Ruevalparaiso

Comics en Democracia : 1er concurso !

2009-03-19T09:38:00.001-04:00

A Nobel Peace Price Laureate, Guest of Honor of the Alternative Channel

2008-03-19T14:18:00.005-03:00

Forum Alternative Channel Tv, international Web TV on sustainable development and humanitarian causes, created by Hugues Cochard in France & Paul Allard in Quebec, is radiating throughout the world.

In collaboration with Iwith.org, Alternative Channel is organizing the first Alternative Channel Forum. An internatinal meeting point in Barcelona , April 30, 2008.

The subject is Social netwoking and responsible media, and the Guest of Honor will be Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Price Laureate.

Great causes, Great personnalities

About 200 participants are expected at the Alternative Channel Forum , during the day they will learn how to participate in the web 2.0, make videos for the Internet and improve their visibility. Among the lecturers, we can announced : Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Price Laureate for her dedication to the respect of the indigenous people rights in Guatemala, and UNESCO Ambassador of Good willingness, Virginie Louis, audiovisual producer for the International Committe of the Red Cross; Marc Tessier, France télévisions former President and President of the Alternative Channel Editorial Committee; Thierry Maillet, writer and blogger on consumption and citizenship.

Partnerships of trust

Since the launch of the website last autumn, the channel keeps on evoluting. Its creators are proud to start,on the web, a platformof debates opened to NGOs, citizens and companies, and to webcast in three languages. Weeks after weeks it is gathering more and more high level partners and contributors . Among them we can notice UNDP, Amnesty International, WWF, the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation.

In addition, Cart’Com and Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Humanity are associating with Alternative Channel to make NGOs participating in the operation “ Draw a tree” during the Forum.

Internet for a sustainable development

The meeting-point in Barcelona is an opportunity for companies, representatives of international organizations and NGOs, web 2.0 social networking experts and profesionnals from the communication and social sector, to exchange their point of view on the use of the Internet between the third sector actors (non-profi organizations, foundations, NGOs) in a context of sustainable development and humanitarian initiatives. During the event, two prices of 8 000 euros will be awarded for the Alternative Channel video contest on sustainable development. Videos submitted are between 1:30 and 6 minutes, they can be current news , awareness and information campaigns , initiatives linked with sustainable development and should match the Alternative Channel

Chile hope to join the O.E.C.D.

2007-12-05T19:24:00.000-03:00

The Chilean government hopes to join the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development sometime in 2009, Finance Minister Andres Velasco said Tuesday.

"In 2009, President Michelle Bachelet's government will likely be able to sign its entry into the exclusive group of the OECD," Velasco said during a presentation at a local business leaders' conference.

five countries, including Chile
"OECD countries have given a green light for the start of accession talks with five prospective new members - Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia," said a statement from the Paris-based organization. The OECD groups 30 of the world's most industrialized countries and acts as a government-funded policy adviser.
better education programs and sustained growth.
In his presentation to business leaders, the Chilean Finance Minister said the domestic economy was well prepared to weather international market turbulences thanks to its counter-cyclical fiscal policy and floating exchange rate that allow the economy to buffer external shocks.
In a recent report, the OECD that despite a booming economy, income distribution continues to be one of Chile's biggest hurdles, like many other Latin American countries. But the organization said it can be overcome through better education programs and sustained growth.
copper exports representing about 22%
The organization praised Chile's macroeconomic policies, including the government's decision to save the windfall from rising copper prices in sovereign-wealth funds. Chile is the world's largest copper producer, with copper exports representing about 22% of the nation's gross domestic product. "As a result, economic activity is now much more resilient to the vagaries of commodity prices than in previous cycles," the OECD said in its recently released survey of the Chilean economy.

Valparaiso, from Osvaldo gitano Rodriguez !

2006-12-24T12:10:00.000-03:00

En este fin de año, queremos recordar a un embajador de Valparaiso. Osvaldo "Gitano" Rodriguez quien fallecio el 16 de marzo de 1996 en Barlodino, mientras escribía una novela autobiográfica y pocos días después de que la ciudad le nombrara Hijo Ilustre.
Sus cenizas retornaron al puerto de Valparaiso en mayo del mismo año, donde fueron objeto de un homenaje que le rindieron varias generaciones de músicos, entre los que se incluían varios de sus compañeros de viaje como Payo Grondona o Inti Illimani,

