Finally, we got to El Colorado ski resort and we could see the slopes. It was incredible. It took us forever to rent skiis and everything but soon enough we were off! I haven't been skiing since freshman year of high school so I was a little nervous to be back on the slopes. But It came back to me pretty fast. We went down a couple of green slopes first and then I was ready to get into the harder stuff. I didn't have snow pants or a snow jacket but I had worn all the layers that Auntie Robin had bought me plus more. I had on top: a cami, tank top, t-shirt, long sleave thermal, sweat shirt, fleece, and a rain coat. On the bottom I had: spandex, jeans, sweatpants, rain pants (Auntie robin said they would come in handy and she was right:-)) plus two pairs of wool socks, scarf, hat and gloves. I was expecting to be freezing cause I had been freezing walking around the city. But much to my pleasant surprise, it was gorgeous on top of the mountain. I ended up taking off a lot of my layers and my hat and gloves so I just had a long sleeve and my rain coat. It was awesome not to feel raw while I was skiing. We skiied for the rest of the morning and then went to the lodge for lunch. I had pasta and a crepe with Nutella (yum). And then we spent the rest of the afternoon skiing. The time flew buy so fast. I could have skiied for hours more but I think my muscles were happy I had to stop to go home.
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| From Skiing |
I saw some of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. In New England I was used to skiing through the woods which is awesome and peaceful. But skiing the andes was a whole different experience. We were so high that there were no trees growing where we were. So it was weird at first but because of this, I was completely surrounded by mountains. It was humbling and a truly spiritual experience to see a view that magnificent. As I was skiing I was just looking out at the mountains and thinking "Oh my gosh those are the ANDES!!!" It was surreal. I kept having this memory of a retreat at stonehill where we were talking about our images of God. We were asked "do you see God more like the ocean, or like the mountains." I said the ocean. But all I could think about while I was skiing was that I would probably change my answer.
I also laughed an incredible amount on this trip. My friends that I went with were also having an amazing time and it was great to experience it together. They are truly amazing and fun people. I had a lot of struggles with chair lifts. The first struggle happened on the T-bar lift. I had never used one before and either had Jefe so naturally we went up together=bad idea. What you are supposed to do is catch the bar, put it behind your butts and wait for it to start pulling you. Well we didn't really know what we were doing so I'm standing there holding onto this bar, not sure what to do with it, when Jefe started to fall sideways...towards me. So we both fall down and keep getting struck by the t bars passing by. The guys working the lift grabbed my arm stuck the pole on my butt and we were off, holding on for dear life. We had no balance and almost fell the whole way up. Once we were approaching the top, we started to panic because we didn't know how to get off. In my attempts, I almost crashed into a snow wall because I couldn't get the pole off of my butt. I was laughing so hard I was crying. The next big struggle was with a regular ski lift. I went through a short cut to get to the three person lift and I was going to go up with Ana and Jefe. Ok so the way that the lift was set up was much like a horse race gate. Where each person has their own compartment to wait for the lift and when you can go, the gate swings open to let you out. I guess I was a little to far away or took too long getting through the gate because as I'm almost through it comes swinging shut...hard. So as my right leg is behind the bar but my left leg managed to get through. I thought... ow, but not a big deal, just a little embarrassing but I'll wait for the next lift when the gate opens again. But when the gate opened it took me with it because i was basically straddling it. I swung with the bar so I was basically facing backwards. The nice lift guys each grabbed one of my arms and literally dragged me into place and put me on a lift. I was practically peeing my pants I was so embarrassed and I was laughing so hard. Ana and Jefe were in front of me so I was glad someone could share in the glory that had just occurred. Meg and Tracy were behind me too so they saw too. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones who were amused though. I thought I was having a rough time with the lifts until I heard that my friend Jackie who had been snowboarding, fell every time she got on a T bar. But instead of fixing it, she literally got dragged up the mountain on her butt and had people stare at her. We were clearly the ridiculous Americans.
My favorite part of the whole trip was our last run. We did not have much time left and we had taking lifts all the way to the top. We decided to take our last run in on a new trail that went around the back of the mountain. It was the only trail back there and it was just a narrow path that wrapped around the whole mountain. I have never seen anything that incredible in my life. I felt like I was completely alone in the mountains. I literally got goosebumps or God-shivers as lauren and I like to call it. I took a video and pictures but they do not do the real thing justice.It was a perfect way to end one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.
