South American adventures

On my mountain bike adventure, I came across this beautiful sign along the pass. The short bike circuit I did was in Bariloche, Argentina - part of Patagonia. It actually was not that short, it took about 4.5 hours of constant climbing up and then cruising down. Instead of being in my Spanish class, I was biking up and down mountain roads, no trails - alone, and in the cold. Biking is so rewarding because after a big climb the cruise down feels so freeing.

Anyway, for those of you that want a translation...
"Where there is peace, there is culture (community)...
Where there is community, there is respect
The planet is part of who we are and we are all one
The peace is the path
Love, the answer.

Peru 2010

Ruins in Pisaq, Peru

South American adventures

I hiked up my first 14er this weekend.

For people living in Colorado, hiking or climbing the 14ers is a part of saying you live in Colorado. If you live here long enough, you'll say you've climbed 10, 11 or more of these famous peaks. Why the excitement?

There are different classifications of the peaks and the one we did was a Class I - easy. It is 7.5 miles round trip and took about 5 hours total to summit and return to the campsite. Class III is the most difficult to summit without gear and Class IV and V require gear - climbing gear. Eventually, I hope to get strong enough to complete some IVs. I am going to stick with Class I and II for now - why not, right?

The beauty of hiking to the summit is the change in scenery as you ascend. Starting in a forest and then hopping through a rock jungle and then just hard rock and ground at the top. Another great part - hiking with friends! I went camping outside Breck with 3 new friends that I have met from my new church, Fellowship. Great people! One of the guys with us has just moved to Colorado a few weeks back so he jumped right into what it means to live in Colorado.

A little crazy but I ran a little over 13 miles the day before this hike - not suggested, by the way. My legs were dead and I was drinking a lot of water at the beginning of the trip. Luckily, that 2nd and 3rd wind kicked in with the adrenaline and I steadily moved up.

Living in Colorado is a dream. The mountains, the people and the adventure are snapshots of a deeper meaning to living here - I feel like I am discovering more of who I am here than I have in other cities where I have lived. What I like is knowing that there are no limits.... only the ones we set for ourselves. Here, friends push me to expand my limits and go beyond my comfort zone.

I love living here!

South American adventures

In a nutshell...or an empanada

Friends are asking me to highlight the best part of my trip. How do you highlight a trip as diverse as the one we just experienced? As I try to pop out the 'best' memories, the trip marinades slowly and richer meaning starts to fill my heart and soul, just like the aroma of a good Malbec wine, flavor appears slowly and suavemente.

In Peru, the best by far was being on the top of Huayna Picchu, or the big rock. It is the rock that oversees all of Machu Picchu and only 300 people a day are allowed to summit. There were about 40 - 50 people en route, at the top and coming down when we were ascending. The sense of self in a place that magical is undefinable. I imagined the hundreds of Incans who were responsible for the labor, the planning and revising of such a gigantic construction project. We think we have these beautifully built structures in downtown cities but compared to the purposeful and intricate construction at Machu Picchu, we are building Lego houses.

I felt so close to God when I was on that mountain in the middle of a huge forest. His world is beautiful and designed with a purpose. His world is beautiful - I met amazing people at the top of that rock and all of us were floored, enamored and deeply moved by the magic at the top of that mountain.

Then... Buenos Aires hit me like a 90 mph fastball. The European buildings, sugar and cakes everywhere, the Malbec wine from Mendoza, dancing until 7 AM and the friendly people. I am definitely going back! The fashion... the shoes.... the people are just gorgeous!
I met great new friends in Buenos Aires and that is the best experience. International friendships are a work of art. To come together in someone's second (or third) language and laugh, tell jokes, share stories on ex-boyfriends, adventures and international love is deeply moving. I made great friends in Buenos Aires - from Brasil and Colombia - we live in such different places but we are experiencing similar stories. I just love laughing at jokes in Spanish, sharing stories and exchanging secrets - but now, we wait until someone visits the other country. It is hard, making great friends and then leaving within 1 or 2 weeks, sometimes a few months later. Thankfully, we have facebook!

Brasil - 2014 for la Copa!

Chile... oh Chile... how my heart swells when I remember your oceans, the faces of the children at Hogar de Cristo and the humility I learned while living in a place where I did not understand basic conversations. I am hanging on to the memories of studying in Santiago and the travels throughout the country like an infant holds onto their blankie. My world improved because I was exposed to truth and another set of cultural values and expectations. We live in a diverse world and to have the opportunity to cozy up in a corner of the world for a few months... lead to some great revelations.

