Pichilemu

Punta de Lobos

George, Claire and Jackson!
BIG waves

Last weekend I went to Pichilemu which is a surf town with a bohemian feel. It was about a 3 hour bus ride from Santiago, but it took us almost 6 to get there because we were on a local bus that made countless stops along the way. I stayed at a family-run hostel with the friends I went with and met a few really cool people there as well!

On friday we went out to Punta Lobos where the waves are bigger for the more hardcore surfers and then went back to la Puntilla to surf ourselves. I rented a wet suit and board for about $12 and tried to get some waves... tried being the main word here- there were a few times I almost did it, once really close... but it was fun just to be out in the water.

Other then that we just ate, drank, and chilled with friends- good conversations with good people-what more could I ask for? :)

Rock climbing near Reñaca

Rocks perfect for bouldering
Pato- one of the deportes de montaña instructors who took us here
Javier
Javier's dog Bushie


Beautiful day! First time I climbed and got sprayed by the ocean at the same time!

Setting the rope

My camera ran out of battery, but the top of the rocks had a great view of the cost and many pretty flowers! We're going back next week so I'll take more photos

Before
After



About a week and a half ago I went diving with one of my chilean friend's Ricardo, his friend Enrique and Ruthie. We went to a small beach a little bit north of Con Con and they gave us a lesson. They both were in the Navy seals and work as divers so we were in safe hands and they went through everything before we got into the water. We dove only about 4 meters, it was cloudy but still looked really cool under the water and we saw some starfish and really big crabs! We had an underwater camera so we took a lot of pictures and then came back to Viña. I absolutely loved it!

Eating Thai with some girlfriends at Samsara-- YUMMY!

Katherine and Emily

Lauren and Marissa

Very sleek place! Dad you would really love it! And mom would really like the food- I still have to try the Tom Kha sometime

Mil Tambores- Carnival in Valpo!

My friend Angel doing tricks in the streets

This weekend there is a carnival in Valparaíso and last night was the parade called Mil Tambores. There was body painting ,music and dancing and thousands of people in the street singing and having a good time. I went to the parade around 4 p.m. and it was still going strong when I left to go home for dinner at 8. I had a blast and it reminded me a lot about Afro-Cuban dance back in Iowa City because some of the same music was being played and the dancing was similar. Everyone just let loose and had a good time!

Repelling on Saturday before camping for the night

Many pretty wildflowers!
The top of the mountain! After a 5 hour hike up- as you can see we were clearly above the clouds! 
But when the clouds passed the view was dramatic!

Last weekend my Mountain Sports class went camping and hiking in La Campana, a park about one hour away from Valparaíso. We left on Saturday morning and took a micro to the park. The class has about 40 people in it, both Chilean and exchange students and we split into groups of 5 for camping. Each group had to make sure they had tents, food and equipment for themselves and it was really fun to get to know some new people. We set up camp and made lunch, then had classes the rest of the day on repelling, CPR and what to do if someone were to fall and hurt themselves on the mountain, and how you should pack your backpack for camping. Then we went back to camp to make dinner and sleep. On Sunday we got up at 6 a.m. and met up in 2 groups to climb the mountain. It was quite a challenge, the path was steep, parts muddy, parts rocky and at the top you have to climb over a boulder field for almost an hour. We made it to the top in about 5 hours. We rested and ate and then headed back down. The going down was almost harder then going up because it is hard on the knees and my toes started to hurt from getting jammed into my shoes. We made it to the bottom at 4:40 p.m. and had 30 minutes to break down camp and catch the bus back home. All and all it was a good experience and we have a couple more trips like this one in the class. I loves being out in the wilderness and getting out of the city! But it showed me how out of shape I am!!! haha hopefully next time will be a little better.