I just got a pit in my stomach realizing that I leave in less than 3 days. I really want to stay in Chile, but that is not possible. Why do I always want to stay somewhere only when it is the time to go? I need to get better at enjoying things when I have them and not when they are being taken away from me.
I have been very pensive these past few days. I think I’ve grown a lot in this trip. I probably won’t be able to specify why until I’ve been back for a few months and can look back on this trip as a whole.
Overall, this has been the most intense living I have ever experienced. Far weirder and more euphoric than any acid trip.
What do you do for your last 2 days in a country you’ve lived for 4.5 months in? Pack.
Today
I’m going to try to type this despite being more tired than I’ve been in months.
I woke up at 4:30 am to go snowboarding at Valle Nevado. I tried to sleep on the 3 hour bus ride to the mountains, but I couldn’t despite being tired. I ended up talking to the new people in my program that are here for a summer session. We have a lot in common being in Chile as students from the US, but I think a little difference remains being that I’ve been here since March 2nd, and they’re here for like a month and a half. Not that either is better, but the experiences have some differences.
We made it to the mountain around 9 and it took about 2 hours to rent our gear. The place was packed because it was the first day of the season and winter vacation. Finally, at 11 we got moving on the mountain. The weather was perfect and it was just warm enough, but not too warm to melt the snow. The Andes are unlike the Rockies in that there are literally no trees, not a single tree in sight from the resort. They are also rather steep and jagged (being young mountains, unlike the old and shrinking Rockies). This made for some killer snowboarding, with lots of places to carve around. I would say it resembled a natural snowboard cross course, but with tighter turns. I was some of the coolest terrain I’ve ever hit.
I ended up hanging out most of the day with a peer from Texas and 35-year-old guy from the US working in Chilean tourism. They were as pumped as I was so they were good companions. I took off at a certain point on my own to explore the mountain. I went to the highest peak where you could see Santiago in the distance. Snowboarding with music alone is my favorite way to ride.
I noticed that it kind of looked like I was back in MN, because the people were often blonde and blue-eyed. Probably the top 1% of the population (with respect to monetary worth) make a habit of skiing here. It was super cuico and an accurate representation of who has money in Chile.
I felt so at home being around the snow, it was a wonderful sensation. That’s the most fun I’ve had in one day in a long time.
By the end of the day I was tired from the early wake up, burned from the sun, and physically exhausted. I must sleep.
Curiosities in Pucón
In picture one, there is a very out-of-place looking palm tree, while I was standing on a patch of snow.
In picture two, there is bamboo. I mean, bamboo? In Chile? Que the fuck, mane.
