make an account
of it.
We left New Haven at 7 p.m., drove to New York, parked our
car in queens, took an uber to JFK, spent a hot second in a lounge and then
boarded our first flight to Bogota at 10:30 p.m. for an 11:10 departure.
Surprisingly, by the time we got to the gate the plane was already completely
boarded and they were issuing last call, so we quickly found our seats and
settled in for the first 6 hour flight. Apparently we weren’t the only ones to
delay our boarding, so we stayed at the gate for another 40 minutes or so to
catch all of the stragglers. Afterwards, we pushed back from the gate only to
sit on the runway for another 3.5 hours while the maintenance team worked on
issues on the nose of the plane and deicing it from the NY weather. At one
point they didn’t think they would be able to fix it and told us that we’d be
deplaning via buses, but shortly after determined that it was unnecessary and
we proceeded to deice and take off at 2:30 a.m. Our original layover in Bogota
was only scheduled for 1.5 hours, so unfortunately we missed it by over an hour
by the time we finally landed. As a result, we had to wait in a very long line
to get our flight to Santiago re-routed, and by the time they were able to
attend to us the next flight out had oversold. We ended up being offered seats
on a 9:50 p.m. flight, setting us up for 2 red eyes in a row! We didn’t really
have a choice, so we took the tickets and the meal vouchers provided by the
airport, then determined that we’d make the most out of the situation and went
to grab coffee while we made a plan.
Our good friend from school is from Bogota, so we sent him a
text for advice and quickly decided that we’d go into the city and visit the
Botero museum. Our first stop was to store our luggage at the airport for the
day before taking an uber into the city. The uber was about a 40 minute drive
since we were entering the city with traffic at the start of a work day, but it
was affordable and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the museum was
offered to the public for free. It was a great collection of Botero paintings
and bronzes, and they had a number of other Latin and European artists on
display as well such as Degas, Picasso, Monet, and Dali. They also had an
adjacent building that was dedicated to preserving the history of the money
presses in the country, so that was a fun area to explore as well.
After the Botero museum we decided to walk towards the Gold
Museum and had the chance to walk through the vibrant downtown area. There were
street performers, musicians, and tons of individuals selling unique fares and
art on the main pedestrian walkway that connected the two spots. When we got to
the gold museum we ducked into a small café across the street for some
empanadas and cheese bread (SOOOO GOOD), and then decided we’d purchase the
ticket for the gold museum to kill an hour before joining the Bogota Graffiti
Tour. I enjoyed the Gold museum, and felt like I gleaned some history from the
region through the ages as I walked through the exhibits. One of the more
interesting exhibits included a description of shaman and the gold and emerald
sacrifices that were made to the gods in ancient times.
After the gold museum we headed to meet up point for the
graffiti tour in a park at the base of the Monserrat Mountain. We were there a
little early so we had some time to sit and enjoy the scenery before joining a
group of 25 other travelers to learn about Bogota’s incredible street art. I
had done the tour in 2016 the last time I was in the city and had an incredible
time, and this experience did not disappoint. We saw art in the downtown and
Candelaria regions of the city, heard about different political opinions and
positions expressed in the art, and got to learn a little more about the
relationship between these artists and the law in the country. It was a LONG
tour, and we didn’t finish until 2.5 hours later around 4:30 p.m. My feet were
KILLING me by the end, but it was still worth it. We celebrated a full day of
great art by having empanadas and beer at a pub before catching another uber
back to the airport around 6:30 p.m. We were traveling with traffic again, and
a stalled vehicle made the progress brutally slow, so we only had enough time
to grab a snack in the lounge before heading to the gate once we got there. We
boarded our next flight at 8:40 p.m., had a red eye and another 6 hour flight
to Santiago, and landed around 5:20 a.m. (3:00 a.m. EST). We’ve been in the
airport for the last few hours waiting for our friends (and even attempted
sleeping across a couple of seats near the rental car counters). About to get
on the road, and can’t wait to crash tonight and take a shower. Super happy to
be here though, and am looking forward to an incredible two weeks in Chile!
Days 2 & 3: Valparaiso
We began our journey after the long travel by renting a car
and driving out to the coast to Valparaiso from Santiago. We passed through
some beautiful vineyards on the way to the coast and got to see where the
famous Emilia wines are produced before checking into our Airbnb up on the main
tourist hill in the city. Our first evening was low key – we had a nice late
lunch of empanadas and craft beers, then spent some time walking the city
before finding a nice dinner spot overlooking the ocean known for its seafood.
