Get Lost

I have been lost many times in my life.  And in the past year and a half, I have had some great times getting lost.  Wandering around Santiago, I would get lost and discover new parks and roads.  Going out to Gialibomba I had no idea where we were, where we were going, or even where the road was.  (I dare you to try to find your way in this.)

Where's the road?!

 Hiking through the ecological reserve just outside of Santiago, my friends and I ducked under barbed wire, slid down hills, and were ultimately rewarded with one of the most breathtaking and exciting views I have ever been surprised with.  

Under the barbed wire...

Through the tree...

The picture doesn't do it justice

We never did find the waterfall we had originally set off to find.

Months later, the crew set out to find some hot springs (or something like that) out in Cajon de Maipo.  We just went, and figured we could figure it out, but of course, we got lost.  And the man that ran the goat farm was not very helpful with directions.

Where are we!?

We never found the hot springs, but we did pull the gringo card and didn't have to pay for our picnic table at lunch, saw some road kill, and got to cross the Rickety Bridge of Doom.

Rickety Bridge of Doom!

I have been thinking about these adventures of getting lost a lot lately, I think for two reasons:

1. Getting lost provides for some amazing adventures.  I have never had a terrible experience with getting lost.  Sometimes, in the moment, things can be frustrating, but there are always a lot of laughs, some good photos, and usually a good story to tell at the end of the day.  I miss getting lost and having those stories to tell.  I want to find new places and people so I can get lost and eventually become familiar with them.

2. I have come to a point in life where I have to make a decision.  I think I have already made it, but it's not 100% yet.  Standing at an intersection and deciding which way to go can be stressful, especially when society dictates you play it safe and do one thing and your heart, soul, and gut tell you to do what makes you happy.  I figure, at worst, I get lost and have an amazing story to tell at the end of the day.

Endless possibilities on the open road

Hawk Fans Around the World

The extend of Hawkeye fandom never ceases to amaze me.  Not that all of the people I have met that recognized my Iowa hoodie are necessarily fans, and not that the people I see wearing Iowa clothing are necessarily fans.  The case is probably more that they have no idea what they are wearing, they just want to wear this cool American sporting gear they saw in the shops.  In fact, if you talk to many of the people wearing clothing with American sports on them, they probably have no idea what they are wearing except that it is American and has something to do with sports.  So I have two stories:

When I was in Chile, there were several stores around that sold second hand clothes, and, I am not at all kidding, LSU and Drake (yes, Drake*) t-shirts were about $15.  Second hand.  But never would I have thought a young Chilean man would come up to me, of all the people that club, and ask me to dance when he was wearing an.... Iowa State t-shirt.  I had to explain to him (in terms of Chilean soccer rivals) that I couldn't dance with an Iowa State fan like that.  I couldn't dance with the enemy.  He kept insisting that he had no idea what this "Iowa State" was on his t-shirt, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and danced with him.  Here we are before I finally gave in and danced with him:

Chilean Iowa State Fan

Let's cross the Atlantic, to Africa.  While I was in Tanzania, I got the opportunity to go out to the middle of nowhere to a legit Maasai market.  You can read more about the Maasai people on the Wikipedia page.  But out in the middle of this market, in the middle of nothing, Tanzania, I found a young girl wearing a... Hawkeye t-shirt.  I was so excited.  I wanted to take her picture, but since the Maasai believe taking photos of people also takes their soul, she literally ran away when I asked if I could take her picture.  However, I was sneeky and pretended to take a picture of something else when really I was taking a picture of her.  I really hope I didn't steal her soul.

Maasai Hawk Fan

I know it is kind of hard to see, but there is deffinately a tiger hawk on her shirt.  Amazing.

Hopefully, this will inspire Iowa to play well and not make me fret so much. 

*As a side note, I think Drake clothing is the American clothing for a university I have seen the most when abroad.  I have seen t-shirts and sweatshirts at least in Chile, Argentina, and Tanzania.  I also haven't seen any professional sporting teams so well represented either.