Friday, May 9

Today we went to Santiago. Getting off the bus we were fortunate enough to see the changing of the guard at la Moneda (something like the White House though the president doesn't actually live there). Our first stop was the Bolsa de Comercio or the stock exchange. Actually it handles stocks, bonds, money market instruments and derivatives. It is the largest exchange in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. We saw a video and then a power point presentation about the exchange. Then we had a tour of the trading room, though it is pretty empty now given that most trading in electronic. After the Bolsa de Comercio, we walked around a bit and visited a new museum that is associated with la Moneda. Our next stop was for Pescados and Mariscos (fish and shell fish) at the Mercado Central. This lunch was arranged by a former Santa Maria student who also spent a semester at Pitt. In the afternoon we went to one of the parks on a hill. Most of the students rode a cable car to see a statute of the Virgin. We were so high we could see much of Santiago but so smoggy we could not see even a trace of the Andes. After that we went shopping and then came back to the hotel. It was a long (12 hours) day but interesting I think. Pictures from a few days ago are now posted and there should be more on Monday.