May 9: The Flight of the Rooster

This morning we were given the opportunity to learn and practice a traditional Chilean dance: La Cueca.  La Cueca was interesting because it was not a particularly difficult dance to learn but relied heavily on traditional dress to portray the story of a man wooing the woman that he is interested in.  In the dance, the man first approaches the woman and asks her if she would dance with him.  She refuses, so he proceeds to dance, showing off in way similar to a rooster with its feathers.  The man and woman continuously approach and back away from each other until, in the end, the two partners end up together.  Here are some pictures of La Cueca and our instructors:

Our other major event of the day involved returning to the Santiago airport.  There, we were given a tour around the grounds of LAN, the largest Chilean airline’s, hangar and maintenance bay.  Our guide, Luiz, and Dr. Jose Luis Cortes who had lectured us earlier in the week, came to greet us.  Luis first showed us the hangar and explained the types of maintenance that the planes are given.  He discussed a bit of the economic situation of LAN and then we broke apart into groups.  My group first toured the newest addition to the LAN fleet, a Boeing 787 airplane.  Luiz explained that the fuselage was formed from a new composite material rather than the usual aluminum, which allowed them to use less fuel while carrying more passengers and improving overall flight quality.  After seeing it, I can say that I all of my flights were on a 787!  Here are pictures from LAN:

After touring the 787, we were handed to Dr. Cortes, who brought us inside to the LAN offices and explained in greater detail about all of the engineering and economic concerns of the company.  We talked about the new merge with TAM airlines in Brazil, the improvement of fuel efficiency, the use of biofuels to power flights, and issues involved with birds being sucked into jet engines.  Ultimately, we asked him our questions and tried to get as much from the experience as possible. 

Originally, it had been planned for us to attend a class on Reggeton, another type of Chilean dance, but unfortunately, there were scheduling complications and our bus took longer to return from Santiago than expected so our class was cancelled.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to reschedule for another day.

After a long but informative day, we returned to the hotel.  And now I bid you goodnight!  I can’t wait for tomorrow when we visit Viña Indomita and Isla Negra!