Into the wild

We don't want any adventures around here, thank you. Well that was my first reaction to the wilderness trip!

 3 days with no shower, proper toilets or beds. I actually sort of enjoyed it! Surprising I know, especially since I wasn't exactly looking forward to it beforehand. It's not that i'm lazy or hate hiking; it's just that i'd just arrived at UWC and then suddenly i'm off to the wilderness with people I hadn't really talked to before. But as we starting the first leg I remembered just why i love being out there, I had some amazing conversations with people even on the first day. Ranging from religion to the compulsory 2 years of military service in Israel. Some parts were pretty tough going but we stopped off for a sort of lunch in what I thought at the time was the place with the best view, we could see everywhere for miles around!

Arriving at where we were going to camp was good because it meant no more walking... it also meant I saw the best view again.. but better. We were a lot higher up and so were able to see even further and my god... words for once failed me! It was raining over in the far distance over a volcano so it looked like the sky was sucking up water. then if I looked to my left the sun was shining over a comparatively smallish mountain, the two next to each other was breathtaking.

Then I needed the toilet. I won't go into too much detail but it wasn't the greatest moment of my life, although I was experiencing the true wilderness... I wouldn't pay to do that again!

I then had the greatest meal of my time here, quesadilla's with cheese.. then when we ran out of cheese... nutella, yes, nutella! If you haven't had it before you haven't lived! It was then lovely to talk to everyone while watching the sun set over the mountains.

Next day we were set to go on a half hour journey for more water, although upon arriving at the drip tank we discover there's no water, which means an 8 mile hike for 4 members of our group. Luckily that isn't me so I have time to teach everyone the card game Mao. Rule number 2 of the wilderness, don't play Mao with non-native english speakers. It's even more difficult than playing that game for the first time! I had to explain the rule without explicitly explaining the rule that you can't explain the rules...

The way back was the easiest part, all downhill basically and we're greeted with a late night eating contest, one of the more disgusting parts of 'murica. Honestly, how many twinkies someone can eat in 5 minutes should be their own business! 

So that was my wilderness trip! If anyone would like to send me a letter (or packages ;) ) i would love to receive them at 

United World College
PO box 331
Montezuma
NM 87731

Jake