Day 3

Our next stop was Entel, the largest telecommunications company in Chile. Ernesto Eglinton graciously welcomed us with a dreamy slice of chocolate cake, juice and coffee. This presentation was long and we heard lots of details about Entel and its operations. After the presentation, we were allowed to go up into one of Entel’s cell phone towers. It was quite the experience! We took an elevator up 10 stories and then walked up several flights of stairs. Once we got to the ‘platform’ we had an incredible panoramic view of the city. It was scary for some but I found it amazing! We were allowed to go even higher and climbed about 6 flights of stairs on a spiral staircase that had no railing. It was a little nerve-wracking, but the view from the very top of the tower was just beautiful. Despite the smog, we could see very far in every direction.

Since our trek up the Entel tower took longer than expected, we had to eat a very quick lunch before our next meeting. The bus dropped us off at a food court near the hotel. Most of us got pizza at an Italian food restaurant. The next meeting we had was with Nathan Young the CEO of NEOS and an American expatriate. He told us about his experience with the Chilean business culture. In Chile, being in meetings makes businessmen feel important and they spend most of their day in meetings although these meetings are usually not productive. Because his American work ethic led him to be much more productive than his coworkers, Nathan was able to rise to the position of CEO by the age of 29. I was a bit surprised to learn that the slower pace of life of the Chilean people is reflected in the business aspect of the culture as well.

Our last meeting of the day was with Brooke Lloyd from VE Global. He gave us a brief overview of the mission of the company, which operates to provide educational opportunities to at-risk youth in Chile. He told us a bit about the projects that we will be working on tomorrow during our day of service with the Adena Maria Reina orphanage. We will be painting the interiors of some of the houses on the property and restoring a basketball court for the girls to use. I am really looking forward to our day of service! I think it will be very fun to have interaction with some of the children here in Chile. Unfortunately, we have been asked not to take pictures while we are there.

One of the things I have noticed is that while earthquakes are common in Chile this time of year, everyone we have spoken with has talked about the impact of the February earthquake and their experience with it. The large earthquake, which was 8.8 in magnitude and lasted approximately 3.5 minutes, was one of the largest in history. Luckily, the construction in Santiago was built to withstand these kinds of tremors. We actually felt a couple of earthquakes today! They were very short in length, lasting only a second or so, and felt like vibrations. It was kind of cool to experience although I hope we don’t experience anything stronger.

It has been another great day in Chile! Thanks for keeping up with us. We are looking forward to more adventures tomorrow.

Goodnight for now!
Faith Anne

written by  SantiagoFellows on May 12, 2010 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: SantiagoFellows's Travel Blog
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