5/9/13

Hola from Chile! Today we got to "sleep in late" and leave at 9. The shower was freezing cold and was miserable. I had to will myself every time I go underneath the water. Anyway, we started off our day at the University. Or tried to. The first bus we got on was going the wrong way, so we had to get off and get on another. We learned the cueca dance, which was sort of like a guy courting a girl. The guy and girl teaching us were in their traditional outfit, which is pictured below. It looked sort of like they pranced around in a circle waving a handkerchief, which sounds easy enough. Surprisingly, it was not and I kept running in to my partner or using the wrong foot. Eventually though, with the help of the instructors, I finally "got it". After that we had breakfast empanadas, which weren't really my favorite. For some reason, we went to lunch right afterward. Classic quality university lunch. We then went to Santiago to your the LAN facility. That was very cool. They showed us the maintenance hanger where they did all of the major repairs (Class C). The more minor repairs (Class A) were done on the outside. A few of us then went into the Dreamliner plane and looked around. It was a really nice plane; very spacious with a TV in every seat. The business class section even had beds people could sleep in. We even got to go and sit in the cockpit. It was crazy because that would never be allowed in the United States. After the LAN tour, we stopped at what was sort of like a rest stop where I had a guacamole burger, one of my favorites. The hour and a half ride back from Santiago was provided a nice opportunity to nap. We were supposed to go to another dance lesson, but they canceled it because we got back too late. All-in-all, a pretty good day. Until tomorrow…