San Pedro was certainly a less expansive, less bad weathered, and less crazy trip, but good just this the same. While the theme of Patagonia may have been hauling a large backpack up a rainy mountain, this one would be, relaxing in the quaint desert town of San Pedro de Atacama.
We spent our time here enjoying the sights on foot, bikes(which was definitely my favorite part), and bus tours.
First, the bikes. I enjoyed biking back in my high school and younger days, and man, these bikes were perfect. They were mountain bikes, of decent quality with shocks and disc brakes, with semi flat tires. For some reason, it was extremely easy to skid with these bikes, something I was really good at by the end of our trip. So fun! We went to some ruins, had to bike through some streams to get there, and such like that.
Got to go to all sorts of places you saw in the pictures. Quite neat. Met some two Isreali fellahs that me and a friends talked to for hours around a campfire, learning about their lives(they were 22, and were both captains in the army for four years). They appeared much older than I would have guessed, but I guess maturity is something that comes pretty quickly over there. People of the same age in the US, are on a whole, a lot different, and probably a lot less mature. I couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing for awhile, and I'm still not sure. The more people I talk to, the more places I visit, the more I realize how little I(and other people) actually know. (Not to pull a Socrates or anything)
In other stuff, my spanish is coming along decently. I constantly feel I should be working harder on it, and studying more, but I have learned alot. This being said, it still feels like I know nothing, because there are still the moments of not being able to express what I want to say. Except now I can't fully express my opinions in arguments instead of being unable to express how I would like more food. So coming along, coming along.
Giving presentations in another language is difficult!
Gotta run to a little shindig for a friend who is headed back to the states tomorrow, chao!
-Brian
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Yo
Heya,
So never did actually talk about my teaching experiances here, which have been as follows:
First, let me say that I do enjoy it. Its fun, its something I am decently enough good enough(as in I speak English and enjoy talking to groups of people?) Is that whats involved? Well, not shy to get up in front of class of chileans. Anywho...
I teach all sorts of grades, but I try to go with the 8th graders as much as possible. The younger grades are kinda babies, literally, and while adorable and all that jazz, not really that interesting. So yeah, there are 36 8th graders in one room. Its nuts! I have never understood until then why there are carpets in all schools I have ever been in. It is SO much louder with tiles! On top of that, there is a central courtyard, in which all seven floors of the school face into, which is always noisy. (there are kindergarteners on the bottom floor in a sort of playground area) The windows to our classroom as for some reason generally open. Its a noisy place.
What I usually do: Not as much as the title "teacher" implies. The profesora that is there does the leading of the class, and me and my fellow gringo Catherine, help with pronunciation, spelling and such like that. For example today, the students had to write down what liberty meant to them(why is it that all basic language classes ask extremely vast questions?) and Catherine and I went around helping them generally translate what they wrote(in spanish to english, obviously). It was pretty cool, got to do a lot of hands on translatin! Which was actually pretty tough, but cool in the end. So yeah, I am more like a teacher's assitant, or a student teacher, which is probably expected since I have no previous teaching experience. So yup, pretty sweet. Also, about half of the girls in the class have a crush of sorts on me, and half of the boys have a crush on Catherine. Kinda amusing.
The weather of here is kinda crazy in that its not crazy. Its supposed to be winter in here, and while it feels cold, its really only 55ish. Its actually a pretty good temperature, as its generally "sweatshirt weather" for most of the days. And there hasn't been any real rain yet. People keep talking about it, saying its coming. I'm waiting.
A conclusion to Patagonia! At long last, finally coming up with the end of the trip. The second to last day, we decided to take an 8 hour hike from our campsite to Glacier grey. The weather was terrible, pouring the entire day. Pouring hard. If we stopped for water for more than two minutes, we would start to get chilled. As my dad would say, "You gotta keep movin!" (Not a direct quote, just a supposed quote) So we got to the halfway point, a rather large hosteleria, resturant, and campsite. It was getting late, and we all know how miserable setting up tents in the cold, rain, AND the dark is, so we headed out pretty quickly. A little too quickly. You see, an hour an a half later, I studied the map a little more intensely than I did two hours back, and realized we were going in the wrong direction. Like, completely opposite. I won't go into defending the mistake we made, we were rushed and tired, and got an unintentional view of the torres. Now, after walking for a half hour back to the hosteleria in silent anger, we managed to put a good spin on the event, and by the time we got back to the hosteleria in a net gain of spirits. Our groups was a bastion of making the best of the situations.
