We love Chile, and every year that we come down I am instantly reminded why. The countryside is stunning, the people are friendly and welcoming, and we spend time laughing and amused by the simple things.
Instructors Jeff, Kristin and Sean arrived in Chile on Monday, the 20th of December. In a long plane-ride induced haze we rented a truck, loaded up, and drove south. We arrived in Curico, and our first stop was Completitos where Sean had his first of many "barros lucos con palta sin mayonesa." The damage from the earthquake is still quite visible. Roads and bridges are still in repair, temporary housing is apparent within towns. And some of the buildings that appeared on CNN coverage of the event remain in ruins. It is a powerful reminder of the lasting impact an event of that magnitude leaves behind.
We stopped by to visit our first Jean Bierle Scholarship recipient, Rosario, and her family. We had a great time catching up on events since we saw them last in March. Rosario just took her college entrance exams and has her fingers crossed she will be accepted to fonoaudiología school (speech therapy is our best guess). We are sure she passed with flying colors and will be off to Santiago to begin her studies in March.
We spent our first night in the sleepy mountain town of Los Quenes. As we were about to crash after two long days of travel Sean and I realized our first hiccup in what we thought was a brilliant plan. Last year we decided to leave our sleeping bags at a friend's house at the end of our trip, so we don't have to lug them back and forth. The only drawback being that our bags are currently in Valdivia, nowhere near our campsite in Los Quenes. It was a chilly night for Sean and myself, but we survived.
Sean awoke to discover that a flip flop disappeared in the night. We suspected it was one of the town dogs. We made friends with Christian, a seven year old who lives next to the campground. Christian thought about our problem for a minute, and then without a word bolted off. About five minutes later he returned with the shoe. He knew which dog was notorious for steeling shoes and knew where it slept. It was a "welcome back to Chile" moment.
We rafted the Teno yesterday in our tiny 9.5 foot raft. It's a hoot! Super responsive and perfect for 2-3 people. I think our students will love it.
Today we will visit CONIN, the orphanage we help, to see what sort of service projects they are interested in this year. This is one of my favorite parts of our time here. We will run a few errands and get ready to head south to collect our gear before we spend the holidays with Rosario's family. We look forward to the arrival of our students and in the words of whitewater legend Wayne Dickert, some "big booming fun."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment