Week 9
- May 11
- 9 min read
Day 64 / April 30, 2026
Thursday and the last day of the work week this week! Tomorrow, May 1st is a National Holiday for Day of the Workers. “May 1st is a special day for workers in Chile and the Western world. In the country, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo decreed it an irrevocable holiday in 1931, but its origin dates back 45 years earlier in the United States. A historic day for humanity occurred on May 1, 1886. More than 80,000 factory workers in Chicago went on strike and fought for reducing the workday from 16 to 8 hours, demanded a fair wage, and also for improving working conditions. These intense protests in Chicago impacted various places around the world, and in that context, the International Socialist Conference declared May 1st as International Workers' Day in 1889. In Chile, although the day was officially declared 42 years later, there had previously been historic days of worker protests demanding dignified working conditions and fair wages. Among the most relevant are considered: the Valparaíso port strike in 1903, the meat strike in 1905, and the Santa María de Iquique massacre in 1907. According to Memoria Chilena, after 1917 the unions grew exponentially, with more than 130 strikes occurring between that year and 1920. Then, through the Federation of Students of the University of Chile, plus the incorporation of the peasantry into the union world, the workers' demands grew along with their impact on the country's politics. The right to Sunday rest, improvements in workers' housing, and the Work Accidents Law were the first demands achieved by the social movement.” Translated from Spanish, Radio Arica broadcast.
I focused on measuring and logging the remaining 20 plates from the sensitivity assay. It was otherwise a relatively quiet day in the lab so I headed out at around 2pm. My power was still out at home (it takes 24 hours after bill payment to restore service) so I went for lunch on Calle 3 Oriente had a lovely chicken salad and a Pie de Limon.
Taking advantage of the additional time in the day I did a quick trip to the climbing gym. There has been a stray pup hanging around there for a few days and today he brought his friends with him too! They are very cute but certainly a liability in a space where people are falling from heights etc.
There was a beautiful sunset on my walk home to meet Sharith for one last dance practice. She has learned all of the moves so quickly, we are both excited to host the event this coming week!
Day 65 / May 1, 2026
The day off was much needed! Fortunately my power came back on at around 10:30am so I spent the morning cleaning the house and emptying the fridge of any spoiled food. In the afternoon I hiked Piedra de Peñón and tucked in for an early night.
Day 66 / May 2, 2026
I woke up on Saturday to beautiful blue skies so decided to hike Piedra de Peñón once again. Something was definitely off! I wasn’t able to stomach much food for breakfast and I felt incredibly weak. Fortunately I think it was a fleeting moment caused by consumption of undercooked or spoiled pork sausages. It meant my typically under 2 hour loop was closer to 2 and a half. Though that did come with more time to enjoy the beautiful snowy mountains, a big win!
On my descent I received a text from Cristobal about a wine fair in San Javier. We agreed to meet at the climbing gym around 4pm and drive there after.
In the meantime, I headed to the grocery store to make chicken noodle soup and by ingredients for some food at line dancing. Time passed by quickly and before I knew it I was on my way to the gym! Camila, Elias, and Cristobal were already there. I warmed up, then spent time with Camila in the cave-like area trying to figure out the overhung section together. At 5:45pm we wrapped up, said goodbye to the gym pup, and started en route to San Javier. The Patrimonial Wine Festival is a UNESCO recognized event and was set up in the plaza de armas square featuring 27 local vineyards. There was so much happening! Food stands, artisanal goods for sale, wine to taste, dances, and more! You can read more about the festival here from Diario Linares or the San Javier town website.
We purchased our tasting tickets, $10 CLP each for 4 tickets and a glass to keep, then made our way over to the stands. We all started with a wine from Viña Perucich, I had the Cabernet while Camila tried the Carmenere. We then ventured over to the food area and selected a stall that allowed you to make your own charcuterie board. Once we had our fill of cheeses, meats, olives, and nuts we headed to the next wine stand.
Viña Camila’s had a whole range of options and this time I went for a glass of white wine. We enjoyed watching the musical and dance performances before heading over to Viña Casa Vásquez (something we laughed about as Camila got to try her ‘own’ wine at the Camila stand, then Cristobal at this Vasquez stand matching his last name).
After more wandering around we wrapped up at Bodega Viejo Anhelo where the lovely owner, Carlos Espinosa Morales, talked through his wine selection with us. I tried the Chicha, a Chilean technique collecting the wine before a complete fermentation occurs. This results in a sweeter drink with lower alcohol content. Carlos explained he was quite the experimental type and pulled out a flask for us to try. I have not a clue what was in there, but it tasted almost as though the wine had been made from raisins. It was still sweet with nuttier flavor and notes of dried fruits. This was an incredibly personal, thoughtful encounter. Before departing he reminded us the best way to start winemaking is by buying grapes. Carlos recommended doing so avoids the hassle and stress of owning a whole vineyard.
