Spring is here!

September has arrived and in Chile that means we're in Spring! I've been told September is the best month of the year because the county celebrates 'Fiestas patrias', a time of celebration to commemorate the Chilean independence day (September 18th), and it's a time to eat lots, drink lots and generally have a great time. I'm planning to travel to Pucón with one of my flatmates to spend the weekend with his family, so in a couple of weeks I'll be able to let you all know how my first 'fiestas patrias' in Chile went.

Meanwhile, I'll tell you about how my last week has been. It was a particularly busy week because I've been trying to help prepare some of my students for a debate they had on Friday in Spanish. We'll be going to a big competition in the capital, Santiago, to compete against other teams in an English debate competition. The topic of the debate will be social networks and whether or not they have a negative affect on society. It was also an exciting week because my kayak arrived from Pucón, so I'm now all set with my gear, paddle and kayak to be able to go off exploring a bit further afield.

And now I have all the equipment I need to go on paddling trips!

On Friday I took a bus down South again to Santa Bárbara. The afternoon and most of Saturday was spent safety kayaking for a group of adventure tourism students who had travelled down to try their hand at rafting. I had to deliver a short talk about safety and rescue in Spanish which really tested my language skills, there is some pretty specific vocab involved in whitewater rescue...!

Paulo collected his van this weekend, the raft was perched quite precariously...

Waking up to the view of these mountains is pretty special

The students eager to get going

Sunday I safety kayaked for a different company and then went and paddled a brand new section with a friend. It was an amazing continuous section of grade 4/4+ with enormous boulder gardens, beautiful canyons and stunning waterfalls entering the river from all sides. My friend later told me that the section wasn't well known at all and only about 15 people have paddled the section in total! Perhaps the best thing about this river it is ends at a thermal spring, so you jump straight out of the ice cold meltwater and into a nice and warm thermal spring! There are so many hidden rivers out there that need to be explored.

Stunning river and beautiful weather

Why can't all rivers end in thermal springs?!?!

There was also a pretty big protest this week, some fires were started and the Mall was shut with customers inside so the protesters couldn't get in, I happened to walk by not realising any of this was going on and it was quite funny to see the customers inside the mall waiting for the police to come and let them out!

Part of the aftermath of this week's protest

This week I'll be teaching a few more classes and then heading to Ralco on Friday to do some more paddling/rafting. I've also got to shift 27kg of honey from my room... That's a story for another time.