Pochoco

At the Choripanda my friend Grace met a Chilean guy named Fransisco, and they bonded over their love for outdoorsy things. Later he invited her and any friends to go hiking Sunday=today. So, I figured, lets be outgoing, make friends and get into the mountains... However, I was a little weary about the hiking part since I love being in nature, but I'm not a hardcore hiker(or hardcore any physical activity, let's be honest/see the gymnastics post) so I made her ask Fransisco how hard the hike was and he replied, "relatively easy!"
mmmhmmm.
Well it ended up that Grace, our American friend Katie(who's hand is in a cast after getting fractures skiing), this Spanish student Carlos, Fransisco and I met up at the last metro stop before the Andes at 9am. This is unheard of. Chileans party from like 1-6am. no exaggeration. So to meet on a Sunday anytime before 12 is crazy, but 9am...
After two micros and a taxi, we were at the foot of the Andes, in a gorgeous valley and basically, from the beginning the trail was like 100%vertical, just absurdly steep. We were sliding around on rocks, scrambling our way up Pochoco, the mountain, and after fifteen minutes I was dying. I kept going for a bit but I could tell I was slowing them down, although they were super nice and denied it, so I finally sat down and made them keep going without me. I spent the rest of the day lying in the sun on the side of this mountain, watching hardcore Chilean hikers with poles and camelbac backpacks and funny-looking sun hats booking it up the trail as I ate my lunch, read Isabel Allende and napped. For the first hour or so, I felt sort of guilty and lame for ditching out, but it turned out to be an ideal day. Nothing makes me happier than lying on the ground, and gazing at the sky/trees/birds/snow-capped mountains. I can literally do it for hours on end.

Finally they returned from the summit of this enormous mountain, exhausted and not resentful at all. After leaving at 9am, we didn't get home until 6:30pm.
However, Fransisco and Carlos were awesome, so new friends=check, and I did hike as much as I could, so exercise=check, and I spent a whole day contemplating the universe and feeling incredibly at ease, so spiritual rejuvenation=check!