A side note: I've come to find the saying "Every moment is what you make of it" to be entirely true. Some of the places I've been have been really interesting, some have been not so much- but all of them have been fun. Its just a matter of shaping your world! Its fantastic.
Anywho, so we get back, soaked, a little bummed about not seeing the glacier and such, and find this kitchen typea shack in the middle of the campground that was semi warm(hella lot warmer than the rainy outside). Over the course of the night, we cooked and ate there, made a bunch of friends from all over the world. Everyone was soaked, and everyone found the floor of the shack lookin pretty darn exciting. Long story short, there was like a two hour disagree/argument with the staff there ending with the following argeement: The women in the group were allowed to come into the hosteleria and spend the night for free(which costs about 45$, which is ridiculously expensive for chile. Or for college students.) and the guys had to camp outside in the rain. So, around 12 something, I set up my tent in the windy cold(the rain had luckily stopped) and slept outside. It wasn't so bad actually, I had the tent to myself since tim was staying in the hosteleria.
The next morning, we woke up early, and hiking to a mirador and saw the glacier, snapped some fotos you guys probably saw, and then headed back to the hosteleria, and to Puerta Natales.
Stayed in Hostel Nancy for the night in Puerto Natales, I had the most delicious beer I've ever tasted after finally taking a shower and relaxing. Twas great. For price comparison hostel nancy cost 5,000 chilean pesos, which is around 8 dollars.
The next day, spent some time in puerto natales, took the bus to puerto arenas, flight to santiago, bus to vina. Got in around 2-3 in the morning, exhausted! It was a great trip, fo sho.
-Brian
Spanish saying: "Me da rabia!"
So never did actually talk about my teaching experiances here, which have been as follows:
First, let me say that I do enjoy it. Its fun, its something I am decently enough good enough(as in I speak English and enjoy talking to groups of people?) Is that whats involved? Well, not shy to get up in front of class of chileans. Anywho...
I teach all sorts of grades, but I try to go with the 8th graders as much as possible. The younger grades are kinda babies, literally, and while adorable and all that jazz, not really that interesting. So yeah, there are 36 8th graders in one room. Its nuts! I have never understood until then why there are carpets in all schools I have ever been in. It is SO much louder with tiles! On top of that, there is a central courtyard, in which all seven floors of the school face into, which is always noisy. (there are kindergarteners on the bottom floor in a sort of playground area) The windows to our classroom as for some reason generally open. Its a noisy place.
What I usually do: Not as much as the title "teacher" implies. The profesora that is there does the leading of the class, and me and my fellow gringo Catherine, help with pronunciation, spelling and such like that. For example today, the students had to write down what liberty meant to them(why is it that all basic language classes ask extremely vast questions?) and Catherine and I went around helping them generally translate what they wrote(in spanish to english, obviously). It was pretty cool, got to do a lot of hands on translatin! Which was actually pretty tough, but cool in the end. So yeah, I am more like a teacher's assitant, or a student teacher, which is probably expected since I have no previous teaching experience. So yup, pretty sweet. Also, about half of the girls in the class have a crush of sorts on me, and half of the boys have a crush on Catherine. Kinda amusing.
The weather of here is kinda crazy in that its not crazy. Its supposed to be winter in here, and while it feels cold, its really only 55ish. Its actually a pretty good temperature, as its generally "sweatshirt weather" for most of the days. And there hasn't been any real rain yet. People keep talking about it, saying its coming. I'm waiting.
