May 8, 2008

Today was our second day of company visits. First thing in the morning we boarded the bus and took it to LAN airlines, an airline company catering to both passengers and cargo carrying to South America, the United States, and Spain. The owner of the company was an industrial engineer which I found kind of interesting. Most of the student guides that accompany us are industrial engineers. Apparently in Chile however, and industrial engineer does much more than what one would do at Pitt. They also have influences of civil and mechanical engineering as well. We got a chance to tour the different hangers and see the fleet the company owned. We were going to get a chance to go inside one of the larger airplanes but the cabin was locked. The weather was beautiful and the people were very nice making for a very good visit overall. For lunch we went to a small restaurant where I had a pretty basic piece of beef and a salad. Our next company stop was a vineyard called Viña Indomita. It was located on top of a hill overlooking the grape fields and the country side of Chile. We toured the distilleries and bottling facilities of the company and then were provided with a tasting of 3 different kinds of wines. The first was a Sauvignon Blanc white wine and probably my favorite out of the three wines. The next was a Merlot and the last was a Cabernet Sauvignon red wine. The architecture of the building itself was very interesting with its highlights being the outside face with its giant white pillars and mirrored glass. After the tasting, we took some pictures outside the building with the sun setting in the back ground. I had a really good time at the visit and especially enjoyed the scenery. When we got back to Viña del Mar, a few of us decided to walk a few blocks to the local mall. I was expecting a much different experience from a mall in the States, but unfortunately that isn't what I got. The mall was very American with mostly the same companies and products you would find in a mall in the States. The set up and amount of people was about the same as well. I guess because of globalization different regions are not as different as I thought they would really be.