Travels, Rambles, and All Things Useless: Friday kicked so much ass.

The rocky cost

The dunes

Friday

The national park from a distance

That is the slope we climbed down

We have no classes here on Fridays, so 2 other students and I decided to take a day trip to the sand dunes of Cóncon, which is about 45 minutes north of Viña del Mar. We were going with the intentions to sand board, but the man with the boards was not there. We ended up spending about 4 hours exploring the dunes and the surrounding area. The sand dunes were massive! It literally was a 5 minute brutal hike to the top. It was beautiful from the top. It overlooked a rocky coast. We all decided to just sit and relax on the top of the dunes for awhile. The best part about the trip was taking your shoes off and just digging your feet into the sun-baked, soft sand. After relaxing and watching the waves for awhile. Another student from OU and I decided to explore. We managed to find small area one the other side of the dunes that looked like a national park from a distance. We couldn't really tell so we decided to walk to go discover what it actually was. The dunes led us to quite literally a vertical side of the mountain that we had to climb down. Once we arrived, we realized the journey was worth it. This was one the most beautiful places ever. It was a small jutted part of land in the ocean. It was surrounded by gigantic rocks in every direction. It had a view of the entire coast, and the entire area was covered in beautiful fauna. It resembled what people dream of in paradise. We decided to be very adventurous and climb across the rocks to get as close to the ocean as we could. Originally this seemed like a great idea, but once we got about 15 feet out it dawned on us that we were standing on jagged edges of rocks 2 stories about tons of rocks below us with no harness. Instead of turning around like sane people, we carried and risked death. I have left out one important detail, we were still barefoot from our time in the sand. Once we reached the edge we stood and enjoyed one of the best kept secrets in the world. Climbing out there was something I will never forget. I think that was the closest to life or death I have ever been. The view was very worth the journey, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We stayed at the dunes for another hour chatting and dancing to music on our Iphones. After the dunes Mckenzie (the student who went on the rocks with me) decided to meet up with a Chilean at the mall here. The Chilean's name is Sebastian, and we actually know him because he studied at OU for a semester. It is really nice to know a local and learn from some one who understands what it is like to be so far from home. During the night, all of the international students went to the same club in Viña for 2 students birthdays. We danced the night away until about 4am. There really is nothing as fun as dancing for 4 hours to a mix of Chilean and house music. The entire time you are smiling, laughing, and sweating more than you ever have before. All of the international students love to dance, but no one is that great at it so there is no judging. All together a badass day. There are a bunch of pics below from the day in Cóncon, but the rest are on my Facebook if you want to see them.