On the third day, we had our first company visits, including the company I researched, Bosque del Mauco. We started early, arriving at Bosque around 9. We received a full tour of the company’s production, starting with the fertilizer that they specially combine to best grow their fungus. It is little more than hay, manure, and water. Then, we were able to see the mushrooms at different stages of growth. Each set of mushrooms is grown on a small square pallet, and the pallets are stacked to the ceiling in various climate-controlled warehouse spaces. Each batch produces of 15 metric tons of mushrooms!
Next we visited Centauro, which is a canned fruit and vegetable company. Although we visited in their offseason, when fresh canning does not take place, we still were able to get an understanding of the canning process, and take home samples of their products. They export all around the world, and its hard to believe that they do most of their production from the small factory we visited. An interesting note, their warehouses were entirely cleaned out by the earthquake—their purchasers bought and donated every canned good they had in their reserves at the factory.
After the visits, we had more culture classes, including one about Chile’s earthquakes. It was scary, but at the same time shows the strength and resilience of the Chilean people. After more dancing lessons, we had a night on the town, and returned to rest for another big day on Thursday.
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