Friday, May 9

We started out bright and early today with e visit to my company, Bolsa de Commercio de Santiago - the Stock Market of Santiago. The visit was incredible; the woman who spoke with us showed us a video and gave a presentation on stock markets in general and the Santiago Stock Exchange. She gave us an incredible amount of information and answered all of our questions before we could even ask them. We then got to see the floor, and at the time there were only one or two brokers there - now that technology allows them to do pretty much all their work from their offices the floor has become almost obsolete. Our presenter gave my group a pack of information on Bolsa de Commercio de Santiago - something that will help make our project in the fall a lot easier.

After the visit, we left the stock market and went to a new museum in Santiago where we saw an art exhibit and a furniture art exhibit. Then, we got on the bus and went to "Mercado Central" - market central. We were all laughing that we had come all the way from the Pitt campus where our cafeteria is called Market Central to eat in Mercado Central. However, the food we eat in Market Central comes nowhere near to being as amazing as what we had in Mercado Central. First, we were served a plate of mystery seafood - none of us really knew what any of the items were, but we ate it all anyway and it was very good. Then, we were served a huge plate of about six different types of fish, all of which were incredibly fresh and delicious. I don't think I have ever had as good of seafood as we had today in Mercado Central. It was also a really fun atmosphere because we were sitting with just our group on a type of balcony/alcove that overlooked the market. A mariachi band came and played for us as well and although we ended up having tip them, it was really fun listening to them. This has definitely been the best meal of the trip so far and it will take a lot to top it.

After lunch, we went to high-point Santiago where there is a huge white statue of Mary and a great view of Santiago. We actually drove up the mountain and then took a ski lift up to the very top. Although the view of the city was beautiful, it is also very smoggy and you cannot see very far, which is very unfortunate. Then, we drove back down and went to a small shopping area where there were a lot of handcrafts. I didn't buy anything, but there were a lot of souvenirs such as jewelry, magnets, scarves, hats, post cards, etc.