Washing feet in the kitchen sink.

..sounds gross I know. But, being in Pucon (the tenth geographical region) in Chile has been one of the most favorite parts of my trip here. We left really early in the morning for an hour flight to Temuco, then drove 1 hour to a town called Villarica. They also call this region the Araucanía, because it´s where the Mapuche indigenous tribe lived. Here we met up with our Mapuche tour guide.

We then drove up to his Mapuche village up a mountain, talked with a lady there, and then played this cool Mapuche game. It´s kinda like field hockey. Later on we hiked up this mountain that was literally completely uphill. I was dying, and realizing that me walking to the bus stop and around downtown Santiago is NOT exercise. We got to see an amazing water fall, and even walked behind it. The water was freezing, but after having disgusting dusty feet and being all sweaty, it was refreshing. Once we reached the top, the Mapuche ladies had prepared a great meal for us. It was sheep meat with potatoes and tomatoes and salad and everything. It wasn´t the most tasty thing I´ve had, but it was really honoring to know how much the ladies had put effort into preparing the meal.

Then, the guide offered to let us go rappelling. Here I thought it would be no big deal, I´m tough right? Then we see that we´re rappelling right next to the giant waterfall. I was scared to death, and was scared to death as I was going down. But we did it! Two girls got stuck in trees, but other than that it was pretty awesome. We hiked back down the mountain and ate dinner in Villarica, which consisted of cheese empanadas and these friend corn things that I love. Mom, you need to find a recipie for these cheese empanadas : )

We got back to the hotel and were in cabins of 6 girls. We all wanted to rush for the shower. However, hot water is a hot commodity down here. So, I sacrificed and showered the next morning. Well all of the sinks were taken up and my feet were GROSS. So...I did what my mom would not approve of and washed my feet in the kitchen sink. As I sat there I thought, what a good tired to be. We were in this beautiful places with mountains, lakes, hot springs, basically anything you could ever want.

The next day we visited a couple of beaches and these hot springs. It was really beautiful. Dr. Cass also brought all the girls red carnations with little bows on them because it was valentine´s day. Alex took me to breakfast, but we had a date the next night.

The next morning we decided to go canopying, but that only took half a day. So, the first part of the day we went bike riding through this beautiful trail around the city. There was the bluest water I have ever seen. Canopying was amazing, I felt like tarzan, because basically all you do is swing through the trees. We also decided to climb a volcano, the active volcano Villarica. This volcano had destroyed the town of Villarica back in the 60s so they had to rebuild it. Later that night alex and I went on a nice sushi date.

Saturday morning....6:45....about to hike for 10 hours. Not the most exciting thought I´ve woken up to. It ended up being one of the hardest but best things I´ve ever done. I was thinking that this hike wouldn´t be that hard...boy was I wrong. It was completely uphill...upmountain should I say. We hiked through volcanic rock, snow and ice. We had crampons, helmets, boots, pants, the whole nine yards. It was scary going up, but once we reached the top it was incredible. We couldn´t see any lava, but we saw smoke and whiffed in some toxic gas. But..the view from the top is amazing. God has created a beautiful world for us to enjoy. I am reminded of this everyday. I love pretty place....but the top of Villarica is one of the most incredible things I´ve seen. The way we got back down was cool too. They had these like snow slide things that we could just ride all the way back down. Kind of how penguins slide around on Happy Feet. I LOVED IT. Go check out Alex´s photos:

www.flickr.com/photos/chileanseabass

Until later, hope all is well! Chau!
Love,Bailey

News from Greenville.

I just got word a couple of days ago that a student at Furman was killed in a car accident on her way to train for a year long mission trip to Spain. Her name is Jessica Pety and she lived on my freshman hall. She was a strong believer and I have no doubt that she is in a better place. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers.

¡Adelante! ¡Adelante!

"Forward, forward!!" our raft guide was screaming as we were rafting down the Cajón del Maipo just an hour outside of Santiago. I think those words echo a sentiment that I´d like to maintain throughout the rest of the trip. Keep moving forward. We only have 5 days of class left. I cannot believe it. We got our first tests back, and it feels like summer down here because we´re about to have exams and papers due. No worries, we have been enjoying everything still.

Friday we went to Pablo Neruda´s house in Isla Negra. He had a bunch of collections, and the house itself was amazing. Our guide told us that he also liked to collect women, lovely. It was actually really fun. He had all these crazy African masks, a bunch of boats in bottles, and a huge shell collection. I never throw away anything so I can relate to his pack rat nature. We also spent some time walking along the beach at Isla Negra. It is beautiful, probably one of the best things I´ve seen. Alex says it´s a lot like California, huge rocks and waves. I took some time out to say a prayer praising God for all he´s created. It´s amazing. Alex and I will have pictures up soon.

We also went to this cute little souvenir town called Pomaire. We sat down and ate at a restaurant, and silly me gets all excited because the server brings us ice. (I seriously don´t think ice exists in Chile except for the part that´s Antarctica.) Then Dr. Cass comes to our table and says....um...you might not want to drink that water with ice. Whoops. Luckily I was fine. Pomaire had lots of cool ceramics too. No mom, not as good as the stone ware : )

Saturday was a big day. Alex and I started off the day visiting the Palacio Cousiño in Santiago. It´s like the Biltmore house for Santiago. The Cousiños were a huge mining family and now own vineyards just outside of Santiago. The house was beautiful and ornate. Lots of black marble and hand painted tiles.

Then we hopped on the metro to meet some friends to go white water rafting in the Cajón del Maipo. The Cajón del Maipo is this huge valley kind of thing an hour away from the city. It´s incredible to me that right outside of this huge metropolis lies so much nature. The water was kinda gross looking, but I´m going to assume that it´s the sediment that makes it look gray. The water was also 4 degrees...celcius. We had to wear wetsuits, shorts, jackets, life jackets, and a helmet. I´ve never had to wear so much gear for rafting. It was still really fun. Alex got to be the guy in the front of the boat giving it more weight. Basically he got to float while we all paddled...just kidding.

Then, we dried off, took a taxi back to the metro, and went downtown. Yes I know pretty disgusting. But, it was Dr. Cass´s wife´s birthday, so we all celebrated at this really cool tapas place.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I think that was good for us though. We did some homework, then watched the superbowl at our professor´s apartment. Nothing like some good Coca Cola and doritos. Haha.

This week I have my presentation for class so I´m going to start reading ahead. I also have to start working on my project about psychiatric hospitals in Santiago. Let´s hope they don´t commit me. Saturday we´re going on a wine train, but we have the whole day Friday to do fun stuff so hopefully we´ll think of some cool stuff.

Hasta luego!