Su disco "Los pájaros sin mar" publicado en Francia en Le Chant du Monde (Canto Libre LDX 74615) 1976 , el lo dedico a su "familia francesa" . Aqui encontraran las letras de su cancione mas conocida : Valparaiso.
Yo no he sabido de su historia,
un día nací allí, sencillamente.
El viejo puerto vigiló mi infancia
con rostro de fría indiferencia.
Porque no nací pobre y siempre tuve
un miedo inconcebible a la pobreza.
Yo les quiero contar lo que he observado
para que lo vayamos conociendo.
El habitante encadenó las calles
la lluvia destiñó las escaleras
y un manto de tristeza fue cubriendo
los cerros con sus calles y sus niños.
Y vino el temporal y la llovizna
con su carga de arena y desperdicio.
Por ahí paso la muerte tantas veces
la muerte que enlutó a Valparaíso
y una vez más el viento como siempre
limpió la cara de este puerto herido.
Pero este puerto amarra como el hambre,
no se puede vivir sin conocerlo,
no se puede mirar sin que nos falte,
la brea, el viento sur, los volantines,
el pescador de jaibas que entristece
nuestro paisaje de la costanera.
Yo no he sabido nunca de su historia...

Regular phone network at the local rate !

2006-11-21T17:25:00.000-03:00

Are you using Skype at work? The control panel is a nice tool that will help you organize the different Skype accounts in your company.

Have you thought about the advantages of having SkypeIn numbers? Let’s look at an example. You may live in Chile, but talk to a lot of people in Sweden. With a Swedish SkypeIn number your friends and co-workers in Sweden could call you from the regular phone network at the local rate, even if you’re in another country. You can have up to ten SkypeIn numbers associated with your Skype Name, so wherever in the world you log on, and using whatever computer, people can always reach you on the same number.

18 septiembre - fiestas patrias en Chile

2006-09-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

Searching Hotel in Santiago, Pucon o Viña del mar ?

2006-08-15T23:16:00.000-04:00

If you are searching an hôtel in Santiago De Chile , Vina Del Mar o Pucon
HotelPronto is the web's leading hotel booking agency specialising in quality hotel accommodation at discounted rates.

Launched in September 2003, they are providing a simple and cost effective way to make hotel bookings quickly becoming the web site of choice for many people to book their hotel stays. HotelPronto offers a unique service to cost conscious travellers seeking the best hotel rates.

All hotels featured can be booked online instantly. Online payment is taken via a secure server and a confirmation reference is quoted - followed by a confirmation email. A multi-lingual call centre, open seven days a week, is available for customers who prefer to make telephone bookings, plus a customer care department for after sales support.

Portillo ski resort

2006-07-25T20:01:00.000-04:00

Portillo is the most well known of the ski resorts in Chile, and is the site of quite a few downhill ski records. Whether visiting in summer or winter, you will witness breathtaking views of Laguna del Inca from the Hotel Portillo. Simply stunning!

Portillo Ski Resort

The revolution in Chile´s wine industry

2006-07-21T22:53:00.000-04:00

BuyLine Panelist Fred Tasker writes a weekly wine column for The Miami Herald that is syndicated by Knight Ridder, Inc. In the website Winenews, he describes the revolution taking place in Chile's wine industry :

With the soaring Andes as the backdrop, a far-reaching revolution is taking place in Chile's wine industry. And a handful of statuesque reds lead the way.
A dozen years ago, when Chile cast off the shackles of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and embraced a stable, democratic government, the country had already earned a reputation for fruity and ripe, if sometimes oxidized, red wines at friendly prices. With a supporting cast of $5 and $10 Merlots and Cabs gaining notoriety and winning medals, Chilean wine soared in popularity in international markets, becoming the third-largest source of U.S. wine imports in 1998 with 5.3 million 12-bottle cases, according to the Department of Commerce.
As Chile's free market economy gained momentum, outside money, expertise and equipment began to pour into its wine industry. Local growers increasingly adopted international wine standards, and Chile's red wines took a quantum leap in quality. And price.
Chile's established players are making top-flight reds - among them Errazuriz Don Maximiano Founder's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Concha y Toro Don Melchor, Santa Rita Casa Real and Cousiño-Macul Finis Terrae - but the excitement these days is being generated by the country's newest hybrids.
Today more than half a dozen powerful, complex reds, crafted with state-of-the-art methods made possible by huge cash infusions from both home and abroad, are entering the U.S. market at $20 to $60 per bottle. The money to finance the rapid modernization is coming from some very formidable players. Some of the new wines were born of powerful partnerships between Chile's wine giants and prestigious foreign wineries: Almaviva, by Viña Concha y Toro and Château Mouton-Rothschild; Seña, by Viña Errazuriz and Robert Mondavi Winery. Others are local endeavors: Montes Alpha 'M' by Montes, a brand formed in 1988 by four Chilean wine veterans; Zavala, by Viña Tarapaca, a winery founded half a century ago by Arturo Zavala. Together, or in competition, the local and international wine players are seeking to propel Chilean winemaking into the 21st century. It manifests itself in several ways.
First, premium vineyards are now sited in cooler areas with poorer soils to stress the vines and achieve longer hang-time and more concentrated flavors. Growers who once generously irrigated with Andes snowmelt - unwittingly watering down their wines - have learned to curb the vine's water supply to further concentrate flavors. Aggressive pruning reduces yields and magnifies flavors.

