Orientation Part 2

The first weekend we had a break from all the charlas (back to back academic lectures in Spanish that usually last approx. 2 hours each) and we visited Santa Rita vinyard and winery. We tasted several different wines then had a really nice lunch (with lots more wine) before touring the wine production facilities. Needless to say, we had a TON of fun.

It was a beautiful day and we could see the foothills surrounding the vinyards.

Another excursion was to a small agricultural town called San Felipe. We met with a group of women who work in the packing plants then went to the local pub with them for lunch. The cazuela (soup with chicken, vegetables, and nuts) was amazing but the conversation was a little bit difficult!

After lunch we walked up a little hill for a spectacular photo shoot of the Andes and the surrounding valley.

Then we went to a local chicheria where the maestro taught us about making the local drink chicha and let us taste this year's batch.

This is the church in San Felipe's town square.

One of the days we did a 'Social Geography' tour of Santiago. We started with a nice lunch in an art village in the barrio alto of Santiago- the richest part of the city. Lunch was great and we the shopping area was beautiful. Then we got on the bus and drove on Santiago's ring road- Americo Vespucio. We drove through several nice neighborhoods then through the middle class, lower middle class, lower class, and poblaciones. We made several stops to explore different areas. Santiago is a city with a lot of inequality and it is very obvious when you move around the city.

Santo Domingo Art Village in the barrio alto
Where we ended up- a poblacion.

This is a photo of a Mapuche women singing and drumming for us.

Visiting La Moneda- the presidential palace.

Visiting Mario Toral's home and studio. He is a very prominent and very interesting Chilean artist.

This is Prof. Peter Winn. He is a Chilean historian from Tufts and he led our orientation. He is very knowledgeable on all things Chilean and was a great person to introduce us to Chile. This is him doing his normal thing- speaking very quietly into his recorder during a charla.