Last Wednesday, the day before I had orientation for my classes, a friend called and asked if the girls and I wanted to go on a hike with some friends of hers, to Cerro Provincias (Province Hill). Or at least that´s as far as I understood over the phone in Spanish...What I didn´t understand is that the cerro was not a cerro at all...but a whole, huge, mountain! I didn't really realize what we were in for until her friend called, saying he'd pick us up at 5 am...and that we wouldn´t be back till 7pm. That had to be an exageration, or maybe we had to drive like two hours to get there? Haha, nope! 
We hiked seven hours up, and then five hours down! Which means we
were climbing before the sun rose...and then climbing down as it set. Amazing!
The most random, slightly intimidating and kind of crazy excursion turned out to be absolutely breathtaking, in every way exhausting, challenging to the last descent, and totally worth it. 
Actually challenging is an understatement. Many kinds of self-discipline in my life, such as studying or waking up early, come to me without too much suffering. But this actual total physical exersion tests my limits and my will to the extreme.
It was definitely painful (especially the day after)...and I did not quite make it to the top with the others, but there I was, actually IN the Andes Mountains. Not taking pictures from the airplane or the ski lift...but from the peaks themselves. We were hiking along the tops and up the sides. Sometimes I couldn´t see our destination for the peaks in between, but I could always look back and marvel at how far we´d risen. Santiago was so tiny down below! And there was my university, that I hadn´t even seen up close yet. And there was the soccer stadium, and the winding roads...as we climbed, it all disapeared under the blanket of fog. All I could see, anywhere, was snow, mountain, rock, fog, trees, clouds. And scarely any people besides us. I spent a few precious hours resting with Femi while the others pushed for the summit, and there soaked in the solid, tangible silence of the mountains, so softened and sustained by the blankets of snow and lakes of fog.
This is why I do it. The pain in every muscle, the sick feeling in my stomach, the countless Hail Marys to help me keep putting one foot in front of the other...all for that sacred silence. I can´t think of much else when I am up there like that. In the midst of the grandness of the present, manifested in the majesty of the earth...there just isn´t room for anything else.
As a beautiful gift, that felt like a reward for all our efforts, we were blessed with a marvelous sunset. As the sun sunk below the mountains even the fog turned rosy.
Thank God for warm beds and no early morning plans...I slept well that night!
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. (Matthew 14:23) 
4 comments:
Oh Rach! How beautiful. I'm so glad you got to climb a mountain. You make me want to climb one too.
Your pictures are better than postcards! You know, some of the best things in foreign countries happen when you have no idea what you're getting into, because you'll say yes to almost anything without understanding it completely. As you go through your time in Chile and the rest of your life, remember these days and remember to keep saying yes to life, even though you don't always understand what the heck is going on... Love you and miss you!
Gorgeous, Rach. Your writing is even lovelier than the pictures.
I second what Jessa says. Those "yes's" are so important! My friend Maddy always calls them "fiats," which at first I thought was a little ridiculous but now I love. Think of the small ways you, like Mary, have said yes to God, and, like Mary, didn't know what you were getting into... pretty great!
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