Tercer Tiempo: A new business league

Paola Passalacqua grew up in an environment where soccer was “everything” as she says. Her family enjoyed every single weekend at least one soccer match, she mentions that probably her family would have grown apart if it wasn’t for soccer “it brought aus together” she says nostalgic.

This 30 year old entrepreneur decided to organize a soccer league called “Tercer Tiempo”, which is related also to the instance in rugby where players get to share a moment together and socialize with the opponents. Her idea was that “a friendly environment with many things to learn”.

Each side has 11 male players who come from a certain area of the company against another area. Paola comments that the biggest rivals in every company are finances and marketing.

The business in mainly focused towards large companies with a lot of areas and employees, “the main idea is that employees can get to know each other eventually, because sometimes in big companies that never happens” notes Passalacqua.

Catalina Grez, CEO of Ripley commented “in a company as big as Ripley it is difficult to establish a sort of relation between the employees, Tercer Tiempo managed to do this for us and actually establish a sense of teamwork and friendship between all areas”.

Tercer Tiempo has around 10 clients now and it is looking to double it by the end of next year. The soccer matches are every Sunday simultaneously, each company plays in a different location and teams from Tercer Tiempo (composed by 6 members) go to each location and organize, evaluate and regulate each simultaneous event.

Paola Passalacqua ads “this project gives people from a certain area an identity inside the company they are working for, they get to pick a uniform, a name and to organize their own structure of game with their partners”.

Tercer Tiempo has had many issues with motivating the employees from certain companies Passalacqua commented that “it is very hard to make everybody show up every single Sunday”, she also mentioned that the commitment rate is low. Still the results that the program has brought to the client companies have been amazing especially when it comes to teamwork and in the interpersonal relationships, especially between different areas.

This company is looking forward to grow and gather the biggest companies in our country in order to develop this program, in a future they are also expecting to expand it and make a global tournament with the best teams from each company, in order to get “a big money prize and also recognition” as Paola says.

Easter Island: A Destiny For Everyone

This island is the most isolated place in the world and it officially belongs to Chile, but it is located 2000 miles offshore into the Pacific Ocean. Their culture is Polynesian and the landscapes include gigantic statues called Moais, volcanoes and white sand beaches.

This is a destination that tourists and specially adventurers cannot miss. Its authenticity and culture have brought the world’s attention for decades. The landscapes, including the statues, volcanoes and beaches attract thousands of visitors from all over the world and all ages on a yearly basis. Lan Airlines offers flights to the island that cost approximately 700 dollars and take 5 hours to get to the Mataveri Airport.

Travelling to this wonderful place is a great instance to witness the history of the island and the remainings of its rise and fall which can still be seen all over the island. The most important left over from this culture are the Moai statues which can be visited in different locations on the island, mainly in the coastland. There are also other touristic attractions such as the caves where tribes used to live and hide from their enemies which are not only available to see, you can also camp in them.

There are two main volcano craters the Rano Kau and Rano Raraku. You can hike and look into the bowl of the volcanoes which show an impressing sight for curious and adventurer tourists. These volcanoes provided the habitants with rocks that later they used to carve the Moais.

The accommodation varies from the luxurious Anakena Hotel, the famous Ana Rapu’s Hostel to camping in the caves which belonged to the natives. The white sand beaches (Anakena is the main one) offer the perfect scenery to relax and enjoy the tropical weather of the island. On the evenings guided trekking and horse tours are offered and tourists can visit the main sights.

A must see for people who visit Easter Island are the native dance shows at the Anakena Hotel where you can have dinner and also participate in the show; also islanders teach you traditional dance moves and give you flower necklaces as souvenirs.

Easter Island is a place where the entire family, couples or lonely adventurers can have fun, witness amazing historic sights and enjoy one of the most impressing places in the world with the many activities that it has to offer. It is definitely one of the places you must visit before you hit the bucket!

It's not just WASTE

Our world is living a new crisis, an environmental one. Plastic bags have contributed to contaminate our natural resources carrying with them consequences that affect out biodiversity, human health and our natural resources, along also with gas emissions that contribute to the Greenhouse effect.

Politicians have tried to give this problem a solution, but in order for that to happen we will have to wait until January 2012. In our country we see two major issues: people are still not conscious enough to care about the environment, and secondly there are still no laws that ban the unlimited use of non degradable plastic bags. So the problem basically relies in our country’s government and people.

Ana Lia Uriarte, our Minister of Environment, commented “in Chile there is no recycling culture, and the trash collector companies are not funded by the government, therefore they don’t have an obligation to demand to the people to divide their wastes. Besides we do not have specialized dumpsters”. The tendencies today show that companies (Jumbo, Líder, Falabella, among other) sand some people (designers and people who recycle materials) care about the environment, but they represent a small percentage of our population.

This small group of people is being supported by larger companies, and the trend today is that people start not only recycling, but more importantly giving a different use to plastic bags or, even better, using an alternative product environment friendly. The Minister of Environment also mentioned that “our ecosystem is being affected by residuals and mainly by plastic bags”.

On the other hand, powerful companies are looking the situation through a different perspective, Josefina Correa, Chief Executive of Líder stated that “people still prefer plastic bags because they are comfortable, and also they believe they are easy to get rid of, neglecting the effects they cause on the environment”. She also mentioned that even after the supermarket chain tried to impose a new trend of reusable bags, people didn’t seem to be friendly with the idea.

The use of bio friendly bags is a main concern today for the Ministry of Environment, still the options are not clear enough and there are way too many, from substitute materials to different packaging alternatives such as boxes, containers, among others. Some people have given a creative solution to the “waste” that comes from plastic bags, creating products that start from designer decoration objects to high fashion boots and handbags.

Clearly the ban of plastic bags is not necessary, what we need is to use them and get rid of them consciously. Supermarkets and shops in Chile have to limit their use of plastic bags, people -consumers- on the other hand have to look forward to a responsible and eco friendly use of them among with imposing a recycle friendly culture in Chile in which materials such as plastic do not become a source of waste.