Since Friday, I have officially been in South America for 2 months and Santiago is finally starting to feel like my home. This past week I finally finalized my schedule of classes (I decided to take the poetry class about Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, and the History of Latin American Theater class) which has been a big sigh of relief because I can finally settle into a routine. I really love my schedule because I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving Monday, Wedesday, and Friday free to do my internship, homework, and traveling!
Last week, with the start of school came start-of-school activities such as a big trip to the beach, Cartagua, with almos the entire Universidad de Chile. It was crazy! At about ten in the morning, my friends and I met at the main campus to catch a bus to take us to the beach. By the time we got there, it was so crowded that it was hard to find a good place to sit and enjoy the beautiful day.
Last weekend (the 21-22nd), I went on a trekking trip with about 20 other students with our EAP program. We left early Saturday morning to get to our campsite in the foothills of the Andes and after lunch we set off on a hard, 3 hour hike up hill to a glacier! The struggle to make it up to the top where the glacier was was totally worth it because when we got up there, we were able to see big chunks of the glacier break off into the surrounding lagoon! It was so awesome! The sound was so loud, and we could here it starting to crack before pieces of it actually broke off.
The hike back seemed just as hard going down hill as the hike up to the glacier because it started to get dark, making the uneven trail really hard to see. There were a few small rivers we had to cross on the way, and I definitly misstepped a couple of times, soaking my feet in freezing water! Only having my regular tennis shoes was also not the best on this hike. The big, loose rocks and uneven path along the way killed my ankles and feet making it really hard to continue walking to camp. It was really dark by the time we got to camp, and getting really cold! We ate a dinner of raviolis and went to bed almost immediately after that, being so exhausted after a 6 hour hike. I had bought a really cheap sleeping bag (about $10 at the local grocery store) before I went to Brazil, and I learned why it was so cheap! I was so cold that night in the tent, even though I had put on extra layers, that I could barely sleep! Next time I go camping I am definitley going to borrow a better sleeping bag to fight off the cold of the mountains.
The next morning, we got up and ate a very chilean breakfast of yogurt and cookies, and set off again on a down-hill hike to a small town where we stopped for lunch. The down hill hike on the similar uneven, rocky path, did not do anything to help my ankles, and they were hurting so bad by the time we got to the bottom that I opted to stay behind on the last hike to a different lagoon with my friend, Sonya, who had hurt her knee. The afternoon was spent very lazily while we waited for the rest of the group to come back, which was nice after such a hard day! When the group retuned around 5, they recovered a little bit and we bussed back to Santiago by 7:30pm.
Over all, I'm really glad I went on the trip. The sights were so beautiful and I feel so lucky to have witnessed such a cool phenomenon as the glacier breaking! I'm a little bummed that I had to sit the last hike out, but now I know that I need to be a little bit more equipped in the foot wear department for my next hike.
In other news, last Wednesday one more girl moved into our apartment! Her name is Cyndi, and she is from Orange County, CA, but goes to Pace University in New York. Here in Santiago, she goes to the same Universidad del Pacifico as my 2 Spanish roommates, and she is really nice. I was a little worried that having another Californian in the house because I thought it would make me not speak as much Spanish, but becasue Cyndi is Mexican and Dominican, she is already used to speaking Spanish all the time at home, so Spanish is still the only language that is spoken in our place!
Things are continuing to settle in, and within the next few weeks, I have a couple of trips to look forward to: one with my roommates to the mountains agian, and then one for easter break!
Catch up with you all later!
Amara
Very cool photos of the Andes and the glacier. It looks cold. Glad you had a good time.
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