In Dalcahue, Chiloé! A runners paradise.

After a long week of orientation in Santiago, Chile I am finally in my placement town of Dalcahue, Chiloé. A small and quaint fishing village located on the beautiful and lush landscaped island of Chiloé.  I will be teaching at a local high school in the capital city of Castro.

The people of Chiloé are humble, warm, and genuine. They welcome complete strangers in with open arms and friendly smiles. The town itself is a small niche in a sea of green hills and farms, surrounded by endless ocean. 

The rain and wind is relentless on Chiloé, but when the clouds slowly dissipate and the sun is allowed to shine his warmth upon the rolling hills....Chiloé looks a little something like this:

I took my first decent run today (being so busy in Santiago I barely had time for a quick jog), but in Chiloé....there is plenty of time to soak up the pleasant aroma of burning fire wood as you run through the country side. It is not common for people to run in Chiloé, so this explains the perturbed looks as I zipped past locals. The people, however, perplexed and surprised, greeted me with big smiles and warm 'holas'. Chiloé is a beautiful place indeed. A musicians dream land to compose, a writers dream land to write, and a runners dream land to run. For all the rain and clouds that constantly cover the sky, Chiloé has an abundance of warmth and happiness to keep anyone content.

Growing is Forever

Growing is Forever from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

As we have evolved (or in some cases failed to), we have accumulated many misconceptions about our abilities as humans. In some instances, we have stripped ourselves from growth past certain ages with our tendency to grasp tightly around normalcy. One of our biggest mistakes is not learning from our past and instead continuing the cyclic repetition of a broken record.

The truth of the matter is that we never stop growing. Even at age 80 and above, we are able to learn, change, and flourish. It is accepted that once we reach a certain age monotony must be a constant in our lives. The stresses of every day work and repetitive lifestyles surrounded by mirror images inundates us in what seems to be a sea of self inflicted sorrow. Well my friends, I am here to tell you, this is simply not the case, nor should it continue to be accepted lightly. The beauty of life is that we always have choices. Without a doubt some people have more options than others. However, we all have the option to chose between growth or stagnation.

Every instance we are presented with choices, whether we choose to realize them is another story. There is so much to experience, learn, and do in this world. Be open to change and open to life. Just like the trees, we have decisions to make: which direction to grow, whom to lean on, and whom to support...it appears we are not much different than our friends who provide us with clean water, air, and food after all. I'd say the only fundamental in life is to continue to evolve (grow). If that happens, I'd like to think, the rest will take care of itself.

"Life is permeated with possibility at every instant. What distinguishes one life from another is intention, the one thing that we can control." -Paul Hawken