Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This week we arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay - to be honest, a place I had never thought or heard much about. Just a small country nestled next to Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay on the east coast of South America. Though upon arriving in its capital - home to 1.8 of its 3.5 million people - I was more than pleasantly surprised at its beauty and charm: tree lined streets, grand plazas, cherib dancing fountains, and a wide boardwalk bordering the coast that looks at the bluest of oceans. For anyone in need of vacation ideas, I would highly recommend visiting Uruguay (especially if you can speak spanish)! Its the best of Europe and Latin America combined!

For more specifics on Uruguay you can visit www.uruguay360.com.uy - a website developed by the Sartori brothers, who are currently students at ORT in Montevideo. We met up with them and a number of other students yesterday at the university who have been engaged with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Founded by Professor Enrique Topolansky (aka Topo)- a passionate, charismatic leader...the kind of professor that makes you want to go back to school or even start teaching yourself - the CIE supports budding entrepreneurs and gives them the wings to get to their destination. In my opinion, every university in the world should have such a center, supporting fresh business ideas and the energetic determination of students everywhere.

The interviewees - entrepreneurs and future employers - will be appearing in our piece on "unemployment and globalization." stay tuned to hear their advice on how to make it in today's marketplace! Special thanks to everyone from CIE!

Hiking the Patagonian Andes - The W Trek

After a week relaxing in Vaparaiso, we left for Punta Arenas, the hub of Chilean Patagonia. We took a bus to Puerto Natales, bought a couple pairs of socks and left for Laguna Amargas the base camp for most expeditions through Torres Del Paine National Park.
There are many treks one can do in this area but the W is arguably one of the most rewarding. So we set off on a patagonian misty morning  with our adventure spirit, a camera, tripod, and...a heavy backpack full of energy bars.

The views were amazing at the end of each day, the expensive simple food tasted delicious and the old expensive beds felt like the best we had ever slept in. It is the end of the season here so we didn't see too many tourists (...we are adventurers, don't get confused).

Perfect conditions...by perfect I mean 0 degrees celsius (FYI drains all the battery out of our Ipad).We filled up our water bottles from the streams and for a few days lived "d'amour et d'eau fraiche" as we say in french.

I never liked hiking as a kid but I know realize why our parents enjoyed it so much, the whole clearing your mind and body, losing yourself in the natural state of things. Guess I'm getting older...(wiser? ;-)


For anyone wishing to do the hike, here is a little advice:

• Itinerary: The full circle isn't as rewarding in terms of scenery so I would reccomend taking your time for the W. Ideally 5 nights and 6 days in the park is comfortable. You can travel from one end (Las Torres) to the other by boat and bus (3 hours total), or walk it (10hours). It's a fun walk but if you have any kind of heavy backpack you might want to avoid it as there are some river crossings where you will have too do some rock hoping...or get wet.
• Timing: Mid/Late March is the best but you might want to pack a tent as some Refugios are closed by then. We did it in April and it was getting cold. Los Cuernos closed on the 13th April 2011 and Chileno was closed.
• Refugios: Mainly 3 places you can stay if you don't want to camp. 2 Different companies to book ahead. Book them individually through there websites as packages and agencies will incur a commission. 
• Paine Grande (Pehoe): http://www.verticepatagonia.com/precios-y-reservas/
• Las Torres and Los Cuernos: http://www.fantasticosur.com/refugios_in_torres_del_paine/
• Prices: Refugios are not cheap. Count about 40 US/night per person for a bed. +10 US for a sleeping bag (worth it depending on the season). 20 US/dinner which are usually bread, entree, main, desert. Camping is usually 8 US/person and some places rent out tents for 12 US/night but having tried it I would recommend you bring your own.

Oh and here is our website where you'll find tons of info about FYDB - The Series, Raw video footage of our trip and more... www.fastenyourdreambelt.com