UA Delegation Arrives in Chile

This morning, our 2010 UA Chile Delegation arrived in the beautiful mountainous city of Santiago. As you may recall, this delegation was scheduled to travel to our sister school in Chile last March but the trip was cancelled due to the massive earthquake that Chile suffered. Things are much better now and it seemed the right time to finally make this exchange a reality - especially as Chile is celebrating its bicentennial this weekend!

I am happy to report that we have arrived safely and without incident in Chile. Our three student delegates, Tessa, Cami and Anushka are with their host families this evening and were already forming friendships during our first few minutes at the airport. We can give credit to Cami for introducing Silly Bands to Chile (in the shape of Texas). Also, UA Dallas, you will appreciate knowing that the girls here "have nothing" like your Ursuline sweatshirts. In fact, they immediately expressed great admiration at the Ursuline sweatshirt worn by Tessa.

Mrs. Bauer and I are eagerly awaiting news of the student adventures. In honor of the Bicentennial, the whole country is on vacation this week (including most workers so all stores and most restaurants are closed). The students are accompanying their host families to the beach and to the mountains and were all speaking Spanish when we last saw them this morning.

As for our teacher adventures, we were met this afternoon by our old friend, Ramon Reyes, German teacher and technology guru at Colegio Santa Ursula. We took a drive north of the city to the beautiful town of San Felipe. Along the way, we saw the area where Santa Teresa, the first Chilean saint, lived in the 19th century. We spent a wonderful evening with Ramon's family at a beautiful, lush lodge with breath-taking views of the Andes and all of the agricultural abundance that makes Chile so fabulous. Along the way, we saw crops of peaches, cherries, avocados and more - and, of course, the vineyards that are so famous in Chile. We also saw the processing plants of several very familiar companies like Dole and Del Monte. It was great to see some of the countryside for the first time! (We've been here before but didn't see much beyond the school so this experience is really special). As we drove back into Santiago this evening, we could see the Bicentennial fireworks in the horizon - fantastic!

Tomorrow we retrace the steps of the famous poet, Pablo Neruda, in Valparaiso!

Buenas Noches desde Santiago!