Con Con

So this is how my weekend started out... I was really stoked on going snowboarding for my first time ever in Chile all of last week. Ah, you have no idea how stoked I was. I was having dreams of snowboarding again... Even though I didn't know how to stop... Anyway, I was really stoked. Thursday I found out that no one else had paid for the trip. So, I planned on going with a different group. But no one paid from that one either. Ah, I was so bummed. So bummed. I was like in a depression for like the whole day. So after attempting to have company to go to Reñaca and surf by waking up two of my compadres... I went sòla. The waves were small, so I didn't rent a board. As I walked to the mall, some guy (very proud to be in the chilean marines) thought I was some Agentinean model or something. I wish I knew who she was but I think he might have been making things up. After pretending I didn't know much spanish (què terrible), I went to the mall to buy some yarn to attempt to make a blanket for my soon to be cousin. Yay! One successful thing done. I thought the funk would pass, but the next day, saturday, I was still down. Running helped, helps. Porque necesito liberar mis... se me olvidè. stress. Yes.

So Saturday after the run was wonderful, good oatmeal, good bbq... And then it happened. I go the call that i'd been waiting for... Thomas! Yay! Camping was on! So we met at Cafè Journal and headed off! Kind of. We had to wait for someone else, look for provisions, and make a pit stop at Nuts4Nuts to get me some mani (pronounced like money but really means peanuts). Ah, so wonderful and fresca. By that time Thomas' friend was a little, ok, a lot irritated because we were already doing more running around than he bargained for. We also got off at the wrong stop on the way to Con Con, took advantage of the supermarket, and had no idea where we were going. So he had it, told Thomas to feel bad, and called his friend who lived down the road to have a cup of tè. Very interesante.

Let's get back to the journey though. Con Con is about maybe an hour away, but a whole different world. It's totally country. I love it. The dunes, the horses... Ah. Lovely. Instead of meeting Charlie and Sarah like we were supposed to, we stumbled into a rodeo! Just to let you know, I've been dying to go to a rodeo like my whole life! This one wasn't huge, but it was so festive, with typical chilean cowboy music and cowboys and family cheerinng them on. It was wonderful. We go to talk with a bunch of the locals and take a bunch of pictures (which I will be posting as soon as possible).

After watching the stable boy ride away on his horse to fetch Charlie and Sarah, we were off to see El Mono, which has the best empanadas ever! Back to el supermercado, where I distracted a security guard while Charlie got some crates for firewood, and off to the dunes. The dunes were wonderful, great view, we had a great fire, sommores (how do you spell that?). I think we had the first sommores ever to be had in Chile. Very makeshift, but very wonderful. The night was freezing, so I couldn't move into the tent, slept by the fire, and got a nice burn hole in my sleeping bag. But hey, I bought a chilean flag patch to cover it up! So it's all good.

Horse riding the next day. Again, it was perfect. Riding as fast as the horse could take me down the beach, sea air in my hair. Wonderful feeling. And then... back to Viña, back to classes... Ah... But soon, more adventures to come during the Chilean independance day and our spring break.