10-05-08

The wind and rain caught up with our camping trip this weekend. I joined my host mom, fellow volunteer Charlie, and the Cecelia, profe de educación física, as well as 13 alumnos from the Polytechnic school, for a three-day trip to Torres del Paine. I hate to say it, but it went pretty terribly. The laid back Chilean onda did not serve us well--our route changed at the last minute (so instead of doing a chunk of the famous "W" hike, we wound up sitting in a rainy quincho all day), and our tiny two-person tent was packed with three. The alumnos didn't seem to be picking up any outdoor skills--at least one was offering me créme de menthe for breakfast (go figure, things are more relaxed here)--and three managed to come into my tent at night to ask me stupid questions. ("Elisabet, What are you doing?") Charile and I did a fair bit of lamenting, considering how we would do things differently, but in the end we just made the best of it, met some interesting folks from Hong Kong and Israel, and did get in a few day hikes, in which we were almost knocked down by windgusts. The rope suspension bridge just before the Campamiento Italiano in the Valle Frances was a lot of fun.