Rio Post #2: Qualifying Stages and Specialized Events

Here's a quick preview of my series on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio:
Rio Post #1: Women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around
Rio Post #2: Qualifying Stages and Specialized Events
Rio Post #3: The City of Rio de Janeiro
Rio Post #4: Saturday Night at the Blue Oval
Rio Post #5: Party on the Beach


We attended eight events in Rio and would categorize three of them as premier events: women's gymnastics, track and field, and beach volleyball.  In this post, I'll recount events which were either in the group or qualifying stages or more specialized events that makes one wonder "how do you get into that sport?"


Whitewater Canoeing and Kayaking, Thursday, August 11

I'm at the Olympics!

Whitewater canoeing and kayaking was our first Olympic event.  It was held at a manmade course that was like a lazy river only if half of it had whitewater rapids.  It looked super fun to do because the course was made of plastic barriers so it would be a lot safer than a real river where there are actual rocks and hidden rocks.  We only stayed an hour because we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the women's gymnastics so I have no idea who won.  Probably the Germans because they seemed to be dominating.

The rapids

The lazy river

The event was cool because it was my first Olympics event.  It was also cool in retrospect because I wore a patriotically themed Oak Hill Marina t-shirt to a boating event and I was featured on Oak Hill's Facebook and Instagram pages!

Representing Oak Hill Marina in Rio!

Indoor Volleyball, Friday, August 12

Our still-truncated group at indoor volleyball.

Of the five events featured in this post, indoor volleyball had the best atmosphere.  This event started at 9:30 in the morning and we were a little late. As you will see, the Olympics wear you out so we had a good excuse for being late.  We arrived during the second set and Serbia was in the midst of dominating China, which is ironic because China later destroyed Serbia in the gold medal match.


One of the reasons volleyball was so fun was because of the canned music clips they played after some of the points.  Our favorite, by far, was a song we will call "MONSTER BLOCK" which was played after, appropriately, a monster block.  It was so popular that FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) put together a YouTube clip of it.  Play it and see if you can get it out of your head.  The other song they played a lot of was "Boom" which was played after an emphatic spike. FIVB also put together a YouTube clip of it, but it's not quite as cool as "MONSTER BLOCK." 


Since Serbia swept China, there was a lot of time to kill so they threw out dozens of giant colorful bouncy balls for fans to hit around. These were not beach balls.  These were like giant red rubber dodge balls that are now banned in PE class.  So these giant bouncy rubber colorful balls were hitting kids in the head and knocking over old people and Brazilian women in gloriously impractical high heels.  Other than those being concussed, everyone was having a great time with the balls.  We, of course, accustomed to the hyper-litigiousness of the US were amused and bemused by the spectacle.  If the arena was in the US, lawyers would have been lining up to sue the Olympics or whoever they could sue.

Get our your checkbooks IOC or FIVB!

I also scouted out the line judges during the game.  In fact, for most of the China-Serbia match, I was as interested in the line judges as I was the game.  I line judge the ELC varsity volleyball matches so I wanted to see how it was done at the highest level.  I picked up some new techniques for in, out, and tip calls that I look forward to using this fall. 

This guy is ready go make the call!

In writing these last two paragraphs, it's strange the things that stick out about the event...


Because there were also  the matches!  In addition to seeing the eventual gold medal game participants, we also saw Argentina and Cameroon, two countries who had never won a match in their Olympic history.  And Argentina and Cameroon each did their best to lose the match to each other.  But it was a fun match because there were a lot of Argentinians there and the Brazilians in attendance rooted against Argentina.  Eventually, Cameroon blew a lead in the fifth set and the Argentinians celebrated as if they had won the gold medal.

Serbia in blue vs China in red

Cameroon in yellow vs Argentina in blue

Don't cry for me Argentina!

Indoor Cycling, Friday, August 12
Indoor cycling takes place on an extremely sloped structure called a velodrome.  This is not a sport you can go out and do with your buddies because it is a highly specialized structure. Like the whitewater canoeing/kayaking, this event was cool because it was the Olympics. 