French chilean Partnership
Casa Lapostolle, south of Santiago, epitomizes the influences of outside experts. The Marnier-Lapostolle family, which owns Château de Sancerre in the Loire Valley, and makes the famous Grand Marnier liqueur, sent daughter Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle to Chile in the mid-1990s with $12 million to build an ultramodern winery in the middle of a very traditional, old grape-growing area. She settled on Chile's Colchagua wine subregion, forming a partnership with the Chilean Rabat family, which had run a family winery there since 1927, buying acres of vines already planted, some of which today are more than 100 years old. For expert help, she turned to Michel Rolland, owner of Château Le Bon Pasteur in Bordeaux's Pomerol region and consulting winemaker to wineries from France to Argentina.
To the fabulous old vines, Rolland applied modern methods - offering to pay growers the equivalent of six tons per acre if they thin their crops to deliver only four. And the new winery provided temperature-controlled stainless steel fermenting tanks and expensive French oak barrels for aging.
"We provide the equipment, the money and the expertise," Marnier-Lapostolle explains.

Designation of Origin system
Chile's Montes Winery typifies local efforts. Aurelio Montes, winemaker and partner, says Pinochet's departure opened Chile's wine industry to international ideas and outside money - and competition - prompting local growers to reevaluate their traditional methods.
And when the Chilean government in 1995 adopted the Designation of Origin system, Montes says it spurred new efforts by Chile's growers to identify the plots of land - the micro-terroirs - most suited for growing each variety.
"One of the major discoveries is the Apalta microclimate," Montes said at a recent media tasting in New York. "The infertile soil is thick sand and requires mechanical irrigation, which facilitates total control over growth. The southwest orientation means plants are not overexposed to too many hours of sunlight."
In the Apalta Valley, Montes found ideal conditions for growing cabernet sauvignon, merlot, carmenère, syrah, cabernet franc and petit verdot - some of which find their way into his ultrapremium, flagship Montes Alpha 'M.'
"The resulting wines can be full-bodied, filled with sweet, ripe tannins with loads of ripe fruit that is both elegant and appealing," he says.

an impressive series of small victories
Chile's winemaking techniques also are undergoing a revolution. Ancient redwood aging vats are being chopped into kindling, replaced by smaller, top-quality French and American oak barrels. Computerized stainless steel fermenting tanks are providing the temperature control to preserve the intense, natural fruitiness of Chile's grapes. And when Casa Lapostolle began shipping its wines in refrigerated containers for the long trip across the equator to the United States, it prompted other Chilean wineries to start following suit.
Those vintners who mounted the offensive have been rewarded with an impressive series of small victories, prompting them to declare that Chile can produce wines as good as any in the world. And that, yes, indeed, they are capable of turning out a Chilean version of a grand cru.
Michael Mondavi, president of California's Robert Mondavi Winery, has partnered with Eduardo Chadwick of Chile's Viña Errazuriz to produce a $55 red table wine called Seña that is now in its second vintage. "I would very proudly put the 1996 Seña in the company of any wine in the world," Mondavi says.
David Williams, a New York investor who has joined with Chilean vineyard owner Ricardo Peña and veteran Chilean Winemaker Ignacio Recabarren in making the new Domus Aurea wine, goes even further. "It's absolutely there now. We don't try to imitate the Bordeaux style or the California style. We allow the wine to express what we think is the Chilean equivalent of a grand cru." Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle, of Casa Lapostolle, also is optimistic. "There will be a premier cru from Chile," she says, "as high as the quality of Burgundy, Bordeaux or California."

third-generation Chilean of French descent
By next year, another ultrapremium Chilean wine will enter the U.S. market. In the Andean foothills near Santiago, Paul Pontallier, director of Château Margaux, and Bruno Prats, retired proprietor of Château Cos d'Estournel, are developing a 48-acre vineyard in an old apricot and walnut orchard; they call it Viña Aquitania. With Winemaker Felix de Solminihac, a third-generation Chilean of French descent, they are growing cabernet sauvignon, merlot and carmenère, and plan to plant petit verdot and syrah. The new wine will be called Domaine Paul Bruno.
Pontallier is not as effusive as some of his peers. "The problem is to know how far you can go," he says. "So far, it's possible to make good wine in Chile; eventually very good wine. But not yet a great wine."
There is a price to pay for all of these quality advancements. While Chile retains its economic advantages over California - lower land costs and cheaper labor - these factors must be balanced against the substantial costs of modernizing and escalating transportation costs. California's cult Cabs are now retailing at $75 to $100 per bottle and more. It was only a matter of time before some of Chile's elite reds would move in the same direction, which raises the question: Will wine aficionados pay up to $60 for wines from Chile?
It's a challenge, but a necessary one, Mondavi says. "It's easy to sell a $60 Bordeaux, or even a $150 one," he says. "But people ask, 'How can you do it from Chile?'" Mondavi says Seña's $55 price tag reflects, in part, the extra costs of making a truly fine wine, even in low-cost Chile. "You're far more selective in the vineyards, you prune more, get less of a crop. You pay the crew a premium to select only the very best, ripest, grape bunches." But it's also a matter of image, he says. "If you price a wine too low, people think it's not very good."

