NRA Students in Chile paddle the Siete Tazas and learn Chilean culture
Student Report by: Eli Spiegel
The first night in Chile started off with a bang. We were driving to the Siete Tazas, which meant we were driving on some pretty bad dirt roads. We were having trouble finding our campsite that was a field to camp on. This was sounding extremely nice, as everywhere else in this area seemed to be a dust pit. We began to go down a steep hill and right at the bottom we see a sign saying private property. This led to about an hour of trying to get back up the hill. In the end we had to take the trailer off turn the Bus we had around and then reattach the bus to the trailer.
Finally we get back over the hill and we decide that we will just camp in the dust for the night. The next morning we woke up did a half day of school and then paddle the Siete Tazas an unbelievable waterfall run and then go and find were we were originally going to camp…right past the private property sign. This camp turned out to be very cool with parrots flying around all over.
Now we are in Pichilemu with an awesome spot to get lots of school, lots of sleep, and lots of boating. We are in some cabins just about a two-minute walk from the beach where we have lots of room for class and comfortable beds. This location allows for us to get ahead in school while still paddling so much that we come back exhausted to the cabins every night.
Academic Report by: Eleanor Perry
January 23, 2008
Classes have been held under blue skies, with views of the Andes and the beach. We have had class everyday since our arrival and everyone is working hard and learning a lot. The Spanish classes have had a lot of opportunities for interactions with locals and other learning opportunities that are not available in a typical classroom. All of the Spanish classes spent some time the first week of class learning about Chilean history. In addition to the brief highlight of Chile ’s vibrant and violent history, the Spanish II class has spent the past two class periods interviewing locals and researching the importance of the figures on the 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 peso (this is comparable to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Hamilton on our bills in the U.S. ). The goal of the assignment was to further their knowledge of Chilean history and improve their Spanish conversation skills.
Spanish IV has been reading sections of Isabel Allende and Pablo Neruda, both famous Chilean writers. Traveling through Chile , personally experiencing the culture and speaking with Chileans aids the students in their understanding of the literature. Students from every Spanish class have been studying grammar and have realized the importance of being able to speak Spanish. It is shaping up to be an exciting semester!
Coaches Report by: Tino Specht
Hello all! We’re here and we’re having a blast. We rolled into Santiago, Chile about a week ago and it has been go go go since then. Lots of places to see, waterfalls to run and waves to surf. Our first stop was at the famous Siete Tazas. The Siete Tazas is a set of seven perfectly formed waterfalls that run through a canyon about 150 feet deep. The water is bright blue and it is so safe that you can swim it instead of kayak it if you want. A few students actually went for swimming it because of the video and photo ops that came with that kind of descent. The area around Siete Tazas was very dusty and very very dry but our trusty A Hoss Kyle found us the only green slightly more moist area around. We were able to have school at our campsites and then hustle off to the river to drop over perfect waterfalls. Pretty good day if you ask me.
We then headed off to Pichelemu. The wonderful surfing beach. We have a cabin about a two-minute walk from the water and a two-minute walk from the town. The town is super friendly and fun to be in, but the surf, the surf is incredible. Every day we walk down to the ocean and put on and have a two to three hour surf session. These waves are on a point break, which means that the waves are really consistent and predictable. Today is our last day here and we will be having a cartwheel competition in the surf, and then it’s off to the Fuy River. The Fuy is a higher volume creek run. One of the best in the world. We are all anticipating a great leg of the trip down there. Hope everyone is well back home.
