Last weekend I went camping with my Mountain Sports class (yes, keep in mind this is all with my CLASS!) at a National Park called La Campana which is in Olmue (about an hour from Viña del Mar). We left Viña at 7am on Sunday, arrived at the park, set up camp, made lunch, had a mini class about tips to setting up a tent and packing a backpack, then we hiked a bit, repelled down a side of a cliff, did a mini canopy, tight rope walked, played with a wild tarantula, had a mini class about first aid and CPR, made dinner, played night games (which were basically: go off into the forest on your own without a flashlight), went in a mine, saw bats, walked back to camp, went to bed. On Monday (we had no class because of Dia de La Raza or Columbus Day) we woke up at 6am in order to get an early start to climbing la Cumbre (the name of the mountain). It was actually quite difficult. Going up took us about 6 hours (including small breaks here and there) and going down took us about 3 hours (more or less). That shows how much more difficult it is to go UP a mountain than it is to go down. I mean...going down at least you have gravity on your side. There was one time when going up the mountain I was breathing so heavily as the altitude was so high and we're basically doing millions of lounges in a row that I started praying! He came through...like He always does. When we got to the top of the mountain the view was INCREDIBLE! All that hard work was SO WORTH IT and it felt SOOOO GOOD to be on top of that mountain because I climbed up it! We got back to Viña later that night around 9pm. As soon as I walked in the door and gave my host mom a hug, the first thing she said to me was, "You're so burnt!" (in Spanish of course). hahahaa...yes...I got burnt. Thanks, sun. I even put sun screen on 3 times...it doesn't help that you sweat going up a mountain. haaaahaha. But really, I wasn't burned that bad...except for one part of my neck and my scalp! I ended up globing on aloe vera on my scalp before going to bed...when I woke up my hair was pretty much gelled back! hhaaahah! Yes, I know you're jealous that you couldn't have seen me like that.
Best part of the trip: The view from on top of the mountain. I seriously don't think I've seen anything so beautiful in my life before. We emerged out of the clouds and could see the Andes mountains and the tips of other mountains poking out of the sea of clouds here and there. Also, I never imagined the top of a mountain being so, well, rocky. I always imagined the top of a mountain being one little tip! jejejee And that the land would be nice a smooth and you could just walk up to the tip of the mountain, stand there and say, "I'm the king of the world!!!" Instead, there were tons of rocks! Granted, I bet not all mountain tips are the same. Maybe there's a mountain tip out there--somewhere--that I'll get to stand on one day.
Sunday:
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| Cooking lunch....potatoes! |
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| Our camp site....small tents, but they worked! |
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| canopy! |
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| repelling! |
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| prettttyyyyyy! |
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| don't worry. it's not like that's a real live wild tarantula or anything! |
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| inside the mine! |
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| We're IN the clouds! |
Monday:
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| Taking a break at Darwin's Rock! |
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| Our entire class! all 44 of us! |
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| Our Cordada (Mountain group!) |
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| ...almost taken off the mountain. oooops! |
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| Sarita! on the perfectly shaped rock-seats! |
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| I just want to roll down these rocks and 'eat dirt'! I mean....eat clouds!!!!!!! |
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| Don't the clouds look, well, delicious!? |
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| heading back into the fog... :( |
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| random cows? |
Did I hear the phrase WILD TARANTULA???? NOOOOO!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDid I prepare you well?? I bet all of the guys were super impressed that you could hold it :D
This sounds aaammaazzzing Diane. I know you told me about it on skype already, but it was cool to hear all the details on here. Tanya and I are going to try to go camping/hiking some weekend in Michigan haha....any ideas of a good place??
I'm sure the nature was absolutely GORGEOUS!! And I would eat the clouds with you!!