The complete article here.

Pub Group West - The Ultimate Wine Book: Everything You Need To Know About Wine Appreciation, Wine With Food, And The Latest Health Findings (Paperback)

Globes, atlases, maps !!

2006-07-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Best-Selling Travel Maps from Chile

Best-Selling Atlases

Best-Selling Wall Maps

Best-Selling Globes

Maps.com has the largest selection of Wall Maps!

Millionpixels.cl, a map of Latin America to promote your website

2006-06-22T10:24:00.000-04:00

If you are one of our assiduous readers, you will have noticed that for several weeks a "window popup" has opened at the same time as this blog on the site millionpixels.cl. This page of referencing Web sites on Latin America is accessible in French, Spanish, English and Portuguese.

For a few days, Millionpixels.cl has been a true success with the contribution of several advertising agencies specialized on Internet. The site contains a paying zone (on the map) for only 8 cents of Euro the pixel ($0.10), and a free zone with exchanges of links, limited to 400 pixels. Then if you have a site or blog in connection with SouthAmerica, do not hesitate, register it on millionpixels.cl ! To be registered, it is enough to click on "get pixels" and to let to you guide.

In Chile, "Arturito" can find treasures and mines !?

2006-06-04T11:26:00.000-04:00

In the chilean blog Fayerwayer, we have encontred this reference to an article from Jonathan Franklin for National Geographic News . Manuel Salinas, a 39-year-old inventor, claims he has built a machine that has extraordinary capabilities for finding buried objects. "In less than a year, Salinas says, he has helped solve two of the highest profile criminal cases in this South American country. And now that university lab tests seem to confirm that his robot works, mining and oil corporations are flooding him with business plans, Salinas says.
How this machine functions is still an "industrial secret," Salinas said. But ask him for proof that it works and he'll hand you a pile of press clippings on the device, called Geo-Radar or Arturito (a play on the name of Star Wars robot R2-D2).
The first public use of the Geo-Radar technology was in the case of Luis Francisco Yuraszeck, a Chilean businessman who had been missing since March 2004.
In July 2005 Policía Investigaciones de Chile, the local equivalent of Scotland Yard, asked Salinas to help on the case. Salinas took his robot to a rural farmhouse selected by the police. With reporters watching, the robot scanned the landscape. Within two hours, Geo-Radar provided an exact location of Yuraszeck's body, buried under 12 feet (4 meters) of cement.
Arturo Herrera, general director of Investigaciones de Chile, publicly acknowledged the effectiveness of the Geo-Radar technology in locating the body.

Buried Weapons, Treasure
Hearing the news, investigative judge Jorge Cepeda requested Salinas' help in solving a decades-old case. In the 1960s a violent sect of about 300 German immigrants had built a 33,000-acre (13,000-hectare) compound known as Colonia Dignidad, later renamed Villa Baviera. Recently a judicial order shutting down the colony led to evidence that the group had stashed thousands of pounds of armaments. But where?

The mystery would not be easily cracked, given that the compound is 40 times bigger than New York City's Central Park. In August 2005 Salinas drove south and set up his Geo-Radar.
Within hours of arrival, Salinas had immediately found the buried objects—in this case rocket launchers, grenades, and detonators. "The police announced the discovery the next day," Salinas says proudly.
In September 2005 Salinas announced that he had found gold and buried treasure on the Juan Fernandez Islands—also known as the Robinson Crusoe islands—off the coast of Chile (see Chile map). When Chilean authorities claimed the reported treasure as government property, a standoff developed. Wagner Technologies—the local company that financed Geo-Radar's development—said it would donate 60 percent of any treasure to Chilean charities.
Even so, the government refused to renounce its claim, and the supposed treasure remains in dispute and unexcavated.

Put to the Test
Recently, Salinas asked a Chilean university to study the machine and put the questions surrounding it to rest. "We were tired of everyone questioning that the machine worked," Salinas said. In early May the results came in, and the Geo-Radar jumped back into local headlines.
University investigators announced laboratory and field tests indicating that the Geo-Radar technology is capable of quickly finding copper deposits, petroleum, and gold bullion at depths of up to 600 feet (283 meters).
"This reduces the time of exploration from three months to one day," said engineering professor Ricardo Neira Navarro at a press conference in Santiago, the national capital.
Neira, of Chile's Universidad Tecnológico Metropolitano (UTEM), told reporters that Geo-Radar was 98 percent effective in finding and mapping underground copper deposits as deep as 600 feet (183 meters). "This is a revolutionary tool for finding minerals, petroleum, or water," he said. "You rapidly can focus on the place to exploit."

