Wow it is hard to believe that it has been since Wednesday that I last wrote. Unfortunately nothing too terribly exciting has happened since then, but if I rack my brain I think that I might be able to come up with something interesting to share.

Thursday morning we had our first of many "Charlas" or guest lectures. Our Charlas are usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are given by a local professor who is in expert in the subject. The only downside to these is that they begin at 8:30 in the morning and then we have class at the regular time 10:05 am. On Thursday the subject was the History and Geography of Chile, all spoken in Spanish of course. I was pleased with how well I understood the professor, however nearly everything he spoke about I had already read or studied on my own. Afterwards I did get a chance to talk with him about the Chilean economy under the military dictator General Pinochet (not a French pronunciation where the T is silent).

Friday night, after a normal day of classes, most everyone decided to go to the local Casino, which is supposedly one of the only in all of Chile. It was "festive" for lack of a better word, mostly reinforcing my view of Casinos in general, that being I do not care to spend much time in them. Being a man of excellent self discipline, I only gambled $10. I only played a few slot machines because I felt like I at least understood the basic concept of those. At one point I was up $2 on the house and almost stopped there simply so I could say I won some money.

Later, being around 1:30am, we left the Casino and headed with some Chilean friends to Club Scratch. Thanks to our Chilean friends we all had VIP access and one free drink. We stayed out until 5 in the morning which to my recollection is the latest I've stayed out with the exception of one time back home, at the beach, with a few crazy kids to watch the sunrise.

Saturday I went to an asado, or cookout, with Mercelo and Alvaro and later we watched the Chile Brasil gam in which Chile lost to Brazil 1-6! Sunday morning I tried my hand(s and feet) at rock climbing, but did not get too far up the face of the rock because it was more than vertical, coming back over our heads, if that makes sense.

This coming week I will be making a point to post multiple times due to the fact that so much will be going on. I think if I waited until Monday to post, everyone would probably give up reading what I wrote because it would be so long! On the docket for this week: Two Charlas, One caminata, almuerzo with Valerie tomorrow at Coco Loco a rotating restaurant, Thursday an excursion to Isla Negra, the main house of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Saturday morning at 6:00am we leave for the Andes for a two day ski trip! As for this afternoon, maybe a little run, maybe a little sandboarding on the dunes in Concón, who knows! ¡Qué todos pasen un buen semana!