The Gira

THE GIRA

Because the Chilean education system is really different from the US’, they are lots of traditions that exist only here. One of these involves the class that you are with from 7^th grade on. From 7-12^th grade, you have the same kids in the same class and every year the only thing you change is the classroom. This definitely has its drawbacks and I definitely do not agree with it, however it means that 45 kids get really close over a long period of time. Starting in 7^th grade each class begins to raise money to go on a big expensive get away in some luxurious or foreign location with all their classmates. The location and the length of the trip are dependent on how much money the kids at the school have pretty much. I know kids that are going to Cuba, Brazil, and other countries in South America for 1-2 weeks. Luckily for us, we already live in Patagonia, so going somewhere beautiful wouldn’t be far. My trip was last weekend and it was 3 days and 2 nights at The Hot Springs of Puyuhuapi.

We took a 5 hour bus ride from Coyhaique to the location while taking several scenic stops along the way. The road to the resort was absolutely beautiful but there was something that wasn’t right with me. It was bit strange for several reasons but one was very obvious. This was the trip that everyone in my class had been counting down the days (literally we had a calendar on the whiteboard counting down the days of October) since 7^th grade for. For me, it was definitely something I was looking forward to, and something that I was excited about, however it was hard to match the excitement of the rest of the group. This overwhelmed me tremendously and it tired me out very quickly. I spent the first day very tired, always wanting to sleep, and having trouble comprehending Spanish.

My class with out teacher at a stop during the busride

Moving on from the bad and onto the good. When we arrived boats where we loaded up and took onto an island where we found our resort greeted us. The rooms were really nice and the view of the mountains was just breathtaking. There wasn’t any cable, wifi, we were completely disconnected. Well, I am going to take back the word COMPLETELY because there was a hardwire computer that I used Saturday night to periodically check the score of the Sox game, GO SOX! After settling in with our first meal we were told that we had 30 min to change and get ready for a walk in the woods to tour the area. The Patagonia has a lot biological differences than Vermont and so it was really cool to see all the different plants, trees, and insects. Let’s just say, even though they live in Patagonia, my classmates are not so much for nature. They kept asking when we were getting back so they could go to the spa and they struggled tremendously walking in the woods. ‘Twas sad and funny at the same time.

Getting ready to hike with my friend Ignacio

After an hour in the woods we returned to three hours of free time where we first tried out the main attraction at the resort, the natural hot springs. They were so relaxing and warm and just, perfect. We all had our bathrobes from our rooms on and we were just living the life. Luckily, before the trip I bought an underwater camera. This was perfect. We began what would be the process of taking hundreds of underwater photos.

Dinner was next and it was so good. It was a beef dish with mashed potatoes and fortunately/unfortunately everyone found out that I loved the food and also had a huge appetite. This meant that every single person nearby that did not finish or like the food just passed it on to me. I ate a lot of food this trip…

After dinner we all hung out in the lobby playing pool and talking before starting the “persona secreta” (secret santa). I bought 3 bars of chocolate for one girl in my class and I felt really badly afterwards because my gift was a really nice winter hat. Maybe I should have spent a little more, I didn’t really know before hand. After persona secreta we watched two videos that the parents put together for everyone. This moment was really special for all the kids and the 3 adults. Remember, these kids had been together since 7^th grade and were now watching a video of baby-current pictures of all of them together. It was a pretty special moment for me and I wasn’t even REALLY part of the process. Although, I did feel really good when I appeared in three of the pictures towards the end.

When this ended it was about 10 o clock and this started our free time. I tired very quickly. I hung out in a couple of the hotel rooms until 1 and when the rest of the group when to go night swimming in the hot springs I just knew I wouldn’t be able to function the next day so I decided to go to bed.

Cesar grabbing my butt after giving me
my awesome hat

Me hugging Carla after giving her my pitiful chocolate

I woke up an hour after breakfast had started. That ended up being alright because it was buffet style and there was still enough food to slow me down and with four cups of coffee I was ready to take on the day. Some of the others that went to the hot springs slept through the entire morning; I think I made the right decision to throw in the towel a little earlier. Promptly after breakfast, there was a kayaking/leaf hunting/clue finding team race that was really fun. I happened to find a shower cap in my bathroom so obviously I wore that the whole time. I was part of the kayak crew. We kayaked out to another island to get our colored balloon and came back. It was really informal and the winner wasn’t very clearly decided but being out there kayaking was really great. I felt like I was in Vermont, until I looked up and saw mountains that I would most definitely not be able to find in Vermont.

Following the race, it was spa all day e’rry day with only a break for lunch. The spa had hot tubs, a very warm pool, a sauna, and later I discovered a very small but adequate gym. I spent my time in the spa before lunch. Napped for two hours after lunch to let myself digest then hit the gym for an hour. I feel like the gym really helped clear out my drowsiness and any negative energy that remained from the day before. The gym was incredibly hot and humid from the hot tubs below so I sweated like an animal. It was felt really good to get outside afterwards instead of spending my last hour before another woods tour in the spa I walked down to the water and skipped some rocks. The rocks weren’t great for skipping but after searching for about ten minutes for good ones I scrapped up a good batch of about twenty and had a decent skipping session. It was really relaxing with the sun starting to go down a little bit, not many people around, and snowcapped mountains ahead of me.