Built to Find Mines
"I built this machine to find buried antipersonnel mines," explained Salinas as he showed pictures of early prototypes of the machine, which had legs like a spider's. To prevent the prototype from detonating land mines, Salinas designed each "foot" to weigh no more than 5 ounces (140 grams).
Chile's northern borders with Bolivia and Peru are littered with thousands of mines. Few maps of the mines exist, and Salinas began his robot research 12 years ago with the goal of winning contracts to find, deactivate, and remove the explosives.
When he finished building the machine in 2004 and ran field tests, Salinas says, the machine surprised him with its abilities to find water, petroleum, and buried metals. Salinas refuses to patent the machine, saying the technology is "an industrial secret."
He will say only that the machine searches for materials based on their atomic composition.
"I program the machine with 1,500 different [atomic] profiles. The machine sends out a signal," Salinas explained. "When that signal finds one of the searched-for elements, it bounces back. Then I have an algorithm [computer procedure] which analyzes the elements that have been detected."

Not everyone has been smitten with Salinas or his robot.
Leopoldo Soto, President of the Chilean Physics Society has been dubious of the invention since it first arrived on the scene last September.
"If the apparatus does what they say," Soto told Chilean magazine Ercilla, "it would be truly stunning … given that with what we know today of physics, it is not possible in any part of the world.

"In other words, they would have had to discover a new physics."
Mario Favre, a physics professor at Catholic University in Santiago, is outright dismissive.
"What the owners of the machine say is simply delirious," Favre said. Favre admits that the technology allegedly used by Salinas—bouncing a nuclear signal off materials to search for specific atomic compositions—works. "But to reach beyond 30 centimeters [12 inches] of depth is today considered a technological advance. And here we are talking about 50 meters [164 feet]."
While other physicists and scientists have openly ridiculed Salinas and his invention, Soto, of the Chilean Physics Society, has been more cautious.
At the peak of the Chilean debate over Geo-Radar, he said, "Let's be open-minded and give Salinas the possibility that he has discovered something that he does not know how to explain but that (the robot) does what he says."
Businessperson Juan Costella Montt doesn't care how it works. "At 300 meters (1,000 feet) the machine found the percentage of copper within 2 percent of what we know to be the actual deposits," Costella said. The businessman runs a 15-million-U.S.-dollar-a-year copper-exploration company in northern Chile and works closely with Codelco, the world's largest copper producer.
Costella oversaw the Geo-Radar tests and compared the results to maps compiled from traditional methods, including drilling out core samples.

International student program in Chile

2006-05-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

The Valparaíso´s universities han developed a consistent policy of expansion of international activities, focused in research and cooperative actions, and particularly through its international student exchange programs.

Whether you choose to study in Santiago or in Valparaíso, you’ll find Chile to be an excellent study site with a wide array of courses and subjects available. The universities in Valparaíso provide an unparalleled opportunity for immersion into Chilean academics and culture.
International students may come to study in Valparaiso through bilateral agreements with a network of partner institutions which enables student exchange or multilateral agreements with various international networks oriented to facilitate student mobility .
These courses include Intensive Communicational Spanish and Chilean Culture and Written Spanish. All university classes are taught in Spanish and are integrated with full degree-seeking students.
International Agreement :
AUSTRALIA - University of the Sunshine CoastBELGIUM - Université Catholique de Louvain CANADA - University of Calgary, Alberta (*) - University of Manitoba - University of Prince Edwards Island - Lethbridge University FINLAND - Vaasa Polytechnic FRANCE - Ecole Polytechnique, Paris - Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Toulouse (*) - Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Rennes - Université de Brétagne Ouest - Université du Droit et de la Sante Lille 2 (*) - Université de Marne La Vallée (*) - Université Blaise Pascal - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 - Université Lille 2 - Université Paris XII - INSA Lyon GERMANY - Carl Von Ossietzky Universität-Oldenburg (*) - Fachhochschule Aalen (*) - Katolische Universität Eichstätt (*) - Ludwig Maximilians Universität-München - Oldenburg UniversitätHUNGARY - University of Pecs ITALY - Politecnico di Torino (*) - Università Degli Studi Roma Tre - Università di Pisa POLAND - Musical Academy of LodzROMANIA - University of Nord Baia Mare SOUTH KOREA - National University of Chungbuk - University of Chosun
SPAIN - Universidad de Almería (*) - Universidad de Cádiz - Universidad de Cataluña - Universidad de Córdoba - Universidad de Murcia - Universidad de Salamanca - Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (*) - Universidad de Sevilla - Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (*)
SWEDEN - Linköpings Universitet (*) UNITED KINGDOM - University of Manchester UNITED STATES - Butler University, Indianapolis - Drew University, Madison, New Jersey - Florida International University - Harvard University - Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho - Millersville University, Pennsylvania - Oregon State University - Rice University - Spelman College, Atlanta - State University of New York at Plattsburgh (*) - University of Colorado, Colorado Spring - University of Connecticut - University of Illinois (*) - University of Maine - University of Maryland - University of Massachusetts - University of Missouri-Rolla - University of North Carolina, Wilmington - University of Pittsburgh - Utah State University - Villanova University Also

