Adios from South America!

And thus another May study abroad trip draws to a close. It's 4am, and the bus is about to leave our hotel in Lima for the airport. We'll be home in about 36 hours!

Thanks for following along with us on our trip of a lifetime. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Go Pens!

Deliverance

Our last full day in Cusco took us into the "mighty" Urubamba River for a few hours of rafting. Thankfully we had our Marlboro Red-sucking guide to teach everyone the basics of staying in the raft. While a few people were thrown from the rafts, an equal number chose to jump into the frigid river (for some unknown reason) to ride the current. The adventure has to be considered a success, however, because everyone seemed to have a great time and we returned to Cusco in the afternoon with the same number of people we started the day with. Take that, Ned Beatty!

Tomorrow we are on to Lima for our farewell dinner, and then we're off on our 32-hour odyssey back home on Saturday.

All Around Cusco

Yesterday we finally pulled out the Duquesne Magazine for some of our group shots to try and get one of them into an upcoming issue. We think the first one with the alpacas and a few of the locals has the best shot of getting in.

We spent the day touring around Cusco. We visited four Inca sites in the morning, including Saqsaywaman which is pronounced something like "Sexy Woman." As you might imagine, we had a great deal of fun with that name. After lunch we toured some other sites in the city and then broke early to do some shopping and to relax a little from the last few days.

It was a little difficult to get around the city, however, because yesterday was the Corpus Christi festival in Cusco and there were tons of people assembling in the city square. The festival went from the early afternoon long into the night, as we kept hearing fireworks go off as we were trying to fall asleep.

Machu Picchu: The World's Most Remote Distribution Center

After getting a brief glimpse of it on Monday, we spent the entire morning yesterday touring Machu Picchu with our excellent guide, Franklin. Among the many interesting details that he told us was the recent theory that Machu Picchu was actually an Incan distribution center where various cities could trade commodities with other cities in the empire. This was necessitated by the fact that the cities were each at different altitudes and therefore could only grow or raise certain crops effectively. (I'm just glad that now I have the chance to show these pictures in class when I talk about warehousing!)

It's so nice to have a knowledgable guide when touring this type of site because he or she is able to point out the significance of many things that you would often overlook. The picture below is an example of that; it shows that the rock was carved to match the contour of the mountain peak in the distance. This emphasizes the significance of the mountains in the spirituality of the Incas.

We were all looking forward to this day for the entire trip, and it certainly didn't disappoint us. The weather was perfect, and the site is certainly one of the most spectacular things that any of us have ever seen.

Stairway to Heaven

What a world we live in...they even have internet access in Machu Picchu! Yesterday was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip as many of us ventured across the Inca Trail for six grueling hours to finish with a breathtaking view of Machu Picchu. The others had a shorter but also arduous trek starting at Machu Picchu. While most of us were as tired and sore as we've ever been afterwards, we all agree that it was a day that we'll never forget.

Now we are headed into the Machu Picchu site itself for a guided tour this morning, and then we have a four-hour train ride back to Cusco. So stay tuned for more spectacular pictures tonight! (Note that I promise that I did take that picture at the top. It's so difficult to take a bad picture here!)

Greetings from Cusco, Peru!

The last leg of our journey began today as we flew to Cusco via Lima. We arrived in the late afternoon and immediately were awestruck by our location tucked into the mountains. We also had to adjust to the altitude, which is over 11,000 feet above sea level here. Luckily the hotel had some tea made from Coco leaves for us, which is supposed to help lessen the blow.

After a briefing about the plans for tomorrow, we all explored the city in small groups for dinner. We are staying in the historic part of the city, so all of the streets are narrow and lined with cobblestones, some of which are the original Incan roads. It's a really cool little city. We have another early 5:45am departure time tomorrow, this time for the Inca Trail and then Machu Picchu on Tuesday, so stay tuned for some great shots.

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

Today we finally made it out to the Pacific Ocean today in our visit to Chile's largest port, Valparaiso. Note that I couldn't resist posting a picture of the port operations up here! After a walking tour of the city complete with some of the most annoying barking dogs that followed us during the whole trip, we went down to the beach at the neighbor city of Vina del Mar to see the ocean.

Before coming home, we stopped at the Vina Mar Winery for a tour, sampling, and dinner. We're leaving Chile bright and early tomorrow, and I think all of us are sad to see it go. I'm especially sad that my run of Chilly-Chile puns will have to end. I'm not sure what internet access will be like in Peru, but we'll do our best to get updates up as soon as possible. Adios from Santiago!

Free Afternoon in Santiago

After a morning meeting with Metro Santiago to learn about the operations and challenges of the subway system here, we all had a free afternoon on Friday. Many people went shopping at some point, so many of you at home can expect to receive some great gifts from today's efforts.

