Oh man, do Madeline and I have some stories and pictures to share with you. I write this post with cuts on my hands and aches in my bones because, on Saturday, we ascended the almighty Cerro Pochoco, a wannabe-mountain right outside Santiago. Our reliable adventure guide, Mary Morr from Colorado, had read a couple days before the hike that it'd be pretty simple. 30-minute ascent, 30-minute descent. Pedazo de torta. Piece of cake. I think I'll now walk you through what turned out to be a very taxing (albeit enjoyable) day.
We all met in Las Condes, Madeline's neck-of-the-woods, and then boarded the bus that would drop us off two miles from the trail-head. Sitting at the bus stop was a cute little mutt Allison named "Rudy" (maybe for his persistence and don't-quit attitude?). That dog followed us for hours ... all the way to the top of the mountain (well, almost, but I'll explain later).
We got a little lost on our search for the trail-head. A windy road took us to a sign that read, "Al Cristo" ("To Jesus"). As we were about to go to Jesus just because it seemed like He might know The Way, some nice Chileans told us we were all wrong, that we had to go back down the road and climb this staircase.
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| There's Rudy! |
And who did we see when we got to the top? Jesus! And others! Turns out going to Jesus would've been the right choice all along ...
Once on this path, the view started getting prettier. We passed by what seemed to be cherry blossom trees, some wildflowers, and a charming antique-y orange car.
And then the view of the mountain we would soon conquer emerged!
When we got to the trail-head, all we saw was a barbed-wire fence. It was here that Mary announced, "Oh yeah, the website did say something about jumping over a fence to get to the trail ..."
Luckily, we found a secret passageway to the trail. And then began the hike. It started out alright, but soon became slippery. No one in our group but Mary had bothered to wear hiking boots. So this is the equation we had to work with:
Little traction from our tennis shoes
+
an extremely vertical, all-dirt path
+
nothing to grab onto except these cacti
=
a buncha giggles, scrapes, and embarrassing skids
But, in the end, the twoish-hour ascent was SO worth it. The view from the top was incredible (minus the smoggy city off in the distance). Mary was bummed because our trusty dog Rudy left us about halfway up the mountain to hike with some more experienced and well-prepared climbers. We did inherit a new furry friend, however. And guess what his name was? Jesus!
Next time our more-well-prepared selves go hiking, we're going to go even higher. To the top of the mountain pictured below.
In other news, Madeline and I are stealing away with some of our friends from the program in a couple weeks during Fiestas Patrias. Have we told you? Chile is turning 200 this year! And to celebrate, we're going to take a 13-hour bus ride to the Lake District in southern Chile to hike hike hike. We plan to climb a volcano in Pucón, hit the German settlement of Valdivia, hang around Puerto Montt and Lake Llanquihue, and spend the day of Bicentenario on the island of Chiloé, home to penguins and some meat dish cooked underneath the earth. We're pretty pumped.
Hey Abby and Maddy,
ReplyDeleteWe LOVE your blog. You girls have been so diligent and are such talented writers. I talked to Laughlin tonight, and she said she loves reading the Chilecheeseblog. She was, as we spoke, setting up her blog for her semester in Madrid. She said your blog inspired her. So,Yay for you two.