Another agreements have been subscribed with Latin American universities, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS - ISEP (USA)- DAAD (Germany)- CINDA (Latin America)

Links :
Institute for study abroad
Universidad catholica de Valparaiso
ISA
Council on educational exchange
Conicyt(scientifics exchanges)

Metro Valparaiso

2006-04-23T17:31:00.000-04:00

The Metro Valparaíso runs between the Valparaíso harbour and Limache (43 km, 20 stations). It was developed out of a former suburban railway, which eventually stopped operating on 30 June 2005. Major works were carried out on the route through Viña del Mar, where the alignment was put underground for 5 km with 4 stations (Miramar, Viña del Mar, Hospital Gustavo Fricke and Chorrillos). Since 1999 existing stations have been modernised and some new stations added. The line can be classified as a full metro with trains operating every 5 minutes between Puerto and El Belloto. Limache is served every 15 minutes. A trip from end to end takes 50 minutes.
The Metro de Valparaíso is operated by Merval, a subsidiary of EFE, Chilean State Railways, with 27 Alstom X'Trapolis trains.
History
19 Nov 2005: trial operation Puerto - Recreo23 Nov 2005: official opening Puerto - Limache

Practical Info
- OPERATION
06:30 - 23:00 (peak hours 07:30-09:30 & 18:00-19:30)
Puerto - Belloto: every 5 minBelloto - Stgo Aldea: every 7.5 minStgo Aldea - Limache: every 15 min
- FARES (2005)
Fares depend on distance travelled (5 zones): 380 - 780 pesos (360 - 600 off-peak)
Links
Metro de Valparaíso at Wikipedia (Spanish)
MetroVal - private site

About Chilean cuisine

2006-03-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

Carlos Lowry is a 52-year-old artist who was born in the USA and grew up in Chile. Now live in Austin, Texas as a Web developer. The website Anden is the must about Chile and chilean kitchen. The uniqueness of Chile's geography, stretching along the Pacific Ocean through so many latitudes, has yielded a remarkable array of seafoods and agricultural produce. Beans, potatoes, corn, squash, fish, and chile peppers are common ingredients in Chilean cooking. If you are searching for chileans recipes . You can find many in this site :

Chile´s president elect Michelle Bachelet

2006-03-10T18:35:00.000-03:00

In an interview for the Jim Lehrer´s program Newshour in Pbs Michelle Bachelet, Chile's new president-elect, speaks about her experience during the 1973 coup led by former dictator Augusto Pinochet and her goals as the country’s first female president.

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, the newly-elected president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet. She is a pediatrician, a socialist and a former minister of health and defense.

Her father, an air force general, was tortured and died in prison. He had been in the government of Salvador Allende, which was overthrown in a 1973 coup led by Augusto Pinochet. Michelle Bachelet and her mother were also imprisoned and tortured.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Welcome to the program, and congratulations.

MICHELLE BACHELET: Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to be here with you today.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: In your speech, in your victory speech you said, "Because I was the victim of hate, I've consecrated my life to turning hate into understanding, tolerance, and why not say it -- love."

As president, what policies will you follow to promote this kind of understanding and tolerance between those who tortured and killed in the past and those who were tortured, like you?

MICHELLE BACHELET: Well, I won't begin this now. I started it when I was minister of defense, and I will be doing it wherever I am until the day I will die.

It's the idea of how we're able to build bases in our society where tolerance, understanding of diversity, integration and not discrimination will be the main policies.

When I'm speaking of love, when I'm speaking of reversing hate, I'm speaking not only of reconciliation - even I don't use that word -- I use another word in Spanish, that's called "reencuentro"-- it's not reconciliation.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: It's more a re-coming together would you say?

MICHELLE BACHELET: Yes. It's something like that because "reconciliation" is when somebody -- it's related to forgiveness -- and that's very individual. Some people forgive, some people does not.

So that's why I say -- but let's use reconciliation -- we will have to continue advancing in reconciliation between people who were victims and their families and people who were responsible for that.

