So, we have a couple of events to catch you all up on. Per our last blog post, you know that our program, TeachingChile, put on a mid-semester party for all of the teachers. It was a great party filled with catered burritos, 3 kegs of Kuntsman Amber beer, and other appetizers. We had the opportunity to catch up with many of the teachers that we hadn’t seen in a while. A fun time was had by all. At this party, we also found out from another couple about a paid excursion up to the ever elusive Cajon del Maipo the following weekend. We expressed to them our troubles with reaching this destination and told them that we would love to go with them.
The Chilean band that performed at the roof top party
Last week, we also started doing some private English lessons for some business executives. These executives work for a risk commission that was created to evaluate the risk of investments for the five major Chilean pension funds. All these guys want to do is to speak business English with us for a couple of hours a week and we get paid for it. No lesson planning was a plus. Our financial backgrounds have helped in producing some interesting conversations with these guys. I told my guy all about the mortgage crisis, NINJA (No Income No Job or Asset) loans, and how I used to forge borrower’s signatures to get their loan through the pipeline. The last part is not true just in case Financial Times wants to publish me. Katie discusses mutual funds, the financial economy in Chile, and Chilean culture with her executive.
This past weekend was a pretty eventful one. Saturday afternoon, I went to play basketball while Katie went and saw Water for Elephants at the movie theater. Afterwards, we had people over to watch a basketball game and to play games. We libated and conversed into the wee hours of the morning. Going on a 15- kilometer (9.32 miles) hike up a mountain the next morning at 7, it probably wasn’t the smartest move to stay up this late.
Muchas Cervezas
Even though we gained an hour with daylight savings time (Fall here), 7:00 came too early. After we woke our friend up off our futon and told him where he was, we were off to meet our hiking group. The hiking group consisted of our two friends, two Hondurans, a Brazilian, a German scientist, and our Chilean guide. Everyone was very friendly and either knew a little bit of English or spoke slow enough in Spanish where we could communicate with them.
Los Banos Morales (Where the hike began)
The drive out to Cajon was about 2.5 hours filled with beautiful scenery towards the latter half of the drive. We were escorted by a tour van that brought us within 3.5 hours walking distance to the glacier. Once we stepped foot outside of the van, we realized that the whole hike up to the glacier wasn’t going to be frigid. We shed some layers and we were on our way to the glacier.
The start of the hike
The rocky terrain on the way up made it difficult to hike at times. All around us was evidence of the major earthquake that hit Santiago last February. The boulders that were more yellow than the others had broken off the mountain in the big quake. These boulders were strewn all over the landscape. The first hour of our hike was relatively flat, but then gradually became steeper. The majority of the hike was spent traversing through a valley that would eventually lead us to the footsteps of the glacier. Along the way, we stopped for lunch, to take some pictures, and many, many breaks.
We both had never really experienced hiking to such a high altitude and for such a long distance. Although we have been frequently exercising since we have been here, the high altitude made us feel grossly out of shape. However, we weren’t alone as all of the people in our group were consistently in need of breaks. The breaks were nice as they allowed us to slow down and take in all of the huge, natural formations around us along with the multicolored rocks.
As we neared the final destination, the air was getting thinner and colder. The sun was starting to start its’ path on the downside of the parabola. We could tell we were getting close as the snow accumulation was increasing. By this time, we also knew that anytime our guide told us how long it would get to certain points along the way, we should double it for the correct amount.
Nevertheless, we finally reached the glacier and what a sight it was! The glacier filled a void between two mountains and then had a frozen lake in front. By the time we had reached the glacier, it was about 3:30 and the sun was starting to hide behind the mountains. The fleeting sun and the swift breeze coming off of the frozen lake caused a drop in temperature of about 50 degrees. We were both layered up, but I don’t think we anticipated the cold to be this extreme.
After the initial feeling of being awestruck subsided, Katie decided to do some amateur video taking of the glacier with our camera. Setting her post up about 10 yards from the lake, Katie started panoramically capturing the glacier with commentary included. About halfway through her footage, a sudden disturbance is seen on the video that can only be described as the videographer slipping on the ice and gracefully falling on her derriere. Being there and witnessing this was pretty comical in itself, but this may be one of those rare occasions where the video footage may be even funnier than viewing the event live. Enjoy……..
We tried to tough it out on the glacier as long as we could, but we weren’t adequately dressed so we left after about 30 minutes. The trek downward was naturally much easier, warmer, and took less time. With the sun starting to set, it made the scenery even more fascinating. Our friend, Bill, summed it up perfectly about halfway down. He exclaimed, “Now, this is Chile”. We both knew exactly what he meant. Although Santiago does have its’ attractions, the real Chile is seen in nature through its’ vast array of oneiric landscapes.
These are prayer flags that people leave and they disengrate into the air along with their prayers
With about an hour left in our hike, lightness succumbed to darkness and we were left to navigate the terrain with the limited visibility that we had and a cell phone flashlight. I howled like a coyote a couple of times in an attempt to disinvite what other carnivores may have viewed as a succulent treat. As we walked past the silhouettes of the giant, jagged landforms jutting out from the surface of the earth, it gave us the sensation of what walking on the moon may feel like. We finally reached our van and we were on our way back to Santiago.
Upon stepping foot in Santiago, we went and grabbed a quick bit to eat at a pizza joint with our friends. We quickly devoured the pizza and then we retired to our apartment. We were both exhausted so it didn’t take us long to shower and find our bed. Lying in bed, soar as hell from a 9.32 mile hike through the rocky terrain, I leaned over to Katie (with all of my energy) and told her, “Now that, Katie, is how you get rid of a hangover.”
And here we found Princeton a friend while we were waiting for our tour to begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment