View from the Top

(7/27-8/1) Well Friday I enjoyed some much needed me time. Katie went to hang out with her exchange student friends and I was more than happy to stay here by myself. I watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and watched some movies on Netflix. It was great. Saturday was incredible. Our friend Kari and her roommate took us hiking at a Nature Reserve in the Andes Mountains. We had a picnic before and then just took in all of the incredible views. There were mountains completely surrounding us and it was beautiful. We started the hike up which wasn’t too bad until we decided we wanted to go to the very top. That part was pretty difficult. My shoes had absolutely no traction whatsoever so I was sliding everywhere. Plus my thighs were on fire! We eventually made it to the highest point and it was totally worth the climb, absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The sun was hitting every mountain for miles and we could see the moon at the same time. We could see some of the snow capped mountains in the distance as well. It was gorgeous. After we soaked in the views for about 30, while also trying to take a group picture by resting the camera against a cactus, we decided it was time to start the descent. We thought it would be fun to try a different way of getting down the mountain. That was a terrible idea. We got so lost and there wasn’t a path. We were ducking under trees, having to snap braches off, sliding on our butts, and just had to go through some crazy obstacles. I took the lead because I was ready to get off the mountain. The sun had gone away and I was freezing. So I just pushed through and eventually found a path that lead us back to the car. I was proud of myself! Sunday Kari had a going away party in a beautiful park that I went to. We didn’t have a grill so we made a fire and found an old drain cover that we covered in tinfoil and cooked on that, pretty ingenious. We also made some smores which was probably my favorite part of the picnic. We had a great time! Monday was pretty uneventful. The usual class and then just hung out at the house for a bit. I got hungry and wanted a pizza from my favorite Chilean pizza place. A Chilean student went with me because he was curious of where it was. It was pretty far, but it was so good! That was the highlight of Monday. Tuesday was pretty fun. Katie took me out to lunch since I paid for her to go hiking because she didn’t have any money on her. It’s a good little place around the corner where you can get bread, salad, main dish, and dessert for only $5. Later some people decided to go to the movies to see Batman so I went with them. We were going to see it in English but it had sold out so we had to wait for 2 hours and watch it in Spanish. During the wait, everyone wanted pizza so we went to a nearby Papa John’s and got some pizza. My first American food in Chile and it tasted the same, except here it is extra greasy. Then we saw the movie, I didn’t understand very much of it but I was able to follow it mostly. It was fun though. Today (Wednesday) has been pretty calm. Went to school and ate lunch. I bought a frozen chicken hamburger from the store the other day and tried it for lunch. It looked really strange, but it tasted pretty good. I was kind of expecting a chicken patty, a little disappointing but I will live. Phil returned to Chile today, he should be stopping by later to say hey and hang out for a bit. The roommates and I have decided to start working out every day and decided we were going to go through the insanity program since I conveniently have it on my computer. So we’re doing the fit test tonight. I feel like I’ve already lost a lot of weight from walking everywhere and not eating near as much sugar as I did in the states. I should drink more water though, that’s my downfall. I just hate the taste of tap water here so I have to buy it by the liters and then carry it home which is just a hassle. I will be better about it though. 

view from the top

my smore