That's a bank

One of the things I found interesting about the Olympics was the nationalities in attendance at the events.  Over all, Brazilians, obviously, were the most numerous, clearly followed by Americans and the British.  Other countries well represented included Argentina, Australia, China, and Jamaica (at least in track, though more on that to come in a later post).  At indoor cycling, however, the British dominated in the stands because, apparently, they're really good at indoor cycling.  We saw the Chinese women set a world record in some kind of doubles race.  We also saw the British men set a world record in preliminary round of what I'll call the four-man sprint. Then in the finals, they trailed the Australians for the first fourteen laps before passing them in the final two laps and breaking their world record again to the delight of the pro-British crowd. 

A world record!

Hail Britannia!

This was also notable because it was the first event the Gifford's were able to attend after the travel debacle. 


Diving, Saturday, August 13
Nap time.  We saw the semi-finals of the women's spring board.  There were eighteen divers who did five dives each.  Other than the two Chinese divers and a Canadian, none of them stood out.  We also discussed how someone gets into diving.  Are they lazy swimmers who don't want to swim and tread water for hours and hours?  Are they gymnasts who grow too much?  We were way off.  According to my friend Kirstin, a former collegiate swimmer "Divers are usually short.  Unless they are quick with tucking in their long legs.  It's just core, killer leg muscles, and excellent timing."


Since we couldn't answer that question and there wasn't too much drama during the competition, while the third round of dives took place, I caught a little nap...

I. AM. OUT.

Sexy

An American diver...I may or may not have witnessed this dive.

Into the green water she would eventually go...

I hope these tickets weren't too expensive...The Olympics are exhausting.

Everyone knew China would dominate so it's okay that I missed a round...

Water Polo, Monday, August 15
Water polo was our last Olympic event as the Gifford's and I had to leave right after the first game of our session in order to catch our flights back to the US (Of course our flights back to the US went perfectly).

One last group shot!

Fortunately, the match we were able to see was the US vs Brazil!  The US dominated Brazil, but I enjoyed water polo way more than I thought I would.  The objective of the competition appears to be scoring more goals than the opponent.  The objective is actually to see how close you can get to drowning and/or strangling your opponent without killing her and/or being called for a foul.

USA! USA! USA!

I thoroughly enjoyed the specialized sports much more than I thought I would.  The allure of the Olympics added to the enjoyment, but so did the excitement of the people from other countries rooting passionately for their teams.  I want to go to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in part because of the electricity of a premier event like women's gymnastics, but also because of the fun that can be had during the qualifying rounds and at specialized events.

Rio Post #1: Women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around

Wow. Just wow. Wow.  That describes the Olympics. That describes the city of Rio. And that especially describes seeing Simone Biles win the gold in the all around and Aly Raisman win the silver.




A few months ago, when Garv told me we got tickets for the all-around, I thought "Cool. That will be a big event."  I have to admit that until the Olympics started, I was completely ignorant about the potential historic dominance of the American team until I started watching the qualifying on TV.  But once I realized how good the US team was, I was really excited to attend because I realized it could be a once-in-a-lifetime type of event.  And Aly and Simone didn't disappoint...they exceeded expectations.

Garv, Lindsay, Me, Paul

Our seats are far left center of this picture. The Raisman's are top center.

Our crew for the Rio Olympics consisted of six of us: Garv and Lindsay; Nick and Jill Gifford, our friends and Garv's co-workers; and our new friend Paul Sellers and a co-worker of Garv and the Gifford's at Principal Financial Group.  One VERY disappointing thing about the all-around was that the Gifford's had their own travel issues because Delta's computer issues on Monday were still causing issues on Wednesday.  So they missed their flight to Rio and weren't able to attend which was dispiriting because Jill was the driving force behind us buying tickets to the indidual all-around.  The other unfortunate thing is that because each country is limited to only two all-around competitors, Gabby Douglas couldn't compete and make it a clean sweep in the medals for the US.  So though it wasn't perfect, it was close.



At the event, we were seated in the second level in "box seats." In the US we would have had suite access.  At the Olympics they were just seats, though they were good seats in a corner near the vault.  Also, because Aly always performed right after Simone, we had plenty of time for beverage runs so we could collect these awesome Olympics cups.

