Exploring: Chilean Andes

Have you ever entered an Instagram contest? You know the ones, tag 3 friends, follow so and so...

I did, and I won. When I received the "You're our winner" email I immediately thought it was a scam!

But it wasn't! Thanks to the clothing brand Toad and Co, and Intrepid Travel, my sister (Ruby Goat) and I were able to travel to Chile and Argentina. I am so thankful for such an experience!

I had not traveled in some time, my last significant experience being many years prior.

As any traveler knows, when you arrive to your destination after 20+ hours of travel and no real sleep, often to a language you don't understand, it can be very overwhelming. Ruby Goat and I are mountain people, and arriving to Santiago, Chile, were immediately dropped into the congestion and chaos of city life. As we negotiated our cab from the airport in non-existent Spanish, we felt weary. The sprawl and smog of city stretched before us. But at the edge, just beyond the crowding, the towering Andes held promise for us mountain people.

The first thing the next morning, we headed straight toward them. The winding river of snow-melt was our guide out of town. The landscape changed, the crowd dissipated to meadows of golden poppies and the prickly arms of cacti. Hand painted signs for eggs or homemade treats we're propped next to branchy fences. Chickens scratched the ground. As we continued up and up, the landscape became less green and more stark with the thin air. The Andes, once far, seemed to grow from the horizon ahead of us. The road turned to dirt. We stopped to drink straight from a waterfall of glacial snow, heeding the local proverb that to drink from it was fate promising we'd return.

We arrived as far as the road would carry us: milky teal lagoon, rugged white mountains, bright blue sky. Everything about it was crisp, the line of the mountains, the colors, the air. Arriving from the congested, noisy city, being here in stillness felt like rest and refreshment.

Being able to gaze up at these towering giants covered in glacial snow was the best way to start our adventure.