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.