A conclusion to Patagonia! At long last, finally coming up with the end of the trip. The second to last day, we decided to take an 8 hour hike from our campsite to Glacier grey. The weather was terrible, pouring the entire day. Pouring hard. If we stopped for water for more than two minutes, we would start to get chilled. As my dad would say, "You gotta keep movin!" (Not a direct quote, just a supposed quote) So we got to the halfway point, a rather large hosteleria, resturant, and campsite. It was getting late, and we all know how miserable setting up tents in the cold, rain, AND the dark is, so we headed out pretty quickly. A little too quickly. You see, an hour an a half later, I studied the map a little more intensely than I did two hours back, and realized we were going in the wrong direction. Like, completely opposite. I won't go into defending the mistake we made, we were rushed and tired, and got an unintentional view of the torres. Now, after walking for a half hour back to the hosteleria in silent anger, we managed to put a good spin on the event, and by the time we got back to the hosteleria in a net gain of spirits. Our groups was a bastion of making the best of the situations.
A side note: I've come to find the saying "Every moment is what you make of it" to be entirely true. Some of the places I've been have been really interesting, some have been not so much- but all of them have been fun. Its just a matter of shaping your world! Its fantastic.
Anywho, so we get back, soaked, a little bummed about not seeing the glacier and such, and find this kitchen typea shack in the middle of the campground that was semi warm(hella lot warmer than the rainy outside). Over the course of the night, we cooked and ate there, made a bunch of friends from all over the world. Everyone was soaked, and everyone found the floor of the shack lookin pretty darn exciting. Long story short, there was like a two hour disagree/argument with the staff there ending with the following argeement: The women in the group were allowed to come into the hosteleria and spend the night for free(which costs about 45$, which is ridiculously expensive for chile. Or for college students.) and the guys had to camp outside in the rain. So, around 12 something, I set up my tent in the windy cold(the rain had luckily stopped) and slept outside. It wasn't so bad actually, I had the tent to myself since tim was staying in the hosteleria.
The next morning, we woke up early, and hiking to a mirador and saw the glacier, snapped some fotos you guys probably saw, and then headed back to the hosteleria, and to Puerta Natales.
Stayed in Hostel Nancy for the night in Puerto Natales, I had the most delicious beer I've ever tasted after finally taking a shower and relaxing. Twas great. For price comparison hostel nancy cost 5,000 chilean pesos, which is around 8 dollars.
The next day, spent some time in puerto natales, took the bus to puerto arenas, flight to santiago, bus to vina. Got in around 2-3 in the morning, exhausted! It was a great trip, fo sho.
-Brian
Spanish saying: "Me da rabia!"
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Atacama Fotos!
Yup, put up some pictures from my latest adventure, that being the Atacama desert as mentioned. Do enjoy the sights!
San Pedro de Atacama
That is all for now, I must go and shower. Gotta stay tidy n clean!
-Brian
Spanish saying I've been saying at the end of nearly every sentence, "...Si, sabes, cosas asi." (yeah, you know, things like that.)
San Pedro de Atacama
That is all for now, I must go and shower. Gotta stay tidy n clean!
-Brian
Spanish saying I've been saying at the end of nearly every sentence, "...Si, sabes, cosas asi." (yeah, you know, things like that.)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A comment on Chilean lifestyle
There are many similarities to life in Chile and the US, and some specific differences. Coming to Chile I was informed of the overall relaxed feel of the people here, and have come to find this relaxed feeling is pervasive in daily life. But its somewhat of a different type of relaxed feeling than what I am used to. For example: One of my classes here didn't start until a month into the semester, the intramural sports didn't start until two months into the semester, it took two in a half months to get student IDs, and so on. For things like that, I feel that is more inefficiency than relaxation, but thats probably just my "new england" "busy body" personality coming out.
And man, talking to my friends from all over the US, its a different world out there. To me, the space in between the coasts is a big mystery. Thats on my list to see, as it sounds a completely different world to what I'm used to.
If there is a problem in the US, even something minor, lets say like a bad smell on a random corner on the street, people complain, someone is brought in, and the problem is solved. Here, if there is a bad smell on the corner, people just deal with it and stop noticing(and don't mind it anymore either). It seems that in the US we have a very "fix the problem" attitude" but here they have a much stronger "deal with the problem" attitude. And interesting different that pervades much of society.
