Chapter 7 ~ La Campana

In which I explain what happens when mother nature decides to take things into her own hands...


First I'll tell you what I don't have. I don't have very many good pictures of 'La Campana', if any at all. I don't have the experience of sleeping two nights in the mountains of Chile. I don't have a group (I'll explain this shortly). As for what I DO have; I have a cold, I have extremely muddy clothes and shoes, I have a bruise on my chest, but most importantly and above all other things, I have a story.

To start this story we have to go back a few days before the trip. The way my mountain sporting class is set up is in two groups. In each of the groups, the students are split into small sub-groups of three or four. I chose to join the group with the vegetarian German couple, meaning I wouldn't be able to eat meat during the trips, and I would have to share a tent with a couple. The three of us decided that it would be easier, because they were the members of the group that were 'picky' eaters and they lived together, that they could go out and get the food and I would just pay them when we met up to leave on the trip. They also thought that they could find a tent for us so I wouldn't have to worry about that. The day before we left and two days after I had spoken with them last, I sent them a message asking if everything was ready, and if not what could I do to help. About one hour later I received a response with a sincere apology saying that neither of them would be able to make it on the trip because they were both feeling sick. Now is where the story gets interesting. While I don't blame them, after all people get sick, I was still a little upset, because the two members of the group that were supposed to have everything were no longer going, and I am now without a group, and without supplies for the trip tomorrow. I quickly e-mailed the professors explaining the situation, stating that I need a tent for camping, just for myself, and  anything else they could supply me with. I then went out to go to the store (during the national strike going on outside) to pick up food for two days. I stayed in Vina, because the riots almost always stay in Valpo, and went to the Jumbo (store for foreigners, similar to an unorganized Wal*Mart). I picked up food that was already ready to eat, applesauce, bread, peanut butter (which was the first american food I had eaten in over a month), cereal  bars, dried fruit, and you get the idea. I was trying to find food that was easy to eat, and that I wouldn't need to cook, so I could avoid packing cooking gear, and avoid buying a gas canister. The store was a success, all food purchased and all for under 20 dollars. When I returned to the house, I had received an e-mail from the professors. It was a short response and my feelings were mixed on its contents. On one hand I had a tent, great news; on the other hand, it was the same tent that the professors were sleeping in.

The next day, I had all of my gear packed in my hiking backpack supplied by my amazing Uncle Mike (thanks a million it worked out really well) and I was ready to meet the rest of the class. We met up at 3 in the afternoon and headed out using the metro and then a bus, and then the rest of the trail by foot. We were told that it would take about 2 hours to hike to our camping spot, and then tomorrow we would be able to leave most of our supplies with our tents and hike the rest of the trail (to the peak) with less weight. That sounded good to me, so we started the hike. It was about five o' clock when we started and I knew that most of the hike would be made at night. It was colder up in the mountains and there were clouds everywhere. I knew that the likelihood of rain was pretty high, and I also knew that in the mountains there might even be a chance of snow. The hike itself wasn't bad at all, a little tiring, but overall fun and it felt great to be out in the mountains. Fresh, clean air, no sounds of traffic, no sirens, it was nice. And even though it was pitch black for most of the hike, and the fog was too dense to see anything during the day portion of the hike, I knew in the morning when we woke up, we would be able to see just how high we'd hiked! After the two hour hike, we made it to the campsite, and we started to set up immediately, that was when the rain and wind started.

My first goal was to find a tent to sleep in, because even though I had been promised the tent with the professors, they had a third, unknown professor, join them, and the thought of me and three professors sharing a tent on the first trip, well lets just say I was not looking forward to it. I asked around and found out the tent that could fit six people only had five in it so far, so I told the professors that I was going to join that tent, said goodnight to the other people and went to join my new group.

I was placed against the wall of the tent, which I would have been fine with had the weather been cooperative. Now anyone who has ever been camping in a tent knows that even if it doesn't rain, the morning dew usually covers the outside of the tent, which is where it stays, unless someone touches the tent. With six people sharing one tent, it was impossible not to touch the tent. The weather that night was unbelievable. The wind was so strong I thought the tent was sure to collapse, the rain pounded at the tent with such force there was a possibility that it would puncture it soon, and the whole time I am lying next to the side of it, getting slapped in the face with the wet tent, and feeling the cold seep through my sleeping bag. I think it is fairly safe to say that no one got sleep that night, and in the morning when we woke up, snow covered the ground and tents and the sleet continued.

Now the professors were faced with a choice, and if it was only the snow we were up against, I feel safe in saying we would have continued. But morale was low with the students, some were wet, most were tired, and all were cold. On top of everything else, the narrow trails leading up to the peak and back to the base were now slippery mud and almost impossible to walk on. With everything looking the way it did, the professors decided to surrender and face defeat to mother nature, we would pack our things and head back down the mountain. Now for me, growing up in the mountains in Montana, I am accustomed to this. Sometimes camping trips are ended much earlier than expected due to bad weather, even with this I was disappointed. Instead of getting away for a fun weekend of camping, with campfire games and pictures of the scenery, I was  cold and wet and tired and now in for a two and a half hour hike through the mud. I did attempt at a few pictures because it was, despite the weather, extremely beautiful up in the mountains, but most either turned out blurry or dark, but I have something better than those pictures. I have the memory and the experience.

The trip may not have been what I was expecting, but really when is anything in life what you expect it to be. I survived, I made some good memories, and even better I made some great friends. It is difficult to spend one sleepless, cold, wet, night in a tent with five strangers and not make friends. And because our weekend was shot, we decided to go home, shower, nap, and wake up and go out that night. We went out, we had fun, and even better I took the micro home and got off on the right stop for the first time yet! And even though I'm lying in bed right now, sick with a cold, and piled up with homework I don't plan on doing, I am glad for every second of it.

PS. Apparently there was a fairly sizable earthquake when I was out with my friends, but I was either too drunk, or too busy in the club to even notice it.

Also I am sorry to all those that were looking forward to the pictures, I will have some on facebook and I will have some when I return home to show people, but none will be on the blog. Thanks as always for reading, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. I hope you are all finding yourselves in good health.
Until the next chapter...
No Vemo Pronto
S.R.