Halloweeeeen = very scary

This past weekend was slightly less amazing than the weekend before, and I can say very honestly I had the scariest Halloween night ever.

Due to a new national holiday, we didn’t have school (again) on Friday, so another long weekend! On Thursday night Terryl and I actually got to help plan and emcee the Halloween Party that the English Department at the University of Atacama was throwing. It was a lot of fun, and felt very much like running a Halloween (Young Life) Club….very crazy, and everyone got really into the games. Also, Terryl went as Weezer the Werewolf (a werewolf who’s, very unfortunately, allergic to humans), and I was Weazella the Witch (a witch who went to Hogwarts, formed a huge crush on Ron Weasley and changed her name to show her devotion, yet before she actually declared her love had to drop out because she was the secret daughter of Voldemort). We played “making the mummy”, “Balloon War”, Bobbing for Apples relay, had a costume fashion show, played Chubby Bunny (although re-named “Hocus Pocus for the occasion”) and hung out. It was a ton of fun, and we’re hopefully going to continue to help out every week or so in the English classes for the rest of our time here.

On Friday Nicole, Mike and I set out with our friend/guide Daniel on what was supposed to be a 2 day trip to explore Laguna Santa Rosa, Nevado Tres Cruces (some of the highest active volcanoes in the world) and Laguna Verde. What turned out to be an extreme disaster was the altitude. For the record, our city of Copiapo is basically at sea level. We had a great afternoon relaxing and eating at an altitude of about 1200 meters, in order to try and acclimate ourselves. In the evening we arrived at Laguna Santa Rosa, where you can see Nevado Tres Cruces across the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous, with lines of snow still visible on the volcanoes, wild guanacos running across the hills, and dozens of flamingoes swimming in the lake (am I the only one who thought flamingoes lived in warm weather?). Oh yes, and it was absolutely FRIGID. We arrived when the sun was still up and it was probably about 35 degrees, and it only got colder from there. Now, for all of you in the US, I know it’s getting cold there, but here in Copiapo we enjoy sunny weather and 75-85 degrees every afternoon.

The altitude at Laguna Santa Rosa is a little over 12,000 ft, but we didn’t feel it too much at first as we were walking around. Apparently though, it is a very VERY bad idea to gain so much altitude in a day, and then sleep at the high altitude, without being acclimated before. This is something our friend/guide failed to mention, or perhaps was not smart enough, as an experienced outdoorsman, to know. We did get to watch a beautiful sunset and the mountains change to a deep pink and purple. After three hours of trying our guide and his friend were still unable to start a fire to cook dinner, and though they blamed it on the lack of oxygen (which would have been a valid point) we could clearly see three other fires burning across the lake, and so were skeptical. Finally at 10:30pm we decided to just eat some bread, drink plenty of water, and go to bed. Nicole was VERY cold when we arrived, so we opted to sleep in the refugio instead of the tent. Still freezing, we bundled up in our sleeping bags and went to sleep. It was a pretty horrible three hours of on and off sleep, and without going into too much detail, Nicole got some pretty bad altitude sickness in the middle of the night. When I got up to look for advil in my bag, something pretty awful happened, the details of which I am opting to skip in the blog.

But due to these and related circumstances, we were awake from 4:15 until 7am when we had to leave to come back to Copiapo, 12 hours ahead of schedule. It was an incredibly scary night, and I still have the fear of what happened, but I was able to rest the remainder of the weekend. And yesterday on Sunday Joy came to Copiapo to spend the day and night here, and we spent the afternoon hanging out with Nicole and Mike and having an Office: season 5 marathon and eating brownies that Nicole baked. It was just the relaxation we all needed.

In general things here in Chile have been fantastic, and I can’t believe I have less than 3 weeks left here in Copiapo, and less than 6 weeks left in Chile. My kids (in general) get better every week, and right now I can’t imagine leaving them. I think by the time Thanksgiving hits I’ll be excited to come back for Christmas, but right now I’m just enjoying living, and being, and experiencing this awesome place. And though many people in Chile don’t know where Copiapo is, I have come to love this city. It’s not incredibly beautiful, nor a hub for nightlife or culture, or anything. But it is a great city, and full of real people, living real lives. Right now I’m prepping my kids for their final evaluations and giving them pep-talks for some motivation to finish strong in the English Olympics.

Prayers would be great for the following in the next week or so:

1. Finishing strong with all my kids, smooth evaluations and a crazy final week of the Enlgish Olympics

2. Class discipline, especially for: 6A, 6B, and 7A

3. Peace for the future as I’m starting to apply for jobs back in the States

4. A few health concerns; peace about the fact that I probably won’t be able to have them checked out until January or February when I have a job and health insurance again.

5. That I’d give every day to God and be focused first and foremost on living each day for His glory.

Thank you all for your continuing prayers and support….feel free to email me if/when you get a chance!

~Steph~