"Hola a todos! Estamos listos para despertarnos a las cuatro y media de la manana?"
Did you understand that? Yeah, I didn't either. But apparently it means that we have to wake up at 4:30 A.M. to hike up a mountain. To say the least, some of us were not too thrilled. I, however, being the workout junkie I am, was absolutely estatic. So at approximately 4:29 A.M. I looked at my phone and watched as it ticked to 4:30. I tumbled outta bed, stumbled into the kitchen and poured myself a cup of ambition while yawnin' and stretchin' trying to come to life (Queen Dolly for you, everyone). At 5:00, everyone doing the hike joined together in the court yard to stretch so no would cramp up after one step. Already breathless after the 10 jumping jacks Fred made us do, I looked at my watch, and we took off at 5:10 A.M.
The first part of our early hike was not terrible. Our halfway mark was a giant cross staked in the ground with the city in the background. We took at little break and continued on. Oh, but what was that? Did you say it couldn't get worse? Oh, you silly, silly child! It only gets worse. The inclines got 10 times steeper and much more rocky. Everytime we would hit the top of an incline, I thought it was the top. After about 45 minutes of this we finally stopped again. This made me think it was the top so I got super excited. But oh no, just when you thought you were at the top, Fred went into sicko mode and kept on going. Another 20 minutes later, I truly thought I wouldn't make it, but I stopped and I took a minute to look around. I could see the mountains rolling over this gorgeous country. I could see the sun shining on the vibrant yellow and purple flowers covering the mountain side. And I could see Fred and the other girls already there at the top. They all stood there at the top smiling down, encouraging me to keep going. I felt the wind rustle through the beautiful flowers and move my hair and I knew it was God encouraging me to go on. My feet finally moved and before I knew it, I was at the top.
The view was breath taking (Quite literally. Altitude is no joke, my dudes. I could take ten steps and be outta breath). We stayed up there for about 15 minutes, admiring a view very few people get the privilege to see in their life time. After taking many pictures, we started back down feeling empowered and accomplished. But, it wasn't as smooth as we hoped. We soon embraced our inner Cool Runnings and sat down and slid down the mountain. We were quite good at it, if I do say so myself. But after an hour of us tumbling and sliding on our bottoms as if we just ran off a mountain screaming AAAASSSSSSS YYYOOOOUUUU WWWIIIIIISSSSHHHHH (Princess Bride ;) ) we finally reached the bottom. I shook as much dirt out of my pants and shoes as I could and sprinted to breakfast.
As I buttered my bread and devoured my banana slices, it finally hit me how tired I was. I wanted to take a nap so badly, but we had some team building excersises planned. My group started with the High Ropes. For those that have gone to Tree to Tree in Tallahassee, it was like that. For those that don't know what that is, we were about 25-30 feet in the air and attached to a thick wire. We were then told to do the obstical courses such as swinging from rope to rope or walking across wire and not being allowed to touch the rope. Now my socially awkward-and-antisocial-self decided to branch out and pair up with someone I didn't know. This happened to be an Ecuadorian girl around my age. She spoke only spanish and not one bit of english. Now at this point, you might be thinking, "Mary, are you dumb? You take Latin, which is literally a dead language. The only thing you know how to say in spanish is hello and dog. What makes you think you can talk to her?" Well I will let you in on a little secret. I don't think. It was the moment that we had already started that I realized I would not be able to communicate with the wonderful lady. But we made it and that was the biggest accomplishment of it all.
After completing the High Ropes, my group moved on to the rock wall. We all learned how to control the rope so the person wouldn't fall while climbing and we all had the opportunity to climb. It was so fun to watch as everyone gave it their all to get to the top. But what was even more worth it was the look of accomplishment you could see on everyones' faces. But just like always, My stomach barged through to door of the party and let out a gigantic roar, letting everyone know I was starving. And with that, we walked to the kitchen and ate a delicious lunch of chicken, rice, and salad.
Now, it was our time to shine. We had some really cool activities planned for the girls, such as making mandalas and having an epic photo shoot with music provided by the one and only DJ Sea Bass. Before the party could start, we all took about 15 minutes to journal and have some quite time. However, soon enough, the mandala making and picture taking got started. We all had a great time sitting on the ground and tearing up gardening magazines looking for quotes in the Diabetic medicine ads talking about how amazing we are.
But all to soon, it was our final activity. 2/3s of us sat in a circle and closed our eyes. The one and only Caroline Allen (we love you Caroline) read out some things, such as "tap a person that you think is talented" and then the other third would go tap the people they felt were talented. We all had the chance to tap the girls and make them feel valued and empowered before we had to say a final prayer and say our goodbyes to the El Refugio people. We packed up and headed out, waving to the llamas as we left (they didn't wave back :( ). We finally arrived back at the hostal around 7:00 P.M. I took a very nice shower, as I was still covered in dirt from the hike, while others took this time to chill out. After eating a filling dinner of buttered toast, we debriefed the retreat and talked about our favorite, least favorite, and God-filled moments of the retreat.
And now here I am, Saturday the 22nd, at 10:52 pm central time (don't tell my parents but it's WAY past my 9:00 eastern time bedtime ;) ) rambling on and on. Well, I'm done now. Thank you so so much if you even read this far. We are truely all having an amzing time. But I am tired and ready to go to bed. Peace and Blessings!
Tumbling out, Mary Shelton
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