Cajon de Maipo

Last weekend me and five other girls from my program when to the Maipo Canyon which is about a 2 hour bus ride outside of Santiago. We left Friday evening and tood a bus to a campsite. We had borrowed a tent from one of the girl's host family which was a crazy, giant 3 room tent which was not meant for carrying around but I ended up bringing my big backpack just to carry it because it was so big. The process of trying to figure out how to set up the enormous tent was quite amusing, but we eventually figured it out.

We were in the middle of nowhere with no cities close by and so the stars were amazing. We could see so many stars and the milky way was so clear. After the whole tent ordeal, me and two other girls ended up sleeping outside anyway, under the stars which was so beautiful.

Some pictures from walking around near the river the next day...


Then we went white water rafting which was so fun. The actual rafting was amazing but the highlights were 1. when we got to jump out of the boat and just float down the river with lifejackets, and 2. when me and the two other girls on my side of the boat fell out. yup, we fell out. We hit a big rapid, the boat started to tip and next thing i knew i was in the water and as the water rushed past my face I managed to grab the boat and someone pulled me back in. It wasn't unil I was settled in the boat that I realized other people had fell out too. Anyway, it was exciting to fall out. If you want to see pictures of me all geared up in a wetsuit, water shoes, shorts, jacket, life vest, and helmet, check back, check back because I am just waiting for someone else to give me the pictures.

Also, there were grape vines growing everywhere around the rafting place with really good grapes and so we ate a ton and then took some bunches back with us to eat on the bus.