Pichi: Part 3

Our last excursion. One I will never forget. It was a mountain hike. But not just any mountain hike, it was the hike up Mt. Faulkner! (Don’t worry I never heard of it either before I went). We started the hike around mid-day, the weather was nice. It had rained the day before but there was not that much humidity. There was a group of around forty or so that began as one, and, of course, the group separated as we embarked upward. The guides stated that at the beginning we were going to climb for around ten minutes and then rest for a little while, and repeat the process for about 45 minutes, which is when we should be at the first opening in the mountain (most of the hike was through a small “path” up the steep mountain surrounded by woods and enormous trees). At first, me, being the expert hiker and always in the group leading the front, (that’s sarcasm, though I have done my fair share of mountain climbs and hikes) thought this crazy and claimed that I would not stop and rest till I was standing at the peak. However, once we began that climb, and oh what a climb it was, I was thankful for those rests every ten minutes. It was difficult. Several people did not make it. Seriously. Your legs and calves and thighs and pretty much everywhere below your abs begin to ache not too long after you start. We climbed for about 50 minutes and reached the first opening. It was a small field without trees in which you could see down to the road at the bottom. We sat and rested for a while, I drank a good amount of water and was running dangerously low, sadly. And after a good rest we started again. I was in the front with group of six or seven. We started up into what they said is the hardest part. We hiked a for a while it seemed like, going in and out of woods in the still very narrow path. But then we reached a certain place in the hike. Before we were just surrounded by a clutter of trees and bark and branches and leaves and a dense jungle-like atmosphere. But here the trees spread out and the path widened and we entered a more open area. This was a really cool and unique place. It’s hard to explain, but there was a peace lingering in that certain part of the wood that is hard to find down below where we live everyday.

It was almost, and without being too supernatural or strange, a more spiritual place. As if it wasn’t a part of this world. Forgive me if I seem a little cheesy but being it this small break between the arduous climb made leaving everything behind and focusing on nothing but what was ahead that much easier. I could go on longer, but we must continue; there is still much to talk about. We climbed for about another hour till we reached the “first” top of the mountain. It was almost like an enormous hill, except we were a few thousand feet up and surrounded by similar “hills” while gorgeous, snow-capped mountains rested in the far distance. I was among the first few that reached the top and explored a little while small groups slowly came over time. Five of us went off to the distance and found a rocky part that overlooked a view in which I can’t even begin to describe (I am not that good of a writer, to write about God’s creation in the words that give it its proper credit). We stopped here for while and ate lunch. After a short rest we continued up even further. We hiked now to a creek in which we followed it upwards to another section that seemed to be a valley. It was massive and you could see for miles when looking over. The backside of this valley, if it had a side per se, was walled in by mountains and the opposite side overlooked miles and miles (and miles) of mountains and valleys and woods and trees and fields. Again, another indescribable view, first-hand, of God’s powerful and artistic hand. Here we were at a high enough point where snow patches, some small but some fairly big, were scattered along the landscape. Now it wasn’t cold. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I had a Jacket but I chose not to wear it. We were here for a while taking pictures, enjoying the atmosphere, and even having snowball fights. Then slowly one by one people began heading for the mountains in the distance to venture further upward. A group of us wanted to go as far as we could; so we climbed, literally climbed, up a rocky hill and entered into another valley. This valley had a running creek that weaved through its fields in which I used to fill my water bottle. Crystal clear and cold as it was pure, mountain water is the best there is. And how it was refreshing.We hiked through this vast valley and up towards the mountain in the distance for about another 45 minutes. I know this is probably hard to make out in your mind but just know it is a sight that people who have the pleasure to see it will never forget.

Now we reached THE top, or at least as high is we could go. We saw the view. I stepped back with my head on a swivel because you could not take it all in with just on look. Miles beyond miles of absolutely indescribable, gorgeous, snow-capped mountains surrounded us. The previous sights, the ones I also said blew my mind (and still do), seemed so much less.

There was a valley with a lake at the bottom, or at least one of the bottoms, that was so clear and vast that you could see the reflections of the adjacent mountains. It looked as if it was only a mile or two away when in reality it could have been so much further. A few of us pulled out our cameras but nothing man-made could capture the gloriouspainting of this priceless picture that lay before us. We could see so far that mountains and a volcano, which towered above everything in sight, that were known to be in the country of Chile were within our view. I praise God for His creation and his almighty hand. It was an amazing experience. If God placed this breath-taking sight on this wicked earth for us to enjoy, I cannot imagine what He has reserved for our enjoyment in Heaven!