The city of Valparaiso is growing on me, each time I go there I get a better and better feeling of the city, seeing less of its dirt, and more of its culture. Getting a photo album up soon. The art in the city really is amazing, its tough to get a comprehensive collection of the city, as its kinda more of a style than a specific mural or two. Because there are thousands of murals it seems.
Also, I don't really notice the graffiti here anymore, almost ignoring it and seeing only the murals. Kinda cool. There isn't much that doesn't have graffiti. Buildings, walls, trash cans, rocks, trees, aloe vera plants, and so much more.
We had a chile versus extranjeros(internationals) soccer match the other night. You would assume it would be a blow out, right? wrong. We won the first game, 7-6, and then continued to plan a best-to-two-switch-out style game which was harder to keep track of winning. (there were three teams at the point, so whoever one the best to twos stayed on while the other switched) While I believe that we ended up winning more, our chilean friends have been talking trash that they won more. So its on again this coming week.
I, just as you, am surprised that we won. It was futbolito(meaning basketball sized field, five on five). We had two kids who played in high school on their teams, but the other three of us haven't played much at all. I guess what surprised me is their lack of "inherent" soccer skills as the stereotype declares. If chileans were to come to america, aside from the slaughter that would happen in baseball, I feel we could "naturally" hold a strong job with basketball across the board. As in, people who really don't play hoops, would be pretty good- or inherently better than those who are from Latin America. Perhaps I am just promoting stereotypes, but I'll do some more research and find out.
I went to a chilean soccer game today, Everton vs. hm.. a team from the south of chile. Everton is the team from Vina, a generally upper middle level team(as in quality and skill). They won three to two, it was a pretty fun experiance, and cost only five bucks or so. Similarities to american sports:
Dudes walking around selling stuff: while I didn't hear the typical "ice cold beer here!" yell, I did see the same type of vendors running around the stands. Also, there was no beer sold there. Also, not ridiculously overpriced, only a little bit overpriced.
Like in college football games, there were kids playing soccer(would be football in the us) in the space in between the field and the stands. An interesting symmetry.
Differences: There were a lot of cops there- and not just in uniform. They kinda of reminded me of Master chief from Halo- some(not all) wore full body armor, helmet and the works with a billy club that was attached to the wrist. Kinda intense, and pretty sweet looking. There were lots of cops there.
There were talls fences with barbed wire seperating the field from the stands. There were two sets of fences with barbed wire(and a row of cops) separating the away team fans from the home team. I saw a few people run over and yell something at the other team, but there were no real issues. And there were always a few master chiefs around anyway.
Soccer fans, at least here, were a bit crazier, but not ridiculously so as I had been lead on to believe. I'll definitely go to more games, its was a good time, and now Everton has qualified for the playoffs, so we'll see how far they go. Also, I think we're going to try to go to the Bolivia-Chile game in June in Santiago, so that should be a cool experience.
Plans for the future: Hmm... theres some sort of race in Vina this coming sunday I'm planning on running, not sure how long it is yet. Just be running for fun anywho. Que mas... nothing for now.
-Brian
And man, talking to my friends from all over the US, its a different world out there. To me, the space in between the coasts is a big mystery. Thats on my list to see, as it sounds a completely different world to what I'm used to.
If there is a problem in the US, even something minor, lets say like a bad smell on a random corner on the street, people complain, someone is brought in, and the problem is solved. Here, if there is a bad smell on the corner, people just deal with it and stop noticing(and don't mind it anymore either). It seems that in the US we have a very "fix the problem" attitude" but here they have a much stronger "deal with the problem" attitude. And interesting different that pervades much of society.
The city of Valparaiso is growing on me, each time I go there I get a better and better feeling of the city, seeing less of its dirt, and more of its culture. Getting a photo album up soon. The art in the city really is amazing, its tough to get a comprehensive collection of the city, as its kinda more of a style than a specific mural or two. Because there are thousands of murals it seems.
Also, I don't really notice the graffiti here anymore, almost ignoring it and seeing only the murals. Kinda cool. There isn't much that doesn't have graffiti. Buildings, walls, trash cans, rocks, trees, aloe vera plants, and so much more.
