TT1 Weekend

The weekend went perfectly. The weather was great on the hike out, and we didn't even get any rain until we were about ready to leave. We were able to spend a lot of time together, and a lot of time alone looking at the beauty of God. We ended up with 13 students and 4 adults. Of course the company that I rented the van from decided to send us a 17 passenger van with NO luggage rack, even though they had promised me a 20 person van with luggage rack. I called them immediately from the school, and they said, "I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do, we sent the other van somewhere else." Luckily, we were able to fit all 17 people in with all the hiking bags AND the tents/sleeping bags/food. We were beyond scrunched the entire way there, but I had a tough bunch of students who didn't care too much. Here is the group that went, and picture in front of the magnificent Tiquimani.

Friday afternoon is when we left from the school, and we arrived at our drop off point a little after 5pm. From there we hiked for about 3 or 4 hours in beautiful weather to Tiquimani. Even when the sun went down, there was a full moon so we didn't have to turn on flashlights or headlamps. Many of the students were hurting pretty badly the last couple of hours, as we were ascending quite a bit in altitude, but I never heard any complaints, and everyone eventually made it to the base of this gigantic mountain where there sits a beautiful mountainlake. We set up camp Friday night, had dinner, and went to bed shortly after. On Saturday, we took some time for devotions, and then had the day free to fish or hike. While the fishing was very unsuccessful and the weather turned very cloudy (to the point that we couldn't see the mountain that was only 200 meters from our campsite), the hikes were still a source of energy for me and the students that did them.

Saturday night we had a group discussion on the things we had seen and the things that God had taught us through His creation. It was really good to hear some of the students open up and see what they had been thinking throughout the day, away from everything. I think everyone could relate to what was being said. Most people went to bed shortly after this because it started to rain a little. Sunday morning we packed up, stared at the mountain, and headed out.