I travel the open road... healthy free, the world before me, leading where ever God has planned for me...

Chile

The long awaited return to Chile. Five years ago my life took a turn for the better when I studied abroad in Santiago. Now, I am here again with my friend Liza, traveling como mochileras, to see this country in the wintertime.

Today is our first day of nasty weather. We are in Villarrica, the sight of the gorgeous Volcan Villarrica and in the land of the lakes. The air is covered in rain so we can´t see the volcano. We are heading out on a night bus to Santiago.

We crossed the Argentina'Chile border by bus...and that means we didn´t have to pay an entry fee into Chile!!! So when you travel by bus in South America, you escape the fee.

Bariloche ended up being a calm, relaxing week in comparison to the wild, sleepless party in Buenos Aires. Our host family was so great. Caro, our host mom, is a young mom with two beautiful girls. Since we were there during the Argentina 2-week vacation, the house was full of her friends that were in Bariloche for the week. The school was shit so I went 2.5 days. We learned more with our family than at the school. Caro´s boyfriend, Agustin is a great chef and cooked great food everyday for us. I have some great photos of us making empanadas (I will definitely make them in the states) and teaching liza how to open a bottle of wine the right way. Actually, I have a great video of that!

The best part of Bariloche was an all day bike trip I did by myself. I left school early one day and went on a Short Circuit bike trip around some lakes. The trip was difficult because there were a lot of hills. The views were preciosa and maravilloso - just unbelievable. Bariloche is very similar to a mountain town in Colorado but it has these amazing lakes. Colorado is missing the lakes - or else it would really be perfect. Barioche was FULL of Brasilians so I definitely learned to understand Portuguese. That will come in handy when I go to Brasil for the 2014 World Cup.

We also went to Villa la Agostura which is close to the Chilean border. Beautiful town!

The skiing in Bariloche was not that great but definitely worth the trip. We had a blast because of course, we were off track and snowboarded down some ATV trail! WHOOPS. The lifties thought that was hilarious when we asked them where we had been. Only crazy Americans would go through trees that were not marked.

The Argentinian people are beautiful - inside and out. They eat dinner after 10PM which is a little crazy, go out dancing until 5AM and drink little Italian coffees with more sugar than I usually consume in a year. Will I be back in Buenos Aires?

I met a woman that teaches in an IB high school outside of Buenos Aires and they are always looking for native English speakers because her school is bilingual. High school math teacher in Buenos Aires? Maybe one day....

Bariloche

A small mountain town in Bariloche, Argentina. think Breckenridge, but developing country with awful pollution and dogs living in the street.

then add the majestry of the ANDES mountains and the most beautiful blue lakes nestled at the base of the mountains. This mountain town is international and breath taking throughout the whole day. As the sun moves, blues, greens and pinks transform the skyline into postcard images.

Right now there are more Brasilians here than Argentinians and I just heard English for the first time today... I have been here for 5 days.

I went to an amazing restaurant in town, opened for 6 months now, Sesamo. The owner, Ari, is Israeli and moved here 7 years ago. Many Israelis travel throughout South America for months after the obligatory military service. He came down, loved it and moved to Bariloche with a good friend from Israel. They opened a hostel in El Bolson, a neighboring community, and know has about 100 beds. They opened the restaurant -Middle Eastern food in a country where the only food is pizza, pasta and meat. Thank you to Ari for opening a slice of heaven in Bariloche. The food is spectacular. I like to think that I am a good judge of Middle Eastern food and the hummus - jumus in spanish - is amaaaazing. I could eat there pretty much every meal!

The Rocky Mountains are the best skiing in the Americas. I can say that now that I have skied in South America. Pretty sure there isnt skiing in Central America so I have tried it all (almost). Vail is #1 for sure! Aca, the snow is like sugar but with a hell of a lot of ice. The mountain is big but there is no elevation so the runs are pretty short. The best part, our hilllllarious expedition into the trees that left us on a 4x4 trail in the middle of the mountain, literally off the ski map. of course we walked through an ATV trail and rode down part of it. Of course.

We had fun but I am counting down the days until opening day in the Rockies.

Off to Chile in a bus on Sunday....