(Extended interview)

A visit in Valparaiso Pleasant hill (Cerro Alegre)

2006-03-07T13:17:00.000-03:00

For tourists with limited time in Valparaiso, the Pleasant Hill and Concepcion National Historic Districts constitute one of the most stunning and breathtaking cultural heritage sites in the world. The neighborhoods are well preserved and tourist friendly.
How to Get Here: By car you can follow the main routes into downtown Valparaiso, leaving your car in the underground parking below the Plaza Sotomayor. By bus or trolley, board any vehicle marked “Aduana” and get off at the Plaza Sotomayor, walking 100 meters to the El Peral Funicular in the Justice Square.
Tourist Infrastructure: Plenty. In Pleasant Hill, the Colombina is one of Valparaiso’s finest hillside restaurants with a lovely terrace and a fine wine list. In Concepcion Hill, the Café Turri is well known and the Brighton Bed & Breakfast has one of the most spectacular hanging terraces in the city-ideal for meals, snacks, coffee, wine or a refreshing pisco sour. In general, any of the major restaurants will allow tourists to use the bathrooms as long as they don’t abuse the privilege. There are now several smaller cafes and restaurants, several of which may be worth stopping in to. On weekends, the French lunch at Le Filou de Montpellier (cf Photo) is one of the best bargains in all of Valparaiso. As for lodging, the Brighton is the best known, but you will also find a plethora of B & Bs and charming family—owned apartments for rent. The Tomas Somerscales Hotel is due to open in 2004.
The Justice Square
The section begins in Justice Square several feet away from the Plaza Sotomayor. If this is the only section of the trail you will walk, you may want to detain yourself for a few minutes in Sotomayor Square, the most important civic square in Valparaiso.
The Peral Funicular
Past the stately Interoceanica Building, you will find an opening that accesses the Peral Funicular, gateway to the Pleasant Hill National Historic District. Built in 1902, the upper station house was recently rebuilt and inaugurated in 2000. As the principal entry point into the Pleasant Hill (Cerro Alegre) National Historic District. This is one of the busiest elevators in Valparaiso. At the top, you enter the Yugoslavian Promenade. This is one of Valparaiso’s five most characteristic promenades, offering a spectacular view of the port, banking district, and neighboring hillsides. The dominating feature of this park is the outstanding, Baburriza Palace, now the city’s fine arts museum.
Pascual Baburriza was a Croatian immigrant who arrived in Chile to sell fish in the nitrate fields of Northern Chile. A classic entrepreneur, he expanded his enterprise, ultimately controling thirty percent of the world’s nitrate market, later diversifying into railroads. Luckily, Baburriza sold his nitrate stock to the American multinational Guggenheim Brothers just before the industry fell out during World War I. Baburriza’s fortune was unscathed. Baburriza had two principal properties in this region: his Valparaiso palace and his summer estate twenty minutes to the interior. The latter has since been restored and donated as Chile’s national botanical
gardens, worth a visit in its own right.
Plazoleta Joaquín Edwards Bello
Although many consider the park next to the promenade to be an extension of the esplanade, it is actually called the Plaza Joaquín Edwards Bello, named after a beloved writers who immortalized Valparaiso in texts such as Valparaiso, the Windy City and The Old Almond Grove. Next to the plaza you’ll find the fine Colombina Restaurant, actually situated in the
old servant’s headquarters of the Baburriza Estate. The stairway off to the left is called Apollo Passage, and features several attractive buildings.

Gervasoni Promenade and Café Turri
In addition to a romantic air and breathtaking views, the Gervasoni Promenade has four principal attractions, The Fundación Lukas, a house that was the first Danish Consulate in Latin America, the Concepción Funicular, and the Café Turri. The Lukas Foundation is dedicated to Renzo Pecchenino, a beloved Italian immigrant who served for years as the caricature artist for El Mercurio newspaper. Known professionally as Lukas, Pecchenino was a brilliant artist who dedicated his life to drawing Valparaiso as it must have appeared during different periods of the city’s 480—year history. His excellent technique, poignant sense of humor, gregarious charm,
and eccentric personality has led Chileans to identify Lukas as a genius of almost Neruda-like stature.
Atkinson Promenade
.The Atkinson Promenade is named after Juan Atkinson, a ship builder who built the homes here. By 1886, all of the homes were occupied and the neighborhood gained fame as an excellent place for an afternoon stroll. The great poet Rubén Darío, rumored to have rented the last
house on the street, described the place in his book Album of the Port. The houses were occupied by German and British families, including the Eltons, the Boyes, and one of the city’s finest arquitects, Alfred Vargas, who built the Valparaiso Theater and Couve Gallery in Viña del Mar. The houses on Atkinson Street have not changed much, though the horrendous Student Solidarity Bank Building, built in the late 60’s, stole away much of the ocean view that made the
promenade famous.
Paseo Atkinson

In this section, the route also crosses the Music School of the Catholic University of Valparaiso, and the Pierre Loti Passage, named after the French novelist who spent time in Valparaiso. At the corner of Urriola Street, we find a small soda fountain called “Le Filou de Montpellier.” Opened by a young immigrant from France, this tiny restaurant is famous for its inexpensive French lunches offered exclusively on weekends.
Dimalow Promenade
We enter the almost imperceptible Dimalow Promenade across from the bakery and Le Filou de Montpellier. Like many of Valparaiso’s promenades, the stroll initiates with a series of attractive homes overlooking the ocean. Nonetheless, as we approach the midway point of the esplanade, we begin to note that something about this street is different. At the end of the alley, we find ourselves in one of the most spectacular vantage points imaginable. Standing in front of the Queen Victoria Funicular, the promontory of Concepción Hill, with the spectacular steeple of the Lutheran church, is exposed to view. Take a deep breath and enjoy this outstanding photo opportunity.