How someone actually jumps off a vault the first time in their life is still mind-blowing.

These were quite the collector's item at all the Olympics events. We'd have even more if the Brazilians knew how to move people through a line...

During the competition, Aly and Simone started with the vault which was right in front of us.  They did okay and I think they were in first and second place.  Then they  moved to the uneven bars.  The Russian who ended up winning the uneven bars gold in the individual apparatus finals had a great score on the bars and was actually in first place after two events while Simone and Aly were in second and third, respectively.  As I said earlier, I was completely ignorant about gymnastics and thought we had some drama with the Russian leading the American favorites.  But the next event was the beam and Simone had a great routine, Aly's was ok, and the Russian's was disastrous. So going into the final event, the floor exercise, Simone and Aly had a nice lead for first and second and the floor exercise is their best event. It would seem that there was very little tension going into the last routine as both Americans could do very poorly and still win gold and silver.  The tension in the building, however, was thick.


Each sport has an inherent tension at the end of the competition that makes it exciting.  In baseball, a single pitch in close game can completely change the game. In football, will the offense score or will the defense stop them?  In basketball, will the shot go in? In gymnastics, will she fall or stumble or execute her routine? Olympics gymnastics seems even more tense and brutal on the nerves because it only comes once every four years and it requires relentless work and practice.  When watching it in person as we were able to do, we could see how much more brutal it was.  Paul had attended men's gymnastics the day before and said that the thing that struck him was how many falls and stumbles he saw in person that aren't seen on TV.  Which makes sense because there were twenty-four competitors in the all-around and NBC only shows the Americans and five or six others near the top.  They never show the girl in 21st place falling off the beam or the 18th place girl biffing it on the vault. And as were watching the 17th place finisher and 23rd place finisher mess up one routine after another, Lindsay speculated that these girls had probably performed their routines or skills perfectly hundreds of times in practice but then faltered under the pressure of the Olympics. 


So going into the floor exercise, though it seemed very likely that Simone and Aly would win gold and silver, I sensed a tension in the building from lots of factors.  Simone and Aly were the favorites and would they meet the pressure of expectations?  Would they conquer the physical difficulties of the sport of gymnastics that so many other competitors had not?  Would they defeat internal pressures such as Simone not being able to compete at the last Olympics since she was too young or Aly thinking she had been screwed over in the 2012 individual all-around?  Would they simply do what they were capable of?


Aly was the second to last competitor on the floor exercise. She nailed it and I think her tears were rolling even before she stuck that last landing.  And I got a little misty, too.  I was misty for most of the next hour or so as I said in this Facebook post.  The electricity in the building was incredible because she dominated a routine under all of that pressure and the flood of emotion from Aly permeated throughout the building.


After returning to Iowa, I've gone back and watched some of the events I saw in person. Here is Aly's floor exercise from the live streaming broadcast (I couldn't find the primetime coverage) from about the 2:01:00-2:03:00 mark.  The emotion that comes through in this broadcast was about 1/1,000,000 of that emotion that I felt in the building.  This video that shows Aly's parents reacting to her routine captures more of the emotion, but it's still not the same.  One of the reasons we felt so much more emotion is that we could watch the Raisman's squirming in their seats. We could feel her parents' nerves, their relief, and then their excitement. We could feel Aly's emotion as years and years and years of work paid off.  And in person, the building was so much louder. The chants of USA were so much prouder. The flashes from cameras were so much brighter. The flags waved more vigorously. The electricity crackled more powerfully in the arena.  But the competition was not over.


Simone was the next on the floor exercise and she was the last performer of the competition with the gold medal within her reach.  The building quieted as the pressure was now placed on her.    And she also nailed it.  I remained misty.  The tears rolled. There was lots of hugging. The cheers were even louder. The chants of USA were even prouder. The flashes from the camera were even brighter. The flags waved even more vigorously. And the electricity crackled even more sharply.