We took advantage of the currency exchange and had a fantastic 3-course meal
for the same price a single course and a beer would cost us in NYC. It was a
lovely evening, and we called it short in order to get some much needed rest
after such a long series of travel. Unfortunately the night had one final
surprise in it for us – we accidently left the lights on in the car, so as we
walked home we passed our car with crazy blinking headlights and realized that
the battery had died. Whoops.
The next morning we tried calling roadside assistance, but
the operator only spoke Spanish and our skills were a little too weak to be
effective. Luckily, Steven went out to the street to see if he could flag
anyone down by the car to help, and we got lucky! A very nice old gentleman in
a red truck acknowledged our need, went home, and returned with jumper cables
to give the car a jump and get us back on track. We were lucky it didn’t take
longer, because we were still able to make the free graffiti tour we planned on
doing that morning (and my birthday wasn’t ruined J ). The graffiti tour was
fabulous, and we were even accompanied by a gang of street dogs the whole time.
Every time a car or bike would drive past the 4-5 dogs would start barking,
running and trying to bite the tires of the passing vehicle. It was quite the
site. After the graffiti tour we grabbed a flight at the local brewery and some
pub fare before returning home for some down time and a workout before my
birthday dinner. The dinner was lovely and had a wonderful view, and my friends
were incredibly kind to treat me to the meal.
Unfortunately we had to leave bright and early the next
morning to drive back to Santiago to be there in time for our program, but our
time in Valparaiso was colorful, delicious, and fun.
Day 4: Isla Negra
The first day of our program was a tour of the surrounding
regions of Santiago. We started on a bus at 8:00 a.m. and drove out to Isla
Negra, a gorgeous town on the coast west of the city. We toured one of Pablo
Neruda’s homes, and learned about his legacy in Chile while getting to see the
many toys he had collected in order to preserve his inner child that gave him
his voice. After the tour we got to stop by the beach and stand amongst the
rocks as the waves crashed in before heading to another town for lunch. The
town we had lunch in was known for its large empanadas, and our lunch menu
included an option of empanada, chicken soup or veggies. I chose the soup (and
it was phenomenal), but a number of my classmates chose the empanadas and only
2 people were able to finish it – they were huge! We had some time to walk
around and shop after lunch before meeting back up for our next activity. The
shopping was fun, and Vivian and I got to try Huesillas de moto, an odd wheat
based drink accompanied by a peeled and pitted apricot. Our next stop was a clay making class – and I
got to attempt to make a pot on a clay spin wheel! It was really fun, and
really hard! I was pretty bad at it, but I had an absolute blast trying. Afterwards
we took a long bus ride back to Santiago, checked into our new AirBnb in the
Lastarria neighborhood across the street from our school, and had a light
dinner before crashing for the night before our official classes the next day.
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| Pablo Neruda's home on the coast |
Days 5-11: Class in
Santiago at PUC and a free day in the city
Global Network week was great. Every day we started classes
at 9 a.m. and had 2 sessions from faculty where we learned about Chile’s
economy, pension system, and broader financial system of banks and alternative
asset investments. While I learned a lot in classes, I also enjoyed having the
chance to take classes with business school students from around the world –
there were 11 schools represented from China, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico,
Brazil, South Korea and the U.S. We ended the formal lectures every day with
some group work where we got to discuss how things were done in Chile and
whether or not they differed in our respective countries. Afterwards we had
lunch and a company visit that included CEOs and Presidents of major financial
institutions in the country. We had two nice dinners in Santiago as well – one
for Vivian’s birthday at a famous tapas and wine bar, and another at 040 – one
of the top 50 restaurants in the world! I’m not that much of a foodie, but this
meal and the speakeasy bar we got to visit afterwards as guests was a pretty
phenomenal experience. Other fun events during the week included visiting the
fruit market, climbing Cerro San Cristobal, going to a happy hour with alums,
experiencing the international student club night, and joining in on the
climate change march with thousands of the city’s youth. We also visited the
human rights museum and learned more about the country’s history and recent
military dictatorship. Overall the week was very enjoyable and I learned a lot.
We did have another big bump – on Friday night our laundry machine
malfunctioned and flooded the apartment, so after our nice meal out we spent
until 1:40 in the morning cleaning up water and spent the night with the water
shut off in the apartment until plumbers could come the next morning. My
Saturday was spent at the apartment making sure the plumbers could get in, then
brunch with a classmate and a day of shopping before a final dinner with my
friends before they departed for Peru and I went my separate way to the Atacama
Desert.
