Saturday, October 6, 2007 Camping in Las Campanas Day 2

Saturday, October 6, 2007 Camping in Las Campanas Day 2

We woke up early (around 9 am), had breakfast, and then headed out with Hector (our program director and the professor for my Poverty class) for our all day hike. We hike up a mountain 3 miles in almost 2 hours which is a quick pace. A group of us (most of whom had stayed sober last night) stuck with Hector at the front and every half hour or so we stopped to let the rest (guess who) catch up. While walking, Hector told me all about his Peace Corps experience in Guatemala and ended up telling us basically his life story.

We made it to the top around noon and ate the sandwiches we’d packed for lunch. The climb was worth it because at the top was a beautiful view of the entire park and a gorgeous waterfall down a huge rock wall. Hector gave us about an hour at the top to explore and rest for those who needed it. After hanging out we started heading back down, after refilling our water bottles from the stream, which Hector assured us was alright to do. After about 20 minutes of trying to walk down hill slowly, Julia from NYC and Alea and I decided to just run down hill. Hector gave us his blessing and the three of us ended up running all the way down in about 30 more minutes! We beat the rest of the group back by about 15 minutes, which meant we got to shower and clean up first!

The rest of the afternoon/evening we relaxed and hung out. Everyone in our program gets along really well and I honestly haven’t laughed that hard in so long. I know we are a very self-selected group because we are the type of kids that study abroad, especially in Chile. But none the less, I am constantly amazed by the quality of people I have met and friends I have made. Right before dinner Brandon, Matt and I tried to hike to the top of one of the hills near the camp site. As we’ve noticed before, they always look more manageable from farther away and the higher we got the more difficult it began. It wasn’t too steep but the vegetation was thick and the ground was rocky. We made it about 94% up when we were stopped by a wall of bushes, thorns and trees. So we turned back and basically slid down the hill back to the campsite where everyone had gathered to eat dinner. P.S. I did the whole climb and decent in flip-flops and only fell once!

As the sun set, I started feeling a little déjà vu from last night. i.e. camp fire, s’mores, lots of drinking etc. Once most were good and happy, we all hiked about half way up the huge hill we’d climbed earlier and sat around watching the stars. My friend Tomás brought his guitar and entertained everyone with his hilarious songs and improv. I was freezing (obviously I hadn’t drank as much as everyone else) and after almost an entire glass of Piscola got spilled on my sleeping bag, I headed back to the tent and went to sleep.