The National Anthem that played as Simone and Aly and the Russian were on the medal stand was one of the most powerful and emotional I've stood during.  Simone and Aly were favored. They were supposed to win.  They could have stumbled and bumbled and performed mediocrely on the floor exercise and still won gold and silver.  Instead, they dominated.  They met expectations when it mattered most.  They performed their best under the most intense pressure.   And I was fortunate enough to witness and FEEL the emotion of athletic greatness.

On the medal stand

Results on the jumbotron

Wow. Just wow. Wow.



Meat, Wine, and Workouts in Chile

I haven't posted recently because I was in Rio for the Summer Olympics the last six days and our days were jam packed!  So this will be my last post about Chile and then I'll have four or five posts about the Olympics.  I'm aiming for a post about every other day so we'll see how that goes!

My last post was about everyday things in Santiago.  And part of those everyday activities included eating, drinking, and exercising a lot.  A LOT.  So I'm going to run through the eating, drinking, and exercising highlights from my time in Santiago.  

Tiramisu, Friday, August 5
On Friday afternoon, after finally arriving and taking a nap to recover from my travel adventures, we went to Tiramisu, a pizza place about half a mile from Garv and Lindsay’s condo.  Of all the places I’ve been to in Chile, it’s my favorite and it's the place I’ve been to the most. Garv, LG, and I have gone each of the last two years.  I’ve also been several times with, ahem, acquaintances.  But for some reason, I’ve never written about it extensively.  It’s definitely one of the most popular restaurants in that part of Santiago and there can be waits of up to two hours.  The atmosphere and vibe is very chill.  The pizza is good.  The wine is great (it’s great in all of Chile).  And it’s exceedingly affordable.  Two pizzas, a salad, and a bottle of wine was only USD $45. In the US, the bottle of wine alone would cost USD $45. We went in the afternoon so it wasn't a typical Tiramisu experience but it was still great!

The only bad thing about such a short time in Santiago is only one meal at Tiramisu...

The PFG/CAT Invitational, Saturday, August 6
Friday evening, Garv and Lindsay hosted an Olympics Opening Ceremony watch party and this was the crew which also included Sarah, Casey, and Laurie (from left to right).  At the party, they decided to get up in the morning and go on a group run.  I'm assuming that runs for the next morning might rarely be planned at parties, but I'm assuming the runs planned the night before are executed even more rarely  Being the well-disciplined group that we are, we had the appropriate amount of appetizers, tacos, wine, and water while watching the Opening Ceremonies.

The seven runners in the first annual PFG/CAT Invitational. Clockwise from left: Sarah, Casey, Me, Garv, Laurie, Fuego, and Lindsay

So at 8:30, we all met for the eight mile PFG/CAT invitational (Garv works for Principal Financial Group and Laurie works for Caterpillar so Garv gave our run this moniker), including two miles up a mountain. Some of you might remember that last year I unexpectedly ran a 15k (nine miles) in an organized run. In the past year, I'd only run more than two miles once.  Once again peer pressure led me to running five times farther than I normally would.  I ran out too fast, ran slow in the middle, but then found a nice pace at the end. And once again, I enjoyed this run. Like I said in last year's blog post, the best kind of long run for me is for me to not know I'm going to run it.
Vineyards in Casablanca, Saturday, August 10
After running eight miles, the most obvious thing to do is visit some wineries.  We just did tastings rather than tours because once you've been on one tour, you've been on them all.  The first winery we visited was Vina Indomita (the two pictures below).  It is a mass producer of wine and they were perfectly open and proud of it.  The wines were pretty decent though and I ended up buying a few bottles.  The caption to the second picture illustrates a conundrum of Chilean wine production.  Chile leads the world in producing Carmenere and it's outstanding.  It also has a great story (scroll down to #1 in this post for the story). I recommend it to people frequently and it never lets me down.  In Chile, however, they tend to give more status to Cabernets and Merlots because they're better known grapes.  As Garv and I discussed, Chilean wine producers need to do a better job of marketing Carmenere.  So if Chilean wine producers won't market their amazing wine, I will!

My favorite white

Where is the Carmenere?

After Vina Indomita, we visited Vina Mar which was right next door as vineyards go.  This vineyard is known for it's sparkling wine and had several different flight options.  So we each ordered a different flight and shared...As I was saying, it's just what the body wanted after running eight miles.

