Cascada del las Animas

Our first adventure outside of Santiago was to Cascada de las Animas (“Waterfall of the Spirits”). It is an easy hour and a half away from the city and seems very much like the Chilean equivalent of Yosemite: hiking, waterfalls, horseback riding, rafting, zip lines, etc.

The park has been family owned and operated for a while now and has an extremely laid-back feel. It is a large complex full of bungalows, cabins, fire pits, BBQs, and picnic areas. We were given a brochure upon check-in with a list of all the available activities. They’ve definitely mastered the art of outdoor adventures!














As soon as we arrived we changed into our swimsuits for the 2pm rafting trip. Little did we know that the water would be freezing since it comes from the snowy Andes mountains surrounding the valley. You would think that we would have figured it out but they didn’t ask us those kinda of questons on the GMAT. Sorry! So we strapped on wetsuits over our swimsuits and battled the level 3 river.

The next day we went hiking up to the waterfalls where some of us dared to wade into the water and under the falls. brrr!

Most of us took advantage of the sunny morning to prepare for some readings for our marketing and ethics classes that started the next day.

One of the more beautiful surprises about Chile is all of the Golden Poppies everywhere.

After the hike we scaled the mountain on a 3 hour horseback ride. The views were beautiful and it was definitely one of the best experiences thus far.

ND vs BC -- American Football Chilean Style

Who are we to not celebrate a Notre Dame football weekend even though we're in Chile?

Those staying at the Melrose Pointe de Chile--McDonough, Brady, O'Hare, Jenny, Caitlin and Mergardt--generously hosted a fabuloso rooftop tailgate for our whole crew on Saturday. Their place features a sweet pool on the roof with a great view of the whole city.  We're still missing a few of the latecomers in this photo, but here's a group shot:

After the tailgate, we headed to California, the bar owned by a Notre Dame alum that shows all the ND games. To our surprise, the place was already half-full of ND fans--mostly undergrads also studying in Santiago for the semester--and two REALLY rowdy BC fans (one of whom reminded us of Gresh!). That made for a raucously loud ND cheering section during the game. Here are some pics -- obviously a fun time:

Cerro San Cristobal and Sanctuario de la Inmaculada Concepcion

With Mark in tow after his AM arrival, we decided to climb the small montana with the Virgin Mary that overlooks the city, called Cerro San Cristobal. We passed by an awesome park along Rio Mapocho and had a little workout stop...

Halfway up the ascent, we ran into the first scenic viewpoint that was bustling with music and people bicycling, running and spectating -- quite a popular place on the weekends here apparently! Watching this spinning class was enough to make us sweat...

Once we got up to the top, the view of the city and the mountains was spectacular. Unfortunately, the clouds didn't lift completely after last night's rain storm. Still the statue of the Virgin Mary and the gardens were beautiful. While we were there, hundreds of children paraded up the hill behind a school bus playing bible music and ended up in the pews that cascaded up the hill for an outdoor mass--pretty cool! Also, we ran into St. Alberto Hurtado outside the old chapel next to the statue (he's the namesake of our university here).

Top Chef at Chateau de Paris

We decided that we'd been eating out too much this week, so we hosted a little Santiago Top Chef competition at our place, which is in the penthouse above the Paris shopping mall. Ty and I drew the appetizer and dessert, Colleen and Adam got side dishes and Kristen and Karl had to make the entree. After a shopping spree in the supermarket downstairs and much improvising in the kitchen where we had to light the oven manually with a match, we ended up with quite a feast of pesto/shrimp pizza, asparagus, soft tacos with fresh quacamole, and strawberry shortcake....MMmmmmmmm!! Paul and Tom stopped in just time to get the leftovers too--nice timing, boys! We're happy to find that fresh fruit and vegetables are amazing and cheap here, so we're planning to continue our top chef tradition every week!

Our first week in Santiago

Hola from Santiago! Almost all of us have made it so far...some of us a little later than others. This week has been full of half-day Spanish classes, finding lodging, exploring new streets, and foraging for good food. Next week we begin our actual MBA classes at the University of Alberto Hurtado.

Here's a great view of the city from my flight in:

Santiago is surrounded by mountains on several sides, and the streets are lined with trees and greenery. Ty, Adam, Colleen, Mark and I found an awesome apartment with the help of a student organization here. It is a 4bdrm, 3.5 bath, 2-story place in the Providencia neighborhood -- here are some pics: 

 

We visited our school for an orientation and tour yesterday...

And then we started off a fun evening with some vino tinto! Salud!