A Forbidden Road, a Forgotten Valley and Other Things

There are a lot of things that I like about Chile, but as I approach the one month mark the newness is starting to wear off. A small list of things are building up in the dislikes column. For instance, I don't like "dead time" in class. I don't like not knowing what I should be doing. Nor do I like having to condense a 45 minute lesson into 20 minutes. But one of the things that must upsets me is seeing teens smoking cigarettes and wearing clothing decorated with drug symbols.

At the moment, I'm approaching a pivotal point. How will this week go? Several things were already making me dread this week. Confusion and tension with my host family are making things at home weird. Then my lessons on Monday were train wrecked by an unannounced assembly and an overall uncooperative student body. It was pretty disheartening, especially since I spent so much time on that lesson. Although I knew that would happen, I guess I didn't expect to have a lesson plan fail this early on.

_________

Last weekend I went on an amazing hike in a small town called Manihuales. Sometimes when the word amazing is used, it might not necessarily be true. But hands down, this hike was AMAZING! It was like walking into another world.

Saturday, 6:30 AM
"Ugh...is it really worth it?!?!" I thought as I begrudgingly got out of my warm bed. Ok, wash face, brush teeth, change clothes. If only it worked like it did in the Jetson's that'd be swell. I crept downstairs for a quick breakfast and then it was time to hit the road.

Obstacle number one, there's no bus to Manihaules until 12:30pm. Great it's barely 9 am and I've been walking around for at least an hour and now this. As I walked, defeat stared me in the face, but as I rounded the corner there was a bus. Hope. There isn't a central bus station and different stations take you different places. Hmm, I wonder where it's going. I went to the terminal, and saw that they had buses heading to Aysen. When is the next bus to Aysen? Ahora. Now? Si! Ok, I'll go.

From Aysen, I met up with my friend Pawel, who's also a volunteer. We were lucky enough to hitch a ride with a gentleman heading to Manihuales. The town had one road heading in and it was like walking into some forlorn ghost town. Not a single person was on the street until the bus stop, approximately a quarter of a mile away from where we were dropped off.

Obstacle number two, as we made our way towards the national park things looked bleak. The road was closed in front of the park and it was unclear where the entrance was. We ended up at the entrance of a road that led up one of the mountains. So far it was our best lead, so we took it. As we set out the path was steep and seemingly unending. Several times we contemplated whether we should turn around and try somewhere else. Eventually, curiosity got the best of us and we decided we'd go to the top. Since it wasn't a real hiking path we didn't see anyone else, and the afternoon was quiet besides our conversation. At the top we could see that the other side of the mountain led into an interesting looking valley.

After we zigzagged down the mountain improvising a path, we broke for a quick lunch.

This is probably one of the more interesting places I've ever been in Patagonia so far. Devoid of the stunning snowcapped mountains that Patagonia is known for. Dead trees littered the ground. What happened here? Some trees stood stark naked and weathered. Other tree trunks had resigned from standing and laid to rest on earth from which they came. Throughout it all was a lingering silence. As we walked, I hoped that the cattle meant that someone lived here. However, after walking around, taking pictures, hopping through rivers and climbing trees it became clear that this place was forgotten. This was a place where trees died. A graveyard.

What a quaint little place and how lucky are we to have found it.  The quiet gave me time to think.

The weather too played its' part in making it seem like a cemetery. It was overcast with rare amounts of sunshine. To lighten the mood we talked about our schools, music and movies. "Hey Pawel, have you seen Jurassic Park?" Thought provoking, I know. "Yes," he replied. "I feel like any minute now those weird bird-like dinosaurs are going to come from around the corner with T-Rex in hot pursuit. So we laughed and quipped about how dinosaurs or some other farfetched wildlife might make their presence known. Eventually we left the Forgotten valley and Manihuales, but my fascination with the history has not.

_________

As I vented to friends that Monday night about how it's a little ridiculous to have to walk about 6 miles each day in the cold and that my host teachers aren't giving me much guidance. I couldn't help laughing. Is that really the worst thing? It could definitely be worse. At least I'll be in great walking shape! And as far as teaching, who cares if I had a bad day? Tomorrow is a brand new day. I can't control how the students will respond to the lesson or when we're going to have an assembly. But I CAN control my own reaction and I can learn from my mistakes. So as I waited for Tuesday, another chance to get after it, I reworked my lesson plan. Tuesday came and so did a little success.

On teaching:
So far there are without question things I don't like about the structure here. But overwhelmingly I'm reminded that many of the problems here are the same that teachers are facing everywhere. Low motivation, drug or substance use, overlapping commitments, and other things too I'm sure. Teaching is hard. Add a language barrier and subtract structure. Despite the obstacles, it is certainly rewarding. Successful days are great, but there's nothing like walking out of a hard class and being greeted earnestly and warmly by students. So as the waves start crashing down, I get back up and say,"Bring it Coyhaique! Is that all you got?"