Longest blog of my life

So you may want to grab a drink and a snack before you sit down to read this, because I have a lot to catch up on! First of all, GREAT JOB to the Luther Swimmers, you guys pretty much rock. Secondly, I hope everyone is doing well and I hope classes started smoothly!

Ok, so where to begin. I´m going to give you a day by day description of my trip so far. Just for some background, I am traveling iwth 3 other girls, Heidi, Maren, and Erin. We are all from Luther and are all studying in Valpo.

FRIDAY 1-26, SATURDAY

Today I woke up early and awkwardly left my host family, I think it will be a good change for me, and I had dinner with the new family today and ablsolutly loved talking with them. AFterwards the four of us went to JUMBO to buy food for our backpacking trip...we are going to make a killer trail mix and have some pretty great dinners planned. After shopping I went for an amazing run in Quinta Vigara, a park in the middle of the city that really makes you feel like you are in the country...it reminds me of Phelps park for all you people from luther. Heidi and I then headed to Maren´s house to pack and sleep before our 5:30 wake up call. We went to bed around midnight and ended up talking unil 3am....the alarm went off at four...oops. Anyways, we got to the airport and what did we find??!!! A STARBUCKS!!! YES, a STARBUCKS, now, I´m not one to be overly obsessive about coffee ...especially when you have to pay mad amounts of money for a small cup, but it goes back to the familiarity thing. ANYWAYS, we caught our flight to Punta Arenas....5 hours (by plane) south of santiago. We had a blast and Erin got out her energy by doing pushups in the aisle during our quick layover.

So we finally arrived at the hostal only to find that we had made reservations for the wrong month, we decided to go out and buy a tent and a stove so we could camp out on the lawn of the hostal...the tents are so cheap here, and in the end it was a good investment and saved us quite a bit of money. The hostal was so much fun. Eduardo , the owner is a great guy and helped us get our acts together before our trip. That night we met 2 guys from Israel, a couple from Germany, and a lady from Brasil. We talked with the guys from Israel for a while about their experiences and their country, SO INTERSTING. Lots of Isralies come here after their mandatory 3 years in the army. I´d say about 90% of the people we´ve run into have been from Israel. Eventually we went to bed, all packed and ready for the next morning.

SUNDAY

This morning we ran around like CRAZY trying to get our bus tickets all squared away. I´m sure four white girls with large backpacks running around a city at 8am was quite a sight. We finally got tickts to Puerto Natales...where we spent the night in order to catch a bus to Torres del Paine in the AM. We arrived in Puerto Natales around 6:30 and immediatly headed to the super market to buy food for dinner. We cooked veggies with pasta and topped it off with an ice cream cake...all for about a dollar a person...not bad at all.

MONDAY
Our bus picked us up at about 7:30 to head into the park....all together it was about a 4 hour ride to get to the first camp site. On the way we started talking to 6 chilean guys from Santiago. They were so friendly and decided to set up camp near us and hike with us for the afternoon. It was great to talk in spanish for the day and learn about each of them. They were shocked that we as women were able to carry our packs and start a fire to cook for ourselves...they were always offereing to help, its interesting how the culture shapes them to think that way. THey told us that their girlfriends wouldn´t be caught dead going backpacking. ANYWAYS; we hiked up to the torres for the afternoon. IT was a beautiful hike and there was an incredible lake at the top. I didn´t realize how much I needed a break from the busy city until I got to the National park, it was SO REFRESHING. The very top was all boulders, SO FUN! On the way up we met a couple from Canada, John and Helga. Little did we know, they would soon become our adopted parents on trail. They are professors in Canada but are teaching for a year inCHile. They are some of the smartest, funniest, and kindest people I have ever met.

THat night we cooked an amazing dinner of beans and tortillas...literally, it was amazing and we savored every bite. We then sat around a fire with the Chileans and Helga and John before we headed to bed.