Days 12-17: The
Atacama Desert
What a week! I left Santiago on Sunday and went to the
airport to join up with my friend Erin before flying to Calama and driving 1.5
hours out to San Pedro de Atacama. We were told by many that the desert was an
unforgettable experience, and boy am I happy that we chose to go there instead
of south to the Lake District region (which I still want to see in the future
as I hear it’s beautiful!). We checked into a hostel called Feel Atacama, and
immediately upon check-in we were given an itinerary of tours that would fill
our week and ensure that we had the chance to see most of the region’s
beauties. It was also a very affordable experience – the bunk was $13/night,
and our full week of tours was about $200/ person before park entry fees. I
think we could have done it even cheaper had we booked our tours in town, but
the convenience of having it done through the hostel really created value for
us. The hostel itself had a really cool atmosphere and a fantastic outdoor
space. The rooms were a little muggy and could have been better, but the
outdoor hammocks, gym, pool and fire pit were unbeatable. On our first night
they had an unlimited Caprihina night for 4000 CLP (~$6), and it was a great
way for us to get to know our fellow travelers. We sat around the fire telling
tales and played a little beer pong before turning in for the night to our very
squeaky top bunks in a mixed 6-person dorm.
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| attempting to make coffee from the materials available in the hostel - a mesh grocery bag as a filter! |
The next morning we woke up around 7:00 for our tour to the
red rocks and a series of lagoons to see flamingos. The tour’s first stop was a
small restaurant in the closest town to the Argentina border, and we had a
fantastic breakfast of fresh baked biscuits, eggs, homemade salsa and butter. After
the breakfast we started driving through the wondrous landscapes of the desert
and stopped to see an ostrich like bird, pecunas, and bescotchas (no clue how
to spell this) in the wild. The bescotcha was like a rabbit, except its fur was
a little green and it had really long vertical whiskers that make it look a
little like a mini walrus! They lived only in the red rocks, while the Pecunas
(llama-esque animals) lived in packs that grazed the hillsides.
Afterwards we stopped for an epic view of the salt flats and
a bit of a photoshoot. We could see flamingos in the distance, and had the
chance to really appreciate the vastness of the lake. Unfortunately, our next
stop is where things started turning for the worse. Despite being in a 3-month
old van, we started to have difficulties driving up a mountain as we were
headed to one of the salt lagunas known for hosting more flamingos and nice
swimming. Our tour bus puttered and stopped repeatedly even as the driver did
his best to reverse and try again with the engine in different gears. We spent
about an hour trying to drive before giving up and being dropped off on the
side of the road while our guide hitchhiked back to town (and cell phone
service). The time on the side of the road wasn’t terrible to be honest – we laid
out on cool rocks and read, or played silly games like throwing rocks at
targets as a group. Eventually the bus started again and we made our way into
town for lunch, but instead of getting a new car to take us back to San Pedro
de Atacama (still 100 km away), we tried taking the same bus and it broke down
a second time! This time we were right by the Tropic of Capricorn sign, so
while we were waiting for repairs or a new pick up we took a stroll through the
desert to get back to the sign and have a mini photoshoot. We had some English and
German college kids with us, and it was fun asking them about their studies and
travel experiences (believe it or not I’m getting old and don’t party the same
way as they do anymore!).
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| waiting out the car troubles on the side of the road |
To add insult to injury, when we got back into town Erin and
I decided to stay in town for dinner before heading back to the hostel. We
picked a great spot with live music, but oddly we had to move tables a few
times and by the end of the 2nd course the wait staff had completely
forgotten about us. It took over an hour to get dessert, and by the time they
finally brought us the bill we were the last people in the restaurant and had
missed the last shuttle back to the hostel. We had to wait another 45 minutes
to get a cab back before finally returning home. LONG day full of mishaps, but
it was still fun regardless.
The next few days we did a couple more tours – one of moon
valley, one of the salt lagoons, and another of the hot springs. Sadly our
astronomy tour was cancelled because of the full moon, but we still had a
fulfilling time. The moon valley tour ended on a glorious note – we hiked up to
the top of a sand ridge to watch sunset, and as the sun set to the left of us
the full moon rose on the right. At one point the sun and the moon were in
equal places in the sky on opposite horizons. It was incredible.
The salt lagoon was really fun too – it reminded me of the Dead
Sea in Israel because we could float so easily! I think it might have even been
more salty than the Dead Sea, which I didn’t know was possible!
Our last trip was to the hot springs, and boy was that luxurious.
There were 7 different pools surrounded by lush greenery tucked into the red
stone hills of the desert. We spent HOURS swimming around living our best
lives.
I would go back to Chile in a heartbeat. It was one of the
most vibrant and diverse countries I’ve ever visited, and I know that I haven’t
even experienced half of the natural wonders it holds. I’m very grateful for
this experience.