Before the Gira I bought 20 dollars worth of marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers (they don’t have graham crackers) to show my class what an American s’more was like. When I told them about s’mores they actually had seen them in movies but didn’t believe that they were actually real. Unfortunately, no one told me that the fire was going to be on the hike Saturday afternoon and I became very bummed out when we arrived to a campfire that would have been PERFECT for s’mores. Luckily they had a lot of herb for maté tea and we all had our maté. Our class professor  gave us a nice long inspirational speech and then we took pictures and had a minute long moment of silence for nature (which I thought was really neat). I walked back with to the resort with the tour guide and had a nice conversation with him and he invited me to drink maté with him and help organize the boots, while everyone else went to shower and change for dinner. Maté is really good for conversation and getting to know someone. I like to compare it to smoking a cigar or drinking a beer with a friend and just talking. The only difference is it doesn’t have alcohol or tobacco so there’s no health threat. We talked about music, sports, our lives, and about the Chilean Patagonia. I actually learned a lot about where I live right now from our conversation.

Dinner Saturday was unfreakingbelievable. It was even better than the night before. It was a chicken and corn dish, oh my god. I literally didn’t stop eating. I was in pain afterwards. People just kept giving me their food. Oh, and I forgot to mention the salads before ever meal were killer good. Especially since right now “salad” in my house is a bowl of lettuce, it was nostalgic to have a salad with a lot of stuff in it and some kick-*** flavor.

After dinner, I went up to my porch and started playing guitar and singing. I was very quickly joined by 5 friends who heard me and we belted out songs to the rest of the people walking below us for about 30 minutes. It was awesome. When everyone left, my roommate Miguel and I drank some Maté and talked for about 30 minutes. Once again, I haven’t had a conversation like that with Miguel until we sat down, no technology, and had a maté together. We ended our conversation with getting ready for the costume party. We all rented costumes, like Halloween, and had a legitimate 3 hours dance party that was SO MUCH FUN. We danced from 11-2 and it was so frakin’ great. I was a German from Octoberfest. The costume was quite small and was either flattering or not flattering, I guess it depends on who you are.

The two germans together!

My friend Pilar and my teacher

We all slowly returned and eventually about twenty of us ended up in one of the rooms at about 3 and we played truth or dare and talked until 5:30 when about all of us passed out on either a floor or a bed. 10 people slept in a two person bedroom. At 8 o clock we rose like zombies for breakfast. The day was one of the most gorgeous days I have ever seen. I was incredibly upset that I missed the sunrise. It would have been right over the main mountain. I ate like a champion, per usual, at breakfast and just like the weekend was over…or so I thought.

We may have packed our bags and left the resort but that didn’t mean that it was all over. In fact for me the best part was yet to come I just didn’t know it. We drove for about 35 minutes when we parked the bus and unloaded. Turns our we were going on a 1:30 roundtrip hike up to a peak to look at a glacier. With the day being as perfect as it was it may have been my favorite part of the entire trip. What I didn’t understand was that about 15 kids stayed back and slept on the bus. I will touch on this in a moment. I think this was something I really missed about the US and although brought back from memories of the Inca Trail. Even though I live in Patagonia I have yet to have to the opportunity to go hiking or climbing of any sort. In Vermont it’s so accessible but here you are surrounded by mountains, but they ain’t close. You gotta travel and you gotta travel with someone. I felt really cleansed after the hike.

The rest of the bus ride home was filled laughs, guitar playing and singing, taking pictures, and talking about the trip. When we returned to Coyhaique, the sun setting on the mountains was one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Coming back from this weekend I had a lot to reflect on…

awake!

1.     I am very happy that I not only landed in Coyhaique and at the Liceo San Felipe Benicio (my school) but I am also really happy that I landed in the class that I am in. I have made really good friends. I’m not talking about acquaintances or people that just know my name. I mean I have a group of people that really care about me and I care about them. I am with the perfect group.

2.   There is a problem with Chile in terms of cigarettes and I am so tired of it. I really want to make a change but I don’t know how. Every person smokes, the adults smoke, the kids smoke, the teachers smoke, and they if they did it in private, I wouldn’t have anything to complain about but they smoke in public everywhere. I firmly believe it really comes down to the education. To start, the teachers smoke and they have no problem telling the kids they smoke or joking about smoking. Some even smoke the second they walk out of school or during free blocks with the kids watching. During the trip everyone was allowed to smoke as long as they didn’t smoke in the rooms. They smoked in the pools, walking around, on the hikes, and this included the parent chaperones. I mean, I don’t even know what fresh air is like anymore. The kids think it’s cool and just don’t get it. It’s sad for me because I can already hear the cracking in their voices and they are only 16-17 years old. I hope somehow I can make a change with this, even if it’s a little one.

3.    The last thing I want to reflect upon is the difference in the culture in terms of Carpe Diem (seize the day) and living the party life. I mean I am not going to lie, I have a lot of fun here. The people down here look to celebrate whenever they have the opportunity and so I have had the opportunity to enjoy a lot of different festivities. But the downside of this is almost everyone wakes up in the middle of the day and then goes to bed super late. To me and to America in general we like to enjoy the day more. The nature, the sunrise, the sunset, the beautiful weather. All of it is really important. A lot of my friends missed everything that was was important to this trip, just to sleep a little extra so they could be ready to go at it at night. It’s an adjustment I am constantly making and is interesting food for thought.

Gracias Tercero D por tenerme  y aceptarme en tu curso y la Gira pasó  la raja.

~Gringo

PHOTOS UNDERWATER:

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202445892053798.1073741843.1388974335&type=3

GENERAL PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP:

https://www.facebook.com/weston.muench/media_set?set=a.10202441846952673.1073741842.1388974335&type=3