I asked Sophie to write about her visit to Argentina in the summer. Here it is with pictures. Thank you Sophie....
As you may or may not know, I went to Argentina in July this year with an organization called World Challenge. Two teams of seventeen girls and two teachers from my school joined a World Challenge leader for a month in Argentina, and I had the best time of my life.
The whole preparation started about 2 years ago, and then I was told I had to do the daunting task of raising £3345 for the trip. I was like ‘oh, this will be easy for me’. I didn’t realize how wrong I was. I still haven’t raised all of my money, but I am paying my parents back. Over the last 2 years, I have done a variety of fundraising activities; babysitting, bag-packing in supermarkets, a fun run and a pampered chef party.
I flew out to Argentina on the 11th July 08. We had to be at school at three O’clock in the morning for our flight. We arrived in Argentina that evening and stayed in Buenos Aires. After that, we travelled to Iguazu falls, where we stayed for a few days. We went to see the waterfalls for 2 days, and they have been described as the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. I certainly feel they don’t disappoint.
After we went to Iguazu, we went canoeing for 4 days. This was the biggest challenge for me as there were some pretty big and disgusting bugs here, and for people who know me, they will know I don’t do bugs. Also, this was the first time we had been without a toilet, so it was a bit of a culture shock for us. It was also the longest we would have to camp. All of these facts made me pretty grumpy these three days, and I was avoided by the rest of the team.
After canoeing, we went to a town called Salta, which was the town I liked the best. There were tall buildings in small streets, and there were huge undercover markets you would stumble upon. We spent 2 day here, and on one of those days, we went white water rafting. This was so much fun, and I would love to do it again.
From Salta, we travelled to a small village called San Francisco where we started our trek. The trek lasted 3 days and we saw some incredible views of the Andes. I also saw a huge, real life tarantula, which I thought was dead at the time, and was about to start prodding and poking it. One day, the guides we were with killed a sheep for us for our dinner, and then we slept under the stars. There were literally millions of stars in the sky, because we were at altitude so could see the ones above cloud level.
After we did our Andes trek, we started our project phase. This is when you go to a small village or community in Argentina and you do some community work for them. In our project, we went to a small village called Valle Grande, where we stayed in the local secondary school and made signs out of wood for the nearby villages and towns. We stayed here for 5 days, and it was really interesting living and talking to the local people.
After our project phase, we went to do another trek near a city called Cordoba. The scenery was like the peak district, and we only trekked for 2 days, so it was ideal for a trek without luxuries. On the second day of our trek, we climbed to the top of a mountain using a rope, and at one point we were literally climbing up a cliff face. It was really great.
After this last trek, we went back to Buenos Aires for the last few days to do some shopping and relaxation. I absolutely loved the trip, which is not really like me, as I normally love my luxuries. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and I would recommend it to anything. It will be the best thing you will do in your life.
Sophie Hoffman
and here are the pictures
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