Rafting in the Andes!

Today a group of us went rafting about an hour outside of Santiago at a place called Cascada de las Animas. Cascada has a bunch of outdoor activities like rafting, hiking, and horseback riding and its not that expensive. It was so much fun and I definitely want to go back!!! The views were beautiful and although the water was cold, the guides were really nice and the rapids were fun! Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me and don't have any pictures.

The only not so good thing about today was a conversation that I had with a man at the bus stop this morning. He was telling me that I shouldn't wear shorts early in the morning because it can give people the wrong idea, he also told me to call some friends because again it was too early for me to be out alone. This all happened a little after 7am, when it was completely light out, not really an unusual time to be on your way somewhere. I'd have to say so far the thing that is the most difficult to get used to here is that I feel less independent then at home, which bothers me a bit. My host mom has told me many times to not go somewhere alone at night, especially because I am a girl. Although I understand this, early morning doesn't seem to be a dangerous time to me to be wearing running shorts. Maybe its something that I just have to get used to and embrace as something that is different than the US, but it is something that I miss.

However, he did ask me if I was Chilean, so I was pretty proud of that! And we had an amazing time rafting today and exploring Chile in general so I'd say that more than makes up for it!