We only drank a glass from each bottle...

A Chilean Asado, Saturday, August 6
After returning from the vineyards, we took a quick nap and then headed to the apartment of Francisco, Lindsay's and Garv's friend.  Fellow runners, Sarah, who's Francisco's girlfriend, Laurie, and Francisco's friend Carlos were also there.  Francisco is Chilean and a master griller.  Chileans are known for their asados, which are six hour meat fests.  The primary meat is a cut Chileans call entrana, but we would call flank steak.  It's only seasoned with salt and it's cooked really slowly.  It's so simple, but so good.  We started at about 8:30 and ended at 2:30 and also had some pisco sours and Chilean wine. We ate slowly and drank slowly. And I ate a lot and drank a lot.  It was a great night...

Entrana--salted and bloody

Choripan

With Francisco the Grillmaster

So good

The group at the Asado

Ciclovia, Sunday, August 7
After running eight miles, drinking lots of wine in the afternoon, eating lots of meat in the evening, and drinking lots of wine in the evening, what does the body want? To pedal a bicycle!  On Sundays in Santiago, the city closes down some main streets from 9:00-2:00 for bicyclists, roller bladers, joggers, and walkers.  We woke up at about 11:30 and hit the streets at noon.  The ride was pretty nice for the most part except for when Garv and Lindsay chose to ride a couple miles up a mountain instead of taking the flat roads.  I had flashbacks of an infamous Grand Canyon trip five or six years ago though the ride up this mountain was no where near as bad. But I still didn't enjoy it that much and made some very descriptive and exclamatory declarations to Lindsay and Garv about the stupid shit they think is fun.  Fortunately, the rest of the day was low key.  I think we relaxed and went out to eat that night.

Almost done

CHPE Libre, Monday, August 8
After relaxing most of Sunday, I wanted to have another relaxing day on Monday since I was still a little worn out.   Garv had to work but Lindsay and I slept in, did some grocery shopping, and did a late lunch.  We went to a place called CHPE Libre which was a place we'd had a drink at last year.  We figured that we'd have lunch and a pisco sour because that's what CHPE Libre.  But our lunches at CHPE Libre came with both pisco sour and wine.  So I had my pisco sour, my wine, and Lindsay's wine.  So my relaxing day included a "three martini lunch" and an awesome dessert.

Three martini lunch...

Tropical Meringue

TRX, Monday, August 8
After a three martini lunch, what does the body want?  An intense workout.  Lindsay and Garv have been taking TRX workouts for the last two years.  So we went to a local park to do some workouts.  It was pretty good and I didn't feel too bad.

Survived my first TRX workout

Vina Cousino-Macul, Tuesday, August 9
Tuesday was my last day in Santiago so we decided to visit a winery in the city of Santiago.  This vineyard is an example of how Chileans could market their wine better.  Originally, the winery was in the country but the city has swallowed it up so it could market itself as an urban winery experience.  And just look at the potential view at the entrance! That's very marketable.  But as Garv has told me many times when I ask him about why don't Chileans do this or that, he tells me "financial transactions are the furthest thing from their mind." Which is very strange for a business, but in my few experiences, it's true.  We did do a tour and it was pretty standard: look at the vines, discuss the harvest, look at the manufacturing process, look at the barrels and storage, taste the wine.  The wine was pretty good and great value so I bought five bottles to bring home!

Move the powerlines and remove the graffiti!

What would a wine tour be without a cellar with hundreds of barrels?

More wine to bring home!

Lunch at Plaza Nunoa, Tuesday, August 9
After the winery, we went to an area of town that I really liked for lunch.  We had the lunch of the day and it was about half a roast and some rice and it was really good.  In past posts, I'd been dismissive of Chilean food culture, but this trip has impressed me more, especially when it comes to beef!

