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A few weeks ago, I traveled to Argentina’s Patagonia to explore God’s creations: the mountains, lakes, lagunas, glaciers, and more. During my first day in the El Chalten area of Patagonia, my group and I embarked on a hike that would forever change my life. Yes, I\u2019m being slightly dramatic, but the hike to such majestic views of Mouth Fitz Roy sincerely shifted my views on \u201cembarking on a journey,\u201d<\/strong> and the true essence of perseverance.<\/p>\n

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Prior to the hiking journey, I packed my backpack for a full day journey in the mountains of El Chalten. Believe me, this is not normal and was honestly the first time I embarked on such a journey\u2014a 16 mile journey. From the onset of the journey, neither was I enthused nor was I depressed about the experience ahead. As a part of the international program I\u2019m enrolled in, we traveled to the Patagonian region of Argentina to explore nature and explore the culture of this area.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Naturesque indeed, the journey rendered perspiration-galore and a gigantic test of perseverance. Nevertheless, the highlight of my journey was drinking the water from the streams that traveled from the glaciers\u2014fresh mountain water. Others would note the view and challenging hike to Mout Fitz Roy as the highlight that they valued the most\u2014nevertheless, drinking the water was definitely a highlight for me.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

When it comes to different cultures, I\u2019m learning that what you value may not be what others value\u2014I admittedly noted that the hike wasn\u2019t my particular cup of tea and that the value of the hike was minimal to me. I\u2019m consistently learning that what we value, may not be what others value and that you have to let the value of your experiences enrich YOU! Let what you value and what you experience encourage you and enrich you.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The journey up to Mount Fitz Roy enriched me with several values to consider when embarking on a journey\u2014whether it be towards a goal, a dream, or a destination. Things to know about a journey:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
1. May be long:<\/span> The hike was exhaustively long for me<\/em><\/li>\n
2. You may not know about the highs and the lows:<\/span> Unaware of the topography of the trek, on the journey, I was unaware of how high I had to climb nor did I know the length of the comfortable lows.<\/em><\/li>\n
3. You may not know the energy needed to reach the heights of your destinations:<\/span> At one point of the trek, I contemplated quitting, as I did not know the amount of energy FOR ME that it would take to keep going<\/em><\/li>\n
4. You may be close to giving up:<\/span> You have to know your strength and be willing to challenge your strength to reach a goal, but in this knowingness, you may want to give up.<\/em><\/li>\n
5. Don\u2019t let the pressure of your \u201cnow\u201d deter you from the proximity of your destination:<\/span> Sometimes the hardest part of your journey is towards the end of your journey, with such, don\u2019t give up until you reach your destination.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   <\/p>\n

   Culture Capsules are an opportunity to share and reflect on my top moments culturally from a selected city, country, or continent each week\u2013curating a glimpse into the culture, the people, the places, and the wisdom.<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n

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   A few weeks ago, I traveled to Argentina’s Patagonia to explore God’s creations: the mountains, lakes, lagunas, glaciers, and more. During my first day in the El Chalten area of Patagonia, my group and I embarked on a hike that would forever change my life. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,41,69,86,35],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-4358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-culture-capsules","category-collective","category-south-america","category-travel","tag-southamerica"],"aioseo_notices":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4401,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4358\/revisions\/4401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoshuagray.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}