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| Torres del Paine |
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Trekking with our homestay family. I am in the middle
with the brown jacket.
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These past couple of weeks, we went hiking, trekking, and snowboarding in Patagonia Chile!
Last Saturday we went to Torres del Paine, one of the largest and most visited parks in Chile that contains mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers. This was an all day trip that involved a little hiking, but mostly site seeing in a tour bus with about 7 other Chileans.
Two Saturdays ago we went trekking with our host family. By the end of it, our host parents were worn down and tired from the walk, but this walk was NOTHING compared to the hike I did with Tessa and her friend at La Campana (one of the top 5 national parks in Chile).
“Esto es nada en comparación a La Campana,” (This is nothing compared to La Campana), I told them as we were walking to the parking lot. “Todo el camino es subir!” (The entire walk is uphill!) I said, making an upward movement with my hand.
My host mom gasps, “Qué terrrible!” and my host dad goes, “Whoaa!”
Last Saturday we went to Torres del Paine, one of the largest and most visited parks in Chile that contains mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers. This was an all day trip that involved a little hiking, but mostly site seeing in a tour bus with about 7 other Chileans.
Two Saturdays ago we went trekking with our host family. By the end of it, our host parents were worn down and tired from the walk, but this walk was NOTHING compared to the hike I did with Tessa and her friend at La Campana (one of the top 5 national parks in Chile).
“Esto es nada en comparación a La Campana,” (This is nothing compared to La Campana), I told them as we were walking to the parking lot. “Todo el camino es subir!” (The entire walk is uphill!) I said, making an upward movement with my hand.
My host mom gasps, “Qué terrrible!” and my host dad goes, “Whoaa!”
~*~
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Snowboarding at a resort with Tessa in
Punta Arenas
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The biggest challenge for me was snowboarding. The thought of going snowboarding in Patagonia Chile sounded awesome, but I had absolutely no idea that it would be so difficult. I must’ve fallen a million times. I’d never gone snowboarding before in my life, so it was a little foolish to rent out all of the necessary material (snowboard & shoes) without knowing how to do it. Again, no idea it would be that hard, and I thought that with Tessa (who is a snowboarding instructor back in Seattle) and our host sister’s boyfriend who’s pretty much a pro, that everything would be alright. Well, it was, but I didn’t want them to spend all their time with me and rob them of the chance to go out on their own and have fun. I tried to learn for a little bit on my own but eventually gave up. I knew that if I kept going I would seriously hurt myself, so I just collapsed in the snow with the chilling wind whipping past me.
My North Face was struggling to fight the cold, but it was still doing a pretty good job of keeping my torso relatively warm. My extremities went completely numb. I was afraid I’d get frostbite, but I still lay on the ground, unsure of what my next move should be. I had no idea which way to go to get back to the cabins at the resort down below, and Tessa and Rodrigo left me a long time ago. I heard a distant voice calling out, “Disculpa, estás bien?!” [Excuse me, are you alright?] I lifted up my head, turned, and saw in the distance two women and several kids staring at me. This looked like a snowboarding class. I was too cold to be embarrassed. They must’ve been calling me for the longest time, but I couldn’t hear anything because of the wind. “Estás bien?” One of the women yells at me again. “Sí, estoy bien, gracias!” [Yeah, I’m good, thanks!] I shout, and fall back to the ground again, laughing to myself. They probably thought I was dead.
I eventually get up, take my shoes out of the snowboard, and walk any which way down the mountain to try and find the cabins. Success in 10 minutes. On the way down I struggled internally with whether or not I should’ve continued with learning on my own. I decided against it.
My North Face was struggling to fight the cold, but it was still doing a pretty good job of keeping my torso relatively warm. My extremities went completely numb. I was afraid I’d get frostbite, but I still lay on the ground, unsure of what my next move should be. I had no idea which way to go to get back to the cabins at the resort down below, and Tessa and Rodrigo left me a long time ago. I heard a distant voice calling out, “Disculpa, estás bien?!” [Excuse me, are you alright?] I lifted up my head, turned, and saw in the distance two women and several kids staring at me. This looked like a snowboarding class. I was too cold to be embarrassed. They must’ve been calling me for the longest time, but I couldn’t hear anything because of the wind. “Estás bien?” One of the women yells at me again. “Sí, estoy bien, gracias!” [Yeah, I’m good, thanks!] I shout, and fall back to the ground again, laughing to myself. They probably thought I was dead.
I eventually get up, take my shoes out of the snowboard, and walk any which way down the mountain to try and find the cabins. Success in 10 minutes. On the way down I struggled internally with whether or not I should’ve continued with learning on my own. I decided against it.
~*~
I also spent some time rock climbing at a gym where my host sister works. This activity is much more fun and challenging than I'd anticipated
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Rock climbing at Imago Mundí in Punta Arenas.
This requires a ton of upper body strength.
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I'm glad I was able to engage in activities that I don’t usually do or get the chance to do back home. School always takes over during the academic terms. What a fun summer!
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