I'm becoming more and more impressed with Chilean's ability to cook beef

Taqueria El Ranchero, Tuesday, August 9
For our final evening in Santiago, we visited El Ranchero, a Mexican Restaurant, with Garv and Lindsay's friends, Norm and Suzanne.  Last year I wanted to eat ten tacos, but Lindsay wouldn't let me for some dumb reason (see conflation #5).  So when planning this trip, I wanted to eat ten tacos and we had scheduled to do so on Monday night.  Unfortunately, my travel difficulties caused us to rearrange my schedule and we ate Mexican on Tuesday night.  So I only ate seven because I didn't want to feel sick before traveling to Brazil the next day.  Though I easily could have eaten ten...

Devouring some authentic Mexican tacos in Chile!

Devouring some more tacos!

This trip to Chile was much different than my two previous trips--it was shorter, more relaxing and not very touristy which made it a very enjoyable and satisfying trip.  And I'm glad it was like this because Rio was intense amazingness!

Everyday Life in Santiago and the Most Touristy Thing to Do in Santiago

This is my third time visiting Garv and Lindsay in Santiago.  I distinctly remember the day they announced they were moving to Santiago because my parents’ reaction was drastically different than mine.  When Garv and Lindsay announced they were moving in December of 2013, my parents were devastated and horrified that they would be moving 5000 miles away to some God-forsaken country in South America.  While my parents were in their initial stages of shock and horror,  I was on Orbitz seconds after the announcement (not an exaggeration) looking at the price of flights and itineraries because I recognized an opportunity to travel. My excitement has manifested itself in me being their first visitor (I even beat their furniture there (the adventure of their furniture surpasses that of my luggage by far)) of many to more to come (see my sister’s blog) and being the first to visit them three times.

One of the reasons I was so excited that they were moving to Santiago is that I immediately realized that it would be an opportunity for me to visit an international city several times, become familiar with it, and come to a deeper understanding of its culture and rhythms of life.  Just four months before their announcement, I had spent two weeks sprinting through Europe and though the quick pace of that tour had allowed me to see many different cities and countries, it was so quick that I could barely get a feel for a city or country.  For example, I had a day and half in Paris and I had to manage my time well.  I spent three hours at the Louvre and I think that it would take me three days to get through it.  So now that they were moving, I would be able to spend quite a bit of time in one city and country since I would have "free" lodging.

For my first trip to Chile in 2014, I spent twelve days in Chile and last year I spent fourteen days in the country.  During the last two trips, Lindsay and I did a lot of site-seeing. In fact, yesterday morning we were trying to figure out things to do (at one time we had a plan, but the travel adventures changed those) and we went through TripAdvisor's Top Things to do in Santiago and we'd done them all except one...the #1 thing to do in Santiago: The Sky Costanera Center!

The Costanera Center is the tallest building in Latin America.  It was opened in 2015 and includes lots of office space (mostly still empty) and a huge mall (decidedly not empty--We went on a Saturday late afternoon to pick up some things quick at the grocery store and it was like a weekend at the mall in December).  On the 61st and 62nd floor of the Costanera Center there are 360 degree observation decks from which I was supposed to be able to see all of Santiago and the mountains.  On Monday afternoon, Lindsay and I visited it on our way from a lunch downtown.  From the top we did see most of the cities and mountains, but the smog in Santiago is famously horrible so the view is not as great as it potentially could be. It was still a pretty cool view though and on a clear day it would be worthy of a really high ranking.

Check out the haze of smog...

We need to work on our photography skills...

While we were at the top, Lindsay made two astute observations.  First she noticed that everyone was on their phone.  Second, she said this was the most touristy thing ever because every city has a tall building with an observation deck like the Empire State Building in New York, Sears Tower (or whatever it's called now) in Chicago, the Space Needle in Seattle, the Arch in St. Louis, etc.  

So though the Sky Costanera was the most touristy thing we could possibly do, most of my time in Santiago consisted of everyday activities.  We went to the mall and grocery store three times in five days, took a lot of naps (you'll learn why in my next post), watched the Olympics on Chilean TV because the NBC Sports app didn't work too well, borrowed clothes from Garv and Lindsay's friends, and had coffee and dinners (more on those, too) with friends.  

So though, my time in Santiago was a day short, I didn't have luggage, and only did one truly touristy thing (besides the vineyards--also more coming on those!), it was a very satisfying time because I had the time to enjoy the everyday things in life which is why I was so excited that Garv and Lindsay were moving to Santiago.  

