Oh, The Places We've Been

During my time in Chile I have paddled five sections of river. I have driven almost 1000 km. I have surfed in the Pacific Ocean and taken a boat to Argentina. This trip to Chile has been full of adventure, and my Spanish has improved dramatically in only two weeks.

Paddling in chile has been amazing. The water is so clear. We have paddled everything from tiny creeks to big water rivers. Paddling here has helped me improve my group awareness while on the river. It is also much harder navigating in a country where you don’t know the language. Another cool thing we have done while here in Chile was surfing. I have surfed, but it was a long time ago. It was so much fun to get out there and pick up where I left off. Also our surf instructor Nano only spoke Spanish so it was a lot of fun trying communicate with him.

 

Being in Chile has helped me learn that it is okay to mess up when trying to speak Spanish. When you mess up at least people know you are trying. While in Chile I have also learned to navigate by map. I learned that often you will not have road names so you have to look for towns in the direction you want to go. Chile has been a great adventure, and I can’t wait to see what’s next!

 

-Rutledge