After my last entry I flew down to Bariloche, Argentina to work the 3rd phase of the International Semester with NCOBS. See previous blog for an explanation of what that means. The phase was 23 days long, with a week of backpacking, a 3 day solo experience, 3 days of day hiking, and a week on the glacier of Mt. Tronador. This phase was beautiful, in a number of ways. Primarily, because it was the final phase for this crew of boys on their semester course that I worked with back in the NC mountains. It was magical to be a part of the end of their journey. They had outspokenly got so much from the course, many expressed having found a sense of direction, or at least skills and knowledge to apply to life back home. This aspect of "transference" from course to home was a big theme all phase long, and truly that is what I do this job for. This phase was also beautiful because the scenery, was, well, unbelievably beautiful. Snow capped mountains, lakes, waterfalls, rainbows... truly such lifetime high scenery. The Patagonia region offers impressive outdoor recreation, not the least of which was the glacier that we spent the last week of course on. I'm so thankful to have had this opportunity for professional development as well as such fulfilling and meaningful instructing. Anyway, I could try to write a book about a) what this semester has meant to me and b) what this journey to Patagonia means to me. But that's a lot of words for something that words can only begin to describe. So here's some photos. Well life is just fine! Thankful that the course went so well and that it paid for my flights down here. Because of this opportunity, I'll be spending the next month down here climbing, first at Frey then at Cochamo in Chile. Best friends Max and Daniel are working the January semester phase down here, so they'll arrive early and I'm staying late. I'm super excited for the freedom and adventure that the next month will bring!
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