Many of us also made it to the top of San Cristobal Hill today to see the Virgin Mary statue and get a fantastic view of the city from above.

This was our last full day in Santiago. On Saturday we are headed to the coast to visit the sister cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, and then on Sunday morning we fly to Peru.

Concha y Tasty!

Yesterday we got back to the academic portion of the trip (Boo!). After a presentation by IBM in the hotel in the morning, we went out to tour Concha y Toro, Chile's most famous winery abroad. The tour even included a visit to the "Devil's Cellar," complete with devil silhouette and, of course, some wine tasting. (I mean, it would have been rude for us to have gone out there and not tasted the wine, right?)

In the evening many of us went to the Paris-Santiago ballet at which I was able to get a pretty decent nap. I guess I'll never understand ballet, but here's my summary anyway. The music was great, primarily thanks to the pianist that looked like Kurt Vonnegut. The highlight (?) was a woman dragging around a yelping toy dog. And the cast took, count them, 14 bows at the end of the show. That's what I understood. Maybe my attention was distracted by Kurt Vonnegut. Anyway, I'm off to get my Breakfast of Champions, so look for details of our sometimes-calamitous "free afternoon" later today. (See what I did there?)

Horseplay in the Andes

Did you ever have one of those "perfect days"? Well, yesterday was as close to that as many of us have ever come. We spent the day at Lodge Andino, a resort in the Andes Mountains about two hours away from Santiago. After a short coffee and juice (honeydew and plum were our choices) break, half of us went hiking for a few hours while the rest of us went horseback riding.

When we returned, we had a huge barbeque lunch and then had a few hours to relax and bask in the scenery around the lodge. Our guide, Mauricio, serenaded us with a mixture of his own compositions and songs that we were familiar with. I don't think I've ever heard an acoustic version of "Spirit of Radio" by Rush, but now I can cross that off my list. Not a bad day at all!

Oh, as you might imagine, we took a huge number of pictures today, so I've done my best in trying to wade through them to find a few to post here.

Slaughterhouse-Five

As I mentioned yesterday, today's schedule was mainly populated with a visit to Agrosuper, a leading Chilean meat processing company. We were a little hesitant about this visit based on its description, but it turned out to be a valuable experience. We did see the cutting floor, but they spared us the slaughtering process other than a short PowerPoint cartoon about what happened. (I was hoping to see a cartoon pig that said something like "Ouch! That hurts!" as all of the blood drains from his neck, but it wasn't that kind of cartoon.)

After the tour of the processing plant, we went out to the private school that Agrosuper funds for students from poor families in the area. We spent about an hour talking to the students (and many of them took turns in beating me in ping pong! I'm blaming my performance on the black ping pong ball that they had. Boy, South American culture sure is different. Who uses a black ping pong ball?). As you can see from one of the pictures, Dr. Spangler was like a rock star with these kids. (They didn't like me nearly as much. That's all right, though. I know that my god-daughter Marie loves me. Hmm....maybe that has something to do with all of the gifts I bring her from these study abroad trips!) It was really heartwarming to learn that these students were receiving a rare chance to improve their future through the experience that they gained from this school.

We're spending tomorrow at a ranch at the foot of the Andes, a modification from our original itinerary. In talking with our hosts in Santiago, they can't say enough about this place, so expect some great pictures.

Puttin' on the Ritz

We hit the ground running in our first full day in Santiago with three business presentations. In the morning representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce gave us an overview of Chile's economy, and afterward we were visited by Sergio Lopez, a Chilean IT entrepreneur who has started many successful firms over the past twenty years. In the afternoon we walked over to the nearby Ritz-Carlton for what was probably the most fascinating presentation of this entire trip thus far. We are in fervent negotiations to stay there next year, but I'll bet we'd have to be pretty darn persuasive to get a rate that we could afford.

Tonight we had our welcome dinner at Camino Real, a beautiful restaurant located high atop a peak (San Cristobal) near the city. I would imagine that several of us will ascend this hill again in the daytime either by a hike or the cable car system, so look for more pictures from San Cristobal Hill later in the week. It was here that many of us tasted our first scrumptious piece of Chilean salmon as well as sampled a Pisco Sour, the national drink of Chile. (Well, apparently the Peruvians would beg to differ with that statement because they claim the invention of the drink as well, but that story is way too long to go into at 1am!)

Tomorrow we start our day at a good old-fashioned Chilean slaughterhouse, so expect some horrifying pictures in the next post! Where's Upton Sinclair when you need him? I guess this blog will have to serve as our muckraking platform for the time being.

Happy Mother's Day from Santiago, Chile

Most importantly, we want to start off today's post with Mother's Day greetings to all of our mothers out there. (I especially want to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day. See, maintaining this blog does come with some privileges!)

