These past few weekends have been filled with lots of fun mini-trips either with the exchange program or with friends. We visited the Teniente Mine, went to a Manu Chao concert, climbed a mountain with the mountaineering class, and went to the Chilean national rodeo championships.
Visiting the mine was a lot of fun because we were able to wear all of the gear that the miners wear including bright orange protective suits, goggles, hard hats, air masks, utility belts, and rubber boots. The Teniente Mine is the largest mine in the world and is basically like a small city completely underground. The main export of the mine was copper and it is still functioning today. We took a tour of some of the bigger parts of the mine and then ate in one of the cafeterias that the miners eat in. Katie, Mark and I sat with two men who worked in the mine and they told us that they have to take a two hour bus ride too and from the mine every day to work. They said it was worth it because working in the mine is a good job and pays well. It was fascinating to be in a place so large underground that it seemed like we were in another world.
This Saturday Mark, Tim and I had an excursion to a mountain with our mountaineering class. The requirements for the trip were hat, sunglasses, day pack, hiking boots, leather gloves, and an ice pick. We left early in the morning and arrived at the bottom of the mountain about thirty minutes outside of Santiago. After being divided into groups we spent the morning climbing to the top as well as practicing using the ice pick to climb up and down especially steep terrain and rock faces. After about three hours my legs were pretty much exhausted and thankfully we had a break for lunch. After lunch we had one more final difficult ascent and descent practicing what we had learned with the ice pick and then we made our descent back to the bottom. Our next trips with that class aren’t until June which is when we actually camp for weekends at a time.
Sunday Jessica, Mark, Tim and I went to the Chilean national rodeo championships in Rancagua which was only about two hours from Santiago by bus. The atmosphere was lots of fun and everyone was dressed especially for the occasion. The Chilean cowboys or vaqueros wore straight, straw sombreros and colorful ponchos. Their traditional costumes were beautiful and the cowboys wore them with dignity and pride. We looked a bit out of place with our sandals and t-shirts because everyone was dressed to ride. The rodeo was completely different than those in the United States. All of the events were new to me, the equipment on the horses was different, and the breeds of the horses themselves were some that I had never seen before. One of the things that we enjoyed most about the day was the food – there was any kind of meat you could think of cooked over a grill shish kebob style, Chilean beer and another fermented drink called chicha, and lots of helado (ice cream). It was really fun to see such pride and strength exhibited in another culture.
mORE UpDates pLEase!!!
-Wilmina (^_*)