Quick summary of what I've been up to in the past month besides teaching classes in Futaleufú:This photo is of Rodrigo and I when we hiked up a mountain outside of town in the middle of October. It was an amazing trip, complete with glissading on plastic bags on the descent, a condor sighting on the summit, and a beautiful beech tree forest halfway up. I was happy to put my ice axe to use for the first time in Chile!
An
small entourage from Patagonia Sur came to visit October 23- Octosber 25. We had various meetings in Fualeufú before heading a few hours south to Valle California where the foundation has property. Here I am with Alvaro during our horseback ride during which I checked out the property for the first time. During this visit it was essentially decided that I will continue working with the foundation at least through May 2008.
small entourage from Patagonia Sur came to visit October 23- Octosber 25. We had various meetings in Fualeufú before heading a few hours south to Valle California where the foundation has property. Here I am with Alvaro during our horseback ride during which I checked out the property for the first time. During this visit it was essentially decided that I will continue working with the foundation at least through May 2008.
And then there was the infamous Futaluefú Olympics 2007. The games were held the weekend of October 26 and 27; community work places participated and, among other activities, nominated a candidate for Queen. At the end of the festivities the points for each team were added and the results announced... the winning team, La Escuela Futaleufú!!! La Reina de Futaleufú 2007... me!
They say that everyone has one moment of fame in his or her life. This was my moment. As the previous queen crowned me on the stage, the section of the audience peopled with school employees chanted my name, I was showered with confetti, I was asked to pose with various people for pictures, including the mayor. Afterwards we formed a caravan of 9 cars and paraded the town, honking and flashing headlights and shouting from windows, "Ed-u-cación!" Only in Futaleufú.
Halloween in Futaleufu!! Apparently five years ago nobody celebrated Halloween here but it has slowly been gaining popularity. Some people are anti-Halloween since it has nothing to do with Chilean culture and they feel it is a direct result of the increasing influence of Western culture consumerism. Others readily welcome any excuse to dress up and do something entertaining and out of the ordinary. These kids, mostly in seventh and eighth grade, are among them.
Parque Pumalin!After many months of wanting to visit this private conservation park founded by Douglas Thompkins, the weekend of November 2 I was finally able to! With Mary Hunt, a pediatrician from Boston who helped in the hospital in Futaleufú for a month, we went for a day to hike around the park. While there we meandered through the temperate rainforest and saw giant nalca plants (picture 1) whose stalks can be eaten, a plant similar to rhubarb; 3,000 year-old alerce trees (picture 2), and finally ended the day at the beach near Chaitén. The day before we indulged in the hot springs, "Termas Amarillas" also provided by the park. For more info, see http://www.parquepumalin.cl/content/index.htm
