Chile, Day 10: la Plaza

Today was a beautiful but hard-working day. We spent most of the morning in seminar, again discussing the steps required to get this new tourism program off the ground. We talked about the preliminary program planning stages (which, everybody agrees, have been completed) and the secondary stage of curriculum development (we're in the middle of that right now). But we never did get to discussing the third stage -- program coordination and quality control -- because we got side-tracked discussing some basic issues inherent in development of the curriculum. Curriculum development (the way I see it, at least) moves forward best when you can answer two essential questions: 1) what will the students at the end of the program know and be able to do? and 2) who are the students who will enter the program at the beginning? Once you understand those two issues, well... curriculum forms the meat in the middle. I think we have a pretty good handle on who the intake students are but there is still some confusion about what the graduates will be prepared to do. In my experience, this is not uncommon in a program which is brand-new for an area. There is a degree of risk and faith involved. I have been communicating with the folks at Niagara to see if we can clarify some of the issues: then I believe we can move forward more easily.

It was so beautiful and warm today that for an hour or so I actually removed my (outer) jacket for a while during the seminar. You can't believe what it's like here on a fine day. I'm not sure I have ever experienced air more clear. The contrast between the barren hills surrounding the town and the blue sky beyond is almost surreal.

I didn't get back to the hotel until almost 6:30 and by then it was almost dark and I was bushed. So I did what anyone would be tempted to do in such a condition: I cruised the Plaza. Really, I'm not sure how a country like Canada can call itself 'developed' without having incorporated the plaza concept. After visiting Ecuador I figured that maybe the reason we didn't have town plazas in Canada was related somehow to our cold weather (blame it on that, sure) but after experiencing Chile I know that's no excuse. Copiapó's Plaza is wonderful and takes up an entire city block. It is surrounded and crisscrossed by broad paved walkways. I say 'paved' but they are actually covered in some kind of local marble tile which is so smooth that you can easily slide on it if you want to. In between the walkways are grassy areas, benches, trees, and street lights. If you were to close your eyes the first thing that would occur to you is the smell: a combination of cotton-candy, popcorn, roasted walnuts, and deep-fried doughnuts. You would also notice the music: there's some incredible Andean music from one corner, a Chilean opera singer who is selling CDs from another corner, and a sort of 'country' style performer, singing live from another corner. The church, of course, faces the plaza and church bells ring every quarter-hour. There are children riding bikes, elderly people feeding pigeons, dogs meeting and greeting each other, and teenagers competing on skateboards. There's usually a young athletic-looking guy who does balancing tricks with a soccer ball, and a small crowd watching him. There are always a few tables with men playing chess. Down one entire side of the Plaza there is a special kind of market called a 'feria': a series of booths with some fairly high-class handicrafts for sale. The prices are mostly fixed and it seems that bargaining is not so encouraged.

So that was my day. Now I'm back in my hotel room and the heater is STILL working (3 days in a row!) Life is good.