By Travis Goodin from Westminster College
Life is brought into the camp with an early sunrise and the soothing calls of the camp owners’ roosters and the native southern lapwing. As the breakfast crew makes their way out of their tents, the other Round River students roll over in their sleeping bags with the hope of getting a few more minutes of sleep. Breakfast crew’s first task is cracking the shocking number of eggs it takes to feed eleven hungry students, and possibly a few instructors. If the crew is feeling particularly creative they may fry up some potatoes. As the sun rises higher in the sky, and more people start making their way out of their tents, the mountains that surround Cochrane start to glow with the morning sun. Tamango is one of the more prominent peaks that is visible from our camping sight at camping Aquasol. Tamango is also one of the sectors recently added to Patagonia National Park.
Basecamp provides the rare commodity of time, which is often used to get through all the classes that need to be taught before the end of the semester. So, when the dish crew finishes a quick clean-up of the kitchen, all the students and an instructor or two gather around the table where we just ate breakfast and have class about one topic or another. The classes come in many forms including power point lectures, discussions, and interactive games.
Class is often followed by a decompressing hacky-sack session. Despite many individuals in the group never sacking before Patagonia, everyone’s skills improved drastically over the semester. The hack circles are one of the best times to get to know the other Round River students and debate about different topics. The topics of discussion can range from humans place in the natural world to the whether or not e-bikes are a worthy replacement of a standard bike. Most of the time the only thing that can break up the sack are the class or two that take place in the afternoon.
Following the end of the day’s classes, the rest of the day is free to partake in countless activities. Some people prefer to use this time to study, or read in one of the many secluded peaceful places around camp. Others gather in the quincho[1] to play one of the countless card games that have been taught and learned throughout the semester. More energetic and adventurous people choose to run around the mountains in the surrounding area. A few people may even run into town with the goal of getting snacks, or using the library’s wi-fi. The only ones with responsibilities still needing to be carried out is the dinner team.
Dinners can be as complicated or as basic as the cook group desires to make it. Earlier on in the semester the meals were more basic, mostly rice and sausage or pasta and sausage, but as the semester progressed so too did the creativity of the dinner crews. Backpacking meals can lead to people getting bored of the same foods again and again, but the access to a kitchen and a supermarket allows for endless possibilities in camp.
Finally, after the dish crew finishes cleaning up the kitchen, the day starts winding down. Some choose to stay up late into the night playing cards or talking. Others choose to read in their tents and go to sleep early after the busy day. The beautiful sunset doesn’t take place until around nine o’clock, but despite the long days it still feels like nothing else could possibly be squeezed into them.
[1] The central building where we cook, eat, hang out, and do class.