Global Crossroads Study Abroad Blog

On Saturday morning I climbed Cerro el Roble with 8 other people (Diego, Joaquin, Cony, Daniela, Gustavo, Matias, Sebastian, Fernanda). I hope I didn’t forget anyone! It is called Cerro el Roble because it is filled with trees called Robles, which are red/purple, so the entire hill looked red and purple!  It was so much fun and incredibly beautiful! Pictures can’t do it justice! We drove to Cerro el Roble and then drove part way up it (so we wouldn’t have quite as long of a trip…haha). Then we started walking, we got there around 10 am and didn’t get home until around 7:30 pm. But, a lot of it was spent taking pictures. I think everyone had at least one camera, we were a pretty serious group of picture takers. The higher we climbed the more clouds there were, the clouds surrounded Cerro el Roble and you couldn’t see the base of the hill/mountain. It was like we were surrounded by a sea of clouds. I also managed not to get sunburned (minus the top of my head…), which is always impressive for me! As we climbed closer to the top it got colder and colder, we even saw some water that had frozen on the way up. There was a bike race of some kind also going on that day so there were quite a few bikers riding down (which is really impressive by the way!) There were also some people from the countryside that were guiding their donkeys (who were filled with goods, like water, baskets, etc.) down the mountain. They all walked in singal file, it was pretty cool to see considering the path was not all that big and it was filled with rocks. As we got closer to the top I was getting pretty tired, I had to push myself pretty hard the last 1/2 hour or so to the top, but it was definitely worth it!! The top of Cerro el Roble was super windy and very very cold! I really need to invest in some gloves! By the time I was done taking pictures I could no longer feel my hands. I could barely zip up my bag, but luckily Sebastian had a pair of gloves! The top of the hill was surrounded by clouds, you couldn’t see the base of the hill because of the clouds, it was incredibly beautiful. The walk back down the mountain was just as beautiful because the sun was starting to set, so it was shining on the Andes mountains and making everything pink and orange. Amazing. It was definitely a good day of hiking! I was pretty sore on Sunday and my knees are finally starting to recover.

Today I had another day of volunteering, which went well. I fed two brothers, one was able to kind of feed himself, so I got to do my first assisted feeding, which was interesting. Basically I just guided his hand into the food and then into his mouth. The kids are starting to recognize me already and there was a lot of yelling when I arrived. Two girls got angry because they wanted me to pay attention to both of them at the same time, so that was kind of funny! I get to actually do some of the fun activities with the kids tomorrow, so that will be fun!
Here is a video from our trip of Cerro el Roble (taken by Sebastian).

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