Pichi: Part 2

Pichi Part 2

Our first main excursion was the cinco caídas or the five waterfalls. We took a bus to a certain spot where they dropped us off. We hiked for about, well, I don’t really know how long. It was a while. We finally reached the bone-freezing water in which we had to climb up. Not really climb, but walk in an upward motion. But it was cold and the water was rushing the opposite way we were walking. I could go into the adventure up to the first waterfall and describe the battles and the troubles; and the times when people slipped and fell which made me chuckled inside, sometimes out loud; but I need to get to the good stuff. We reached the first waterfall, which was a powerful sight. This was the initiation. Everyone that was anyone jumped in the neck deep, lethal, hypothermia-threatening water and swim under the unwelcoming pounding where the fall met the creek. It was quite exciting. After this I was numb from head to toe so the water didn’t really effect me that much (Ha! Yeah right, but I really was numb… but still somehow cold.). That was the first waterfall. We then hiked higher up and reached the next two, which were next to each other. This was pretty insane. You had to be there though. I am not really going to try and explain it. It was like one of those things that was crazy when you thought about it after the matter, or for people at home thinking about it, but you had to get over the freezing, now-you-actually-will-get-hypothermia water, and do things you weren’t normally do like venture behind the waterfall, or jump in the deep water hole, or swim against the current to reach this really cool spot perfect for a picture. Because you would regret not doing it later. So that was our first excursion. It actually was a really cool and amazing experience.

A lot of things happened during the week that aren’t quite exciting enough for you for me to write about, but they were well needed things for me and the whole group. Like an afternoon to sit by the fire (because it was cold down there) and just read a book. Or to have a nice bed, or at least nicer than at the institute, where you weren’t sweating. AND… Breakfast was at 9:30!!! I slept till like 9!! It was very nice. I did two other big excursions. I went to San Martin, which is the town that we first arrived in before we went to the campground (its about an hour from the hotel) and the hike up the mountain, which was one of the most intense activities I have ever done. San Martin is a really neat place, I might actually move there one day. Its like a little village (but much nicer than just a village, there is some money in that place) that settles in a valley between the mts. So there is a wonderful view wherever you are. The weather is great, in the winter time it gets really really cold I’ve heard, well considering we were there in the summer and it was pretty chilly; and the mountains were snowcapped. But it had a really unique style to it, really mountainy but not like hillbilly bluegrass mountainy. And snowboarding is really popular. And there is a huge, gorgeous lake near it. And its just a pretty cool place. So that is a quick look at most of my week. Trust me, it was a pretty cool week, even compared to American vacations J. I will talke about my intense Mountain hike next.

Pichi: Part 1

Okay so this bus ride. Around 24 hours was our trip, including stops for dinner and breakfast. The bus was semi-comfortable however. It was a two-story bus, enough to hold our group of 40 or so Americans plus other travelers. I ended up on the bottom, which was quite a lovely place. It was smaller, only five rows filled its space, with two seats on each side. The seat could almost turn into a bed… almost… at least it was more comfortable than my night on the plane ride over here. I was in the back, we watched a few movies, ate some snacks, and slept a lot. We arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon, lunch time, after leaving around 12:30 p.m. the day before. We were served pasta, a delicious meal it was, a foreshadow to the rest of the meals, for they all were very tasty. We had all free time that day to get unpacked and settled in. The rooms were nice but it’s not worth talking about now. A group of us, 6 or 7 of us guys, left right away to find the nearby river, more like a creek but it’s a bigger than a small creek (we weren’t exactly allowed to leave the hotel campground without a “tour guide” but, well, that’s unimportant). We found the creek, took our clothes off (not all the way of course), like we used to do as boys when we would go exploring in the woods and find a small creek after a lot of rain, and went for a swim. The water, wow, was cold. A different kind of cold I have ever experienced. It hurt all the way to the bones as first touch. But we were in the Andes, we had to get in. So after a few hours there we returned for dinner (again, like lunch, was amazing. Every night had a different theme, for example we had Italian night and even Argentina night) and went back to our cabin. We stayed, as I said, in a cabin, which was pretty sweet and tranquilo. And, to our surprise, the girls and guys were in the same cabin, same hallway, which, if you know Word of Life Argentina, you know that’s crazy talk. But we were like a family. It was a great first day and we still had more to come.

I have part 2 already written, ill post it later.