So blessed

This is going to be a really long post- sorry!

This is the post about last weekend.

To preface: Best. Weekend. Ever.

It started early saturday morning when I had to wake up at 6 (and went to bed at 3:20) because the other girls convinced me to take the 7:45 bus. We decided to take our free saturday and go to a little town that Alicia found in her travel book, La Cumbre. It was a struggle to get up, but worth it because the timing worked out perfectly. We got to the bus station, but in accordance with Argentina time schedules, the bus was late. When it arrived the four of us: Alicia, Esther, Taylor and I sat in the way back and stretched out. We were excited because we thought those were the best seats and no one else chose to sit there! Score.

False. The layout of the bus was a bit deceiving because the back seats were directly on the wheels. So whenever the bus went over a bump (which was about every 5 seconds) we caught some air in the back. So much for sleeping on the bus! Regardless, it was a really pretty ride out to La Cumbre.

We got there and grabbed a taxi to take us to the hostel. We had no idea that it was literally right around the corner and the driver just kinda chuckeled when we pulled up. It was a 6 peso cab ride and all the cabs here start at 4.50!  We imededitely fell in love with the hostel. It had a beautiful long driveway lined with trees that led up to this eclectic, adorable old house.

We walked in,  checked in, paid for the night, paid for parapente and left all in under about 8 minutes. We joked that our moms would not be proud of us and our savy traveling skills and as to how we were doing this! The lady was just like- parapente? and we said sure- heres some more money! and then jumped in the back of this guys truck and let him drive us away. haha but it worked out great!!

We jumped in his truck with a few other americans that we also staying at the hostel and headed to parapent! Not sure where that was exactly but the drive out there was gorgeous. We were in the mountains but could still see plains for miles. The temp was amazing and I could not help but just take a moment and feel incredible blessed to be in such an amazing place with amazing people.

We got to the place and piled out. Now I will admit that I really did not know what parapente was before I signed up for it. I googled it and saw the picture and said heck yes I want to do that! Well when we got there they gave us a run down of what was going to happen:

They strapped me in a harness, attachted me to the instructor who was attached to this massive parachute, and then they told me to just run. Off the mountain.

Yeah I really should have googled this a little better.

But I did it! He counted down and we ran!

I can honestly say it was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. The view from the air was incredible and the feeling of being suspended was unbelievable. I guess I was in awe and therefore not talking because after about 5 minutes in the air, the guide says "Want to chat?" haha I love the people in this country. The way he could maneuver that thing was incredible: we would go really high and then do some turns and spins and then go really low into the valley. At one point we got pretty low and I was excited because I thought we were going to do some cool maneuver to bring us back up into the sky, but nope. We got pretty close to the ground and the guy goes "We land now", and we did. In the middle of a field at the bottom of the mountain, with my friends and other parapenters at the top of the mountain completely out of site. The guy did not seem to be phased and said that this happens all the time and that the truck would be down in a while to come get us in a while. There was a river nearby and he told me to "go have a child moment down by the river" and he would come get me when the truck got there. So, I went and had a "child moment" by the river! One of the other american students that was staying at the hostel "crash landed" also so we ended up talking for like 30 minutes until the truck came and we all piled in and trucked back up the mountain. When we got to the top my friends had no idea where I had been for 45 mins because they couldn't find my parachute in the sky and just figured I had parapented back to the hostel or something.  haha all in all it was an amazing experience and I loved loved it!!

We went to lunch at this tiny restaurant and walked around the town. I love this country because you can get fruit, coke, a bottle of wine, crackers, and cookies for less than $10 american dollars. I finally let myself go into one of the little pastelerias (bakeries) and just get one of everything. (everything is bite sized so i'm not as fat as it sounds) I got like 5 or six things and it was 10 pesos. ($2.50) love this country. We went back and lounged around the pool and I read in the hammock for a while and just enjoyed the day. Another group of Clemson student ended up coming to La Cumbre with us, but came on a later bus so we met up with them later that day after they went parapente. We all went to dinner together and heard some "live" music. Walking back to the hostel we stumbled upon the greatest saturday night entertainment I have ever seen: a bunch a plastic chairs set up infront of a blow up screen. We figured they were showing a movie or something current, but no. On the large screen they were playing clips from old concerts of Tina Turner, Eurythmics, and other really old artists! It was hilarious to see all the old spanish people singing along and just loving it! I absolutly love small towns like this and one day I'm sure I will end up in one.

(you better believe we joined and watched for a while!)

(all of us: Jeff, Greyson, Esther, Jessie, Me, Missy, Johnathan, Taylor, Alicia)

We got back to the hostel and played cards and went to bed. It reminded me of being back at Clemson :)
The next day we woke up to the smell of breakfast. The lady who ran the tiny hostel had cafe, toast and jam (which is all they eat for breakfast) all hot and ready for us when we woke up. The mothers/ older women in this country love cooking and preparing meals for people! Love it.
We woke up ready to go hiking and "checked out" of the hostel. La Cumbre is famous for this huge statue of Jesus that is up on this mountain and the gorgeous view. The hike was beautiful and the view from up top was gorgeous.


We planned to go to this "artisans walk" afterwards which was on the other side of the mountain Jesus was on so Alicia and Esther went to the tourist office to get directions. The lady gave them a map and told us how to get to Jesus and then walk past him and around to the other side of the mountain to the art fair and it would take about 2 hours. Simple enough. It was not until about an hour after we realized we were lost that I found out that the map we were given was  hand-drawn. Awesome.
We spent about an hour and a half trying to find our way over the mountain and finally just gave up and went back to Jesus. We figured out that Jesus was trying to teach us a lesson: that when we wander away from Him, we will always get lost. Very true and in this case, very funny.

We finally got back, grabbed lunch and then went to this artisans walk. It was really cool because it was different than all the other open markets we had been to. It was a long street with a bunch of little house you could go into- but all of them were shops and had all hand crafted stuff. Very cool.
Taylor and I ended up sitting outside at this little cafe and had a Coke while we just enjoyed the view. We both decided that this was one of our favorite moments of the trip so far (besides parapente of course) but I just loved sitting outside and being able to see for miles.
The Lord truly is an artist, and I am loving being able to enjoy his work in this corner of the world :)

All in all it was an amazing. I don't think we stopped smiling the whole weekend.