TUESDAY- The most intense hour of our lives

So I wont write every detail of the trip because this could get very long. But today was the most intense day of hiking we would have. The terrin wasn´t bad but the wind was INCREDIBLE. There was one point where it literally lifted me up and threw me into the bushes. It was SO FUN! We hiked along a lake and by the end we were soaked because of all the water blowing onto us. We could see the wind comming towards us by looking out on the lake and seeing the water vapor as it approached. We would estimate the time we had to run before the wind hit us. We would run as fast as we could from place to place and when the wind was about to hit we would sit down and hold on tight to a rock or a tree. I am not exagerating, we were getting blown away and it was impossible to walk when the gusts would come. Usually big gusts would come about every 30 seconds....we ran when the wind died down and did this for about 2 hours straight. Then we hit the "beach of death" There was no shelter on this beach, just black rocks and water. When the gust died down, we booked it to the other side. IT was SWEET! We felt like army people in training. Needless to say, we made it to our campsite, exhausted but alive and running off of adreneline. What an incredible day. John and Helga arrived shortly after and introduced us to 2 guys from Germany who wanted to learn about where they could take some spanish classes. We talked with them for a bit and then went to bed.

WEDNESDAY- Calm after the storm
Today we did a day hike and then packed up our packs to head to the next site about 2 hours away. AT this point we had aquired the name "The Four Crazy American Girls" and were pretty darn proud of it...not sure why we were called that, but i suppose it fits. The campsite that we arrived at was incredible. When we first arrived the ranger gave us a box of old veggies and cheese to use for dinner. Needless to say, we ate like roalty that night. The camp had a hostal and resturante as well. Definlaty for the upper class "I want to go tot he mountains but don´t want to camp" type of people. Anways, we cooked dinner and sat with a couple form England for a few hours. They were also halarious to talk to.

THURSDAY and FRIDAY
We made our way towards administration to catch the bus. On Thursday I headed up to the Glacier ...everyone decided to do their own thing for the day, so we were all on our own. It was a great hike, and ince to have time alone...the Glacier was amazing..I´ll try to post pictures later. On thursday night we stayed at a pretty rustic campsite that luckily had a shelter from the wind to cook food. The two German guys were there as well as a mom and daughter from Santiago and 2 girls from Pikipsie , NY who attended college at Syraycuse....what a small world huh? For those of you who don´t know, I have a lot of family in NY from that area. ANYWAYS, we cooked a FEAST becaseu it was the last day on trail so we didn´t have to ration everything. WE were having a great time until one of the guys mentioned the mice below our feet. I ddin´t think it was too big of a deal, but Maren was a little nervous and ended up on the table...pretty comical...not for her i´m sure (love you Maren :) ) . We then went to bed wishing that we didin´t have to get up so early and miss the home-made bread that the german guys were making for breakfast...I need to find me one of them :) On FRiday we caught the bus back..I met a guy from Boulder...very small world. Friday night we got to the Hostal around 10 and made dinner. We then camped out for the night....way cheaper.

SATURDAY and TODAY!

We´re in Ushuaia! AFter a 12 hour bus ride, running around in the rain for 1.5 hours looking for a place to stay, and figuring out bus tickets, we finally have a chance to relax in the Southern-most city of the world. It is incredible and I am in love with it. WE are surrounded by snow covered mountains and the ocean. There are tons of places to eat and walk around in. Tomorrow we will hike to another glacier wiht 2 Israli guys that we met. Last night we went to an Irish pub and got the MOST AMAZING VEGGIE SOUP KNOWN to MAN...or maybe it was just cold out and the soup was the first real food we had eaten all day....Afterwards we went out with the Israli guys and ended up at a little Cafe talking about our adventures. I´´ve decided that I have to come back to ARgentina in a few years to work or something. I love it. This morning Erin and I went for an hour run and it was AMAZING. The air was cool and crisp and we are in the most BEAUTIFUL town, which definalty is a motivator. AND now, we´re all off doing our own thing...laundry, internet, eating , relaxing, enjoying the day!

I suppose that is all for the day. I´ll add details as I go. I wish there was a better way to capture all of our adventures. I miss you all and think of you all the time.
Love Cristina