We had a chile versus extranjeros(internationals) soccer match the other night. You would assume it would be a blow out, right? wrong. We won the first game, 7-6, and then continued to plan a best-to-two-switch-out style game which was harder to keep track of winning. (there were three teams at the point, so whoever one the best to twos stayed on while the other switched) While I believe that we ended up winning more, our chilean friends have been talking trash that they won more. So its on again this coming week.
I, just as you, am surprised that we won. It was futbolito(meaning basketball sized field, five on five). We had two kids who played in high school on their teams, but the other three of us haven't played much at all. I guess what surprised me is their lack of "inherent" soccer skills as the stereotype declares. If chileans were to come to america, aside from the slaughter that would happen in baseball, I feel we could "naturally" hold a strong job with basketball across the board. As in, people who really don't play hoops, would be pretty good- or inherently better than those who are from Latin America. Perhaps I am just promoting stereotypes, but I'll do some more research and find out.
I went to a chilean soccer game today, Everton vs. hm.. a team from the south of chile. Everton is the team from Vina, a generally upper middle level team(as in quality and skill). They won three to two, it was a pretty fun experiance, and cost only five bucks or so. Similarities to american sports:
Dudes walking around selling stuff: while I didn't hear the typical "ice cold beer here!" yell, I did see the same type of vendors running around the stands. Also, there was no beer sold there. Also, not ridiculously overpriced, only a little bit overpriced.
Like in college football games, there were kids playing soccer(would be football in the us) in the space in between the field and the stands. An interesting symmetry.
Differences: There were a lot of cops there- and not just in uniform. They kinda of reminded me of Master chief from Halo- some(not all) wore full body armor, helmet and the works with a billy club that was attached to the wrist. Kinda intense, and pretty sweet looking. There were lots of cops there.
There were talls fences with barbed wire seperating the field from the stands. There were two sets of fences with barbed wire(and a row of cops) separating the away team fans from the home team. I saw a few people run over and yell something at the other team, but there were no real issues. And there were always a few master chiefs around anyway.
Soccer fans, at least here, were a bit crazier, but not ridiculously so as I had been lead on to believe. I'll definitely go to more games, its was a good time, and now Everton has qualified for the playoffs, so we'll see how far they go. Also, I think we're going to try to go to the Bolivia-Chile game in June in Santiago, so that should be a cool experience.
Plans for the future: Hmm... theres some sort of race in Vina this coming sunday I'm planning on running, not sure how long it is yet. Just be running for fun anywho. Que mas... nothing for now.
-Brian
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Futbol en Chile
I forgot to add this:
I semiaccidentally tried out for the University of Vina Del Mar futbol team. So, things that I have learned from this experience. I am in good enough shape to play with them, they weren't really faster, actually weren't at all. But, I didn't have cleats, so I was sliding all around the field, and couldn't turn. Nor could I kick the ball very well. But hey, it was a good time, playing soccer with chileans! So I'm not planning on playing on the team(I technically can't be cut because I'm an international student) but I'm not gonna plague them with my horrible footin' skills. There are less competitive soccer games twice a week that I'll be going to instead.
Also, nicknames I earned whilst playing soccer:
Gringo: This was a given, though I didn't get called this a lot thanks to my slightly taller chilean appearence. My friend Orion was exclusively called this.
Flacco: Translated to "skinny" or "slim" this was my primary nickname, which I will be takin as a compliment.
Succio: Translated to "Dirty" this does not have the same positive connotation as it does in english(as in, That dude is dirty at hoops!) but is more like "plays dirty." This is crap, because A: I was called this before I actually "played dirty" and when i did "play dirty" I only threw elbows where elbows had already been thrown. So I refute the legitimacy of this nickname.
Ok, I have to go back for the desert, pictures and more stories on wednesday!
-Brian
I semiaccidentally tried out for the University of Vina Del Mar futbol team. So, things that I have learned from this experience. I am in good enough shape to play with them, they weren't really faster, actually weren't at all. But, I didn't have cleats, so I was sliding all around the field, and couldn't turn. Nor could I kick the ball very well. But hey, it was a good time, playing soccer with chileans! So I'm not planning on playing on the team(I technically can't be cut because I'm an international student) but I'm not gonna plague them with my horrible footin' skills. There are less competitive soccer games twice a week that I'll be going to instead.
