woah

If I can pull this off it will be amazing. I have so much to say that I am overwhelmed with this task of recreating my emotions and my experiences in order to give you all the slightest taste of what it is to be behind my eyes.

Let me start by saying hello to all of you new listeners. For those of you who are yet to hear the news, my blog was featured in the newspaper here in Chile. I got home from my backpacking trip through Torres del Paine to have my chilean host mom open the paper and point at my picture. Apparently a newspaper writer was searching through blogs, found mine, liked it, and wrote a column on it. Talk about no privacy on the internet! Regardless, it was pretty cool to hear someone admire my writing--especially in the newspaper! So...now that the curtain has been drawn, I will try to catch you up on the last two weeks of my Chilean life.

Two nights ago I got back from a trip through Patagonia. For those of you who are geographically challenged, Patagonia is the Southernmost part of South America. We started our trip by flying down to Punta Arenas, took a bus to Puerto Notales, and then embarked on a five day hike through Torres del Paine National Park. It was a whirlwind adventure, one that can be depicted much better through the use of pictures due to my lack of synonyms for the words beautiful and spectacular. Regardless, I will relay to you an entry from my journal that I wrote while sitting on the top of a rock watching Glacier Grey:

"Everyone is staring at a block of ice. We are all waiting, wondering, pondering the meaning, the significance, of this huge mass, a timeless entity, older than we can imagine, bigger than we can behold, like the God of this park, the LocNess of this natural wonderland. Each step I take closer, the colder I become, first feeling a chill on my fingertips, then enveloped in pure, bitter cold. It stands perfectly still, frozen in time, suggesting a desire to move, to be set free from the mountain. But each day it sits, stuck for eternity, slowly letting go bits and pieces of ice which float freely through the water like elegant swans, each with its own identity, its own story. I am overcome by the scene. Amused, hypnotized almost, by the stillness of each block of ice. They sit in the lake, staring back at the giant from which they came and mock the ice that has not yet found its freedom. I admire the shapes. One takes the form of an hourglass, ticking away its own existence. As they float closer to the shore they become smaller, smaller, until they are the size of my hand and become clear, glasslike works of art. I pick one up and realize that I am about to view the last few seconds of its beauty as it melts in my hand, becoming but a pool of bitter cold....This place is absolutely spectacular. I have never been somewhere where I felt so small and yet so alive. Every day we hike a little further, seeing things more spectacular than the day before. Ever day the beauty of nature is reinvented in my mind and the contestant from the day prior is wiped off my radar, only to be reinvisioned by glancing back at photos. I assume that most of you won't be given the opportunity to come to this park, and I don't believe that a visit to this park is necessary to have the profound experience I have had. It is just amazing to go somewhere and look around you and not see a single thing manmade. It is amazing to stare at something and to realize that it has been there for ages. It is amazing to feel the sensation that you have to take a picture of something--even though you have already taken twenty of the same thing--just because at that exact moment it seems slightly more magestic than the twenty times prior. It is amazing to feel so exhausted and yet be struck with this drive to keep moving, just to reach the top of the next summit--and upon arrival, you are rewarded with a view even more profound and beautiful than the one before..."

I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Among other realizations and thoughts that passed through my mind, I gave a shout of thanks for my health while hiking. I will go ahead and say that I was probably the healthiest hiker of the crew. To be honest, at the start of the trip I thought I might be pulling up the rear as the least experienced backpacker. On the contrary, when it came to day 5, I hauled ass down the mountain, the only one in our crew to finish without an achy knee or ankle. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in a dressing room and cried of frustration or looked at cute outfits in magazines only to realize that they would make me look like a whale. I have always cursed my body--my damn thighs, calves, and (of course) my ass! But this trip made me realize that I should be thankful for my healthy body! I went so far, worked so hard, climbed so much---more than any stick thin model could ever do. So...thank you body...thighs, calves, and (i guess) ass.

This trip really was amazing. After our voyage through Torres del Paine, we stopped off in Chiloe, a small island off the coast of Chile known for its folkloric culture. I wont go into a ton of detail because I really dont think it will do much good. Chiloe is a great area, but I will have to go back when I have more energy to truly explore. All in all, for the three days we were there we accomplished quite a bit. I rode a horse along th beach (for free!), shook my ass and was laughed at by hundreds of people, ate mariscos (clams/mussels) that had been cooked for hours in the sand, saw penguins, and hitched a free ride home in the back of a truck with a bunch of other Chilenos. I rode on a ferry, had a conversation with a (sketchy) pharmaceutical rep for alternative medicine (weird), stayed in a mansion with an ocean view for less than 10 bucks a night, drank Peruvian hot chocolate, and watched break dancers while sitting in the center of town at eleven oclock at night. Really, it was a awesome.

By the end, though, I was ready to come (home) to Santiago. Getting on the metro again felt like a gift, and the streets filled with people all moving in their own direction brought back that rush of energy that I lost while away. Classes start on Monday, so until then I am just taking it easy. Possibly headed to a Reggae bar tonight--we shall see.

I hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the length of this post. I just had a lot to say...and Im still not sure if I was successful in capturing it all. I moved out of my host family's house yesterday. Thank you to all the random Santiaguinos that helped me on my way---making it through the metro and across the city with all my stuff and no car was a huge challenge. Everyday I am more and more impressed by the kindness of the people here.

Chao for now...

beth o.