Well after a wonderful, life-changing trip to practically the south pole, I am back to the books. I really had a great trip and even though it took me about 1½ days traveling each way by planes, boats, and buses - it was definitely worth it! I wished I could have stayed longer, and I’m sure I’ll go back. But I guess I should tell you a little of what happened even though I will have to do some serious summarizing (in my real travel journal I wrote about 15 pages)! However, before I start I just want to express how truly amazing this trip was for me! So many things came together just perfectly. I honestly give all the credit to the Lord because I felt his presence and blessing in almost everything. Of course problems arose, but nothing that wasn’t solvable by the Divine! So thank you to those of you who prayed for me. Ok…so I arrived in the Park Torres del Paine by bus on a very windy but sunny day! I had changed my hiking plans a little and decided to start out by seeing the glacier, so to do that I took a boat across the beautiful, brilliant blue Lake Pehoe! There were several other groups of people on the boat, and we all got to know each other fairly well since the boat ride was so chaotic. The wind was so strong that the lake was full of waves, and I could barely stay standing up! I tried to get to know some people so that I could maybe hook up with them to hike around and not have to be solo. So, I met a really sweet, young couple from Utah named Jill and Dan, and much to my surprise, I also met two Norwegian guys (both named Anders)! I tried to talk to them in Norsk, but everything kept coming out in Spanish! Finally once the boat got to the other shore, I took off with the Norwegian boys for the hike to the Camp Glacier Grey. It was about a 4 hr trek and rather rough (mostly just because of the wind). I’ve never experienced wind so strong - it honestly at times lifted me and my backpack up off the ground. Crazy! But I had so much fun on this hike because, as many of you can imagine, for me being on a beautiful hike with two Norwegians surounded by giant, snowy mountains is like a dream come true! They were so hilarious and such great companions - singing Norsk songs and sharing Norwegian chocolate with me! Later that night at the camp they made me try whisky for the first time with ice from the glacier! I had no doubt that they would be able to keep warm with it through the night since they were camping outside! I, on the other hand, was staying in the ‘refugio’ or lodge/cabin which was run by 3 wonderful, Chilean mountain men. There was Mauricio the cook, Jorge the young administrator, and Jaime the camp maintenance guy and over the next two days they became like family to me. We got along so well, staying up late telling life stories and playing a form of tenis called Grey ball! My first night there, I tried to use my credit card to pay and it was denied (I’ve had problems off and on in Chile with my credit card being accepted). But this was really bad because I was stuck without enough $ to cover the costs. So the Chileans all started speaking really fast in Spanish, all raised their hand as if voting, and then Jorge told me that they all were going to pay for me and that I could stay as long as I wanted. This was so overwhelming that I started crying, and from that point on they were always looking out for me! My second day at Grey, I went off for a day hike to get closer to the glacier and when I got back Jill and Dan had arrived! But Jill was ecstatic because on the way there Dan had proposed, and now they were engaged! I was practically the first person she had been able to tell since there isn’t any phone reception in the park. So I gave her a big congratualtions hug and she told me all about it! They are so cute and since they’ll be traveling more in Chile, they promised to visit me in Valpo and Vina. Well, from the moment I woke up the next morning (day 3), I was talking to God because all I could hear outside was rain and wind. I had planned to hike down to another camp by myself, but I didn’t have good rain gear. So you can imagine how grateful I was when not only were my prayers answered, but to sense that the Lord was very much with me! I had such a nice and peaceful trip going back, doing a lot of thinking and praying. I made it down and took the boat again and talked with a really nice park ranger named Carlos. I asked him about what trails were passible and worth the trip since I only had one more day. He showed me some really nice shorter walks and views that I ended up doing instead of spending my time in only one section of the park. The weather on the last day was just perfect and so I was able to see everything from the lookouts! So… I felt very satisfied in the end - truly a incredible experience and I’m so glad I just seized the day and went! So that’s very briefly what happened. Getting back had it’s drama too, but I won’t recount it all here (just call if you want all the details)! I really would love to go back at some point and see all the things I didn’t get a chance to, but…we’ll just wait and see! : )