Welcoming Adventures in Santiago, Chile

During the first couple of days in Santiago, I was fortunate to have plans with a club from my university that helps exchange students feel more welcome in Chile. Also, I was able to go on a trip with a group of exchange students that was hosted by a coordinator who is a Santiago native.

Here some photos from my introduction to my new host country!

Some members of the club and other exchange students as we gather for an asado (BBQ) after orientation at the university.

This park ranger rides a horse, allowing him to survey the park.

More students find their way to our table and the asado begins.

A few students practice color guard on the grass.

I was fortunate enough to meet a German exchange student at the asado, and was invited to the house where he stays. It turned out to be a German Fraternity in Santiago.

One room of the house was decorated with memorabilia.

I took trip with other exchange students to Isla Negra, located about an hour west of Santiago. We visited one of the houses of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet.

This painting, which hangs in the entry way to Neruda’s house, features the colors of the flag of Chile.

Tourists were not allowed to take pictures inside the home, but here’s where we begin the tour.

These are the bells Neruda would ring whenever he arrived to let his neighbors know that he was home.

This section of Neruda’s house is decorative on the outside as well as the inside, with lots of different memorabilia that had great meaning to him.

His home was very close to the water.

Here’s Neruda’s bar, where he and his friends would come to relax.

An anchor with part of Neruda’s house in the background.

Neruda placed a few ships in bottles alongside his window, to make it seem like they were in the water when he looked out.

Here I am with a sculpture of Neruda, with his house in the background.

After visiting Pablo’s house we traveled to Pomaire where I tried my first empanada. I split it with another student because half was enough for me.

Here are some of the students who joined us at the restaurant.

One last picture of me and Neruda at a park before our group headed back to Santiago.

As we waited at the park for the bus to pick us up, we are accompanied by a few stray dogs.

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Rodrigo Polanco is a fourth year international business major with an emphasis in Spanish and Latin America. He is studying spring semester at Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Santiago, Chile.