We said our goodbyes, Camila and Elias drove home and I headed back to Talca with Cristobal. He asked if I had any plans for the evening and when I said no, he invited me to join him Diego, and another climbing friend Emilio to go to a discoteca. Always down for a groove, of course I said yes. I quickly changed at home then headed out to meet the crew at their friend's house before heading to Gitana. It was an awesome night with lots of dancing to reggaeton and chilean urbana music. At 5am we grabbed completos from a nearby stand. I was so excited because at a first glance I thought I saw sandwiches on the menu with mac and cheese in them. Though quite the rogue combination, a gooey, warm, mac and cheese sandwich is something that hits the spot in the early morning hours. Upon further inspection, however, it became clear it was just mayo! Fortunately I read before ordering. Chileans sure do love their mayo.
I was back at home in bed by 6am.
Quite the Saturday!!
Day 67 / May 3, 2026
Though I could’ve slept longer, I was up at 11am and went out shopping to find cowboy hats for line dancing. It was quite the successful trip with a haul including table decor, hats, and comforter in prep for cold winter to come!
I dropped off my goods at home and then met Cristobal to see the Devil Wears Prada 2 in cinema at Mall Plaza Maule. Wow what a cast!! I am a huge Caleb Hearon fan so I was glad to see he made the cut!!
After that I headed home and tucked in for the night.
Day 68 / May 4, 2026
Back to work today! We had a lab meeting in the afternoon to talk about team values and reinforce expectations. With line dancing night tomorrow I worked on advertising a bit more and headed home earlier to work on baking and cooking. I made two batches of rice krispie treats. One with chocolate flakes and another with Trix cereal. I then made brownies and buffalo chicken dip. I made sure to get some fruit, celery, peppers, and chips with salsa as well!
At 6:00pm I had my first english tutoring session. I am volunteering with Education USA a program that offers tutoring and college application support to Chilean citizens or permanent residents wanting to study in the USA. I have two students and will be doing private 1-hour long english lessons with each of them for the next six weeks. In this first session with Brisa we talked about hobbies, families, and then reviewed a brochure. Her homework for the following week is to make a brochure about herself and to edit a paragraph she wrote during class.
With all the cooking done, I headed to bed.
Day 69 / May 5, 2026
Today in class with Dr. Charles we reviewed the phases of Mitosis. He called up two volunteers again for a live demo of microtubules separating sister chromatids during Anaphase. He reminded us to get to studying because our next exam is in just two weeks.
In lab, I made Marine Broth media supplemented with 1% Glucose in hopes this would better support the growth of two bacteria species that did not grow clearly yesterday.
With some cold rain in the morning, weather was certainly on the mind and our lab group got to talking about natural disasters. In particular, Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake at 3:30am February 27, 2010 with an epicenter in the Maule region. This is one of those events that you remember vividly. Cathe shared she was lucky to be at home in Talca at the time as her family was supposed to be at the beach on summer vacation in Constitucion. Fortunately they weren’t anywhere near the coast. Similarly, Nico was at home with his mom. People in the nearby coastal area climbed trees to escape the water, especially on Isla Orrego which was completed submerged. To read more about this event, check out the report from Constitucion and the ongoing effects.
Photo credits: UNDRR
LINE DANCING TIME!!! At 5pm I headed home to heat up the buffalo chicken dip then made my way back to campus to set everything up for a 6:30pm start. Sharith arrived and together we waited. It was already dark at this time and campus was especially quiet. I won’t lie, the first 15 minutes were disheartening. Shrabana and Nico made their way over from lab to say hello. And there was still nobody.
At that point I resigned and decided I just needed to start handing away the food. Fortunately, food always brings a crowd! After talking to some other students and telling them what the original plan had been, they asked if we could still do a dance. This was the boost we needed! Soon there was a crowd of 20 or so snacking on rice krispie treats and dancing. Nayar my Airbnb host when I first arrived in Talca even came! The students showed us a traditional chilean cueca routine, Sharith then did a Columbian salsa, and we finished doing the line dance to Tipsy!
I learned a lot, both about different dances and how to improve event planning in a new place. It’s likely that time of year (busy exam season, shorter days) were not ideal for this kind of an event. Also, most students seem to come to school just for class and there is not as much participation in campus-related extracurricular activities as what I am used to. As a result, I think future advertising will need to be more widespread, planned further in advance, and perhaps partnering with existing student groups/course to improve turnout. All good things to learn!
After cleaning up the space, I dashed to the climbing gym for a quick session then headed home.
Day 70 / May 6, 2026
Today in the lab I did more preparation with Nicolas. Meanwhile, Dr. Charles was plating 8 bacteria from the medical student stock for us to use in our sensitivity assay. As these are opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, we will need to wear full PPE and work in a BSL-2 safety cabinet. Starting tomorrow, we will characterize all 8 bacteria using the four HiMedia discs, G+2, G-2, G-11, and G+15.
Later in laboratory practical we started with our weekly entrance quiz (this was the first time I think I totally nailed it, we will see). Then we looked at onion root-tip cells under microscope to see mitosis in action.
At home I had a catch up call with Reyner. He is living the Boston life!
Then Mina and Dad called to share their progress on the back garden. Mina has purchased over 20 different seeds and has planned for flowers, vegetables, and fruits. I am so excited to see the progress!
I headed out for another quick, late-night climbing sesh and played Geoguesser with Val before tucking in for the night.
Chau! Thank you for coming along! :)
Love this update. As always, it feels like I am along for this wonderful cultural ride. The dancing party looked like so much fun. Nice you are surrounded by so many wonderfully enthusiastic academics. Anticipating the next one!