Where are Caroline + Neil?: Football and Architecture

21 March 2006

Today we had a look around some shops in a shopping mall near the centre of Santiago. Our highlight of the day was going to see a soccer match between Universidad de Catolica of Chile and Deportivo Cali of Columbia in Copa Liberatodores game. For those not in the know - Copa Liberatodores is the South American Version of the European Champions League. It took us ages to get to the game as it seemed everyone was driving to the game and we missed the first ten minutes. Anyways the Universidad fans came away happy as they won 2-1. It was a pretty good game and the crowd was really into it - being mostly Universidad fans. Security checks were non-existent compared to Melbourne Victory games but there was alot of police in full riot gear. At the game I got to hear the Chilean term ¨Huevon¨which I think means egg head or something like that, and is the quintessential Chilean insult - useed to full effect on the referees, opposition players and of course Universidad players. I had a great time and really enjoyed the experience. Hopefully I may be able to catch a chilean league match before I leave.

22 March 2006

Today we again paid a visit to Central Santiago to check out some more sites. This time we went with Caroline´s cousin, Carolina. We checked out the Catedral Metropolitana, the Plaza de Armas (every South American city or town has one), the Casa Colorada and its Museo de Santiago, the Palacio de Bellas Artes and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo where we saw some interesting artwords. We also checked out the Universidad de Catolica which was showing some of the design and architectural work by its students. The main reason for the visit was to have a look at the new School of Medicine building by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena.It was pretty good and had some interesting feature.Took some photos but didnt spend a whole lot of time because I was with non-architects. We also had a look at some markets and shops.

Neil