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Published: February 2nd 2006
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Top of the world
here's a view from the top of La Campana ¡Hola a tod@s!
Guess what I did this weekend! I climbed a mountain from bottom to top. I was a little nervous about the whole trip mainly because of the little piece of metal in my little bone that has been such an annoying problem. But I decided to do it, and man, it was a great decision.
We began our ascent at 9:15 and the first half of the trail was like any other trail that I've seen in Georgia or South Carolina, and then we "bouldered" for a few hours to reach the peak. Walking/Jumping/Crawling up the boulders was so much fun. My group arrived at the top at 2:30..having taken our time chatting, taking water breaks, and eating fruit cake (yes, someone lugged a 4 pound fruit cake up the mountain). From the top we saw the snow-covered Andes that form Chile's eastern border and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The view was well worth the hike. The trip down wasn't as much fun, in fact it was pretty bad. It took 4 hours to retrace our steps all the way to the bottom. But food, wine, and and rest were awaiting us at the
Completos!
woah, that hotdog was huge. Here with Lindsay, Gabriel, Nico and George. campsite when we rolled into camp at 6:30. After dinner, we had some vino con melón...where you open a honeydew, pour in white wine and drink it right from the melon. yum. We slept like the dead and were back in Viña on Sunday by 1:00. Oh, I've never seen more stars in my life than what I saw from the campsite on Saturday night. crazy.
The end of last week was also full of fun...I tried the Chilean classic junk food, "el completo." I didn't think that a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant could serve food so huge. A classic completo is a hotdog with guacamole, tomato and mayo...but from there they get creative, adding anything from corn to cooked cabbage. The one we ordered was big enough to split three ways, and it was delicious. We happened to run into George, our kayak instructor from the day before, and he and his friend came out to karaoke with us afterwards. Oh, and on Friday another student arrived to stay in mi casa...Christina from San Antonio Texas. She'll be here studying Spanish for 6 months...luckyyy!
So this week was fun too, but more studying was involved. Monday night we
ice cream
Morgan, Nadia, and Jan (a German) on the rocks with ice cream went to a local gringo hangout for a goodbye party for Jan, a German friend that we made. We met some Australians who were passing through and a Chilean break dancer who spent some time perfecting the art in Miami. oh, the people you meet while travelling! Called it a night at 3 and headed to bed.
Oh, here's something meaningful and exciting...we have decided to do something for the girl's home that we visited and is in so much need of some support. Dr. Powell's wife is going to head up the project which hopefully will turn into a 501c-3 in the future. Before the Furman group heads out in 2 weeks, our goal is to gather enough funds to buy the home a fridge and maybe leave a big care package for the girls with basic supplies like toiletries and school stuff. There is already a group of Chileans who will be here to make sure things happen when we leave. We also met with an American here who is in charge of a giant and powerful non-profit in Valparaiso that will help get the ball rolling. The home really needs this support and we're going to
Valparaiso
Suzanne, Morgan, and Andrew from New York in the beautifully colorful Valparaiso (the city next door) do what we can.
Tusday and Wednesday I got a project about Pablo Neruda together...which, by the way, I presented today and scored a 7 (the top of the Chilean grading scale, yeah!) More research and projects to finish before we leave here, but that can wait until we get back from SANTIAGO! Our group is heading there this weekend just as the Santiago group came here two weekends ago. We'll be touring the US embassy there and hanging with the big city group. Can't wait.
I think that's it for now, I just got back form the bus station where I bought my tickets to the desert in the north where I'll spend 9 days with Suzanne Prak, Angela Hanor, and Laura Whitesides. Woohoo! That trip will happen after our Furman program has finished (from Feb 15 till the 23rd). I counted the number of nights that I have left sleeping at my house in Viña...and it's only 7. These weeks have truly flown by.
Talk to you all later! I'll be home soon.
Ciao,
Morgan
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lisalisabobisa...
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AAAAAHHH!!!!! LUCKY!!!!
VALPO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (omg. thank you for the postal...)