Photo : Le Filou de Montpellier

A million pixels page for Chile and america

2006-02-14T19:46:00.000-03:00

1/ What is the idea?
Our page is based on this "original page" . If you visit the Press section you can verify the success that this page is having anywhere in the world.
We thought that it must have a similar page in Latin America and Chile that responded to our own idea to present kindness this side of the world.

The title "www.millionpixels.cl" is very attractive for the search motors.
Everybody is welcome to buy ours píxels. Píxels are divided in "blocks" of 100 píxels (square of 10x10 píxels).
The pagina is divided in 10.000 blocks of píxeles (altogether 1.000.000 píxeles). The reason of selling them in 100 blocks is because we thought that it is the so large minimum to be able to visualize an image (and a Link until its site).
You can buy as many pixels as you like, as long as there are some available (see the live stats in the top right corner of the page). When you buy some pixels, you can then display an image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you have purchased. You can also have the image click through to your own website. However, no obscene or offensive images are allowed.
Píxeles that is bought will be shown in our Web of permanent form. The page will not change. Part of the money which we obtain with the sale of píxeles will be destined to maintain the site online during at least 2 years.
Everybody can buy píxeles. You´re business, you´re company, you´re message will be seen through the years.
2. Why should I buy your píxels?
Because you will have an image and a Link to your site on the homepage of this Web. A Web that could potentially be seen by millions of people other the next years. We aspired to being one of the pages more seeing and spreading of this country (and this continent). This site will be at least online during the next 2 years. Although the idea is that it is always on-line.
3. Why can´t I buy a simple pixel?
The reason is because you can't display anything meaningful in one pixel - nor click it easily - so visually, it would be pointless. To sell only a pixel is not a good idea because nothing with only a pixel can be shown - it would not either be easy to do click on a pixel -. Visually he is not viable. Imagines a page with thousand of píxeles of colors distributed of random form? For that reason the minimum sale of píxeles must be of blocks of 10x10 píxeles (100 píxeles).
4. How long will this page be online?
We guaranteed that the site will be online at least during the next 2 years

Chile, a long and narrow country

2005-12-09T13:37:00.000-03:00

For those which would have evil to locate Chile, the excellent encyclopedia wikipedia gives heaps of information on this country with very original geography. Wedged between the Andes cordillera and the Pacific Ocean, Chile is very large (4000 kms) and very thin (80kms by places). Between the desert of Atacama in North and the patagonie in the South, one meets beautifuls landscapes there (see fotos)... About half of the 15 million inhabitants live in the capital, Santiago , the town of Concepcion , or the area of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar . Small detail, Chile is a young country which soon will celebrate its bicentenary .

Valparaiso, the restoration of a mythical port

2005-12-08T14:50:00.000-03:00

The tourist who visit Chile cannot avoid spending a few days to Valparaiso. This port city, recognized inheritance of humanity by UNESCO, is today in full change. Since its origin, Valparaiso had to deal with geographical context forcing and the city developed on the many hills like an amphitheatre around the port. This one could continue its expansion only by regularly gaining grounds on the sea. Closed with the public during the military government, the port was hidden with the sight of the inhabitants by an enormous wall of containers. The comings and goings of the trucks and the loading of the cargo liners are in addition not without danger to the city which have a very strong rate of pollution. Currently, of many projects are in hand to give again glare with Valparaiso and to bring closer the inhabitants the sea. Restoration of the mythical elevators while passing by the path of the bicentenary, the painting of the frontages of the cerros (hills) to the realization of "walks", gradually, the city changes. In the cultural field, the president Ricardo Lagos made of Valparaiso the seat of the ministry and the prison was transformed into place of exposure and creation. Each year a carnival associates Valparaiso with another town of Latin America and the fireworks of New Year's day, one key moment of the life of the inhabitants, will be now drawn on 15kms throughout the bay which links Valparaiso with Viña del Mar. But the most expensive projects are the realization of a regional subway, produced by Alstom, which has been just started, the boring of one tunnel at the southern exit of the city and the realization of a "dry port" (the transfer of the loading and unloading of the containers outside the city), which should bring more to allow the harbour activity to develop without obstructing the inhabitants