Empanadas and Mayonaise: The South and a New Beginning

Hola hola a todos!!

Boy has it been an incredible two weeks! They felt like they lasted for months because they were so full of new and exciting adventures. Two warnings:

1) this post is going to be very long because there is so much to tell

2) please excuse my writing: I am trying to fix mistakes/syntax but my brain is thinking half in spanish half in english and my sentences seem to come out as one big blog of them both.

I recently returned from a two week trip to the southern half of Chile, where I spent a week in Chiloe, an Island off of the chilean coast, and then spent a week in the very south, backpacking for 5 days in the National Park Torres del Paine (Blue Towers).

I took a bus from Santiago on Friday after taking my final for my intensive spanish program, and we drove for 15 hours (all night long so we just slept) until we arrived the next morning in Puerto Montt. From there, we had to take a 3 hour bus ride, which also included a 45 minute ferry, to the island of Chiloe, where we stayed in an amazing hostel called 13 Lunas that was located in Ancud, which is the northern city on the Island. In Ancud we just walked around the tiny town and visited a couple of churches and forts that have been there for hundreds of years. We then took a 3 hour bus ride to Castro, which is the largest port city on Chiloe, where we stayed in a hostel named Palafito Sur. The palafitos are houses built on stilts so that they sit above the water. Historically, they were created by the very poor people on the island so that they could avoid having to buy property. By building their houses on stilts above the water right off the beach, they avoided many governmental property fees. Today, however, many of the palafitos have been converted from poor run down building to beautiful houses, hostels and restaurants. There was a beautiful view of the water and I could have stayed there forever! We also took another hour bus ride for one of the days to the National Park in Cucao which was gorgeous and full of life. They had beautiful bogs, mini forests, and then on the opposite end there was an incredible, sprawling beach that easily could have been in southern california!

I absolutely loved Chiloe because it reminded me a lot of Ardnamurchan in Canada. The towns were exactly like Yartmouth or Halifax and the nature was beautiful.

From there we took a two hour flight further south to Punta Arenas, a 3 hour bus from there to Puerto Natales, and then ANOTHER 3 hour bus to finally reach the Parque Nacional del Torres del Paine. This entire trip was spent with 5 girls from my program: Kelsey, Kathleen, Kate, Tania and Robin. They all go to Berkeley but I didn't know any of them before coming to Chile! They are such amazing people and I couldn't have asked for a better group to travel with. We had been carrying around our backpacking equipment the entire trip and were finally ready to start using it after a 30 minute catamaran to the starting point of our trek. In the park, the most famous path to hike is the "W", which is a five day backpacking trail. It was one of the most challenging things I have done because not only had we brought too much food, making our packs extremely heavy, but I was carrying a tent, sleeping bag and pad the entire too as well. On top of this, we were hiking an average of 6-8 hours a day, and the trail was definitely not flat haha. There were times when we knew we were facing at least an hour of uphill and my body wanted to stop and just lay down and never move again. But we made it!

We had many physical issues that could not have been avoided or better prepared for including a girl re-injuring her hip that she had had surgery on, another girl breaking out in an incredibly bad rash from laundry detergent, constipation and the opposite..... This also made it EXTREMELY difficult to continue sometimes because our bodies were going through so much. However, the girls were all such troopers and we created some incredible memories. No bonding is stronger than sleeping in the smallest tent on the planet with someone who is having digestive problems... we got to know each other very well to say the least ha.

The park was so incredibly beautiful, however, that our spirits were usually pretty high despite all of the issues. It was dreamlike.... there were multiple times when I could turn 360 degrees and have a breathtaking view the entire time. Most places I have been, there is a main attraction or main "thing" you are supposed to be looking at. In this park, EVERYTHING was that breathtaking "thing". Every day was also completely different, we hiked from a glacier through a forest to a rocky mountain past snow covered mountains (we could hear/see avalanches happening in the distance as we hiked, it was incredible!), alongside a lake, to a pebble beach, through desertlike plains, and up to incredible rock formations. It was an experience that I will never forget!

On top of all of that, I start school on wednesday and have officially moved into my new house! I love the people I am living with and I love the feel that the house has. I am also very excited for school and will give another update at the end of the week when everything has started!

I hope you are all doing well and I love you very very much :)

I ate that entire bag of trail mix....