Yesterday was perhaps the best day I’ve had so far in Chile. I woke up early to join a group of international students from Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Australia and the US on an adventure to Cajon del Maipo, a canyon region in the Andes about an hour southeast of Santiago. It was an adventure just getting there, as we had to take the metro to a bus terminal to get us to the main town called San Jose de Maipo. From there, we wanted to go to the Banos Morales – natural hot springs that you can actually swim in. We had missed the only bus that goes there from Santiago, but managed to find a bus driver in San Jose who agreed to take all 14 of us to the Banos. Off we went literally through the mountains to this small village, using shaky bridges and passing so many bumps along the road. The view going into the village was so beautiful and I had a great time chatting with students from Australia and Mexico about the beauty of the mountains and what it means to “study abroad.”
We set off on a 12 km trek through the mountains to a lagoon at the base of an ice-covered peak. It was definitely a lot easier than my last hike at Aguas de Ramon, so I was thankful to be able to chat comfortably with everyone as we made our leisurely trek to the lagoon. It took us a couple of hours to get there and we stopped for a while at the lagoon to eat some lunch. The way back was even easier as there was no uphill climb to do, but we all seemed to be a bit quieter – truly taking in the mountains on all sides of us and how beautiful nature is.
It was definitely an emotional experience, as being surrounded by mountains often is for me. Seeing these gigantic land masses can make you feel so small, and for me this is a wonderful thing. Other problems and stresses seem to melt away when you remember how much of the world is out there and how small you are in terms of the rest of the mountain range, the country, the continent, the planet, and the universe. It also really makes you think about time – these mountains were formed millions of years ago, and I’ve only spent twenty-one years on this planet. It’s hard not to think about time when you’re studying abroad – I only have roughly four months in this country to soak everything in, and I can’t believe I’m already starting my fourth week here. Seeing these mountains makes time feel so slow and yet so fast – they’re so old and have been formed so slowly, yet I only have a short amount of time here to enjoy them.