Every morning, I wake up to the sounds of Santiago.
Dogs barking, tools banging from the construction site a block from my house, bus engines roaring, a cacophony of noises that like to remind me there’s something going on outside.
Noises calling me to come see what’s happening.
As spring arrives in Chile and trees begin to blossom a little more each day, the warm sunshine and blue sky call me out as well.
Though I must admit, last week was harsh with endless amounts of papers due, quizzes to take and homework to turn in, this weekend allowed me to relax, watch several new movies on Netflix and enjoy the warm weather in Santiago.
Since the weather was so nice, I attempted a hike Sunday — a hike that did not go particularly well, regretfully.
I am an avid hiker and the idea of a difficult trail doesn’t worry me. So, without any hesitation, I agreed to climb Cerro Pochoco with a friend.
When we arrived at the base, beautiful orange flowers beckoned from the hillside, and after shedding light jackets and hiking pants, we began the ascent.
The initial ascent was steep, but it leveled out after a small distance. The terrain was rocky and green bushes sprouted everywhere, but the trail itself was composed mostly of loose dirt and rock bits.
There are two tops to reach on Cerro Pochoco. I barely made it to the top of the first point.
The trail became absurdly steep. My friend and I were crawling on our hands and knees up the path as our feet kept slipping out from underneath us due to the extremely loose dirt. We couldn’t get good grip.
As I focused intently on what was directly in front of me, I managed to lose the path and ended up on a stretch of loose rock. I was terrified I was going to start a rockslide, as my feet kept slipping into the rocks and they began to move.
Luckily, I managed to get across it and onto the dirt path once more without causing a dangerous slide.
When we finally reached the first point, I was beyond exhausted and thrown off by the difficulty of the trail we had just ascended. It made me extremely uncomfortable to think that was the first time I had actually been scared climbing a mountain trail.
I decided I would not go any further up the trail, the first time ever that I have not completed a trail. I’ve hiked 10-mile trails in Linville Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of the East” in North Carolina.
I’ve also hiked Stone Mountain and Huerquehue National Park in Pucón, but I could not finish Cerro Pochoco. The steep ascent up a path is made up of scarily loose dirt turned out to be more than I could handle.
My friend decided to continue up, but as I had enough, I began the descent. Though my shoes never really had great grip anywhere, at one point both my feet completely went out from under me, and I slid a great distance down before finally managing to catch a rock.
I have never been more relieved to see my front door as I was after that trip. I was so relieved I had survived what I thought would be an easy trail.
Later, sitting in my bed eating KFC (yes, they have that here), I thought about that trail. I felt so bad about myself, so embarrassed that I could not complete it. It seemed so easy, how could I fail so miserably?
It’s funny how different paths we follow in life turn out sometimes. As I sat there thinking about that trail, I began thinking about other paths I have started that didn’t work out, or changed, or that I had successfully ?followed.
The original top of the mountain for me college-wise was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I worked so hard climbing the path toward that school, but that path changed for me as quickly as I started it.
I did not complete that journey but started a new trek toward IU, a new path that turned out to be the right one for me.
When I decided to try the studying abroad path, I wasn’t sure how it would work out. I was scared to start the climb, scared I would miss out on things back home at IU, scared of living in another country, scared I would fail and fall.
After two and half months here, I can say this climb has been more than worth it. I’m still making my way to the top and enjoying every twist and turn along the way.
Though I couldn’t complete Cerro Pochoco, I’m going to complete this climb and when I get to the top, I’m going to feel accomplished, proud I was able to complete a long journey abroad.
I’m also going to feel a knot, sadness because I know my time here is done. But I’m also going to feel ?excited. Excited because from the top, I can see a whole network of trails just waiting for me to put my feet on them.
I know I’m not going to be able to finish every trail I start. My feet are going to slip, I’m going to get scared, but I’m going to learn from every single trail.
I’m going to climb until I can’t climb anymore, and then I’m going to climb again.
