My World With Dance: Inside The Heart Of Chile

I wanted an intimate and personal experience with Chile and that is exactly what I got in Vicuña. Coach surfing struck out again and I found myself in a beautiful family home decorated with antique furniture and decked out with a large pool. My gracious host Ignacio gave up his room for me and made sure my stay in Vicuña was perfect. I definitely stayed at the right place to get to know the area. Ignacio's family has been there for generations and his grandfathers house, which his dad was born in, now serves as a museum that depicts the olden day life and times. The house has a huge garden full of delicious avocados that I got to enjoy on a daily basis and many bright rooms full of photographs of his family. I could sense, even from the photos, the generosity and charm of all the generations that is still so present today.

It was no surprise that Ignacio also had great friends. On our first day together we gathered the troops and headed towards the springs. We found them completely dried up so we went to the river instead. The afternoon was perfect as I got to cool off from the blazing sun with a river to dip into and great company to practice my Spanglish with. That evening the boys decided to cook up a BBQ with tons of varieties of meat. As per my request, we headed to the mountainside and set up right underneath the glorious night sky. This place is well know by astronomers because of the visibility and clear nights that the area has so much of. For good reason too as I don't think I've ever seen a more lit up sky in my life. The Milky Way was stunning and ran straight to outer space. Eating delicious BBQ meat accompanied with local Chilean red wine made the experience even more memorable.

On my final day Ignacio took me rock climbing. He runs a government supported project to give local kids a chance to get to know the great outdoors by rock climbing and to teach them about sustainability. We had such an amazing day with the chicos and everyone got tons of exercise! We were in the middle of the dessert full of cacti and rugged hills. Somehow there is a channel in one of the rock formations full of wholes perfect for our days activity. The scene was beautiful with tons of unique rock shapes and sizes. My major challenge of the day was climbing into a rock formation shaped like a heart. After about 20 tries I finally managed to get into it. The whole time everyone was cheering me on and motivating me to keep trying. From within the heart I knew I found something really special. Here was a group that cared for its people and loved everything else around them. They are determined to make a difference through their actions filling our world with hope and love. The message is beautiful and something me need more of. I encourage you to participate in this movement in any way that speaks to you.

With lots of love,

Luba