Border Control

After a short session in the morning, we left Mendoza for Chile! Only 7-8 hours by bus, I did not want to miss the opportunity to visit and explore another country in South America. Before I describe the most beautiful drive of my life, let me recap on our conference.

Our internship and job in Argentina has been minimal. Without an office or a full-time boss looking over us constantly, our work schedule has been flexible and based on what we think is necessary to fulfill our tasks. We spent a couple days each week in La Plata to interview and get to know the bank workers and borrowers. While I have learned a lot, the summer internship lacked a thesis. What was all our work here for and for whom? This weekend served as a thesis. After presenting last night, I realized how much I have learned. And more importantly, in what ways the little we have done and are still doing is valuable to the organization and the development of microcredit in Argentina.

With the other interns

After saying adios to our bosses and new friends, we took a bus to Santiago de Chile. Crossing from Argentina to Chile requires going over the Andes. With the best seats on the bus (we were lucky kids), I literally had my mouth open in awe of the scenery for the entire 8 hour bus ride. As the Argentineans love to say about anything and everything beautiful, awesome, fantastic (basically anything good/beautiful) -- Qué Lindo!

I wish I was this motorcyclist!

A snowy entrance into Chile