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Published: September 21st 2008
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La Ramada
Me taking a picture at the Ramada for September 18th. Hello Again!
I have just returned to Conce from my week long adventure. The week started out very simple. We hopped on a bus saturday the 13th for Chillan, to snowboard, hike, and hopefully find some hot springs. We arrived in the City of Chillan a bit lost, but quickly found our bearings. We then began walking to the Escuela Mexico, which houses murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Unfortunately for us the murals are being restored which is going to take about a year.
After this we went to the Feria de Chillan which is a huge market inlcuding artisans and fresh produce. I bought a scarf and some mittens for the snow in the Andes as well as a bag full of vegies and fruits YUM! We then found out that no buses ran from Chillan to las termas, where the skiing is until the next day. Luckily I had been talking to a Taxi driver near the market for directions and he had given me his card. This turned out to be cheaper and faster then the bus actually which was great. We got to our hostel around 6 pm that night.
After geting sittuated Tracy and I headed
Class
A group shot with one of our proffesors. off hopefully to find some hotsprings. We ended up finding a beautiful waterfall instead. A young boy, Sabastian, also accompanied us to the base of the falls. We gave him a small tip for his services afterword. That night we slept well. THe hostel was very tranquil. The next morning we had breakfast at the hostel and went to rent our gear. The rental shop was about ten feet from the hostel and pretty reasonably priced. The owner had told us there is a bus at 10 to the mountain, but Tracy and I decided to hitchike while waiting, and ten minutes later we were in a car with a nice chilean couple.
We arrived at the base and there was a decent amount of snow. After giving a quick crash course on snowboarding for our other group members, Tracy and I began to explore the mountain. There were some absolutely stunning veiws. The snow wasnt the best, but I had fun none the less. That night we ate dinner and decided to share a bottle of wine under the stars and the full moon.
The next morning we woke up early to eat and begin our trip back to
Bridge
Here is a bridge we climbed over in Santiago. chillan. From chillan we would head south to the City of Laja and the Salto de Laja. We accomplished this in two long days of travelling. I was also a bit sick during this time which made the trip even worse. But I stayed in good spirits thanks to good company. At this point the group consisted of two Spaniards, two Mexicans, two Americans, and one Chilean. When we arrived in Laja, our classmate Oscar had a large feast waiting for us. Which we all devoured without saying hardly a word amongst ourselves. We were very hungry! That night we slept like babies. Oscar's house was not huge but he was very kind to keep us all there for two nights.
The next day we woke around 11 to see the parade for the 18th of september. (Independence day). We also got a small tour of Laja with Oscar. We encountered some kids playing in the train yard. After a breif exchange of words, we became the enemies of their imaginary army! I was quickly told "Manos Ariba, hippy!". We all ran away laughing histerically at the sittuation. That night we went to the "Ramada" in Laja, where there is music, dancing, traditional chilean food and of course wine. We danced at the ramada until about 3 am. Which is actually early by chilean standards.
The next day we headed out for our campsite in Salto de Laja which is famous for the waterfalls it has and its national park reserve. We spent two nights there hiking and siteseeing which were vary relaxing.
We caught a ride back to Conce on saturday. When I got back I ate and promptly went to bed.
This week has been very productive in improving my spanish and learning more about Latin American Culture, I hope to travel with this group again. I hope you all are in good spirits there! Here are some more photos of the trip. Hopefully I can get some of my own up soon....
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Ed law
non-member comment
Sounds like fun!
Hi Jake, Sounds like fun and an exhausting trip. We appreciate your blog and encourage you to keep it up. Tell us a little bit about your school and how it compares with St John's. We are both well. will go to Church today and pick up TG at the airport after church. He will be here tonight. Yesterday we went to a political rally and heard Al Gore. He is very impressive and he sure would have made a good President. Much love, Ed