Also, nicknames I earned whilst playing soccer:
Gringo: This was a given, though I didn't get called this a lot thanks to my slightly taller chilean appearence. My friend Orion was exclusively called this.
Flacco: Translated to "skinny" or "slim" this was my primary nickname, which I will be takin as a compliment.
Succio: Translated to "Dirty" this does not have the same positive connotation as it does in english(as in, That dude is dirty at hoops!) but is more like "plays dirty." This is crap, because A: I was called this before I actually "played dirty" and when i did "play dirty" I only threw elbows where elbows had already been thrown. So I refute the legitimacy of this nickname.
Ok, I have to go back for the desert, pictures and more stories on wednesday!
-Brian
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Quick news!
Ok, its late, but here's whats been going down lately:
Taught english at Colegio Numancia, a school in Valparaiso to 4th 6th and 8th graders.
Bought a sweet hiking backpack!
And right now, well tomorrow, I am going to the desert north, a town called San Pedro de Atacama. Sites to be visited: Valley of the Moon, Death Valley, largest copper mine in the world, highest geysers in the world, Incan fortress and more!
More news and expansions on said topics(especially teaching) when I return!
Have a good one.
-Brian
Taught english at Colegio Numancia, a school in Valparaiso to 4th 6th and 8th graders.
Bought a sweet hiking backpack!
And right now, well tomorrow, I am going to the desert north, a town called San Pedro de Atacama. Sites to be visited: Valley of the Moon, Death Valley, largest copper mine in the world, highest geysers in the world, Incan fortress and more!
More news and expansions on said topics(especially teaching) when I return!
Have a good one.
-Brian
Friday, May 1, 2009
Patagonia! Continued...
Lets see...
So we're still on day two. We got to our camp at arounf three o'clock, set up the tents in a light rain and headed to this like shack/shed type thing for cooking. This little place was a life saver. It provided the necessary shelter to cook food(we made gnocchis with gravy, rico) We would've been in quite some trouble without it, eating more tortillas and peanut butter, our staple at the time. Met some cool people at this place, Jeff and Kim from vancouver, and Alex from Sydney. We actually saw them for the next three nights, so they'll be recurring characters. So we ate deliciously warm meals, and headed to bed around five pm. Ridiculous, I know. But we were tired, and it was gettin dark, and it was semi warm in the tent. Actually we played cards in one of the tents for a bit, and then headed to bed. I had to dig a little trench around the tent to prevent the flow of water from running into the tent.
Oh how the night was cold! It rained for most of the night, and then... it snowed!
Day Three: We all woke up quite cold, threw together an impromptu breakfast, packed up as fast as possible, and got out of that freezing valley! (side note, I started taking pictures this day) This day of hiking was the best, it had the best weather, and some of the coolest views of the entire trip. I was actually hiking in a t shirt(after a night with snow) because it was hot. We dried out out tents and stuff whislt eating lunch, once again amoungst cows, condors, and nature! The Mountains there have a stange hum about them, due to the intense wind in the peaks. Its quite impressive, and a little foreboding. This hike was one of the longer hikes, somewhere around eight hours, and we were a little worried we wouldn't get to our destination until after dark. We split up into two groups(fast and slow) and got to the campsite with an hour of sunlight to spare.
The place we stayed, Los Cuernos, was by far my favorite. We set our tents up underneath this large tree, in the shadow of gigantic mountains and a glacier. There was a "hut" typea building that we ate our food in(though we had to cook outside) The people running the hut were really kind, we bought some wine and ate our rice and soup. We also found a guitar, I broke out the harmonica, played some cards, and sang a bunch of songs. And man was it warm inside that building. It was an all around good time. And at night, it was warm! somewhere in the 60s inside of the tent. We all slept like non colicky babies.
Day 4: Woke up in high spirits, with a long day ahead of us(eight hours of hikin!) About a half an hour into the hike it started raining and did not stop all day. The trails sometimes follow streams, where you walk either through the stream, or along the side. This particular leg of the journey was up and down hills in streams. Through the pouring rain! We were all thoroughly soaked. After four hours of wet hiking, we got to Lake Pehoe hostelria, where we had four more hours to get to glacier grey refugio. Since it was getting late, we booked it through the hostelria and headed out. There was some confusion on which was to go, but we picked a direction and went. Unfortunately for us, an hour and a half later, we realized we were going the wrong direction. The opposite direction in fact. Soaked, and now demoralized, we headed back to the Lake Pehoe hostelria.
My defense for going the wrong direction! Yes, we rushed. Understood. But! On the map, there are two spots, the hostelria and the park ranger station which in real life are about two hundred meters away from each other. But! on the map, they are something like a kilometer or two away from each, which lead to confusion with the direction. But still, we rushed, a mistake. Live and learn? Yes.
And.... I must go eat lunch! The exciting conclusion later!
-Brian
So we're still on day two. We got to our camp at arounf three o'clock, set up the tents in a light rain and headed to this like shack/shed type thing for cooking. This little place was a life saver. It provided the necessary shelter to cook food(we made gnocchis with gravy, rico) We would've been in quite some trouble without it, eating more tortillas and peanut butter, our staple at the time. Met some cool people at this place, Jeff and Kim from vancouver, and Alex from Sydney. We actually saw them for the next three nights, so they'll be recurring characters. So we ate deliciously warm meals, and headed to bed around five pm. Ridiculous, I know. But we were tired, and it was gettin dark, and it was semi warm in the tent. Actually we played cards in one of the tents for a bit, and then headed to bed. I had to dig a little trench around the tent to prevent the flow of water from running into the tent.
Oh how the night was cold! It rained for most of the night, and then... it snowed!
Day Three: We all woke up quite cold, threw together an impromptu breakfast, packed up as fast as possible, and got out of that freezing valley! (side note, I started taking pictures this day) This day of hiking was the best, it had the best weather, and some of the coolest views of the entire trip. I was actually hiking in a t shirt(after a night with snow) because it was hot. We dried out out tents and stuff whislt eating lunch, once again amoungst cows, condors, and nature! The Mountains there have a stange hum about them, due to the intense wind in the peaks. Its quite impressive, and a little foreboding. This hike was one of the longer hikes, somewhere around eight hours, and we were a little worried we wouldn't get to our destination until after dark. We split up into two groups(fast and slow) and got to the campsite with an hour of sunlight to spare.
The place we stayed, Los Cuernos, was by far my favorite. We set our tents up underneath this large tree, in the shadow of gigantic mountains and a glacier. There was a "hut" typea building that we ate our food in(though we had to cook outside) The people running the hut were really kind, we bought some wine and ate our rice and soup. We also found a guitar, I broke out the harmonica, played some cards, and sang a bunch of songs. And man was it warm inside that building. It was an all around good time. And at night, it was warm! somewhere in the 60s inside of the tent. We all slept like non colicky babies.
Day 4: Woke up in high spirits, with a long day ahead of us(eight hours of hikin!) About a half an hour into the hike it started raining and did not stop all day. The trails sometimes follow streams, where you walk either through the stream, or along the side. This particular leg of the journey was up and down hills in streams. Through the pouring rain! We were all thoroughly soaked. After four hours of wet hiking, we got to Lake Pehoe hostelria, where we had four more hours to get to glacier grey refugio. Since it was getting late, we booked it through the hostelria and headed out. There was some confusion on which was to go, but we picked a direction and went. Unfortunately for us, an hour and a half later, we realized we were going the wrong direction. The opposite direction in fact. Soaked, and now demoralized, we headed back to the Lake Pehoe hostelria.
My defense for going the wrong direction! Yes, we rushed. Understood. But! On the map, there are two spots, the hostelria and the park ranger station which in real life are about two hundred meters away from each other. But! on the map, they are something like a kilometer or two away from each, which lead to confusion with the direction. But still, we rushed, a mistake. Live and learn? Yes.
And.... I must go eat lunch! The exciting conclusion later!
-Brian
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