Day 4: Santiago

This morning we had to be up early for our hour and a half drive to Santiago, the capital of Chile. We started off with a presentation on the Santiago Stock Market. An employee of the stock exchange explained the basics of how the system works and it was interesting to see the similarities to the stock market in the U.S. One thing that I found interesting is that the 10 largest companies in Chile have stock traded on both the Santiago and the New York markets. Although most of the stock trades made by the brokers are handled online now, we got to see the trade room. It has a computer for each broker (there are about 30 brokers) and a large screen with tickers that displays the purchases of the day. 

After, we walked through the city of Santiago to a historical museum. Santiago is a very and busy city with many vendors on the streets selling souvenirs, artwork, food, handmade things, and more.

There are not as many stray dogs in the city as there are in Vina del Mar or Valparaiso, which was nice. As we walked down the crowded streets, I saw streets performers and many Chileans calling to me in Spanish to buy their products. It was very chaotic, but I loved experiencing an authentic Latin American city. After the museum, we had a tour of the presidential palace.

 The president no longer lives in the palace, but this is where he and the first lady work. One thing that surprised me is that the first lady has her own cabinet. She works on social issues and one of her biggest concerns is healthy living, like Michelle Obama. It was also neat that the president of Chile was working in the same building that we were touring. Next, we ate lunch in the market place and I got the grilled Chilean sea bass, it was so good! The market was also very busy and had a bunch of different restaurants to choose from and stands to buy fish or other produce. During lunch, two Chilean men were walking through the market playing their guitars and singing. Then we took an incline and hiked to the top of this huge hill to see the most beautiful view of Santiago.

We sat here for a while to talk and enjoy the beautiful view. 

It was around 7:00 when we got back to the bus and took the trip back to the hotel. We were very hungry when we got back, so a few of us went on a search for empanadas. We had no Chileans with us, so communicating at the restaurant that we found was extremely difficult. Empanadas are delicious! We have all decided to stay in for the night and rest up for the weekend (which starts tomorrow!). I am having the time of my life in Chile and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s activities!