High Into the Cerros

Friday my friend and I hiked high into the cerros to the very top of the highest looking point in Valparaiso. Originally we were going to play basketball but we had gone to the wrong gym and couldn't get to the other one in time. In Valpo, the higher you are, the poorer the people are--well materialistically speaking. We set out from the plan (the strip of Valpo that isn't a hill) and started our walk on one of the many winding roads. We took a few lengthy staircases to get up the cerro more quickly and soon enough it was evident that the people were less wealthy the higher and higher we climbed. It was progressive, at first the houses looked like any of the houses on the lower hills in the city and then we'd see houses with little or no paint and patched roofs, until we reached the higher parts of the hill where the houses were built from wood and metal scraps it seemed like. The paved road ended and we were walking on dirt when we came upon a view of the trees sweeping the hills and low and behold we see a horse. This horse wasn't just any horse, he was gorgeous! We climbed down closer and a younger Chileno was holding the rope while the horse grazed on the grass. After a couple of minutes we had struck up a conversation with the guy who told us that he'd had the horse since he was a young boy and when this friendly wet dog ran up the hill he also told us that the he'd had the dog as long as he'd had the horse and they were best friends.

We sat on a big patch of earth just looking out over the port and entire city and just kind of hung out for a while. High in the cerros the bustle and roar of the loud city is lost and you can hear the laughter of the younger boys playing a soccer game in front of their house a couple hundred feet away. The view offered a new side of the city that absolutely captivated my heart. On the way down we talked to an older lady who was walking up the hill who asked us where we were from in the states and why we were studying in Valpo. People are friendly here and I love every part of the city but it was nice to walk through a street that wasn't busy and where we had the opportunity to stop and talk to local Chileans.

Also, I went to Palm Sunday yesterday and every mass that I have attended here at the church there has been about twenty to thirty people in this huge church..yesterday I understood why it is so big--there was standing room only! The people here definitely take Holy Week seriously and the Catholic roots of the city really come out.

Tomorrow I am going to Santiago to a museum--it's a field trip for my literature class. It's like being in elementary all over again--we go on field trips and don't have to go to school the rest of the day and are excused from our other classes.

IMPORTANT: Kansas plays in the championship game tonight--as for my bracket--at least I picked one team to be in the final game correctly! So for all of you people who can watch it, Rock Chalk yeah?