We are now in Santiago, Chile, where we will be until next Sunday morning. There were no problems with the flight that we had today (other than the trouble that most of us had with the on-board personal entertainment units!) , and everyone managed to make it through immigration unscathed.

After arriving at the hotel, we took a three-hour city tour in the late afternoon. The highlights were the Cerro Santa Lucia, a large park poised on a peak in the middle of the city; and Palacio de la Moneda, where General Pinochet disposed of Socialist Salvador Allende in 1973 (the first picture above). While we were very impressed with the cleanliness of Santiago compared with Buenos Aires, the number of stray, homeless dogs wandering the streets is quite striking.

The whole group decided to go out for pizza at a highly recommended restaurant called Tiramisu. The pizza was great, and several of us agreed that the actual tiramisu was good enough that the establishment could bear that name. (What were we supposed to do? Go to a restaurant named "Tiramisu" and not try the nominal dish? Come on!)

Tomorrow we start our string of business visits and presentations here in Santiago, so look for some more boring pictures of conference rooms. Stay tuned! (Actually, we're headed to the Ritz Carton Hotel tomorrow afternoon, so the pictures should be pretty good.)

This last picture just confirms that we all are still in good spirits. I chuckle whenever I see it. (Yes, sometimes I have the maturity of an eighth grader!)

Chalk Off Another Country: Uruguay

Today was our day trip to Uruguay, Colonia del Sacramento. We boarded the hour-long boat ride around 11am, and we spent the day in this quaint little village. All of us enjoyed the opportunity to traipse around this Spanish and Portuguese (depending on the historical time period) colony. Many feasted on the gigantic Chivitos, a sandwich with steak, ham, bacon, fried egg, cheese, and fixins, which is basically the Uruguayan version of a Primanti's sandwich.

Upon our return to Buenos Aires, the majority of the group went to a dinner show called the Opera Pampa that tells the story of Argentine history in a little over an hour. (I don't know what the rest of the group did. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.) The performance was in a large outdoor arena and included live horses, some of which are pictured below.

There was a pre-show reception with wine and empanadas as appetizers, and the show was followed by a great Argentine barbeque consisting of meat, meat, and more meat. (As if those steaks the other night weren't enough!)

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Chile, so we had to bid adios to our Argentine hosts, Paola and Tanya. They did a tremendous job for us, and we only hope that our paths are able to cross again (i.e., next year's trip!). And it is here that we shall bid adios to you as well, Gentle Blog Reader. We'll sign on again from Santiago. Buenas Noches!

Last Day to Tango

Yesterday was another light day on the schedule. We had a business visit in the morning to a small company that is getting ready to celebrate its 70th anniversary, Macrodent. They make products that are the raw materials for crowns and bridges. The people there couldn't have been more friendly and welcoming to us. They even served us a special lunch! It was a great opportunity to see the inner workings of a small company and to hear the challenges that they face from the government's economic policy that sometimes changes on a whim.

The afternoon was free, and most of us took advantage of the opportunity to do some shopping. At night, most of us went for a tango lesson, while the majority of the others watched the Pens go up 1-0 against the Flyers!

Well, now it's off to Uruguay for the day, so look for more pictures tonight!

The Real Steak Eaters at Duquesne

Today was a pretty light day for us. It started out with a presentation at one of the 23 Argentinian Wal-Mart stores. Then, of course, we had a chance to browse around the store and pick up supplies for our hotel rooms. We were impressed with the scope of video game units available. You could choose from a PlayStation 3 stocked alongside an original Sega Genesis circa 1995.

Afterwards we had a free afternoon. Many people went shopping, and some of us went out to the largest book fair in Latin America. A bunch of the students went to a big soccer game (hopefully I can get some of their pictures tomorrow), while the rest of us went to a great steakhouse. We had about eight of these enormous steaks with all of the fixings for less than USD $250. Professor Marlin always talks about Economics majors being the "steak eaters" in the business school, but I think the title has to switch to us after tonight's meal.

For the record, we must note that Tim was the only one to finish his 750g (26.56oz) steak. (And he even made room for dessert!) See him hoist his knife in glory below. Congratulations, Tim, and I have some Tums in my suitcase in case you need them.

Googling Ourselves in BA

Today was a business day through and through, with three company presentations and/or visits. The day started out with back-to-back presentations by Siderar Steel and the American Chamber of Commerce in Argentina. (I'm sorry that I didn't post any pictures, but I didn't think that too many of you would be interested in seeing pictures of a hotel conference room and LCD projectors.) After lunch we headed out to the Google office to hear a presentation by the CFO of the Spanish-Speaking Latin American Operations. We now hold the distinction of being the first group that they've hosted in their new offices which opened less than a month ago.

This evening we had our official welcome dinner followed by a traditional tango show. Look who couldn't wait to strut his stuff on stage before the show. Eat your heart out, John Travolta!