El Fin del Mundo

I know it's been a while again, but I've been busy. This entry may be kind of long. Just a warning. I'm going to include some pictures because facebook and I are having relationship problems again.

Free travel week was amazing! Let's start with the days before we left. The other two groups left on Thursday right after classes got out. We had decided to take a day of rest on Friday and leave on Saturday morning. This turned out to be a huge blessing when one of my traveling buddies, Amber, sprained her ankle a few days before we left. Thursday night we decided to take one of the flat screens that's on a rolling stand out into the courtyard to watch a movie. We took mattresses outside to lay on while we watched. I was bringing my spare mattress (no roommate) down and realized that this would be a perfect opportunity to slide down the stairs on said mattress. So, we did that for about half an hour and then watched Harry Potter. The next day we just relaxed. Saturday we left for our grand adventure.

Our driver who took us to the airport was late. Now, I'm not just talking normal South American laid back schedule late; he had fallen back to sleep. He proceeded to apologize for that fact profusely while standing on the sidewalk talking to us...not driving. When we got to the airport the apologies began again full force along with wishing us safe travels. While I appreciate the sentiment, we were cutting it pretty close.

We went through the security checkpoint where we had a little fun. You see, the Montevideo airport doesn't let you carry on yerba (the tea stuff that I'm addicted to now). The Walkers and I both had some with us. However, mine was tucked away neatly in my backpack with the rest of my carry on junk. I passed through without any trouble. The Walkers brought theirs in a mate carrier which is a special case designed to carry the yerba (the tea leaves) and the mate (the gourd you drink from). The security guards noticed it and promptly confiscated the yerba. The checkpoint also missed the two oranges that Wimon had forgotten were in his backpack. Overall I felt pretty safe with such reliable security. . .

We got to Ushuaia and immediately fell in love with the town. For those who do not know, Ushuaia, Argentina is in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. It is the (disputed) southermost city in the world. The slogan of the city is "Ushuaia, end of the world, beginning of everything." The town is sandwiched between the Beagle Channel and the Andes Mountains. See picture below:

The picture may have lost a little quality, but you can see that Ushuaia is literally sandwiched. The first adventure we went on was a boat ride through the Beagle Channel. We saw sea lions, penguins, and an old lighthouse. See pictures below:



On the boat we met a girl from Seattle who had been living and working down there for a couple of years. We also met a father and son from Brazil. I started talking to them and they were struggling with English so I asked if it would be better to switch to Spanish. They both said yes (or si) and we talked for a while in Spanish. Later, Antonio, the dad, started talking to me again, but sometime between our first conversation and our second he had decided that I could understand Portuguese because he spoke nothing but that for the second interatction. It turns out I kind of can understand Portuguese. With all the Spanish and the little French that I know I could piece together the basic meaning. So there we were, having a conversation in which one of us was speaking his native tongue and I was having to pick apart his language using two others and piece together a response in Spanish. My brain was a little tired after that. That night, while some of our friends were near starving on late night bus rides across boarders, we had king crab (some of us).

The next day we went on a 4x4 excursion through the Andes to some lakes and to be out in nature in places that we would not be able to reach with our little rental cars (they are called Elves if that gives you an idea). We reached a point in the dirt trail where there were ridiculously deep ruts from the 4x4 traffic and the going was slow. A guy walked up and was talking to our driver as we trudged along. Then the guy jumped up on the hood of our jeep and rode there for a while. When we got close to the jeep in front of us he hopped and climbed into the other jeep. . .into the driver's seat to be exact. The driver! The ruts were so deep that he set the cruise control and jumped out to mess around while his jeep drove itself! We got some great pictures and stopped at a shack in the woods to eat lunch. We had the greatest steaks I have ever tasted. I'm not much of a steak connoisseur, but I don't think I will ever eat a better steak. I also shocked one of the drivers when I went to stand by the grill (as men do) and started drinking mate. He literally ran across the group to question me about my mate drinking (seeing as I stand out with red hair and all). Anyway, here my two favorite pictures from the excursion:



The next day we went to some museums around town which were a slight disappointment overall. We still had fun though. Amber, Autumn, Karaline, and I were able to make enough jokes and spot enough English translation errors to make us happy. Our favorites ware the following sentences from a display about Antarctic expeditions:

"Some people belives that Amudsen arrived first to the South Pole because he carried sled dogs instead the ponnies of Scott."

"Scott and his eople died just very near from where it was the tent with provisions. They couldn't arrive to it because of a big storm of several days."

I have to admit, it would be easier to carry a dog than a ponny. There were many such mistakes throughout these well made displays.

The next day we hiked up a ski slope to see the Martial Galcier. Now, the glacier was covered in snow so it wasn't too impressive alone. The hike up, the view, and the fact that it started snowing on us made this my favorite part of the trip. It was so beautiful and it felt so good to back in the mountains. I've decided that the mountains are my home. I know I've never lived in them, but it's where I belong and I'll get there eventually. That part of the trip is hard to express in words, but I have one picture that I feel comes close to getting it (I hope it retains enough quality):

Why wouldn't you want to live near those?

That afternoon we went to the national park and saw even more of God's awesome creation. This trip has taught me a lot about how we are to interact with the world. We are to care for it and enjoy it so that we may see that wonderful things that our God is capable of doing. We are to see these marvels and cry out in joy and thanks to our Creator who made such things for us to see. We are to long for Him as we see the beauty of His creation because we know that He is far more beautiful, far more powerful, and far greater and anything we have seen or hope to see.

I know this is getting long and so I'll leave off here for now. If I feel the need to share more I'll do so soon. Life right now is sort of hectic as we're trying to wind down classes and squeeze out the last drops of our Study Abroad experience. This week we have our final tango lesson (oh joy...), the World Cup qualifying match between Uruguay and Costa Rica (which we are attending!!!!!!), and good old school. I'm loving life down here while I'm also ready to be home. I miss you all and love you.

Until next time, may the God of wonders show you the things that you have been overlooking. May you find joy in the world that He has given you. May you find even more joy in the people that He places in your life. May you find true joy in Him as we walk together though we are worlds apart.

Blessings,
Matt