With the mountains in the background and food in our bellies we made our way to the tallest mountain in the American continent. Aconcagua. Beautiful. Spectacular. I can't think of all the adjectives that can describe this masterpiece. We get to the bottom in the vans and realize the road is too icy to be driving on, so we walk. Not a big deal to begin with until we realize it's a two mile hike UPHILL before we get to the actual hiking excursion. I was dead. Literally. During the hike I kept to myself mostly; I wanted to enjoy this moment in my life where everything seemed to stop and time stood still as I walked along the tallest mountain, realizing how great my God is to me. If earth looks like this, I can't imagine what Heaven is like. My God is Greater, Stronger, Better than ANYTHING and He showed me that over and over that day on the mountain. He created the shades of blue in the sky, the ice and snow so white, and the water that provides life to my beautiful people. He creates, and I'm just blessed to be an ever greater creation to My Beloved than Aconcagua.
When we got to our destination we stopped and had lunch. Our destination was a bridge that led to the other side of the mountain. The same bridge that Brad Pitt filmed Seven Years to Tibet. We packed our own lunches that day and I had a great conversation with a nonbeliever about who Jesus Christ is in my life and why I believe He is my Savior. To do that along the mountains must be why God created me because I never felt such a purpose in all my life. Walking back down the mountain was even greater. With every step my confidence in my faith and who I was created to be grew. I knew by hiking up to a certain level I didn't only complete the goal of making it to the top, I completed a goal in myself I didn't even realize existed. I became someone new, a new creation in Christ, someone to be reckoned with. I now feel like I have a true scandolous relationship with Christ and no fear can stop me from being bold with my faith.
Once down from the mountain we headed back to the hostel to have dinner and go to a dance party with a bunch of oldies. It was the highlight of my weekend. Dinner was asì, asì, but the dance party in the hotel next to the hostel was the greatest. Every year a group of older people put together a dance and the Study Abroad group usually attends. I was one of the first ones to get there and danced into the night with a bunch of different ole men. They were so precious and had better dance moves than myself! After dancing the night away, I went to bed because the next day started bright and early.
We had breakfast before we left to go on a 20 minute trek to a rockclimbing/ziplining/propelling event. I chose the 20 minute trek after our six hour adventure the day before. I thought 20 minutes would be a breeze...I was wrong. I died again. The altitude is really hard to get used to. (Yep, I'm blaming it on that!) Once we got to the rockclimbing area I was TIHERED! When the guides demonstrated to us what we would be doing, I thought, I really don't need this memory so it will be ok if I just sit this one out. Well for some odd reason I started to feel my feet move in the direction of the harness and then I went behind my back and put my feet IN the harness. What I was thinking I'll never know. I "decided" (if you can call it that) ziplining would be my best bet for survival and climbed the side of the mountain to get up to the top. Once there, I cried like the little girl I am, nose running and all, screamed for dear life and took off to the other side of the mountain. I'm so grateful now that I did the ziplining, but in the moment I feared for my life. That is no exaggeration. The rest of the day was great, laying out by the mountain in the sun, talking with friends, and studying a little bit for my español quiz the next day. We got back to the hostel and had an asado (BBQ) then headed back to the city. Tengo sueño! (I was tired) It had been a long weekend and the following week was going to be very difficult with a quiz, homework for cultural group, and a midterm. Through it all though, God remained a silent motivator for me to keep going in my journey with Mendoza. He has so much planned for me, and He is transforming my mind, body, and soul with the renewing of my faith in Him.
Thank you all for believing in me. For touching me with your prayers and words of encouragement. I know how completely blessed I am to have the friends and family that I do. I will never know the depths of love that people have for me, and that truly humbles me to know how many people are rooting for me right now.
I will be back soon with more adventures because a three day weekend is coming up shortly...
Con Amor, Audrey Gwyn
Pictures from the weekend:
Pictures above are of us driving into the small city near the mountains.
Pictures above are of the hostel we stayed in, friends that I've made along the way, and a tall Hawaii guy.
"I lift my eyes up to the mountains, Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth."
That's me in the black. DEAD.
A little bit of the bridge in this picture.
Pictures above are of the hike we made through Aconcagua.
The platform of death.
You climbed on the side of the mountain to get to the platform up top.
Ziplining!
Pictures above are of friends at the top of the once tallest building in Mendoza. We had our cultural group meeting there and drank coffee while watching the sunset over the mountains.
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