It was Thursday morning and I was sitting in a long orientation for exchange students at the Catholic University. During the snack break I listened to a group of students from my program talk about possibly going south that weekend to go camping and backpacking. The south of Chile is known for being beautiful with lots of lakes and national parks and not having a lot of people. One of the guys, Mark, said to me, " you should come with us, I remember you said that you like hiking and the outdoors." But I replied with a no, because being the adventurous and spontaneous group that they were, they wanted to leave that evening, giving us all about six hours to prepare. There was a lot of logistical stuff that we as foreigners with student visas still had to work on and there was much that had to be finished before the weekend.
I took a bus home and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. True, I didn't know the group very well and I wasn't sure I trusted their plans - or lack of plans, but I just had this feeling that they were going to have an incredible time. When I got home I explained the situation to my house mom after which she immediately called me crazy for not saying I would go. "Are you nuts?" she says to me in Spanish. "How many times do you find a group to go backpacking with in the South of Chile?!" "But I have so many things I have to get done before I go" I told her. The situation seemed impossible.
However my house mom is not easily dissuaded. She made me make a list and then practically grabbed my hand and marched me out of the house. She helped me out a lot getting ready for the trip, like moving me up in the line to get my Chilean ID, and also calling the bus companies to see if they had room for our group that was heading out that evening. I very nervously called Mark and asked if I could still come along and then got the plans for meeting at 9pm at the metro station.
Armed with tents, our packs, sleeping bags and snacks, seven of us, Josh, Ben, Mark, Wade, Brittany, Laura and I boarded the bus ready for the 10 hour overnight bus ride to Temuco, a city to the south of Santiago. The group of people I went with was amazing. Everyone was hilarious, laid-back and easy-going. We were all in good spirits - so much so in fact that nobody was too alarmed by the fact that upon arriving in Temuco at 6 in the morning, we had no plans, no idea where to go, and no reservations.
Sitting in the bus terminal and wondering about our next move, we picked by random lottery our route into the national park (Parque Nacional Lago Conguillo). Transport in Chile is not always easily accessible and it is never safe to assume that one can get anywhere at any hour. We took another three-hour bus ride, this time over gravel and dirt, to the town nearest the National Park Entrance, Melipeuco.
Upon arriving in the tiny town we asked around for the tourist office only to be answered with laughs and glances that resembled, "are you serious?" expressions. Tourist offices in Chile are not like those in the US. This particular one was closed for the day/season/year? And there were no maps to be had. Our group decided to have a huddle in the park and agreed that we needed some route of transport into the park. There were no buses that ran into the park becuase the roads were nearly impassable. This particular park is centered around a still active volcano and most of the roads are made in the lava.
We decided our options were hitchhike or give up. But what we really wished we had was a man with a truck. Just then, a man with a truck drove by and slowed down by the park. This was not unusual as Melipeuco is small and everyone was acutely aware of the seven clueless backpackers in the town center. Mark and I went over to talk to the man to see how much we could pay him to bring us to the camping sites near the lake. As luck would have it, Pascal, the driver of the truck, was happy to transport the seven of us and our gear to the center of the park for about six dollars each.
After another two hours in a truck driving across black, rough lava fields in view of an amazing snow-covered volcano, we made it to camp. Since the park is so difficult to get to, there were barely any people there and we were able to get an amazing campsite near the lake in view of the volcano. We set up camp and swam in the lake, explored the shore, and took naps on the beach.
So far, we thought, things on the trip were going smoothly even though there was a significant lack of preparation. But we would be faced with a few setbacks such as a two-man tent and a three-man tent and seven people (four of which were big guys) and a lack of food and water (none of us had thought to bring any real supplies). But being the problem-solving exchange students that we were we set out to solve the dilemmas. We bought some food from the ridiculously tiny camp store which included six sausages and some potatos and agreed to squeeze into the tents. Although everyone went to bed a little hungry and nobody got much sleep as we were stuck in tents like sardines, spirits were high thanks to some great guitar playing, singing, and some entertaining conversation by the fire.
The motto of the trip was, "Set the rations to meager and the pace to grueling." The next morning we set off on a long hike after dividing up what little food and water we had. After getting lost for about two hours, we managed to find the trail head and kept a sweaty pace until we reached a good altitude for lunch. The view was incredible and after spending some time lunching, Mark, Ben, and I decided to keep climbing while the others headed back. The rest of the hike was amazing and the three of us made it past the tree line and into snow. It was so much fun being up in the mountains with nobody else around enjoying the view of two volcanos and lots of plants and trees that I had never in my life seen before.
Later that night as we all laid on the beach looking up at the sky packed with stars we agreed that it had been quite an unforgettable trip, especially becuase of the way things just fell together in a way that couldn't have been planned. I had so much fun and feel blessed to have been able to spend such a fun weekend with a great group of people in a practically untouched paradise.
Yay! Sarah, this is definitely one of the reasons why you are there---Nick and I are living vicariously...lots of love,
Wendy & Nick
Awesome! Sounds like you are having a great time. Glad you got to travel to the south of Chile. The pictures rock, can't even comprehend what it must have been like actually being there. Keep us posted back here in cold Michigan.
-John
HoLy Damn SasA!!!! U Go GuRl!!! That's WhAT I Am TaLkIn' AbouT... First, You Get hookED Up WiTh A pRetty SweeT pAD and WirelEss inTernEt... GuRl... ANd Then GoIn' TO PAradiSe... HEyl yEA!!! I lOVe You Sa AND I Am SoOoOoOOooO PRouD OF yOU FoR DoIN' ThiS and IT iS goOD To See U RelAxiN" In THe MIDst of ChAos... Ill HollAH back SomE mORe ONce FinAls iS Really OVer... JuSt TakiN' A Break Rite noW... MiSs U WilD ThAng (^_*)
Hey Sa,
Holy cow! Those Andes are going to make the Alps look like molehills! (or vice versa-- you be the judge) And "Holy damn Sasa"
from Wilmina? The same Wilmina at Fuller Seminary? OOOOOKaaaaay!
Love ya, d
Hello my sister, well it does sound like you are having quite a time over there. It's neat that you got to see the South of Chili and make some new friends. It was nice talking to you in broken conversation last night, hee hee. You are an adventurous one, yes you are. Now what haven't you done? Well, you are in my prayers, I love you!