We had a beautiful first full day in sunny and warm Chile to begin our joint Delta and Northwest build for Habitat for Humanity. Today was spent acclimating to the new time zone and shaking off jet lag. My group had an all-day guided tour of Vina del Mar and Valapariso.
The two city centers are separated by only a 10-15 minute drive, however they are fairly different in feel. Vina del Mar is a smaller, newer city; whereas Valapariso is larger and filled with rich history.
We spent the morning in Vina and toured many sites. The beaches are beautiful; crystal blue waves pound huge rock formations forming a frothy white foam. Unfortunately the water is VERY cold so not many people are in ocean. The shores are filled with huge pelicans and the piers and buoys have large sea lions. Our tour of the harbor in Villapariso made it easy to understand why this town has been a major player in South American shipping for decades.
One interesting side note: several times since we arrived total strangers approach us once they find out we are Americans and are very excited about the result of last week’s presidential election. We are hearing cheers from smiling, hand waving Chileans. None of us can recall a reaction like this outside the U.S. following one of our elections.
Everyone is really excited to start building tomorrow and helping the needy families in nearby Casablanca. Today’s activities helped us get to know each other better before we dive in on the process of building and dedicating twelve homes over the next three days. We are really starting to gel as a team. What a fantastic way to bring together volunteers from Delta and NWA to make new friends and dramatically improve the lives of twelve deserving families in the process. Learn more about our trip with Delta’s Force for Global Good here.
Tim Campbell
VP, Regional Airlines Operations
Delta employee from Northwest Airlines