After two late nights in a row, and only falling asleep at 6 am in the morning, I still peeled myself out of bed at 9 something, hit the shower and then the metro, to meet up with Hannah and her Colleagues of Beyond English.

Beyond English is a social enterprise that provides English lessons in Santiago, but goes beyond mere teaching, supporting a number of community projects, for which its teachers volunteer.

We were heading for a trip out of town, taking a metro, bus and taxi, to the Santuario de la Naturaleza el Arrayán.

As Santiago is literally glued to the Andes mountain range, a little trip to the East will quickly have you surrounded by high, dry mountain ranges.

We walked along the dry, gravel road, and quickly found a spot for a first beer, cooling off our feet in the icy waters of the Arrayán.

We moved to the shadow for a couple of hours – where I passed out. I had slept so little the past days, I needed to get some sleep. And a sunburn, apparently.

It was a great little excursion out of town. I wish I had been more awake. Hannah’s friends and colleagues are a fun bunch, overhearing their conversations, and songs, in my half-sleep.

We returned at the end of the afternoon, trying to catch a collectivo down to the bus station, waiting what seemed like an eternity for one to show up.

The girls in their desperation tried to hitch-hike down, either trying to seduce drivers with a little leg, or cursing them – or their girl friends – when they drove their empty pick-up trucks past us.

We seriously considered walking down – which would have been a long, long walk, when – walking 15 meters and around the small curve – we realized we had been waiting at the wrong spot, and the collectivos were all waiting only 50 meters down the road.

Epic.