Look at that view...

And of all my favorite everyday things in Santiago...it's the view from Garv and Lindsay's deck, as the sun sets over the mountains, reflects off the buildings, and the lights of the skyscrapers pop on at dusk.

Adventures in Travel

Good morning from Santiago!  It's Monday morning.  I made it here on Friday (I was supposed to arrive on Thursday) after some travel adventures and as of the writing of this blog, I still had not received my luggage.  Though it should hopefully get here today. Anyone who travels has frustrations but for the most part, but I've been pretty lucky and not had any major issues for ten years.  Unfortunately, on this trip I've had a lot of mishaps.

Here was my original itinerary which was scheduled for Wednesday, August 3rd.

Sioux City (SUX)-Chicago O'Hare (ORD)

ORD-Miami (MIA)

MIA-Santiago (SCL) (arrive on Thursday, August 4)

There were two things about this itinerary that made me very nervous. First, I was flying through ORD and I had consciously avoided ORD as a connecting airport since 2006 when I spent twelve hours there and lost out on one day of a trip to Philadelphia.  When booking this itinerary, I figured that maybe my 2006 episode was just bad luck.  Second, I only had a forty minute layover at ORD.  In retrospect, I shouldn't have been nervous about that layover.  I should have been nervous about the ORD-MIA flight being ninety minutes late.  My flight from ORD-MIA landed at 8:45 PM when it was supposed to have landed at 7:30 PM.  And my MIA-SCL flight left at 8:50.  No problem I thought, there were still two more flights to SCL that night.  Of course when I call the reservation center the first time, the lady told me both flights were sold out and that I would be stuck in Miami until Friday...two days!!!!  Then I went to talk to some agents at the check in counter and they also told me the flights were full.  So I got back on the phone with the reservation center and the guy was trying lots of different combinations and it wasn't looking good.  However,  he finally found me something that would work!  On Thursday, I could fly from MIA-New York (JFK) at 1:00 PM and arrive at 3:30 PM. Then I would leave JFK at 8:00 PM and arrive in SCL at 6:30 AM Friday morning.  And both flights would be in first/business class!  So even though I would be a day late, this would be a new experience and one that I had always wanted to do, but would otherwise not been able to afford.

After I arranged my flights, I got a room Wednesday night near the Miami airport.  I thought about going down to South Beach to look around, but I was very tired, frustrated, and didn't have the appropriate attire.  I woke up Thursday morning refreshed and looking forward to my travel experience.  I headed to the Miami airport early because one of the perks of first/business class is complimentary lounge access and I wanted to make sure I ate and drank "my money's worth."  I had some snacks for breakfast and then some snacks for lunch and a few drinks.  Then I headed to the gate early because I wanted to board early so I could watch the proletariat be herded to the back of the plane.  My immediate surprise about the front of the plane is how much room I had--even more than I had imagined! 

I can't even reach the front!

I also had a full meal on the plane!

I don't remember exactly what this was but it was good!

I landed at JFK on time and proceeded to the lounge.  Even though I had just had a full meal and drinks on the plane, I had a small meal and drinks at the lounge.  As I said, I was getting "my money's worth." 

I boarded the flight to Chile on time and the plane from JFK to Chile had even more room. 

What am I going to do with all this room?

And it had season 5 of Game of Thrones as an entertainment option!

Of course I'll watch Season 5 for the third time.

I didn't take any other pictures from this flight because my phone fell under the seat while I was eating and it would have been too much hassle to try to get it until after I was done eating.  But I think I used more silverware for my three course meal than I have in my entire house.  After the meal, I finished an episode of Game of Thrones I enjoyed the lay-flat seats.  I didn't sleep very well or very much, but I was comfortable and uncramped and the nine hour flight went very quickly. 

From my journey in first/business class, I experienced many benefits: lay-flat seats, more room, complimentary drinks, better food, better service, better looking flight attendants.  I was aware of these perks before but experiencing them first hand certainly made getting stranded in Miami much more tolerable.

Now as for my bags...It's Monday and I haven't seen them since Wednesday.  Hopefully, they'll be here today!