Horseback Riding through the Andes

This weekend, I, along with six others from my program, went horseback riding through the Andes Mountains. Throughout the climb, I felt both powerful and small, very connected to the world and very disconnected from it, homesick and at home. It's been over five years since I last rode a horse, and the trail was difficult, but look at the view:



(Photos taken by Kim--I'm the one in the gray sweater)

Other than horseback riding, this weekend was great--the seven of us rented a cabin in Cajon de Maipo, a town about an hour and a half outside of Santiago, in between two of the Andes Mountains--and we cooked American meals, relaxed, and talked all weekend. It was good to take a break from the city, as well as take some down time (last weekend we didn't really have much, because of our excursion to Valparaiso.)

My only regret is that I didn't spend my last full weekend in Santiago with Mercedes. Next Saturday we leave for Temuco, and I am nervous about my new homestay family. Mercedes has been so wonderful, so kind and loving, that I feel like I am part of a new family in Chile, but this is not a consistent feeling among my friends. Some haven't been this lucky--it's not that their homestay situations are negative, but they're not necessarily positive either--and I am not looking forward to walking away from this cozy environment into a new one, which, chances are, won't be as comfortable.

But, I went horseback riding in the Andes this weekend. So things are good.