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| From Skiing |
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| From Skiing |
To continue the surreal experiences of the weekend, I went on Sunday to the annual human rights protest in Santiago Centro. We were warned by Roberto that people get arrested every year so that if we do go, then we should just observe. This was truely my intention as I made my way to the place where the march was supposed to start. I met Jackie there and we were walking to meet up with Alex, Laura and Laura's padres. First I saw the only two red heads in all of Chile: Laura and her padre, next I saw the homemade communist flag that Laura's dad was holding. Next thing I know, after meeting Laura's family, we were marching right into the middle of the communist party that was at the start of the line of protesters. There was flags and chanting and yelling- I was starting to get the picture that we would not be observing the protest.
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| From Protest |
So there we were marching with the commies. It was actually really cool. It was amazing to see thousands of people who were reved up about human rights. There were carabineros (police guys) lining the roads we were walking on with helmets and bullet proof shields and giant tanks. But it was a very peaceful protest. Until....
So there we were walking along chanting "Chi chi chi, le le le. Partido Communista de Chile" and Alex and I had to go do a project for our Spanish class so we were going to leave and go to the metro stop that we were going to pass soon. We were almost there when we saw another group of SIT girls run by. I thought they were running because they were having such a good time. So Jackie and Alex ran to catch them to tell them to march with us. Alex came back but no Jackie. And people were starting to yell more but I didn't think anything was going on. Next thing I knew Laura's dad said "solamente agua" and I'm like "what where's the water?" And I turn around to see the crowd rushing toward me and one of the big tankers spraying what looked like water from a fire hose. And then my chest started to feel tight. I turn and look at Laura's dad and he just kept saying "tranquila, tranquila, no corras, adelante" to me "be calm be calm don't run keep going." As I am seeing everyone running at me. It wasn't water that the cops were spraying onto the crowd, it was tear gas. People kept running and it was starting to get a little scary. Laura's dad was keeping us calm but everyone around us was starting to panic. Laura started coughing and my chest was getting tighter and tighter. The crowd started to push and at that point we were up against one of the shoulder high metal barricades that lined the streets during the protest. People were running and pushing us. I was holding onto Alex's and Laura's hands for dear life. Her madre was shepherding us like a mom while her padre kept trying to keep us calm "tranquila tranquila" but then would turn and yell angrily at the cops. I had my head down and I remember looking up and seeing the tear gas as little specs in the air around us while I was shoved up against the fence. People were jumping over it and falling but there was no way I was going to get over that quickly. I remember being the most scared at that moment. I saw no way out of it and the gas was only getting closer. And just as I was feeling terrified, the metal fence was pushed down. All of us were able to step over it and get to a place away from the gas. I tried to cover up my mouth with my shirt but it didn't really do much. I nose stung really bad, my chest was tight and my throat hurt. At that point we were at the metro stop so we were able to get out of there. We soon met the other group of SIT girls with Jackie who had run not because they were having fun but because they saw the tear gas. Annick's mom immediately pored salt into our hands, made us like it and then squeezed lemon juice into our mouths. It was nasty but immediately stopped the burning in my throat. We had seen people carrying lemons earlier and had asked about them. We understood that they were for tear gas but like naive little gringas, thought it was a symbol for the overcoming of the tear gas that Pinochet used on the people. But it was not a symbol...
It was frustrating that the protest was so peaceful and really cool and that the police then had to make chaos and gas the crowed. I heard after that the anarchist in the back of the protest started throwing things but that is not grounds to gas the entire crowd. There was a 3 year old girl who was walking with her mom and dad right next to us for most of the march. As Annick's mom was squeezing lemon into my mouth she was murmuring "que democracia" "what democracy" She was clearly frustrated too that the peoples right to protest was being inhibited by the government. It was a very eye opening experience for me to be a part of a protest like that and to then experience being gassed. It made me sad that the government was trying to stop something like that. That is what democracy is all about. So I was glad to see that the march kept going and people were not stopped by the gas. Its cool to see that many people who are willing to put up with a lot to stand up for human rights and democracy.
So that was my weekend. I'm not sure if this is real life.
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